looking for photographer for wedding day

[materick]

hi,

exploring possibility of freelance day photography cause feel damm kenna chop by all the bridal studios.

in any case, hopefully I can find something budget here for actual day, and hopefully causal shots pre-wedding day. i don't expect super excellent outstanding high quality impressive work/skills, but at least must be quite good. (many "professional" bridal studios photographs claim they are worth their salt, but i think some of the photos I have seen here while browsing are better)

Looking at April - May 2009 period, (sat or sun), digital photos + simple editing/effects will suffice. If interested, do send me your conatct, price, portfolio (or online album, works, ect whatever u call it) to materick@gmail.com

cheers@~

[materick]

oh yea, also looking into the possibility of having a freelance actual day makeup artist. (SHE must approve/be happy/feel at ease with you before we say okay)

Partly cause we were around when a friend had her "professional" makeup artist do the work, and i felt that she was totally unprofessional, wore damm damm casual, nothing to shout about her work, and charged damm high fees after being recommended by studio. Also, our friend didn't meet the "professional" makeup artist when they signed the package (common mistake i suppose) and had to take whatever "professional" makeup artist the studio allocated.

oh well, i'm trying to learn from other's mistakes, so if you/or know anyone who is quite good, may want to earn some extra money, again, please do send me your contact, price, and if possible portfolio (?? if you happen to have any....) to materick@gmail.com

thanks.

[materick]

upz.....

[nicholas68]

hi, i haveemail you..................ty

[snowspeeder]

what is your expected budget for both the pre wedding and actual day?

[jayliberator]

hi, emailed you

[jayliberator]

hi, emailed you

[materick]

hey everyone, thanks for the replies. alot of emails, seems the pricing and services very competitive here. Gotta go tru the works and also must let her see before we proceed any further.


btw, those charging 800++ above all the way to 1500, forgive me for saying this, but how come sooo expensive? in fact, it's more expensive than what those bridal shops propose. and given that most packages are around 3k+ to 4k+ and some super chop ex are at 5k, isn't it crazy that the day photographer is charging almost 50%.....?

worst, can someone explain to me how come free lanse photographers command such a high fee? 1k per day for 10 hours work is $100 bucks per hour. i know of part time lecturers in local universities are sometimes paid around that. i work 12 hours days in the office, 5 days a week, 4 weeks a month like a donkey and all i get is approx $25 bucks an hour..... somehow i feel cheated here..... where's the demand to command such a high fee?


hope i don't get flamed here. just trying to make some sense in spending so much money, just to get married in singapore...

[fotoudavid]

Originally Posted by materick hey everyone, thanks for the replies. alot of emails, seems the pricing and services very competitive here. Gotta go tru the works and also must let her see before we proceed any further. btw, those charging 800++ above all the way to 1500, forgive me for saying this, but how come sooo expensive? in fact, it's more expensive than what those bridal shops propose. and given that most packages are around 3k+ to 4k+ and some super chop ex are at 5k, isn't it crazy that the day photographer is charging almost 50%.....? worst, can someone explain to me how come free lanse photographers command such a high fee? 1k per day for 10 hours work is $100 bucks per hour. i know of part time lecturers in local universities are sometimes paid around that. i work 12 hours days in the office, 5 days a week, 4 weeks a month like a donkey and all i get is approx $25 bucks an hour..... somehow i feel cheated here..... where's the demand to command such a high fee? hope i don't get flamed here. just trying to make some sense in spending so much money, just to get married in singapore...

U haven see the other part of singapore maybe. I am charging $180 per hr, still alot less to many ard.

[fotoudavid]

By the way, photography is a professions.

[Dream Merchant]

Originally Posted by materick hey everyone, thanks for the replies. alot of emails, seems the pricing and services very competitive here. Gotta go tru the works and also must let her see before we proceed any further. btw, those charging 800++ above all the way to 1500, forgive me for saying this, but how Ucome sooo expensive? in fact, it's more expensive than what those bridal shops propose. and given that most packages are around 3k+ to 4k+ and some super chop ex are at 5k, isn't it crazy that the day photographer is charging almost 50%.....? worst, can someone explain to me how come free lanse photographers command such a high fee? 1k per day for 10 hours work is $100 bucks per hour. i know of part time lecturers in local universities are sometimes paid around that. i work 12 hours days in the office, 5 days a week, 4 weeks a month like a donkey and all i get is approx $25 bucks an hour..... somehow i feel cheated here..... where's the demand to command such a high fee? hope i don't get flamed here. just trying to make some sense in spending so much money, just to get married in singapore...

