Last week I had the privilege of doing a photo-shoot for cartoonist Doug Savage, author of the wildly popular ‘Savage Chickens‘ cartoons.
Doug’s work has just been published as a book, so he needed some promotional shots done.
Anyone who is a fan, will understand the presence of the yellow sticky notes!
These are my three favorite photos from our session.
If possible, I think photographers get asked to work for free more often than any other professional service providers…
As a professional photographer, I offer competitive and all-inclusive pricing. But far too often, I find myself dealing with the issue of potential clients (or occasionally even friends) basically saying “I want you to do a bunch of work for me, but I place little to no value on your time, or your skill, or your knowledge, or your effort.”
It boggles my mind that people think they’ll convince me to give them something for nothing by saying things like: “It’ll help build your portfolio” or “It’ll be good exposure for your business” or “It’s a great networking opportunity” or – my favourite – “We can’t afford to pay much, but…”
I often wonder why the person asking me to work for free or for a fraction of my cost, thinks that they’re the only one with bills to pay and a living to earn?
For my good friends, I will offer a substantial discount, or offer an exchange of services if they can provide something of equal value. Occasionally, if a close friend just really needs help and can’t afford to pay or trade, I will shoot a few photos for them for free, but that’s only for the special few who offer me something of great worth just by being my friends.
With potential clients, if they have a service or product that is of interest to me, I’ll occasionally offer a 50% trade. Meaning they pay half of my rate in cash, the other half in trade of their product or service.
Volunteering is entirely different. As with anyone who volunteers, that is something I choose to do for free, to support causes I believe in.
For everyone else though, my standard answer to anyone who attempts to convince me that they shouldn’t have to pay me to do my job, is this:
“Would you do your job if you didn’t get paid for it? How about if you were asked to do your job for less than a quarter of the wage you normally earn? If I asked you to give me several hours or days of your time for free, or for less than minimum wage, would you? Nope? Well neither would I.”
I already have a great way to build my portfolio, to get networking opportunities and to create exposure for my business… It’s by getting paid for my work.
Even though I find these requests insulting and occasionally infuriating, I do remember that we’re each of us responsible for the choices we make.
Yes, there are always going to be amateur or newly starting photographers who haven’t yet learned that working for free is almost never a good idea. They’re the ones who get taken in by the empty promises of ‘really, your unpaid labor is going to be a big boost to your career’.
It’s largely because of the abundance of inexperienced photographers who don’t know better, that so many people do get away with paying nothing or almost nothing for photography. In that case, both parties lose… Using an inexperienced photographer, is a surefire way to get poor quality service and poor quality photos.
Oh well. Even though the pattern will keep repeating, people do figure things out eventually. As for me, I figured out some time ago, that the best choice is not to be taken advantage of. I only offer my services to those who understand that anything of value is worth paying for.
More and more couples are choosing to have green weddings these days. This doesn’t mean their color theme… It means that they’re making environmentally conscious choices about their wedding favours, wedding vendors, wedding food, etc. Here are some tips on how you too, can have an eco-friendly wedding:
1- Your wedding invitations, guestbook, programs and place-cards: You can either make them yourself, using recycled or hand-made paper products, or do an online search for ‘eco-friendly wedding paper products’. There are several companies who will supply you with customized, environmentally friendly products for all of your printed wedding materials.
2- Your wedding favours: Instead of using plastic or non-recycled materials, why not consider giving something more sustainable? Mini plant pots with a packet of your favourite flower seeds or bulbs. A jar of local honey with a specially printed wedding label. A nicely wrapped tree seedling. Bamboo coasters, bamboo salad sets or bamboo napkin rings.
3- Your wedding flowers: Look for vendors who supply organic and/or locally grown flowers. Or – depending on what time of year you’re getting married – you could even consider growing your own wedding flowers either in your yard, on a balcony, in window boxes or a greenhouse.
4- Your wedding food: Look for caterers who work with organic and locally grown suppliers. If you’re having friends or family help with the food, choose things that can be made with locally grown, in-season fruits and vegetables. For your meats, dairy and baked goods, purchase from organic, local small businesses or from a market like Whole Foods, which provides sustainable, eco-friendly and cruelty-free food products.
5- Your wedding vendors: When you’re looking at who to hire as your videographer, your photographer, your dj, etc… Do a search for ‘eco-friendly’ photographers, videographers, etc. What this means, is that they use environmentally sustainable products for their own businesses and that they provide you with eco-friendly services for your wedding.
6- Your wedding travel: To reduce the amount of carbon emissions from all of your guests travelling to and from your wedding, set up a car-pooling system in advance. You can use a social networking site like Facebook or Twitter and invite your wedding guests to join your private wedding page. From there, you can encourage or arrange car-pooling options for your wedding guests. Or if you have your own private wedding website, have a special area that discusses how your guests can make car-pool arrangements.
