Vendor Interview
Photographers
Interview Transcript
What makes a professional photographer?
Jennifer Neves
A professional photographer should show up on the day of the wedding, prepared they should be ready to go.
James Anthony
When you're doing it as long as I have and other professionals, you have seen it all.
Stephanie Berenson
A professional photographer has two jobs. One, to make you look good and two, to make you feel good.
Sabrina Scolari
So being a professional photographer means that you have years and years of experience and school education and on-field education
How does a professional photographer communicate with their clients?
Tracy Jenkins
Generally, a professional will communicate whatever way their clients feel comfortable communicating.
James Anthony
A professional photographer should be able to communicate with their clients with every little detail possible.
Sabrina Scolari
Open and honest about the services, open and honest about the pricing information.
Jennifer Neves
I firmly believe that if I am transparent and my clients are transparent with me, then the end product will be exactly what they expect.
Stephanie Berenson
It's very important that you feel very comfortable going into the session and have everything be very transparent throughout the whole process.
How do you keep things running smoothly?
Tracy Jenkins
You kind of have to have a little bit of a backbone.
James Anthony
I feel like the photographer is almost a coordinator, so to speak, on a wedding day because they're there the entire day with the group, while other vendors aren't necessarily there the entire span of the day.
Jennifer Neves
A professional photographer should show up with a bulletproof timeline that includes who needs to be where and at what time.
How important is it for a photographer to work well with other vendors?
Stephanie Berenson
It's very important for professional photographers to have a relationship with all of the other vendors because we are the vendors of your day.
Tracy Jenkins
If we're not functioning well together, then we're not giving you the best of ourselves, and we're not giving you the best results.
James Anthony
If you are experienced and you've been doing this for a long time, like myself, you know most of the people. You know the players in the game, you know the guys and girls that are on top of their game, and you know where they're going to be, and they know where you are going to be.
Sabrina Scolari
We are a team and we work together to make your day a memorable one.
What kind of equipment should a professional photographer have?
Tracy Jenkins
Backups. You want to be able to have backups upon backups.
Jennifer Neves
Should one of your pieces of equipment fail, you need to be able to pull up another piece of equipment out of your bag and continue on with your day.
James Anthony
So if you're a pro, you should be changing your equipment every two to three years minimum, so you have the best equipment possible on the wedding day.
How should a professional photographer dress on the event day?
Stephanie Berenson
Professional photographers should show up being ready to rock and roll but also be very professional looking.
Jennifer Neves
They should not be showing up with clothing that does not seem to fit the day.
James Anthony
You know, pants, not jeans, and you should have on a professional-looking shirt.
Tracy Jenkins
I want to be able to potentially be in the background of someone else's photo, and they don't see me. I'm just a person there.
Stephanie Berenson
I think that when hiring a professional photographer, you have to keep in mind that you're not only hiring somebody to document your day, but you're also hiring an artist.
Sabrina Scolari
Studying the subject, studying lighting, studying the environment, scope out venues and locations just to be familiar with the lighting, the landscape of it. So when we have you, the bride, there for us we know exactly where to go, where the best lighting is in order to bring you the best results.
