Questions to Ask Your Wedding Photographer

So everyone searches the Internet and finds a list of questions to ask their potential photographers.  There are so many important aspects of photographing a wedding and trying to pick the best match for you from a list of questions can be very tough.  Today's top photographers are producing images that are very similar.  There is then a big drop off to the next tier of photographers and they are all producing similar images.  The rapid development of new equipment and the cost of the equipment dropping has allowed the market to open up and allow many start-up photographers in.

What this means to you is that once you find a group of photographers with styles you like, you need to meet with them and make sure the chemistry is there.  The most important part of hiring your photographer is knowing that you can spend the day with them.  Personalities have to match up or you may find conflict with your photographer on the wedding day. To help your meeting be more about personalities and details than about asking these questions we have taken the photographer question list from weddings.about.com and given you our answers below.  

1. What’s your primary style? Posed and formal, relaxed, photojournalistic, creative, artistic, candid, traditional? While Ashley and I encompass many different styles during a wedding shoot, we are most likely to be shooting in a relaxed and photo-journalistic style.  The idea is to capture the story of your wedding day without being a part of your wedding day.  We should act as guests all the while not compromising the quality or creativity of your photos.
   
   
2. Do you shoot in color or black and white? Or both? Do you shoot in a digital format that can create both color and b/w versions of the same picture? Ashley and I shoot everything digital...people still use film?  I joke.  Film still has it's place.  With everything being shot digital we can do pretty much endless editing afterwards with the ability to convert any photo to black and white or sepia or etc...  The reality is though that some photos just make better b&w versions than others.  As Ashley edits the photos she makes the determinations and creates the versions as she goes.
   
   
3. What kind of input can we have on the direction of the shots? Can we give you a shot list to work from? This is a great question.  The answer is ALWAYS a ton and YES.  While you have hired us to be there and shoot your wedding you have also given us the creative freedom to put our personal touch on your wedding photos.  This does not mean that we dictate every photo taken.  We know what we normally get (during formals) but are always wanting to know exactly what you want.
   
   
4. Are you the wedding photographer who will actually take our pictures? If not, can we meet the person who will be? One of my favorite questions to answer.  Ashley and I ARE Nuzum Photo.  So yes.  While sometimes one of us may not be able to make a wedding you will always have one of us at your wedding.  Because we always shoot with two photographers we then bring along a second photographer.  In 2009 we both shot every wedding.  36 total.
   
   
5. Can we meet any assistants who will also be taking pictures? As mentioned in the above question, Ashley and I shoot the majority of weddings.  The only occasions where she would miss are unforeseen events.  So the likely hood of being able to meet that second photographer so close to your wedding would be unlikely.  We'd like to think that you'd trust our judgment in who we bring along.
   
   
6. How many times have you worked specifically as a wedding photographer? How many were similar to the size and formality of our wedding? To answer part one...as of today, 02.04.10, Ashley and I have shot 70 weddings (nice round number, 71 as of this Saturday...early congratulations Lisa and Jeremy!) The second part is a wedding by wedding answer.  But to give you an idea we have shot weddings with as many as 28 in the wedding party and some with just the bride and groom.
   
   
7. How many other events will you also photograph that weekend? Another of my favorite questions to answer.  We only book one wedding or event on a day.  That allows us to focus on one couple and give them our full attention.  How can anyone focus on you and your big day if they are thinking about the wedding they have to go to later or were at earlier?  With Ashley and I it's all about you.
   
   
8. What kind of equipment will you bring with you? How intrusive will lighting, tripods, other equipment or assistants be? For the equipment we use see this blog post. As mentioned Ashley and I want to be as invisible as possible, but we do bring lighting with us.  We rarely use tripods and only use off camera lighting during the formal photos.  We typically have one big chest that carries our light stands and lights and two backpacks with camera gear.  The light stands and the chest they come in disappear after we finish formal photos.
   
   
9. Do you develop your own film? No (were all digital), but Ashley does all of the editing of the photos. 
   
   
10. Can we buy the negatives from you? The best answer to give yet...All of our wedding packages come with ALL of the full-resolution digital negatives.  How great is that?