7- Your post-wedding cleanup: When you’re arranging the cleanup, be sure to recycle as much as you possibly can. Paper products, containers, plastic, etc. Bring labeled recycling boxes to your reception location for your cleaning helpers to use. Donate your uneaten food and beverages to a local food bank or homeless shelter. (You can even contact local shelters to pre-arrange someone coming by to pick up the left-over food at the end of your reception dinner.) Compost your left-over floral arrangements and the food you can’t give away.
8- Hire an eco-friendly wedding planner: If you don’t have the time to arrange all of these details yourself, look for an eco-friendly wedding or event planner who can handle these things for you. Be sure to mention all of the wedding elements that you want to be sure are environmentally friendly.
Weddings are a lot of work. You always have to go through the process of choosing your flowers, your food, your favours, your vendors, etc. Remember that it takes no extra time or extra effort to make sustainable, recycled and eco-friendly choices. It’s just as easy to be green.
Tamea Burd is an eco-friendly, professional photographer from Vancouver, BC. She specializes in portrait photography, headshots, corporate and wedding photography. Her website: Tamea Burd Photography
When you’re networking or online dating, it can be difficult to know how to choose your profile photo. That picture is the first impression you’ll give your potential contacts, so making the right choice is really important. Here’s how to be sure you’re using a great photo…
1- Hire a professional photographer: Whether for business networking or online dating, you want to present yourself in the best possible way. Using an arm’s length self portrait taken with your automatic camera, or a slightly blurry, halfway decent shot someone took of you at a party, is NOT a good representation of you.
When you use obviously amateur photos for your profile, it gives the idea that you don’t value yourself enough to bother with a proper, quality picture. However, when you use a professional, good quality photo, it shows that you do understand the importance of investing in yourself.
2- Be yourself: Remember, the whole reason for networking or online dating sites, is to make a connection. You want to choose a professional photo that’s a real reflection of your personality and who you are.
During your professional photography session, don’t fake a big cheesy smile, don’t try to look sultry or mysterious and don’t overdo it with styling products, accessories or make up. Instead, relax for your photoshoot, style yourself as you normally do and be sure to wear clothing that you feel comfortable in and that you wear often.
3- Choose a current photo: It’s dishonest and it also gives the impression of insecurity if you’re using a profile picture that was clearly taken several years ago. (Even if you do have professional photos from more than a few years back, don’t use them, get new ones instead.)
Even if it’s not obvious on the internet that your photo is over two or three years old, when you meet an online connection in person, they’ll immediately realize that you represented yourself dishonestly. It’s much better to use a current photo that shows the best qualities of who you are right now.
4- Know that you’re worth it and it will pay off: When you create a profile to make either romantic or business contacts online, you’re already taking a step toward improving your life. Make the choice to represent yourself with a professional, natural and current photo.
It’s absolutely worth the time, effort and expense, because when you make even one networking or dating connection, it’s an immediate return on your investment.
Tamea Burd is an eco-friendly, professional photographer from Vancouver, BC. She specializes in portrait photography, headshots, corporate and wedding photography. Her website: Tamea Burd Photography
1 – Any price that seems too good to be true, is exactly that. With the accessibility of digital cameras on the market, these days there are literally hundreds of amateur photographers offering substandard service for bargain-basement prices. (Everyone has to start somewhere, but most professional photographers learned the trade by first assisting someone with more experience.) Amateur photographers are those who offer ridiculously low rates because they have no professional training and no professional equipment.
2 – Quality costs more because it’s worth more. If you’re considering hiring a hobbyist or amateur photographer because they’re cheaper, you should bear in mind that the quality of the work will also be cheap. As will the quality of service. If you choose someone because they have the lowest rates, you run a very likely risk of getting photos you aren’t happy with. When that happens, there’s no way to reproduce or replace those moments. Remember, you only have one chance for fantastic wedding photos.
3 – How can you tell the professional wedding photographers from the amateurs? Although it means a bit of research on your part, the good news is that the difference is fairly obvious. In addition the difference in the quality of work, you want to look for a well-developed website. A key thing to check for, is a testimonials page with at least a dozen testimonials. And when it comes to the portfolio of work, check for a minimum of 50 separate images with many different people featured. An amateur photographer may have several images, but a dead giveaway is if most of the photos are of the same few people.
4 – What are some standard professional wedding photography rates? If you’ve been checking out several photographers, you’ll have noticed that price ranges can really vary. But if you’ve done a bit of research, you’ll probably have noticed that standard pricing for obviously professional, experienced photographers – those with good reputations/testimonials, good portfolios and good equipment – starts around $2500 (and can go as high as $5000) for 6 to 8 hours. Anyone charging less, is absolutely not a professional wedding photographer.
5 – Why do professional wedding photographers charge these amounts? Professional photographers base their rates on several factors. The simple explanation is because they’ve invested in high-quality equipment and the best photo-editing software, and due to their years of experience, skill and knowledge, they give the very best results.
