Wedding Photographer Needed

[nihamiton]

Hello! My name is Nicole Hamilton and I am getting married March 24. I am looking for a photographer for my wedding, however I have some special request. See, both my mother and fiance are photographers as well; however they will not be taking the pictures. I need to hire someone who will just be willing to take the pictures and give me an unedited CD of the pictures. I am looking to pay this person $40.00 an Hour for their services alone (just to stand and take pictures), $60.00 for travel expense (the wedding is in Hempstead, TX), and $60.00 for the unedited CD (just uploading the photos and putting them on a CD.)

Therefore paying $280.00 (for 4 hours) for someone to just take the pictures and give them to me. I already have someone going to be printing the pictures and my fiance is a graphic design artist and would like to edit his own pictures.

Would you be willing to do that?? The wedding is March 24 at 5 pm. I would need the individual to stay until 9 pm.

Please let me know ASAP. Thank you!

[*Mike*]

WANTED: Monkey with a camera. Mediocre pay, low expectations. Call 555-1212.

[nihamiton]

I like the rudeness and sarcasm. I personally think that $300 is a reasonable price for someone to take 40-50 pictures and nothing else. Why to photographers think that the freaking worl owes them .. my uncle who is a surgeon (plastic to be exact) was insulted at the fact that he spent years of schooling and doesn't get paid in a day what some photographers make. The craziest part is, most photographers do not have years of schooling. Unless you had a PHD behind your name I am not going to pay you thousands of dollars to take reception photos.

[*Mike*]

LOL. I was just about to say, "sorry, this just struck me funny." But, my son called me away for a minute. Nevermind.

[babybluetx23]

PM sent

[smseeley]

Isn't the average salary for a wedding photographer something like $26,000??

[*Mike*]

Originally Posted by smseeley

Isn't the average salary for a wedding photographer something like $26,000??

Yep. Few make enough for a good living... Now, if they happen to be able to make people look better with a camera and Photoshop than a plastic surgeon can with a scalpel, then there's some good money in it.

[HotHolly]

You're near Houston, right? You might want to try a local college. Most of the colleges have online job boards and students are usually willing.

You never know, you might find one that's really good and just hasn't been discovered yet. But you may not. Rates tend to run with experience, and experience tends to run with likelihood of screw-ups. And there is a lot that can get screwed-up. Be careful & Good luck...

[JMI]

both my mother and fiance are photographers

Really? How much do THEY charge for a wedding? If you really want to make the point that some professionals are overpaid because of the industry they're in I'd suggest you start with entertainment, sports and a few others before you start busting photographers' chops.

Obviously you don't believe there's anything to it other than "just to stand and take pictures." No prob. Give your mother's camera to some friend of yours who's feeling a bit put out about not being in the wedding party and tell her you wouldn't trust anyone else with capturing your wedding memories. Everybody's happy and you got out cheap.

I guess your uncle should have been a photographer. Then he'd be shooting $10,000 wedding gigs 6 days a week and livin the high life just like the rest of us! WhooWeeeeee, it's rough, I tell ya.

Scuse me, but I gotta run now. I have to go take my Ferrari in to have the Perrier changed in the radiator.

[adirty1]

one of the most important days and your going to trust some one with little to know experience to save a few hounderd dollars.

I just dont understand people. I am not going to go to mexico or Domican to get a face lift i am going to pay some one that i know is going to do it right.

I wish you luck in finding some one...

[smseeley]

Hey, we probably shouldn't be too mean, afterall it is a common misconception that people have about wedding photographers. When I got married the biggest expense of my wedding was my wedding photographer. I figured that she was probably racking in big bucks in this business, but when I visited her house she lived in an average house in an average neighborhood, nothing fancy at all. And her husband worked full time as well. When I started shooting weddings myself and figured in all the costs of advertising, equipment, time etc. I realized that wedding photographers most definitely do not make as much money as most people think they do.

[shutterflypro]

You get what you pay for! If you pay for $25 for a wedding cake and it falls oh well you got what you paid for.

We would like to see the prices and websites of your Finace' and others though to see what guidelines you are going by. That would help us a lot to understand wherre you are coming from.

Remember a real pro has thousands of dollars invested in equipment, training and insurance.

You have to realize that to your high end pro, what you poted earlier could almost be considered an insult. Not saying that you did but it cn be taken that way.

Think about how your uncle would respond if I went in and told him I wanted a nose job but I thought it was only worth 50 bucks. How would he respond or act?

[Paulo]

Originally Posted by adirty1

one of the most important days and your going to trust some one with little to know experience to save a few hounderd dollars.

I just dont understand people. I am not going to go to mexico or Domican to get a face lift i am going to pay some one that i know is going to do it right.

I wish you luck in finding some one...

Ouch! : )
I understand what you're trying to say here but...as GREAT as many US doctors are, not all people in Mexico specialize in for example, landscaping or restaurants. There are MANY skilled dr's and beautiful, technologically-advanced hospitals there. But major difference is, if they mess up your procedure there....you can't sue like in the US.
(by the way, I'm not trying to be rude or attack you. Not at all. I just don't agree with the comment)

[shutterflypro]

Originally Posted by *Mike*

WANTED: Monkey with a camera. Mediocre pay, low expectations. Call 555-1212.

[MODERATOR SOAP BOX]
Mike, while I definately understand where this came from, please do not do this. It can come across as very insulting. This is a friendly forum and we want to keep it that way.
[/MODERATOR SOAP BOX]

[adirty1]

Originally Posted by pm-image

Ouch! : )
I understand what you're trying to say here but...as GREAT as many US doctors are, not all people in Mexico specialize in for example, landscaping or restaurants. There are MANY skilled dr's and beautiful, technologically-advanced hospitals there. But major difference is, if they mess up your procedure there....you can't sue like in the US.
(by the way, I'm not trying to be rude or attack you. Not at all. I just don't agree with the comment)

i understand that there are great place to go that are legit but there have been news stories of people going to the domican for plastic surgery that 700 dollars vs the 5000 in the US... then those same people had to have it fixed. that's where it comes from.

it goes to you get what you pay for. that was the point i was trying to make.