A Photographer’s Thoughts: A Matter of Trust

Last week we spoke a little about the need to really trust your wedding photographer. One of the reasons it’s so important to find exactly the right photographer for you is in order that you can trust them to get the images you really want and you can just relax and enjoy your day safe in the knowledge that the pictures are under control. This level of trust isn’t exclusive to photographers of course, it’s essential that you can trust each and every supplier to deliver the day you want, otherwise you’ll spend your wedding day distracted and expecting impending disaster. But the photographer and/or videographers are the ones who will be with you all day, that are there to record all of your memories. You will see them all day and if you don’t trust what they’re doing there’s no way to hide from them, you’re going to be reminded of that underlying nervousness all day long.

Image by York Place Studios

But the key (and one of the reasons we’ve gone into so much detail about getting the right person) is to establish that trust at the point of choosing them. By the point that you’re contacting photographers you will hopefully have looked at their portfolio – the images they themselves like to take, and also checked their blogs for records of full wedding days. You’ve established that you like (or hopefully love) their work and that this is the type of photography that you really truly want. Now it’s time to trust both your initial instinct and the professional that you’re asking to do the job. It’s so hard when you’ve put so much work into the wedding and have created your perfect vision for the day to then allow someone else to create their own take on it, but you have to let go and allow them to do it. With every photograph you take you inject something of yourself into the image, and so unless you’re going to photograph your own wedding then the photographs will never be the exact same way you yourself see your wedding. In choosing someone whose work you really love you’re giving them the privilege to see it their way, and to get the best images you have to keep faith in that decision.

Image by Ed Peers

That means that if you’ve booked a Fine Art photographer you have to accept that their style might be to sit back and take fewer photos but wait for that one amazing shot. It may look like they’re not doing much but that’s just their creative style: fewer overall shots but with one absolutely incredible image. If you’ve booked an Editorial style of photographer you need to allow them the one-on-one time to be able to create those perfect killer poses – don’t allow enough time and you just won’t get those shots. If you’re booking a documentary photographer because you want complete naturalism and are looking for them to capture all of the guests in relaxed, candid moments then don’t give them a list as long as your arm full of group shots you want them to capture. And if you’ve booked a contemporary photographer expect that they might occasionally try out unusual techniques that might just raise a few eyebrows!

The key thing to remember though is that whilst no-one knows your wedding the way you do, wedding professionals (unless it really is their first wedding) are generally vastly experienced in how weddings work. They will need a breakdown of the day to know roughly what is happening when, but there’s no need to fret about telling them every last detail of every minute of the day – they’re experienced and knowledgable enough to know where to be and what to do in pretty much every situation, and if you’ve chosen your photographer wisely then by the time of the wedding you’ve probably built up a bit of a connection to help them understand exactly what you want. It’s not about “tick-lists” to pre-determine every shot, it’s about giving enough information for the photographer to know to be in the right place to capture that big surprise moment you’ve planned for all your guests outside rather than be inside capturing the details at the time.

Image by Ed Peers

For the most part though just remember your photographer is likely to be pretty much wherever you are so you don’t need to worry about them getting photographs of you throughout the day – it will just happen naturally. Depending on their style they may well want to take you away from the main action to get a few portraits, but generally as long as you’re where the action is then so will they be!

I guess what we’re trying to say is that as hard as it may be to trust someone else that they will get the right results with your day, failing to trust them is the one guaranteed way to ensure that you don’t.

“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”

– Ernest Hemingway