I correspond with hundreds of Los Angeles area wedding photography clients every year. And over the course of that year, one or two folks will share that they didn’t select me because a family friend offered to photograph their wedding. Although I can only speculate as to a client’s motivation, I’m hesitant to agree that hiring a family friend to photograph a wedding would be the good choice.

Experience

I photograph an average of 35 weddings every year. And, over the course of my career, I’ve photographed hundreds of weddings. This means that I’ve worked in hundreds of different locations, in challenging lighting situations, under all kinds of weather conditions, and all the while living and working through countless wedding day “emergencies.” Although a family friend may be quite good at holiday photos or family photographs or even fashion photography, can they cope with a wide range of rapidly changing situations and still capture amazing photographs of the hundreds of special moments that are your wedding day?

Skill

I’m an experienced camera operator. Over the course of a single year, I’ll take over 75,000 photographs. And, on a typical wedding day, I’m changing equipment settings constantly. After my many years as a professional wedding photographer, my cameras and lighting equipment have become extensions of my body. I no longer consciously think about camera adjustments or lighting situations. I simply view a scene and adjust my equipment automatically. And because of that skill, I’m able to capture rapidly evolving wedding moments as they happen. Without those skills, important wedding moments can be missed—moments that can’t be recreated. You only get one chance at weddings.

Equipment

I invest heavily in equipment. For example, my primary wedding equipment includes two Nikon D3 cameras (carried at the same time), a 24-70 f/2.8 lens, a 70-200 f/2.8 lens, two SB-900 flashes, and 32GB high speed memory cards. And in addition to my primary equipment, I also have a backup camera (D3x), four backup lenses, four backup flashes, and a host of other lighting gear. To put this in perspective, at a typical wedding I arrive with over $25,000 in camera equipment with about $15,000 carried on my person at any one moment. This equipment allows me to create amazing photographs in extremely challenging lighting conditions—conditions where lessor cameras and lenses struggle to keep up. Has your family friend invested in the professional cameras and backup equipment necessary to ensure the best possible photos, even when the lighting is horrible or when something goes terribly wrong with one or more pieces of gear?

Insurance

Good professional photographers carry insurance. My insurance coverage includes general business liability ($2M), equipment insurance ($100k), and professional liability insurance (aka errors and omissions). If the unthinkable happens, I want to be prepared. That means peace of mind for me and my clients. As an aside, did you know that many venues won’t allow photographers on-site unless the photographer carries adequate liability insurance? Is your family friend insured? Are they underinsured?

Motivation

My reputation is on the line every time I photograph a wedding. Therefore I have a strong incentive to do an amazing job—especially in the age of the Internet where every aspect of customer-service is a matter of public record. My livelihood is at stake every time I photograph a wedding. Is your family friend similarly motivated?

Focus

When you a hire a professional to photograph your wedding, we are typically focused on one thing—capturing excellent photos of you and your fiancé. If you hire a family friend, then one may assume that they’re going to be friends with several of your guests (or perhaps many of your guests). In those situations, that family friend may sometimes end up distracted by those guests. It’s only natural to spend a few minutes chatting with friends at weddings. And it’s only natural to share a drink when offered. And it’s only natural to photograph people you know more frequently and with greater enthusiasm than people you don’t know. But, if you hire me, I’ll be focused on the single task of creating beautiful photos of you and all of your guests and working every second of the day (except when I spend a few minutes to grab a quick bite during your reception) doing the job you’ve hired me to do.

Service

As my business is photography, I’m relying on your patronage in order to meet my financial obligations. As such, it is in my best interest to provide good service before, during, and after the wedding. This service includes providing deliverables (digital negatives, albums, proofs, physical prints, etc.) as well as using my experience to advise you on a wide range wedding related planning considerations. This is my job. It’s what I do every day. Can your family friend say the same thing?

I’d like to admit that I fully realize, that for some clients and for a variety of reasons, a family friend may be your only choice. However, I’m hopeful that this brief essay will empower some clients to ask pertinent questions of that family friend before making their final decision.

