The information overload that has swept over us from the Internet has created a secondary effect—being good at any skill has become an ongoing process of learning, practising and perfecting more than ever before. There are new techniques to be learned all the time, they’re described out there and there’s no excuse for not learning and progressing!
Strobist, my favourite lighting blog, recently published this article on lighting corporate headshots. An hour of fun in the studio later and we’d managed this shot of Greg. It’s not quite there but I like!
But what does this have to do with a wedding photographer and his clients?
Everything I think. The only way I have of differentiating myself from the hundreds thousands of other photographers out there is by raising my act all the time. Raising the bar, making it harder for the others to play.
Because of the Internet, photographers at all levels are exposed to the very best photographers in the world. And many of them, such as Neil van Niekerk and others, are totally willing to share their techniques with anyone who is willing to read and try.
That’s the crunch, of course. You have to be willing to read and try. For the Strobist shoot that I copied I really didn’t have the right kit—I don’t have a ring light so a soft box stood in, I don’t have the two side soft boxes so Canon flashes stood in there—but the example is what matters. The new idea is there for the taking. All I had to do was make it my own with what tools I have. And, as I said, I like the result.
Couples getting married are faced by an overwhelming array of photographers of all skill levels, all claiming to be good, the best, top quality and competing for the ‘photographer’ part of the wedding budget. Perhaps they can use the Internet’s information deluge to thin out the competition.
“What technical blogs do you read regularly?”
“Who do you consider to be the world’s top wedding photographers?”
“Who influences your work most?”
“Do you copy other people’s work?”
You don’t need to know any of the answers to these questions—just letting the photographer talk will show if there is passion and a desire to learn and progress. That last question is a bit loaded. We are all influenced by what we see. Copying someone else’s work is only a problem if we do it slavishly, without imagination. Copying but making it your own is a wonderful way to grow and is also the way the whole industry progresses, on the shoulders of those who went before.
