Frequently Asked Questions!
What is the best way to select a photographer?
We would suggest word of mouth first and foremost, professional recommendation second (ie, referral from another photographer or videographer) and then by checking the testimonials for a photographer on their testimonials pages. In the case of testimonials, ask if you can speak to previous clients, we know all of ours would be happy to talk to you.
How do you protect against things going wrong?
Some things can't be protected against, lightening strikes, broken limbs and numerous other acts of god, however, your photographer should have relevent insurance. It helps if they are members of a professional body, we belong to SWPP and can be found under the South Wales section.
How good are you?
A very personal question for sure but a valid one, we show multiple weddings, multiple portrait shoots and complete works. We don't just show the best five images of the day, after all, anyone can get lucky with a photograph. We literally show hundreds of images and weddings from meeting the bride getting ready through to the first dance. Make sure you see a complete set of work before deciding.
How safe are our photographs when taken digitally?
We endeavour to safeguard everything we do, all images are backed up to a master server, written to an external hard drive and copied on to two sets of DVD's one held on-site and the other off-site.
Why pay for a professional photographer?
It's best answered by having you come to see us for a 20 minute chat, there is too much to put in an FAQ like this. Simply, it's a question of understanding what works, we have literally shot thousands of professional images. I would like to quote what someone excptional once said, "Amateurs practice to get it right, professionals practice to never get it wrong!". For an amateur photographer, one good shot out of 100 is acceptable, for us, one bad shot out of a hundred is annoying!
Do you both take photographs?
Yes, it's what gives us the edge over many of our competitors and over Uncle Fred ;o) Jacs and I have photographed together so often that we know what the other will be doing, as I set up some of the classic shots, Jac takes the ad-hoc images that catch people unaware of the camera. Its a winning formula used by many of the best photographers in the wedding field.
How much does your wedding package cost and what do we get?
Our starter package is £900, this includes both of us for a pre-wedding shoot, a full day at your wedding from getting ready to first dance and all the work involved in post production. Every image taken is reviewed and professionally edited to match the actual day. With all photography, colours have to be reviewed and enhanced, this happened with film as well as now with digital, it's just that we use photoshop, not chemicals to do the post processing. To have your photographs after the wedding, you have a choice of books, framed pictures, conventional albums and DVD slideshows. Give us a call for the breakdown of full costs.
Where will you travel?
We will go wherever you want us! We are currently in negotiation about an overseas wedding, for that, we ask the couple to cover the basic costs of travel, board and food for the period required. Within the UK, we travel all over but again, if the venue is more than 50 miles from Cardiff, we may ask for travel expenses, if it requires an overnight stay, we ask that the accomodation is arranged.
Why do you do this job?
It's a passion that we happen to be very good at! We love weddings, portraits and location photography! Seeing those amazing images in an album, on a wall, or on the TV screen in the case of a DVD slideshow is amazing. We like to do things that are extraordinary and fully engage our creative abilities. We work with people to produce what they want and what people really want is to look incredibly gorgeous in an emotive photograph. Life is GOOD!
Hope all that information helps, if you have any questions that we haven't put here, please... drop us a line and ask, we will answer all that we can.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Paul and Jacs