Today I found out that I was featured in the Spring / Summer 2012 issue of The Knot Southern California magazine. The irony of this appearance is that I didn’t solicit anyone for inclusion in the magazine! If I had more time I’d love to submit my work to the plethora of wedding magazines out there. Unfortunately, my work as a wedding photographer is never done and I just can’t carve out the the free time! Anyway, if you happen to read this particular magazine, you can open it up this month, point out my wedding photography to your significant other, and say, “Hey, I know that guy!” Just as a FYI, this was a photo from a recent (relatively speaking) Palm Springs wedding I photographed at Korakia Pensione.

Tuere and Danny were referred to me by one of my past wedding couples, Genevieve and Jose. Tuere and Danny’s wedding day started off at the InterContinental hotel on the Avenue of Stars in Los Angeles and ended at The Mark for Events on Pico Boulevard. Tuere is a physician at the Los Angeles jail and Danny is a Sherriff in East LA. As their wedding photographer, I was thrilled to find out they met on the job and it was love at first sight. Well, it wasn’t really love at first sight but lots of people think that makes for a cool story when you write about it in a wedding-related blog post. Here’s a small sampling of photos from their wedding.

This was the moment that Tuere’s father saw her for the first time on her wedding day. It was an emotional
moment for both of them. Tuere has told me that this is her favorite photo from the wedding day.

We were a bit limited in terms of time and location availability but I was able to put together this
stylized photo by simply using furniture sitting outside the front of the InterContinental hotel.

My second photographer captured this photo of me showing one my photos to Danny And Tuere.
I wanted to make sure that they knew how awesome they were looking in their photos!

The now famous Number 3. One of my signature photographs.

The lobby of the InterContinental hotel was crazy busy, but I was able to capture this
image in the split second when nobody was standing behind them.

Kissy, kissy!

Tuere wanted to honor her grandmother and grandfather, so her bouquet
features her grandmother’s ring and her grandfather’s dog tag. He
was a distinguished veteran of World War II.

Tuere and Danny taking a moment alone in front of the InterContinental hotel.

The bride and groom during the recessional after their wedding at The Mark for Events in Los Angeles.

Tuere’s mother and father share a moment in the midst of the family portraits. Her mom doesn’t like this photo very much but
everyone else loves it and says it really shows off the spirit of their relationship. I go with “everyone else” on this one.

Tuere’s Girls

Danny’s Boys

Tuere’s dad delivers his toast. He’s a funny guy!

The father / daughter wedding dance. Notice Tuere’s mother and bridesmaid in the background?

As a wedding photographer, I’d like to thank the bridesmaid in the back for the supplemental flash!

Fritz and Sebastian chose July 3rd as the date for their lifetime commitment ceremony. Other folks might call this a gay wedding, a same sex union, or a celebration. I call it two people in love who are determined to spend their lives to together and who want to share their joy with friends and family. The ceremony was held at Hotel Maya on Queensway Drive in Long Beach (within sight of the Queen Mary). Here are a few of my favorites from the event.

The happy couple rarely gets ready in the same room on their
wedding day, but it sure seemed to work out great this time!

These bow ties were really cool!

In case you didn’t guess, their wedding colors were black, white, and yellow.
They had these cool striped dividers set up in the reception area so
I used them as convenient backgrounds for a few of these wedding-day images.

Their wedding theme was “Paris” so I grabbed a few of the table centerpieces and had them hold them
to better tell the story though photographs. Sebastian proposed to Fritz in Paris so this made a bunch of sense!

Two Guys Sitting on a Couch
[I really need to work on my descriptions here]

If you’ve followed my blog over the years, you know I love the use of
negative space and bright colors in my photography. This wall was just perfect!

Check out the reflection at the bottom of this photograph. It’s kind of difficult to come up with an original “from above” shot
and I’m pretty happy about how this image turned out given that I took it with one hand leaning far out over a railing!

