Wedding Archives - Page 2 of 4

What Does Sephi Bergerson’s 6 Year Quest Look Like?

September 2, 2014 by Seshu | Editor & Publisher 5 Comments

I am reading an advance copy of Chris Guillebeau‘s new book, The Happiness of Pursuit. In the first few pages of the book, Chris describes a quest as thus:

– Has a clear goal and a specific end point.
– Presents a clear challenge.
– Requires sacrifice of some kind.
– Often driven by a calling or a sense of mission.
– Often requires a series of small steps and incremental progress toward the goal.

My friend and fellow documentary photographer Sephi Bergerson began his quest six years ago to document a wide variety of Indian weddings. When you look at his work, you'll agree that his images are heartfelt and stunning. After years of pursuing these Indian weddings in India, Sephi is now ready to publish a book. But he is clear that he wants to publish and distribute it in a non-traditional way. Today, he launched “Behind The Indian Veil: Weddings In India“, a crowd-funding campaign to raise $42,000. At this writing, he has already raised $615!

A few days back Sephi and I sat down to talk about his journey and why he decided it was the right time to launch this campaign for “Behind The Indian Veil: Weddings In India“:

(I am again sorry that the poor connection didn't allow us to record this as a true video.)

Here, however is a video that Sephi just uploaded to his campaign page:

Behind The Indian Veil Book from Sephi Bergerson on Vimeo.

Having seen Sephi's previous book – Street Food Of India – I can tell you that “Behind The Indian Veil: Weddings In India” will also be a book that you will easily explore and lose yourself.

Here are a few of the many images you can expect to see in the custom-designed book:

So, what does Sephi's six year quest look like? To find out, step up and support the “Behind The Indian Veil: Weddings In India” campaign today!

What The Sharing Economy Means To The Wedding Industry

July 3, 2014 by J Sandifer 2 Comments

The sharing economy is disrupting industries throughout around the world! Companies like Airbnb, Relay Rides, Task Rabbit, Uber, Lyft and dozens more companies are changing the way people think and consume.

What is sharing economy?

The sharing economy is a consumer paradigm in which a person is willing to share his or her time or asset with another person. The paradigm enables people to maximally utilize the assets that they own or decide to use someone else’s assets. Airbnb helps people share apartments, Relay Rides helps people share cars, Task Rabbit helps people share their services.

Why does this matter to the wedding industry?

As a professional wedding photographer, you’re accumulating a trove of wedding images. Traditionally, the value of your wedding images has ended when you deliver them to a newlywed couple. Today, if this is all you’re doing with your wedding images, you’re leaving value on the table!

Other vendors need access to professional images of their work now more than ever. In the past other vendors could get by with a handful of nice images on a website. Today, in the age of Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, engaged couples have a heftier appetite for images. Today, vendors need to share a regular stream of fresh professional images on social media to stay relevant among engaged couples. You’re sitting on these images, and you can get something for them.

The current image share paths from photographers to other vendors are fragmented, cumbersome and, most unfortunately, do not enable the photographer to capture the full value of his or her images. I’m fixing this problem with LulaWed.com. Our new wedding directory helps photographers easily share wedding images with other vendors and capture real value from sharing.

How LulaWed helps photographers.

LulaWed allows photographers to upload albums of real wedding images and tag the venue and other vendors who participated. We find the contact info for vendors you tag in albums, email them a link to your album and encourage them to share your branded images of their work on social media.

LulaWed provides easy one click access for other vendors to share your wedding images to their Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook accounts. The images shared are branded with your logo or watermark and lead back to your listing on LulaWed. The end value to photographers is more exposure among unique social media networks and more referrals from other vendors. The end value to the other vendors is they get to share professional images of their work online.

Your marketing dream team.

Imagine if you had a marketing team of 10, 20 or even 100 people working to promote your business to engaged couples. This would be amazing and really expensive! You don’t need a marketing team promoting your business, you need other wedding vendors promoting your business.

Today's social channels allow savvy wedding businesses to build successful online followings across multiple platforms. Sharing your images on LulaWed allows other wedding vendors to market their business and yours simultaneously to unique social media networks. For example, when a couple sees your image shared on Pinterest by another vendor, the couple can click on the image back to your LulaWed listing. You keep all the credit, and you get the referral.

You never know which vendor your tagging will have a huge following on Pinterest.

By a photographer, for photographers

I worked as a professional wedding photographer for the past 12 years in California and Maine. I’ve shot over a hundred weddings and my wife’s current photography company shoots 60+ a year. I understand that brides come and go, but the industry will always be there. Take care of the individuals who can refer you and you will build a business that thrives!

Our platform is designed to require minimal effort by you to get your images shared by other vendors! We’re constantly adding new features and partnerships that make it easier for you to share images with other vendors. Recently we launched a new feature that allows you to skip the image upload process completely when you integrate your blog RSS feed. LulaWed can pull real wedding images right from your blog.

Free listing offer for Tiffinbox readers!

Tiffinbox has been a valued resource to me as a professional photographer, so I want to share the love with other readers. Right now, when you create an Enhanced listing on LulaWed, use promo TIFFINBOX to get 6 months free!

I hope LulaWed helps you get more value from your wedding images. Signup, upload weddings, tag vendors, and let me know how it goes!

Is Going To WPPI Every Year A Necessity?

