Well, I'm not against Social media at all ... and I most certainly agree that digital has been a great teaching aid ... Hell, being a more intuitive shooter, I had a terrible time with mathematically unforgiving strobe lighting until digital came along.
(BTW Jono, all my clients are at least more than half my age ... and all of them are
very active on Facebook, etc. I repeat, they do NOT want their professional images placed there ... a function of
wanting to see them first before anyone else ... which I totally agree with).
Brides may be forgiving about shiny foreheads and noses, and their Mom's chin that looks like a pack of hot-dogs when they are on Facebook ... but not from their Professional shots. I don't care who you are, that takes considered edit time, and frequently requires retouching ... more importantly I am hired because of my story telling approach, and that requires a sequence of images that are in finished form.
Frankly that's okay with me, I do not need immediate mass media exposure ... word-of-mouth is far more powerful with the clients I want to work for. The ONLY "like" I strive for is that of the client! Were I younger, developing my skills, and less established I'd be all over the Social media outlets and genuflect every time I was in the presence of a digital camera because it can teach so well
However, I target the more successful client, who at any age tends to have the means to pay for what I do. (I prefer to shoot less and get paid more). These are birds of a feather that flock together, and share selectively, not with everyone they ever met.
I'm not sure what dynamic is going on with these clients, but they tend to take an exclusive personal view of their paid wedding images ... they seem to segregate the whole experience from the day-to-day stuff that's so well represented by herds of Facebook snaps posted before I even have a chance to look at my images. The whole story is very important to them, not just part of it ... the very reason they hire me in the first place.
In reality, it sets up expectations and anticipation ... they expect and anticipate more across the board ... and I repeat
want to see them before anyone else does... which is why I formally preset their images and whole story to them personally on a pair of 30" screens. Some very successful wedding shooters even present using digital projection onto wall sized screens.
It took me a while to learn that exclusivity pays better, a lot better, and Social media doesn't promote that at all.
My end game is to provide prints and an album to seal the sense of permanence ... I've found that family histories are disappearing at an exponential rate ... and learned from scanning and restoring family prints that no one kept the negs, with prints being the keeper record. I think digital files are more like negs in this regard ... which is why I make at least 2 or 3 large prints for every wedding client ... a revelation to them since people rarely print anything large anymore. Even if there is a divorce later on, the children want the pictures.
Individual prints for my clients tend to be family portraits or vanity portraits of the couple or Bride ... that the insightful individual candids I'm known for seemed to take a back seat used to be a bit depressing, but as time went on, my clients tended to see these individual shots as "priceless".
The album is the most important archival element and story telling tool ... a lesson I've learned myself now. This winter I plan on doing my own books starting with 10 years of vacation photos.
For those interested, here is one of my recent wedding albums ... one that features a bit more formal images than some I do, but it matched this couple's personality and desire for a more formal record of their day and families ... it still has a number of candid shots, but not as many as usual. They ordered 3 copies ... one for them, one each for their parents ... one was sent to Russia for the Groom's family.
Sam/Andrey's Album - fotografz
Here's a small sampling of the more candid work I tend to be hired for.
The Unconventional Eye - fotografz
- Marc
Oh, BTW ... Facebook is a great tool for wedding photographers because it can help you to get to know the client very swiftly. I friend them as soon as they sign with me, look at their galleries, and follow their posts for awhile.