I kind of wish that the Queen Mary was alone in this shot and that the cruise ship wasn’t there, but when I called Captain
Stubing, asking him to move his boat, that didn’t go over too well. Perhaps I should have asked to speak to Julie instead!
[ok, I’ll admit that humor was kind of lame]

GQ

I got the idea for this photo after watching the film Sucker Punch earlier in the week. Although the film was panned by
many critics, I thought the cinematography was simply amazing. I often look to creative films for new ideas.

It was terribly hot and this nice guy (a stranger by the pool) offered to buy Fritz and Sebastian a bottle of water.

The guys originally wanted an urban feel to their related directed portraiture prior to the ceremony. When it became apparent
that our options in the area were extremely limited, they settled on staying at the Long Beach hotel for their photos. Not
to be discouraged, I did locate this nice little piece of urban landscape near Hotel Maya.

You wouldn’t know it by this photo, but Fritz and Sebastian were both very startled
by a three-way kitty cat fight under those vines that started when they went to stand on
those steps. From the racket they made, it sounded like a dozen cats!

Here we are with the traditional wedding day groom and groom portrait.

This image started as a way to showcase their nifty cufflinks but I quickly realized that with a little
direction and creative cropping, this photo could have much greater significance.

Hey look! It’s a big leather chair sitting on the grass!

[this space intentionally left blank]

Hotel Maya

Here we have, from left to right, a photojournalist’s look at Sebastian’s aunt, Sebastian & Fritz’s best friend, two flower girls
being directed by the planner, Fritz in the far background, the ring bearer, and a bunch of their friends. And of course two
people with tiny cameras who are photographing the back of the ring bearer’s head.

It’s a little known fact, but Sebastian tends to cry a whole bunch!
[inside joke]

Ewwwwww! Licking frosting off his nose!
[even though I’m the one who suggested that Fritz to do it]

Jaime and Amy were married at Robinson Ranch Golf Club in Canyon Country in early June. This was the first gay wedding I’ve photographed and I had an absolute blast. It was a pretty easy gig too since Jaime and Amy were so easy to work with on the day of the wedding. Some photographers struggle with how to best photograph same sex weddings in Los Angeles, but I’ve determined that my job as the wedding photographer is simply to photograph two people in love. And I’ve determined that my style of coverage is the same, regardless of the gender of my subjects. Anyway, here are a few of my favorite photos from the event!

It was a bluebird day at Robinson Ranch Golf Club!
[except for the clouds that came later]

Even though I’m a quirky contemporary wedding photographer,
I feel that everyone needs a traditional portrait on their wedding day!

Two brides walking over a wooden bridge at Robinson Ranch Golf Club.
[ok, I admit that was a pretty lame description]

Look at those calves! If I had calves like those, I’m convinced
that I’d be a much better wedding photographer!
(at least compared to other Los Angeles wedding photographers)

Sweet!

Sexy!

The Mountain is thataway!

I forgot to ask why Amy’s bouquet is larger than Jaime’s.

This is a new take on one of my signature photos!

Here we go with another calf enhancing shot!

Now I’m not sure this photograph “works” but I saw the reflection in the
window and wanted to try something new. What do you think?

As I was taking Amy and Jaime’s portrait by the waterfall, the florist stepped
onto the balcony and gave them a big thumbs up.

Mountains. Trees. Kissing. Wedding.

This was one of my favorite casually posed portraits of the day. Even though the landscape is relatively
neutral in terms of color, the blue sky really pops (which is something that I love in my wedding photographs).

Amy appears to be having a really good time riding in that cart!

Now this photo turned out even nicer than I had hoped!

There were actually six flower girls but the other two (younger by a few years) had a complete meltdown
and so they weren’t included in this photo. Can we just pretend that there were only four flower girls?

Is it ok for me to say that I really like it when participants cry at a wedding?

I’ve decided that this is my favorite photo from the wedding. I’m going to call it “The Shoe Shot.”

Jaime’s Mom: Come here!
Amy’s Dad: Go there!
Flower Girl: I don’t wanna!

Parent Love

“She said what?”

My take on the “Family Portrait”

Here’s to you Jaime! Congratulations!