Melissa November 29th, 2008
In my long rambling post below I stated that all of the images used in my 2008 highlights slideshow were taken by myself. It has been pointed out to me that two of the images are actually Mike Patterson’s- the one of the two little boys walking down the path and the one of the baby asleep in the church. Sorry for hijacking your images Mike, wish I had taken them!
Melissa November 27th, 2008
I find it difficult to believe but I have come to the end of the 2008 wedding season. Thinking back to this time last year I remember looking forward to my 2008 weddings, all of the couples I met were so lovely. I had taken a bit of a gamble and completely changed my wedding package. I went from offering a basic package with the option of adding on additional things after the wedding such as an album. In theory this worked very well but in practice I found that couples would putting off getting an album despite wanting one. So after all my effort to take the very best photos that I could- to process each one individually on the computer to make it look its best the stack of 6×4 photos probably ended up languishing in a cupboard, drawer or (shiver!) cardboard box somewhere.
And to be completely honest, there was another more selfish reason for disliking my previous ‘a la carte’ style of pricing. I had no way of predicting how much income I would have. Perhaps every couple would order an album, perhaps nobody would. In order ot prepare for the latter case I needed to take on more weddings than I felt comfortable with- in 2007 this meant I shot and processed 52 weddings. This was a very heavy workload for someone who is a bit of a perfectionist and I burned the candle at every end possible.
It was a workload that I couldn’t maintain without letting my personal life or my work suffer so I needed to come up with a plan. If I knew that each couple would get an album I could definitely cut down the number of weddings I need to do so I came up with a package that includes an album. Here is where the gamble comes in- I made it my one and only package. I included everything that I could think of that couples would be interested in; including a proof book, an album and all of the printable images on DVD. This was in addition to the online gallery and slideshow that I had previously provided.
The other upshot of this for me was that due to the increased price it ensured that I would be working with couples who really value good photography. When I was starting out I had many many wonderful couples but I did occasionally get couples who would tell me they were ‘not too bothered about the photography.’ Understandably this would take the wind out of my sails a bit!
So, I took the gamble and I can now report that it worked out well both for myself and for my couples. Due to a more manageable workload I can now focus (pardon the pun!) more time, energy and enthusiasm on each wedding. Many of my couples are enjoying their wedding albums with more to follow shortly. I will do a separate post in the future about why I feel the wedding album is such an important keepsake but it is something that I feel strongly about.
I am so sorry for rambling on so much but I am in an end of the wedding season reflective sort of mood! I am a very tough critic of my own photography and am constantly striving to improve my work through online forums and attending workshops. One method of assessing my work that I have found particularly helpful has been putting together an end of the year slideshow as it gives me the opportunity to review the year’s work. I have just finished this year’s show and am very pleased with it. All of the images used were taken by myself- I have had the pleasure of working with two very talented photographers as assistants this year- Mike Patterson and Angelo Mercone and they have each captured many amazing images but I prefer to only use my own work in the end of year slideshow.
If you have managed to read this entire post, bless you, and I would love to hear any comments you might have about my show.
If I photographed your wedding this year thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to capture such a special day for you, it is an unbelievable privilege.
So, without further ado…(there has been far too much ado already I think!)
www.melissamannion.com/2008show