After sharing everything that I done for shooting food during traveling than today I’m gonna share something that belong to primary job as a photographer and that is a wedding photography tips that really easy to do and really fun to do even you just begin your photographer career.
Dear all blessed wedding photographer friend my name is Bima and thank you for visiting my blog and today I’m gonna share my journey as a photographer for running my own studio for over than a decades. Generally I start this business because I really love shooting for moments and wedding is the only niche that make me always feel fun for every session that I had.
Before I begin share this tips I have to tell you something about how I start this business back in 2009. I was graduate from architecture student in 2008 and joining a formal short photography course in Jakarta for 2 months and following that moment than I just begin my Bima Adhitya Photography journey. I run this business with my lovely wife, Nina, who belong to my personal assistant and make up artist for several couple that we had. Now we already serve wedding session in Yogyakarta, Bali, Jakarta, Bandung, Surakarta, and Surabaya for local wedding and we also go to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Macau, Maldives, and Srilanka for international session.
It was fun and truly blessed because first time we run this business is just taking our hobby into the next level passion.
When I Know That I Will Be Someone Better in Photography Than in Architecture
After I graduate in 2008 I was thinking to work in architecture firm but I sure I just become an ordinary guy who went to the office from 9 to 5 and leave my wife and kids at home or simply just meet them in the night. I know that life is sometimes feel so boring if we only do the routine and just an ordinary person but my dream is being someone that able to give legacy better than others.
Lately I choose to work in a job that already become of my previous income stream since 2004 and this is the photography.
I doing my first pre wedding session in 2009 and hosted my own friend in a near by beach from my hometown. It was fun because after finishing my session than I able to earn US$150 for 6 hours work and that was amazing comparing to monthly regular salary here in my town which is get only US$100, I think I was doing something better on that day.
I love those picture above and it takes around early 2009 in a common beach just by 1,5 hours driving from my house. Love the moment so much when I asked my couple to hold their hand and look at each other with a magnificent view of the ocean. I printed that photo and put in an album and surprising my couple so great till they also want me to print it in a bigger photo which they able to hang it on the wall.
Me and my wife are a beach lover even we go so often to the beach and make a letter or Bima and Nina in the white sand. Ya I know that it seems to be weird but this how we took our love into another level. My journey begin into another level when someone asking me to come to Bali and shoot for their engagement in Kuta Beach. I was so excited and also confuse because having a photoshoot in such crowded beach like Kuta is truly impossible till I got a super tight angel to my couple in Bali.
Bali, one great place that every people from across the globe are coming through. I ever imagine to live in this city where people celebrate their wedding every day during wedding session from April to October but this city become so touristic till a lot of crazy traffic where I can’t live by.
I know that sometimes I still fly to Bali for a short wedding session like I had for Danilo and Eka in the Sanctus Uluwatu and Jasmine and Arthur in Conrad Nusadua but after finish the session than I will go back to Yogyakarta and processing all the photos. Time flies and I already go to overseas for shooting wedding and portrait but my previous love about beach is still running till there is someone from Hong Kong who ask me to fly to Maldives for engagement session.
Look at this frame,
5 Wedding Photography Tips for Beginner
OK, now we talk about the most principal that you must know and do at the your first year of photographer career. Everyone do this business because they love it and that’s what you must keep on your heart that you must love photography it self to make your business sustain and long term.
I know that I’m not the best person in the world but I will try to give the best guidance that you could try for your self.
1 – Gears will Just Nothing If You Not Put Love on Your Frame
Even you just bought a brand new high-end technology camera but put your love on every single frame that you made is really important. You may using a simple Nikon D7100 till Nikon D5 that costs thousand of dollar but the most important thing is you put the feeling while shooting.
Gears will just a gears but one thing that you must know is,
“You are the MOST IMPORTANT part of your artworks”
When I shoot for Andi and Daniar in Kuta Beach bali in 2011 I was shooting with Canon 7D and 17-40mm f.4 L series lens but when I shoot for Denise and Joel in Maldives in 2015 I still using Canon 5D Mark II which is so old during that year but the end result was still amazing and make my couple blown away. Old camera is just fine as long as you work through passion and put all the energy into the frames.
2 – Serve Your Couple as Same as You Serve Your Wife
If you serve your wife in bad way than you might be sleep on the terrace for nights and that work on your business too. Till now me and Nina already married for 11 years and I still go to small store near my house just to buy bucket of flower that cost less than US$3 for her.
So comparing that serving 40-50 couple in a year but can not get closer to them than I choose to serve less than 20 couple in a year but I want to make a great connection with them. Few days ago I saw on TV that Singapore now become a country with Corona virus victims so what I did is taking my phone and chat in a Whatsapp to my previous couple and just make sure they and their son are OK and I was so grateful that they just fine!
If you see my photo above is taken by my wife after shooting in the hot sunny day in Maldives, what I don’t imagine is I got chicken pox disease during that moment. I know that there is something bad in my body when we transit in Colombo Srilanka because there are a lot of acne in my whole body and I don’t feel good when night sleeping.
What I did is keep shooting and give only the best result from my couple even if you ever got a chicken pox than your whole body will feel so painful especially when you got a water splash on it, what happen during that season is I have to swim in the sea and take an under water photo in the Indian Ocean, result was so great but the whole body is so painful.
3 – Deliver the Printed Album and NOT JUST Photos in a USB
Few years ago I still deliver a result in a USB and I don’t lie to you that I was on that position surely, what I care about is just saving more money or give the cheaper price for my package but lately I know that I did wrong on it.
Printed your photos in an album is not for making your price cheaper but this belong to make your photos up into the next level masterpiece. You’re not going to just spending more money for printed photos and album but you are in the process of branding your self into better photographer. By print your photo you also put your legacy on it and let your couple able to enjoying your photos better than just simply scroll up and down on the Instagram.
Even for presentation than this core-board printing paper is my special weapons which come better than just displaying my photos on laptop, seriously it works and give a better result.
4 – Classic Couple Pose are Still Superb!
There so many couple pose recommendation if you browse on internet or searching on Pinterest but classic pose are still reliable to set for every couple that you had.
I’ve been shooting for Joanna and Angga’s pre wedding in 2014 and one of most lovely pose that I love so deep is on the photo above. I ask the groom to release his black suit and hold it with his left hand while I ask the bride to standing right in front of him and simply put her right hand on his partner. You always can do this ordinary pose easily no matter where you are, on that scene I am in a beach called Ancol but if you got no beach and found a lake, mountain, or traditional market than it still works.
You will get a better guidance about this tutorial by opening my classic couple guidance.
5 – Keep Loving What You Do and Enjoy the Process
Before this paragraph I already told that you might love this business because of passion but one day you might think about paying your bills, or giving a monthly money to your parents, and may be you also have a debt in a bank.
Don’t lose control because you have to focus on this business for sure so learn more in photography or joining a seminars and webinar are still reliable for anytime. I sure that you must know that you can’t cut off the process a.k.a the time so enjoying it while you still love for what you do is one great step to make your business sustain and stay in a great condition for long term.
This is the end of my sharing today so I hope you got a nice information from me about wedding photography tips and if you want to get some more information in detail than you can read my ebook of Wedding Photographer Nightmares.
or browse on my photography information page. I love to keep in touch in my Instagram just in case you want to make me as a better friend and I will happy to have you too on my account, so cheers up and keep in enjoy on what you doing in wedding photography!
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