So what if this snap of me and my sister-in-law is a "non-pro" image? Someone grabbed her camera, made it, and I love it and want it.
“As professionals, we need to rethink the way we do business,” Reid Mason wrote in response to my post about the value of including guests’ snapshots in wedding photography services. “I think this is a way of going the extra distance to give clients what they want.”
As made clear in my post (and my follow-up post offering some strategies for integrating guests’ images), I totally agree with Reid’s sentiments.
Unlike Reid, I imagine that many wedding photographers will reject the idea of using guests’ photographs. As Ben commented when I shared a few guest snaps from my wedding, “If those are better than the professional photographer’s images then you should have hired a better photographer!”
When judging photographs and the photographers who make them, “better” is totally subjective. And if you are photographing weddings where guests are snap, snap, snapping away, my guess is that many of your clients would like to see those images — best presented, best integrated into your services.
So assuming you are a wedding photographer open to the possibilities of using guests’ snaps, one of the very real issues (if fundamentally emotional) you will likely wrestle is this: But won’t the guests mind?
The Guests Won’t Mind!, The Couple Will be Grateful!
Does asking wedding guest for copies of their photos seem like “stealing” or “cheating”? If you are a professional photographer, it probably does. If nothing else, it will seem awkward, counter intuitive and simply not professional
To overcome getting guests involved, I believe the key thing to remember — as FaceBook proves daily — is that, at least when it comes to photography, this is the Sharing Generation. Making, sharing and commenting on photographs is an increasingly communal activity. The “©” symbol so dear to intellectually-property-defending professional photographers just doesn’t seem to register with any significance to casual, click-happy photographers.
Photographs are made to share!
I am convinced that wedding guests asked (in an appropriate manner) by the professional photographer to contribute to the event documentation will be thrilled — especially if they understand that this is the wish of the wedding couple.
In fact, this thrill factor could be seen as an added value service professional photographers can offer clients — by helping them include the photography efforts of their snap-happy friends and family.
Photography is becoming a fluid, communal activity of shooting and sharing without thinking -- and this is the (exciting) challenge facing today's wedding photographers. Case in point: This is a picture of me at (my decidedly mellow) bachelor's party, taking a picture with someone else's camera, while someone else takes a picture of me.
Keeping Track of Who Shot Whom: Smart File Naming
With a little bit of thoughtful digital asset management, there are easy ways that photographers can keep proper credit for each photographer — whether or not it is important to guests or clients.
The system that I am now playing with relies on a simple, clean file naming convention. I’m still working it out, but at this point I suggest you simply add initials for each photographer directly within the file name.
Yes, metadata can be used instead of (or in addition to) this method. But for now, my thought is that, as in multi-photographer photojournalism events, having the photographer’s ID right in the file name is most practical.
For example, file naming might look like this:
• Jones Wedding_0001_es.jpg = photographed by the pro, Yours Truly, Ethan Salwen.
• Jones Wedding_0002_ms.jpg = clicked by guest Meryl Streep
• Jones Wedding_0003_tc.jpg = this one captured on the iPhone of Tom Cruise!
• Jones Wedding_0004_es.jpg = back to Ethan
• Jones Wedding_0005_jd.jpg = I din’t even know Johnny Depp was there!
• Jones Wedding_0006_es.jpg = again, back to Ethan
Six images, four photographers, one simple, clean naming convention — all lined up chronologically. (See strategies in Part II.)
Wedding Guests Are Good Competition
So, um, what happens if my client loves 02 by Meryl, 03 by Tom and 05 by Johnny and, um, are not so fond of my 01, 04 and 06? This, of course, could happen, and will happen to a certain extent. And this, understandably, could make many wedding photographers uneasy. But I think the unease is unwarranted.
Two reasons why the more guest photographers, the merrier:
#1: Competition is good. If we are scared of healthy competition, we shouldn’t be in the business. Or stated less negatively: guest photographers are not “bad” competition. These are not other pros stealing the show or undermining our profits. These are “competitors” in the good sense: keeping us on our game, pushing us to make the best images we possible can, images that prove our value as pros.
#2: Our clients won’t mind — at all. Sure, a snarky client could say, “Why the hell did I hire you when I had Meryl, Tom and Johnny doing all the work?!?” But do you really want to work for someone like this? And, it’s not really going to happen. Clients will totally appreciate that we are delivering images from the Meryl, Tom and Johnnys of the wedding — in a way that they can best enjoy — and providing our stunning images, and delivering all of these diverse images in one, stunning package that documents their wedding better than any single photographer ever could.
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Click here for Part I of this series.
Click here for Part II of this series.
Click here for Part IV of this series.
October 18th, 2011 11:56 am
thanks for the advice but i don’t mind in #1: Competition is good lol