November 3, 2008
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‘Have You Ever Shot There Before?’
A question we hear a lot from Brides is: “Have you ever shot there before?” It was born, I believe, in some Bridal rag article, and soon after became a part of practically every recycled list on the web. Honestly, I think that couples take this question too literally. Don’t get me wrong, it has relevance, and we do like to work on familiar ground; but, should it be your deciding factor in choosing a photographer? I don’t think so. Truth is, we frequently shoot in unfamiliar, “photo-hostile” territory that we didn’t choose. Does it make a difference? Sure it does. But as professionals, our ritual is: to arrive early, scout the location (new or not), judging weather, lighting and set availability for that day. Scouting works best in the “here and now” because if the weather has been good, then the time may have changed; there is more than one Wedding taking place that day; or, “the kiss of death“, the location is under reconstruction. Oh yes, it does happen. Been there, done that, seen the Bride cry.I have to also mention, that we don’t think like Brides, we know what they‘re thinking, but we don’t have the luxury of thinking that way; because, Brides envision their Wedding day through emotional eyes, with expectations they may have dreamt of for years. That‘s fine if you‘re a Bride, but we‘re not; we’re photographers, and it’s our job to translate their vision into something the camera understands. So, regardless of whether the location is familiar to us or not, we probably won’t use it in the same way a Bride is thinking anyway.
That being said, a photo is worth a thousand words, or as I always say to other photographers, “Shut up and show me the picture”. So, here are some “location” shots, from some very familiar, some once-in-a-while and some never-shot-there-before places. See if you can tell the difference. You may decide that it’s people that give the photos value, not the location. For that matter, after viewing my sample images, the question of: “Have you ever shot there before?” may just get scratched from your list entirely.
::Click here to view related gallery – Have you ever shot there before::
Oh! By the way, if you can guess which images are from a location that I’ve never shot at before, I’ll give you a $300 discount when you book your Wedding with us.*
*Excluding Perfect Shot Collections
