Houston, Texas Photography Company receives Bride’s Choice Award from WeddingWire

Houston, Texas– February 1, 2010- WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced Photographics has been selected to receive the WeddingWire 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™ for Photography!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PR Log (Press Release) – Feb 02, 2010 – Houston, Texas– February 1, 2010- WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced Photographics has been selected to receive the WeddingWire 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™ for Photography!
The annual Bride’s Choice Awards recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.

Photographics is among the top five percent of all vendors in the WeddingWire community, which includes over 100,000 wedding professionals across the US and Canada. Awards were given to winners across 19 different service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers.
“We are excited to recognize and honor the success of the top wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “The annual Bride’s Choice Awards program has given us the unique opportunity to highlight the best wedding professionals in each region as reviewed by brides and grooms who have utilized their services in the past year.”
We are happy to announce that Photographics is among the very best in the Photography Category within the WeddingWire Network, which includes

WeddingWire and Martha Stewart Weddings. We would like to thank our past newlyweds for nominating us for the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards.
“It’s quite an honor to be chosen”, said Nathan Simmons, owner of Photographics.  “We love serving our clients and we place an emphasis on service so that our clients can relax and enjoy their day, knowing that they have chosen someone with experience.  With so many people getting into photography and with so many options presented to the bride and groom, we are honored whenever we are hired by our clients and even more pleased when we generate long lasting relationships with them.  We have several couples that we have the honor of covering almost every major event in their lives – engagement, wedding, maternity, baby’s first pictures, and the first family portrait.  Those are the relationships that make this profession worthwhile.”
For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at http://www.weddingwire.com/biz/photographics-houston/684 ….
About WeddingWire, Inc.

WeddingWire is the only online wedding planning resource designed to empower both engaged couples and wedding vendors. WeddingWire enables engaged couples to search, compare and book over 100,000 reviewed wedding vendors nationwide, from wedding photographers to wedding cakes. WeddingWire also offers an online community and a suite of cutting-edge planning tools, including wedding websites and wedding checklists, all at no charge. For wedding vendors, WeddingWire provides free online management tools creating the only market opportunity that gives businesses control over their clients, reviews, leads and performance. In addition, WeddingWire has partnered with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (NYSE: MSO) to provide its network of local vendors and online wedding-planning tools in the Weddings section of www.MarthaStewartWeddings.com. For additional information, please visit www.WeddingWire.com.

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Freelance photographer, available for weddings, special events, sports, and other photographic needs. Photographics has been in business since 1986 and places priority on service and quality.

Here are some of the places I’ve shot:

Renaissance Houston Hotel Greenway Plaza

Ashton Gardens

Houston National Golf Club

St Edward Catholic Church

Brady’s Landing

Tuscany Villa

A. D. Bruce Religion Center (on the campus of the University of Houston)

Sweetwater Country Club

Foundry United Methodist Church

The Pavilion on Gessner

Paraiso Maravilla

Hotel Galvez on Galveston Island

OK, I know what you’re thinking….”He’s going to try and make me choose him.”  Well, yes, but I also want you to know that it’s not just about choosing me.  In fact, I can recommend several great photographers (see the link above about Wedfog -The wedding photographers’ directory), but I mainly want you to see the difference between hiring a professional verses allowing that special friend or your Uncle Bob or Aunt Sally to be your wedding photographer because they just got a real nice digital camera.  I also want you to see why you need someone with experience over someone who just started shooting weddings last month.

Experience

I was talking to a friend of mine recently and she is getting ready for her wedding in a few months.  When I asked her how the wedding planning was going, she replied “great! and I found a wonderful photographer for my wedding!”  I was happy for her, but continued to inquire about the “professional wedding photographer” and found out a few things that worried me.  First, the person had never shot a wedding before.  The photographer was a portrait photographer and according to the bride, had some wonderful portraits on her site, so they should be able to shoot a wedding.  While this sounds good, it’s not always the case.  I am a portrait photographer as well and when shooting a portrait, you can control the client, the poses, the environment (in some cases), and the lighting.  Second, they had no albums to show her.  How can I know how “great” a job you’re going to do for me if I have no proof of it?  Third, they were restrictive in what they were offering.  My friend wanted an image to place in a newspaper announcement and wanted to choose it herself, but the photographer wouldn’t allow it and they insisted that they had more experience in choosing the proper photograph.