$1K for a full day AD coverage from a seasoned professional is dirt cheap. Most of them will not be able to survive on that sort of rates.

$1.5-$1.8K seems reasonable for a seasoned pro.

If you break it down, nope, it's still cheap because here where it starts:

Say AD is from

6.30am - 4.30pm (10 hours)

BREAK

Dinner - 6pm - 11pm, sometimes later (5 hours)

Sub Total: 15 hours.

Now is when the REAL torture work begins ...

Photographer goes back to office/home whatever and downloads work.

1/2 day to sieve through and make a rough selection, and set whatever parameters to edit the work according to agreed contract. 4 hours

Another 3-7 full working days to edit, compile, lay-out, design coffee-table book if ordered, run to printers, run to clients. 8 hrs x 7 days = 56 hours, NOT including time and transport costs.

Based on the above ALONE, that's a total of something like 75 hours, NOT including time for meeting client and discussing, reccee location, run to printers, run to coffee-table book maker, run to deliver to clients. Factor this in as another 1 full day's cost.

So, you;re looking at 15 hours of shooting, + 60 hours editing + roughly 8 hours worth in running around and meetings etc gives you about 83 hours of hands-on work.

THE BOTTOM LINE?

Say you pay that exorbitant kenar cheated by photographer fee of $1,500 divided by 83 hours works out to a

GRAND TOTAL of $18.07 cents PER HOUR.

You say you work like a donkey, but at least you're getting paid 138.35% MORE than the working wedding professional photographer charging you $1.5K.

I can't figure out how any professional wedding photographer can survive on $18.07 per hour. Bear in mind that a person can only accept a fixed number of assignments per month, and there will be months like the ghost month where they can have zero bookings = ZERO INCOME for the entire month!!!




But but but but but, in order for all that to happen in the first place, there's this to consider - something pointed out by one of Singapore's prominent wedding photographers:

transport cost.

meeting the clients needs time and money,

confirming and collecting the retainer/deposit cost time and money.

meeting a few days before the client's wedding cost time and money.

going down to cover the wedding needs time and money.

going home to rest in-between the festitivies cost time and money.

going back to the dinner venue cost time and money.

returning home from the long day cost time and money.

meeting your clients to deliver your work cost time and money.

that is just transport cost.

albums,

sample albums, sample prints, sample pictures, sample CDs
electicity costs

computers need power

cameras need power

flashes need power

electric bills are going up again.
hardware cost

cameras cost money
camera parts cost moeny
lenses cost money
lens hoods cost money
filters cost money
memony cards cost money
batteries cost money
flashes cost money

camera bags cost money
computers cost money
ram cost money
harddisk cost money
monitors cost money
mouse, keypads, card readers, cost money
extention cords cost money
tables and chairs that you sit to edit your photos cost money
going to buy these equipment cost time and money.

softcopy costs

photoshop cost money
software to enhance your pictures cost money
other photo editing. enchaning slideshow software cost money
anti-virus software cost money
internet cost money




real or fake software, also need money to buy.

bills

phonebills need to be paid
servers need to be paid
marketing tools need to be paid
salary needs to be paid

cost of sales

CDs need money
DVDs need money
covers need money
paper need money
ink need money
paperback need money

office?

rental bills, car bills, tables, chairs, lights, water, fridge etc........

albums,

sample albums, sample prints, sample pictures, sample CDs




For most wedding professionals using full frame cameras or professional bodies, ED or L lenses, equipment alone already can easily cost more than $10K - $20K. Some pros exceed these figures.

For the record, I am not a wedding photographer and am not a partner to any pro wedding photographer.

It's really not fair to say you feel cheated before knowing about how much blood, sweat and sacrifices a wedding professional makes, besides the mountain of costs they face just to deliver never-to-be repeated memories for Clients ... unless you get divorced and remarry of course.

All the best in your search for a good, sensitive and reliable professional wedding photographer.

