What to do?

[11A Fotografie]

Hello everyone!

My name is Mariska, I'm from Holland and I'm 21 years old.
Almost a year ago I've started up my photography business after graduating from studying photography in college (here you can).
Now I'm in business for a year and I'm doing well. I didn't expect things to go this good, but I still have the feeling that something is missing.

During College I've had 4 internships, of which 2 were on a studio that did portrait and wedding photography (2 different ones).
So I've been the second shooter on like 5 till 10 weddings so far and I've finished up atleast 20 albums.
But now I can't get any client to book me as their photographer for their wedding.

I've mentioned on my website that I haven't done any weddings on my own yet, but that I have shot many weddings by now, so that I know what I'm doing.

How can I get people to trust me in doing a good job at their wedding?
Because all I hear now is that it's a once in a lifetime thing and they don't want their pics to be ruined. Yeah, well, like I don't know that...

I hope you can give me some tips on how to do this!

[Jim Bryant]

It's probably they either can't afford you or a relative armed with a dslr is tasked with taking the photos. Do you happen to have a website or portfolio handy in which you can show prospective clients?

[sk66]

While I do believe you should be honest and open with clients, I don't think starting with a "I have no experience" statement on your website is going to help at all.

You need to have a good portfolio (web/paper/etc) that speaks for itself.....THEN when a client wants to book you for a wedding based upon your work you can explain the situation one-on-one.

I don't suppose you have usage rights of any kind for any of the photos you took as an apprentice/second shooter?

[candleman]

Originally Posted by sk66

While I do believe you should be honest and open with clients, I don't think starting with a "I have no experience" statement on your website is going to help at all.

You need to have a good portfolio (web/paper/etc) that speaks for itself.....THEN when a client wants to book you for a wedding based upon your work you can explain the situation one-on-one.

I don't suppose you have usage rights of any kind for any of the photos you took as an apprentice/second shooter?

+1
yeah.. that covers it i think.

i'm glad you're doing well.

[windrider86]

It's sure hard to say why as we havent seen your photos or know what you are charging.

I 10000%% agree that telling potential clients that you have no experience before they even get to talk to you is a HUGE mistake. You should be charging lower rates and explaining your situation to potential clients on a one on one conversation.

any chance we could have a link toy our web site?

[11A Fotografie]

Thanks for the comments!
If they can't afford me, they sure as hell can't afford the photographer they hired now, because I'm pretty low in my rates for weddingphotography now, because of the lack of experience...
Here's the link to my website, the weddingpart:
Bruidsfotografie - 11A Fotografie
It's all in dutch, so I think that will be hard for you to read, but I have the rights to those photos, since I shot that wedding as a second photographer in return for something I did for them and they gave me permission to use it promotion stuff.

I would love to know what you think about the presentation of my website and the photos.

[lonni]

Run a competition to give a couple your services for free, and as part of it they have to do a write up for your website on how they thought you went.

Not only will you get exerience but you will get a lot of contact details.

You could also ask for any recent brides who still have their dresses to come for a photo shoot to build your portfolio.

If teh customer doesnt ask how much experience you have then dont say.

hth

[11A Fotografie]

Thanks, I like that idea of a competition! Might get into that!

I've also tried on getting to photograph someone with their weddingdress on a later time, but the woman from the photos on my website hired her weddingdress, so that didn't work...

Thanks for the tips tho! I'll keep them in mind!

[Vagebond]

Hi Mariska,

I don't want to sound unfriendly but I think your web site needs some attention. I'm neither an expert photographer nor a web designer, so this is just an uninformed opinion.

Your home page and the header mention digital processing, sports- and portret photography, with no mention of wedding photography. The only place that's found is lost under the "Informatie" menu. Not even under "Portfolio". People looking for a wedding photographer want a wedding photographer, not someone for whom weddings seem to be a side line. And I'm afraid the last sentence on the sports page, "sports is a passion for many people... sport photography is my passion" won't attract someone looking for a wedding photographer either.

On the wedding page you write: Below are examples from the weddings (plural)... while if I'm correct I see photos from just one wedding.

Good photography is attention to detail, and good presentation too. The grammar, spelling and punctuation should be perfect. For example, you open the wedding photography page with the digit "1" in the first sentence; that should be the word "een". There are no really glaring errors ( unless you count "enigste" instead of "enige" somewhere else on your site and the common Dutch d/t errors) but it might be a good idea to get someone to proof read it for you. Potential customers can be very critical even if they make the same mistakes themselves.

Again, I'm no expert so this is just an opinion. Good luck with building your business.

[11A Fotografie]

Thanks for the comments.
To be honest, I don't wanna become a wedding photographer. I love weddings, but it becomes boring when you do too many. No offense, but that's how I think about it! My passion is sports photography and that's what I'm best at, that's also my goal, so I think it would be weird to call myself a weddingphotography (only?) if my goals is to get on the cover of sports magazines... But I would love to do a wedding or 10 in a year, just because I love to do it.

But thanks for taking a look at the grammar of my website. I have to say that I asked someone to check it for me (someone that works with spelling all day long for her job), and she said she would do it, but I haven't heard from her since and I actually forgot about it... And maybe enigste is just me being from Brabant and I'm kinda proud of that haha.

So yes, my website isn't screaming wedding photography, but that's because it's not my goal...
I started to photograph because of my passion for sports, particularly horse riding, and it turns out that's what I'm best at. I think I'm pretty good at it, so I think and I do focus as much as I can on that...