Documenting a wedding means discovering and anticipating whatever is unique, personal, dynamic in each. And in a way that lets the event unfold naturally, searching with the camera for an honest expression, reactions, laughter, style, color, fashion, tradition and even the details & dining-room decor. Sometimes it also means gently making a suggestion for a spontaneous portrait or pose.
I treat a wedding like any important assignment: From the moment a client first calls or sits down with me, I am gathering details about the arrangements, the location, the clients likes, dislikes, interests and personality. When possible, I visit the location and gather ideas firsthand. The goal, with you, is to capture the flavor of the wedding. I also bring my own style and visual preferences, which include photojournalism with a bit of art photography & portraiture.
Full Wedding Photo Packages generally run between $2,000 and $4,000 and can be custom tailored somewhat to best fit the needs of each client. — Tom Tracy.
What type of photography style do you prefer for shooting a wedding?
We emphasize photojournalistic and editorial-style photography that lends itself to photo essays and custom wedding books and other projects, along with an appropriate mixture of family and bridal party shots and formal portraits. Often the two styles overlap, and the formals or posed photo sessions lead to fun, spontaneous photo opportunities. Each couple sets the tone regarding how much effort to spend on formals and when. With a little planning formals can be done very quickly.
Where are you based?
Palm Beach County, Florida, and I travel throughout the South Florida region. Generally, we are shooting weddings from Vero Beach to Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale and Miami on the east coast of Florida, with several weddings each year in the Naples area. Destinations such as the Florida Keys require a custom price quote for travel. We have shot weddings in Orlando, Fort Meyers and the Bahamas in recent years.
Can we meet in person first?
After an initial phone call to get things started, and we can follow up with a personal meeting to talk about your wedding events and review my portfolios, wedding book samples, pricing, etc. Sometimes I suggest meeting couples at their wedding location, church, synagogue or hotel so we can tour the site together and formulate some ideas firsthand. Engagement and beach casual photo sessions are also a great way to get to know you. For destination wedding couples making arrangements from out of town, we can do everything we need to do by phone, email and fax. About 50 percent of our clients are out of state, and many were interfaith ceremonies.
Who will actually photographs our wedding?
Last year, I photographed each of the weddings he booked, along with some shooting support from a small team of hand-picked photographer-colleagues who serve as second shooters at the weddings that require or request two shooters from different angels and covering different aspects of the wedding events — mostly during the first half of the day.
What kind of packages do you offer?
We have about five or six broad package arrangements based on the overall timeframe we spend at your wedding (generally between fiveand eight hours) and the post-production components such as custom wedding books, parent books, DVD movie slideshows, print enlargement packages and ownership of the negatives and digital files. Shorter wedding packages are also available especially for weekday and off-season weddings not requiring travel.
What kind of wedding books do you make?
We make the modern flush-mount, custom-designed, coffee table books. Sometimes you will see coffee table books referred to as magazine style — they are produced in a variety of sizes and endless options, with customized covers and various layout styles, generally starting at 8×12 inches with a minimum of 40 pages. Couples generally choose the images for the layout and we provide a list of suggested photos to complete the story-telling and artistic aspects. Or you can leave all the design decisions to us; Layout & design another is another area where newspaper and magazine editorial experience are useful. We also have wedding packages with print enlargement collections rather than finished wedding books.
How many images do you shoot?
More than you can ever use for all your projects. A typical wedding or event generates more images than can ever be utilized in our projects so not to worry.
What’s the most important part of the wedding day for photos?
Obviously, it’s all important, but starting the day a little early and getting in the grove with our clients well before ceremony start-time is extremely useful, advantageous and recommended. Early on is when the bride and groom are least distracted and available for some creative photos and portraits, and it’s when a lot of the fun stuff and candid shooting is going on. The best thing a bride can do on her wedding day is finish getting dressed a little earlier and not lose photo opportunities during that important timeframe before the wedding.
What kind of camera gear do you use?
We have a collection of quality Canon gear, with back-up gear and special lenses.
What happens after the wedding?
Immediately after the wedding we back up and process your digital images, then prepare the proofs for private online proofing and for custom proof books. Within about two weeks or so after the wedding, and often much sooner.
How are Payments calculated and scheduled?
We add state sales tax to the cost of your wedding photo package and generally divide the total amount into thirds unless the event is fast approaching: the first third serves as the deposit-first installment. A second payment of the same amount is generally due midway between the time of booking and the wedding. The final payment is always due on or before the date of your wedding. Payments can be made by cash, personal check or major credit card.
Do you also provide video service?
Video is certainly a nice addition to the wedding but I do not retain video photographers and I view video as an extra item sometimes unnecessary. I have a list of preferred wedding video production and other wedding vendor companies and planners that I enjoy working with and who are exceptional pros and which I am happy to share with you if you book me for your event.
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