[chanxj]

As I always tell my customers, get whoever who suits your budget, but the service and deliverable level is pegged accordingly. The real professionals really take pride in their work. As Dream Merchant has pointed out, many of them have to do post processing, liasing with printing shops etc. Also the investment in equipment is heavy(don't forget every piece of equipment most probably has a backup piece). They also have a family to feed and look at it this way, if they take up too many jobs a month, quality will deteoriate, but if they take up little jobs at low price, they wouldn't be able to make ends meet.

[namespace]

I believe many wedding photographers have heard about Jessica Claire. Click on the link below to see her basic charges.

http://jessicaclaire.net/connect.cfm?type=client

FYI.

[Dream Merchant]

Originally Posted by namespace I believe many wedding photographers have heard about Jessica Claire. Click on the link below to see her basic charges. http://jessicaclaire.net/connect.cfm?type=client FYI.

You forgot to mention that the $15,000 was in US dollars and that traveling professionals will also demand that airfare and accommodations be borne by Client. And no, they will not usually accept Balestier Road or Hotel 81 type arrangements.

Does the Ding Dong man charge less? Was it he starts at US$10K per day?

But this one high end. Most locals won't even consider engaging a US wedding pro. The most I think I've ever heard a local going for was around 8K for the actual day IIRC.

[catchlights]

Originally Posted by materick hi, exploring possibility of freelance day photography cause feel damm kenna chop by all the bridal studios. in any case, hopefully I can find something budget here for actual day, and hopefully causal shots pre-wedding day. i don't expect super excellent outstanding high quality impressive work/skills, but at least must be quite good. (many "professional" bridal studios photographs claim they are worth their salt, but i think some of the photos I have seen here while browsing are better) Looking at April - May 2009 period, (sat or sun), digital photos + simple editing/effects will suffice. If interested, do send me your conatct, price, portfolio (or online album, works, ect whatever u call it) to materick@gmail.com cheers@~

Good luck to you.

[catchlights]

Originally Posted by materick oh yea, also looking into the possibility of having a freelance actual day makeup artist. (SHE must approve/be happy/feel at ease with you before we say okay) Partly cause we were around when a friend had her "professional" makeup artist do the work, and i felt that she was totally unprofessional, wore damm damm casual, nothing to shout about her work, and charged damm high fees after being recommended by studio. Also, our friend didn't meet the "professional" makeup artist when they signed the package (common mistake i suppose) and had to take whatever "professional" makeup artist the studio allocated. oh well, i'm trying to learn from other's mistakes, so if you/or know anyone who is quite good, may want to earn some extra money, again, please do send me your contact, price, and if possible portfolio (?? if you happen to have any....) to materick@gmail.com thanks.

Good luck to your wife.

[catchlights]

Originally Posted by materick hey everyone, thanks for the replies. alot of emails, seems the pricing and services very competitive here. Gotta go tru the works and also must let her see before we proceed any further. btw, those charging 800++ above all the way to 1500, forgive me for saying this, but how come sooo expensive? in fact, it's more expensive than what those bridal shops propose. and given that most packages are around 3k+ to 4k+ and some super chop ex are at 5k, isn't it crazy that the day photographer is charging almost 50%.....? worst, can someone explain to me how come free lanse photographers command such a high fee? 1k per day for 10 hours work is $100 bucks per hour. i know of part time lecturers in local universities are sometimes paid around that. i work 12 hours days in the office, 5 days a week, 4 weeks a month like a donkey and all i get is approx $25 bucks an hour..... somehow i feel cheated here..... where's the demand to command such a high fee? hope i don't get flamed here. just trying to make some sense in spending so much money, just to get married in singapore...

good luck to all the photographers accepting your commission.

[antacid]

want cheap, want fresh, want big...

i can do it for $500. but no guarantees for good shots, ok? cos if i can guarantee, i will charge $1500 also.

[antacid]

oh yah, the wedding bridal shops usually hire photographers like "me". no guarantees and i'm out to "gain experience" because they only pay me $15 an hour after i bargain for 2 hours with them.

my friend taught me a very cool way of taking wedding photos. his last assignment, 75% of his photos abit blur, and he tell the couple it's for "dreamy effect". and then hor, his lens got IS, so his "shuttle speed" also very low.

$500, ok?

[gktat1]

Well said Dream Merchant.
Very very educational...