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Wedding Photography By David Simm - part 1 of 1 2

by David Simm Published 01/02/2000

It never fails to surprise me when and why wedding and portrait photographers rush out to find out what other photographers from the far distant parts of America are selling to their clients.

The latest whiz kid to hit the flying circus of "one day" professors is a west coast photographer, Bambi Cantrell. Granted she does some very nice work, but nothing I haven't seen before. What local photographers don't seem to understand is, it just doesn't matter what she, or any other studio for that matter is selling in their respective markets in the far-flung corners of this continent.

Our market, here in the mid west is not driven by the creativity of the photographers; whether that is one of our own or an outsider. The sad truth is that the demand for any particular style of wedding coverage is actually created by non-industry people. I call it the ignorant inflicting their arrogance onto the unwary, but sadly that is just what it is.

The majority of first time brides read Bridal magazines and are very heavily influenced by the contents. Bridal magazines sport the kind of wedding photojournalistic images that wouldn't see the light of day in any self- respecting journal in any other field. Many of the shots are badly exposed, clumsily composed, camera shook with sloping horizons and converging verticals, most are shot on hypersensitive black and white film and are as grainy as newsprint.

To a newly engaged, impressionable young couple, I concur that they could initially look a wee bit romantic, but it is after the fact when they don't have any respectable images to represent the elegance or even composed groups of family members, that the disappointment sets in. I look back over that last couple of dozen brides who said to me that they wanted mostly candid images, with very few posed portraits. I checked on the percentages of posed to candid images ordered and used in albums. It was no surprise to me when the figures revealed that, even the most adamant about wanting only candid, purchased seventy to eighty-five per cent formal images.

Of course if one doesn't take or show wedding photojournalism, one simply wouldn't get the bookings in a cosmopolitan area like Chicago. The highest budgets for wedding photography are split between the high-end Jewish market and the yuppies. High-end Jewish weddings don't shop on the open market, they are not influenced in the least by the trashy magazines, and they are all booked through wedding coordinators, all of whom represent a handful of studios in their little payola group. Thankfully I have a handful of classy wedding consultants pushing my name out there. The yuppies are dedicated followers of flash 'n trash - "OOPS that was meant to be fashion" and easily lead by fads.

They have to have whatever is in vogue; whether it is good, bad or indifferent and they make up a good forty percent of our market. The trick here is not merely being able to satisfy their needs, that is easy, it is being able to anticipate their whims in order to procure sufficient bookings to make a living.

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1st Published 01/02/2000
last update 09/12/2022 15:00:15

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