6 – Other than taking photos, what are we paying our wedding photographer for? Your wedding photographer’s work is not done once they’ve taken hundreds of photos at your wedding. You’re not just paying for their time on your wedding day; you also need to consider the days or weeks they’ll spend working on editing and finishing your images. Someone charging extremely low rates will not be devoting much time -if any – to putting the finishing touches on your pictures.
7 – Why can’t we just pay less for someone to give us unedited wedding photos? Although it’s a valid question, the simplest way to understand why not, is to ask yourself this… Would you ask a waiter at a restaurant if you could pay less for your food if it were just partially cooked? When you’re paying for something, you receive a finished product. A professional wedding photographer will only give you high quality photos that have been painstakingly edited and worked on in Photoshop and/or Lightroom before they’re ready.
8 -Is hiring a professional wedding photographer really worth the investment? Five years from now, you may not remember exactly how your cake tasted, or what color your flowers were, or the songs your dj or band played. Your wedding photos (and video if you have one) will be the one tangible connection to your memories of that day. Don’t you want those photos to be the best you can possibly have? If you do, then you’ll understand the value of paying a professional photographer what they’re worth, to do your wedding photography right and to do it well.
Tamea Burd is an eco-friendly, professional photographer from Vancouver, BC. She specializes in portrait photography, headshots and wedding photography. Her website: Tamea Burd Photography
On your wedding day, there are a lot (a LOT) of things to remember. So many people and details and moments… It can be really difficult to know what and who to prioritize. The simplest thing is to ask yourself, who is the one person who has to pay even more attention to all of the people and details, than you do? You guessed it, it’s your wedding photographer.
As busy and as full as your day is for you, times that by a hundred and then factor in carrying around at least 20 pounds of equipment the whole time. And, imagine, for the duration of your wedding, having to pay attention to every single person and every single thing going on all around you…
That’s some of what your photographer does on your wedding day.
Wedding photography is a fun job, it’s rewarding and creative and fulfilling. But it’s also incredibly hard, physically draining, painstaking work.
The best thing to do is to remember what it’s like for you when you’re at your job. You can’t do your best work when you’re tired, burnt out, hungry and thirsty. And you can’t work for up to ten or twelve hours without any breaks or food. Well, neither can your wedding photographer.
That’s why the one person (other than your bride or groom) you need to be prioritizing on your wedding day, is your photographer.
How do you do that? Here’s how:
1. Feed as needed.
Make sure your photographer gets something to eat and to drink at least once every four or five hours. If they’re meeting you early in the morning, be sure that you include them in your breakfast plans, or save them something to eat when they arrive.
If you take a break for lunch or snacks, make sure your photographer gets fed then too. And if you aren’t taking a lunch break, have something ready for your photographer to eat at midday, even if you aren’t.
Include them in your dinner and don’t ask or expect them to take photos while people are eating. Not only because nobody likes a photo of themselves eating, but because after a long day, your photographer is going to be in serious need of a chance to sit down and have a break before finishing off the rest of your evening for you.
2. Make time for break times.
Your photographer is carrying around heavy photo equipment all day long. They’re also peering through a lens for hours, all the while holding a heavy camera in their hands. And your photographer has to interact all day not only with you, but with everyone at your wedding. So don’t run them ragged.
Understand that even though you may be going non-stop on your wedding day, you at least get to sit down or take a moment for yourself whenever you want to. Every few hours, your photographer needs 10 or 15 minutes to stop and give themselves a chance to rest their eyes and hands.
3. A little thank you goes a long way.
If you have gifts for your wedding party, have a gift for your wedding photographer as well. The same goes for wedding favors and/or floral centerpieces that you’re giving to your guests. When you’re thinking about who to thank for their help with your wedding day, bear this in mind… Chances are, over the weeks or months since you booked them, your photographer has already put in a lot of time for you.
They’ve met you for a free consultation, they’ve emailed you, they’ve called you, and they’ve probably sent you suggestions and shot-lists and spent at least a few unpaid hours communicating with you about your wedding photography. And they’re not finished work when your wedding is over. They have many, many more hours or days of work ahead of them to edit and finish your photos.
So when you’re giving thank you gifts and giving your thank you speech at your reception, acknowledge your photographer for the big contribution they’ve made to your wedding. Yes, they are getting paid to be there, but there’s no extra pay for all the time they’ve given you before your wedding day.
The importance of all of this can’t be overstated. How your photographer is feeling and how they communicate with you and your entire wedding party, is going to set the tone for all of your photos. Some food, some breaks, and some acknowledgment of their hard work, is all it takes for you to ensure that your photographer is able to do their very best for you. If you’ve hired a good photographer, the better they feel, the better your wedding photos will be.
I just shot a lovely wedding at Brock House. Jason and Nareen were so fun and sweet and wonderful, taking photos of their day didn’t even seem like work! Here are some of my favourite shots from their celebration…
