We started fairly early at the International Peace Gardens in Salt Lake City.
It was actually the first time i had been there while the flowers were actually in bloom, last time i went everything was dead - i guess it was winter.
Please check out the complete photo shoot here: http://alanjphoto.com/danielamandab/dandab.html. No, i'm serious - please check it out. I really need some honest feedback on these photos.
One of my top priorities has always been to make sure the bride is happy with her pictures, and i got the impression she may not have been too happy with her bridals. i wanted to get some input from everyone else on whether as a bride-to-be you'd be happy with these bridals if you had paid $400 for the complete package (engagements, bridals, wedding and reception). Please feel free to be honest.
I think there may have been a couple of other factors that influenced the pictures that day... That morning i know she forgot her flowers and earrings, but those are things i don't have any control over. Later that evening i got the impression she may not have been feeling well and asked if she wanted to reschedule, but she wanted to continue. Again, out of my control - and i almost feel i can't be responsible for those factors. What do you think?
Overall i thought the pictures turned out great, but then i looked back through them again and now i don't know. i'm too biased either way - either too critical or not critical enough.
After the International Peace Gardens we took a break and agreed to meet later on and drive down to American Fork Canyon for the final shoot. Amanda had actually debated between AF Canyon and the Great Salt Lake for sunset. Unfortunately, at the time of the discussion the skies were clear and i indicated that the sunset would probably not be that spectacular - yeah, i was wrong.
We ended up wrapping up right before it started pouring rain. And on the drive back to SLC the sunset was just awesome! Doh!
I really love these falls (you may have seen them before here and here), but it's kinda funny because while we were shooting, someone had setup their campsite right here - tents and everything. It was actually kind of a pain keeping all their stuff out of the photos all of the time.
Anyway, please let me know what you think. i had indicated that if she wanted another shoot that she'd have to give these pictures back and not use them. Obviously though, if i get enough negative feedback i'll just do another shoot. I naturally want all of my clients to be happy, but at the same time i don't want to be taken advantage of. While it may sound bad, there's a reason some of my packages are $400, $500 and more and there's a reason that they're NOT $3,000 (i wish).
7 comments:
Oh my sweet hubby. I'm sorry that you're feeling so down on yourself. Like I said before, she has lots of great photos to choose from. There are several that I don't particularly care for, but for the most part I think they look great. I don't like her flowers with AF Canyon... it just doesn't look right. But there's nothing you can really do about that either. I love you lots!
Okay, my 2 unprofessional cents...
I think the thing that throws me off is that the lighting is so darn harsh in several pictures. I can see why she would possibly be disappointed in some. HOWEVER, I think you DID get some beautiful pics. MY FAVORITE were in the evening by the mountainy area. Sure, the flowers may not fit just right, but the overall picture is STUNNING! The lighting is great, scenery amazing, etc. And like Jen said--she DID have several to choose from. Besides, you are doing the wedding too, right? Maybe you can take a few solo at that point. I wouldn't set up a completely different photo shoot unless she is absolutely unhappy.
Really, $400 is great. For all she is getting, for all the distance you traveled, etc.
Good work--aside from the lighting issue--some people are just hard to work with. :)
Hi Alan:
I am impressed you got any good shots (wasn't this the shoot with the sick bride?). I LOVE LOVE LOVE the shot of her face with the veil over it (worth the package price in my opinion). I do agree that the lighting is really not great in the first few. (Odd, since you are so conscience of that--was it too late in the day for your liking?) I guess it is up to you (and the bride) if you want to try and do one more shoot somewhere else. You are a great photographer, don't stress it.
in the first few shots...yeah it kind of looks like she's having a hard time with how bright it is...and the shadows aren't very flattering on her face..but there really are only a few photos like that. the rest look great. i looked at all the photos you took and i liked a lot of them. however...i think you can tell that she doesn't feel too hot. so its definitely something out of your control if she just wasn't feeling 100%. i definitely think she got a great deal and some really good pictures. don't be so hard on yourself!! they look good!!
Just wanted to put a few things out there... First off, thank you all for your helpful feedback. Like i said, i'm occasionally too biased either way to be a very good judge of my own work - i either think it's far worse than it may really be, or far better than it actually is. Second off, Amanda has been great to work with. The purpose of this post wasn't so much to "prove my client wrong" as just get honest feedback on the photos. i just need to be sure that what i bring to the table is up to par. And finally, paying more for my photos doesn't entitle anyone to somehow better quality or results. No matter how much someone pays, i'll always try to do my best. The more expensive packages simply include more opportunties for those shots. i just wanted to be sure i wasn't implying that if someone pays more they'll somehow get better work from me than someone who paid less.
Oh, and one more thing: i did do those shadowy pictures at the beginning of the shoot on purpose, i thought they might look kinda cool, being all contrasty. Apparently i was wrong, which is valuable information for the future.
I don't know exactly how I found your blog. But if you don't mind input from a total stranger, I have a couple of comments about Amanda's bridals. My daughter's a photographer and does a lot of weddings, bridals. Your work is very good. The problems that I see with some of the pictures are with the bride - not your photography. You mentioned that she wasn't feeling well at one of the shoots. Without knowing that, my thought was that the bride got out of bed, threw on her wedding dress and veil and showed up for the shoot. She looks much prettier in the set of photos where she's wearing a little jewelry and brighter make up. The bride still has plenty of very good pictures to choose from.
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