My Uncle has a camera...

I've heard this a lot. I have also heard "My friend has a nice camera" and many other reasons why people will not pay to hire a professional for their wedding, maternity or family portraits.
While I understand it always feels good to save money, there are times when you get what you pay (or don't pay) for. Photography is a good example of this.
Everyone knows you can save money if you shop around, for, let's say, toothpaste, as an example. You know the Colgate you buy at store "ABC" is going to be exactly the same as the Colgate you buy at store "XYZ".

Photography is unique in that it captures a single moment of your life, in an image. This image can be  kept and enjoyed at by yourself, friends and family forever. These are the images of your life. I know candid family photos are priceless and everyone should be taking photos of their loved ones but for those special occasions do you really want to risk it all just to save a few dollars?
Once in a while I will give a quote on a wedding or portrait session and I get the response that it is too much money and the potential client is going to have a friend or family member do the photos because they have a nice camera. Good for them. It's not the camera that makes for great photos. It takes some skill.
I have a very nice Estwing hammer. Any contractor would say that it is what a professional carpenter might use. But can I build a house. No. Not even close.
I bet there are lots of wealthy uncles out there with fancier cameras than mine. Do they know how to use them or understand the flow of a wedding. Who knows? Do you want to take that chance?

There seems to be a disparity between what people spend on all the little details of a wedding and their investment in the only detail that will last forever - the photography. The great dress, the fancy hair, all the work that went into decorating the reception hall is a fading memory without photos.

Recently I was asked to quote on a wedding which I estimate, based on the locations used and the number of people, to cost around $20,000 and yet they told me their budget for photography was only $400. Really! And no, I didn't do the photos for them.

The opposite of this is a wedding I did last summer where the bride had two photographers (myself and another). It was great. We helped each other out, shared equipment, spelled each other off when we needed a break and the married couple received well over 1000 great photos to cherish for the rest of their lives.

This is not meant to be a rant, rather a reminder that we are all changing. Life changes. The people around us change. We should value ourselves and those we care about enough to have quality photos to remember, to look back on and smile.

kurtknock.com