Shooting a wedding is completely different.  Each location is different.  The ceremony location may have large windows, or no windows at all, high ceilings with lovely lights, or low ceilings with ceiling fans.  The wedding photographer may be able to use flash, but some places, especially Churches do not allow flash photography during the ceremony or any photography at all and the wedding photographer with experience can adjust to those conditions whereas someone who has never shot a wedding before may not be prepared.

When you meet with the wedding photographer, make sure you are able to view samples of their work from any wedding they have shot.  In fact, that should be one of the first questions that should be asked – how many weddings have you shot?  In this new digital age, many people are becoming “professional wedding photographers”, but you have to ask yourself, do you really want someone to get their feet wet at YOUR WEDDING??

There are several wedding photography “companies” that have started up recently, that claim to have the best photographers on staff.  Some of them even provide you with a list of those photographers who also have their own studios as well.  The down side is that if you book with one of these companies, the chances are slim to none that you get any one of the wedding photographers on the list they showed you.  the chances are greater that you would end up with someone with little or no experience in shooting weddings.  Even worse, you won’t find out who your photographer is until it too late to do anything about it!  I’ve spoken to some brides that didn’t know who their photographer would be until the day of the wedding!

You also want someone who understands that this is YOUR WEDDING DAY and not their creativity project.  the wedding photographers’ job is to make your memories and not theirs.  your wants and wishes should be the priority. 

Equipment

Wedding photography is far different from most other types of photography and the equipment that the professional wedding photographer carries is essential.  Brand name doesn’t matter (Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Olympus, etc..), but make sure that the wedding photographer has the proper camera bodies and lenses to take care of you.  If they are shooting film (yes, some of us still shoot film), make sure they have enough to cover any issue that may arise.  If they are shooting digital, then they need extra data cards as well.  While not mandatory, it’s always good for the wedding photographer to have at least one “spare” camera as a backup in case something happens to the primary camera and most non professionals only carry one camera body and only one lens and if either breaks or fails to work, then you are left without wedding memories!

This, in a way, goes along with experience, but needs to be addressed separately as well.  As technology advances, the cost of equipment goes down so much so that almost anyone can afford the latest and greatest “digital toy”.  I shoot freelance sports for local local publications and while on the sidelines, I notice a lot of parents with equipment similar to mine and in some cases better!  Often, even with the better equipment, they do not know enough about to be able to adapt to the different lighting or environment issues that come up in weddings (dark churches, candlelit ceremonies, different types of light at the reception, etc.) and therefore can’t make the necessary adjustments on their camera to compensate for it.

Along with shooting digital, professional wedding photographers have the computer equipment, software, and knowledge necessary to produce a good final result, whether in print, album, or CD.  the latest 8-10 megapixel camera, the fastest computer, or the latest software program is no good unless the person knows how to use them properly.  Professional wedding photographers have experience framing, cropping, retouching, and enhancing your images to give you just the look and feel you want.

One thing to consider also when hiring friends or family to shoot your wedding:  they are your friends and family!  During the ceremony and especially during the reception, they could lose sight of the fact that they are “hired” and forget about taking pictures and start having fun.  A professional wedding photographer is there to serve and work for you.  You will only have one opportunity to make these memories and they are too important to trust to someone without experience.  There are wedding photographers in every price range and in every budget so please do not let cost be a factor in deciding whether or not you have someone there to make your memories all that they should be.  We photographers have a saying:

The food and cake will be consumed before the evening is out

The reception hall will be left behind at the end of the night

The flowers will all be dead by the end of the week

But the Photography lasts a lifetime.. plan for that part first.

and in your planning, plan on getting a professional!