February 18, 2012 by Seshu | Editor & Publisher 2 Comments

On Twitter, on Facebook and even on LinkedIn, I have been asked the same question: “Are you going to be at WPPI?”

The short answer is: no. The somewhat longish answer is: no, not this year, but hopefully the next.

It got me thinking, however, about my friends who have been to every single WPPI convention in Las Vegas for the last 20+ years. That's commitment. That's loyalty. That's staying power. That's knowledge. Those photographers are obviously much more advanced than I could be; knowing their craft, the business and the industry we are all members in.

Can you imagine going to every single WPPI convention? Are you that committed to your business or to the industry?

Is WPPI the must-go event of the year for wedding and portrait photographers? If you are going, what do you get out of conventions like WPPI? How do you pay for the entire experience? Do you set aside a special budget for it? If you are not going, why not?

Are there other conventions you attend on a regular basis? For me MysticSeminars and Inspire Photo Seminars provide great value. Why? Because I live in Connecticut and while MysticSeminars is in my back yard, I think of Inspire Photo Seminars as being in my front yard, in Massachusetts. The smaller, more intimate, nature of these events are also a bit factor in my decision to commit to them every year. I guess, then, it comes down to one's personality and goals.

So tell us a little bit about you and your goals. Would a big (and I do mean BIG convention like WPPI) be your cup of tea or would you prefer smaller, more regional gathering of wedding and portrait photographers.

Please comment below!

Your Playbook For Simple Wedding Photography

February 16, 2012 by Seshu | Editor & Publisher Leave a Comment

I can't say it any more plainly. If you are starting out in wedding photography, or, if you have had some experience but have hit a roadblock in your business, you are going to need Simple Wedding Photography [affiliate link], Photography Concentrate's newest tutorial in a book.

As I read my complimentary review copy, I had to wonder how much better my own business would have been had such a resource been available when I began in this business back in 2000. Size isn't indicative of anything. But at a whopping 200 pages, Simple Wedding Photography is going to be my go-to playbook if I have a questions about the craft or business of wedding photography. I feel so good about recommending this book to you because its value will be felt for years to come.

The book offers two essential parts: photography and business. It's rich in actionable information. That means the book suggests ways in which you can go out and do what it is teaching you. I personally learn from books like this faster than even going to a workshop.

Rob & Lauren Lim of Photography Concentrate are not new to the wedding business. As wedding photographers, they have created enormous value for their clients. This book, Simple Wedding Photography, is essentially a brain dump of sorts. They have pulled their experiences together and written it all out in logical chapters and as a beautifully designed PDF. It's a jargon-free book, that flows smoothly from one concept to the next.

You can get Simple Wedding Photography today at 40% off. Even at its normal price, of $39.95, this is a steal. Learn more about the book and buy it here. It even comes with a 60-day money back guarantee!

The duo has also published a mini-book: 7 Simple Ways to Market Your Wedding Photography Business. This PDF is totally free and makes for a great companion to the book that is on sale today.

If you buy Simple Wedding Photography, you also get these following bonuses:

A complete client wedding album design to demonstrate storytelling start to finish

We’ll walk you through the sample album with a video screencast commentary

Wedding Day Worksheet to make sure you get all the critical information

Wedding Prep Checklist so you’re completely prepared for the big day

Wedding Day Shot List for a clear look at all the must have images to create

Post-Wedding Report Card for easy review and future improvement

Brand Identity Worksheet to help figure out the message behind your brand

How To Create Fun Wedding Ring Shots

February 1, 2012 by Doug Levy 5 Comments

Doug Levy is a photographer based in Acton, MA. He shoots weddings and portraits. Check out his blog. Check out Doug's first guest blog post about second shooting weddings. Doug will be teaching reception lighting techniques at Inspire Photo Seminars. Follow him on Twitter.

When Seshu saw my year in review post with my favorite ring shots of the year and asked me to write a guest blog about rings, my first thought was, “That's not substantial enough of a topic for an entire blog post.” Then I gave it some more thought and realized there might be enough there after all.

With my ring shots, the light is almost always the same, small flash through an umbrella or white diffusion panel, as close as I can get it. Shutter at max sync, aperture in the F/8-16 range (you want that diamond to pop!), and ISO 100 or 200.

There are other tricks too. A few years back Matt Grazier turned me onto the idea of magician's invisible string (to help rings stand up), and though I've never been able to make it work for me, I definitely see how it could be a useful tool.

With the technical formalities out of the way, on to the fun part.

My ring shots almost always about one of two things – humor, or something personal to the couple. Sometimes, it's easy.

The groom was a big Bruins fan, and their wedding was just a few weeks after they'd won the cup, nothing crazy here.

Sometimes though, it's not quite so obvious.

A bottle cap from room service.

The card from the coffee at the end of the night.

A hotel room key (the couple was going to Hawaii on their honeymoon).

The dessert table is a great spot to dig up ideas.

So is the bar.

When I get really stuck, I start looking for text.

It would be easy to put the rings on the flowers or the cake at every wedding. That's easy. That's also, “been there, done that.” And I never want to repeat a shot. To me, that's just throwing in the towel and being lazy. I love it when potential clients come over and wonder aloud what I'll do with their rings – that's the fun part. Then comes the, “I need to step up my game and do this better,” part. But that part should never go away, and that's what makes it fun.

Share links to your wedding ring shots below in the comments section.