Vietnamese wedding photographers hit by recession

From the Look At Vietnam blog, we can see that Vietnamese wedding photographers are suffering in a similar way to Australian photographers, and in much the same way as rock photographers worldwide.
Wedding recession | Look At Vietnam

“Nuptial photographers complain amateurs have flooded the market and couples hit by the global cash crunch can’t afford expensive wedding photos.”

“Today, anyone can be a photographer, but a camera isn’t enough,” he said “A real professional photographer does not let the lab produce the whole picture. A beautiful photograph is not only about Photoshop, its about aesthetics.”

Photo Books

Once upon a time there was only one way to enjoy looking at photographs – by printing them out. Of course things have changed and now it’s far less common to print your photos as it is to keep them digitally.

Personally I don’t print my photos other than to enlarge them for wall hanging. I find photo albums to be time consuming and messy to make, and I rarely look at them again. Most photos are printed from print kiosks that output less than satisfactory prints, and the prints themselves usually stay in their folders and get thrown into a drawer.

As much as I love presenting my images online – after all, how can you find a bigger audience for your photos than on the internet, accessible by the majority of the modern world – there is still no replacement for a printed image. Photographs beautifully printed and presented impact you in a way that no digital image currently can. So the best way to present large numbers of images, particularly from an important event is to print them in a Photo Book.

One of my favourite products so far is my “Images of Asia” travel calendar for 2009.

There are any number of online Photo Book services out there, but only two I recommend and use. A basic service for simple products such as travel books is Albumprinter. For premium results I am a big wrap for Momento. I have a Pro account at Momento, allowing me access to rates and products not available to the general public, and I use this service to create amazing wedding albums, family portrait books and calendars. These books can live on a coffee table or pride of place on display in a family room. People will enjoy picking your book up and exploring your photos, rather than them never seeing the light of day in shoeboxes.

If you’d like a timeless and beautiful memory of any event I have or will be photographing for you, consider adding a Momento product to your shopping list.

Check out some examples of some of my Momento Photo Books.

Jason & Misa’s wedding

Jason is a very tall, talented musician with a real enthusiasm for life.  And he doesn’t drink! What’s that all about? Never mind, he’s still an awesome guy.

Misa is a sweet and beautiful, outgoing Sushi Chef from Osaka, Japan, with part Korean lineage.

While Jason was spending an extended period of time in Japan in 2002 he met Misa on a train near Osaka.  Six years later they married at Queens Park in Moonee Ponds.

The weather was perfect, after nearly a week of sporadic rain and overcast days.  Misa looked absolutely stunning, and was a joy to photograph throughout the day.  With the combination of water, greenery and a very attractive guest list, particularly Misa’s family and friends who travelled from Japan for the occasion, it was difficult not to take wonderful photos.

There was a real musical bent to the day, beginning with the cello and two opera singers in the park, and ending with a rock show at the reception, performed by Jason and his large collection of musician friends.

I’m not a huge fan of photographing weddings for a number of reasons.  To begin with, I photograph in more of a documentary style, so I prefer very laid-back, relaxed weddings.  Secondly, I’m not really a fan of the institution itself, so if I accept a wedding job it is usually because I relate very well to the couple getting married.  This job was easy as I really enjoyed everyone’s company, and had a great day myself.  The third reason is due to the pressure of getting wedding photos right.  You only have one chance, and if you screw it up you can potentially ruin the happy day for the couple.  I can’t imagine what it must feel like to get home after shooting a very expensive, formal church wedding only to find your storage cards fail to be read, or have been lost or stolen.  I think I’d move to another country if that happened to me!

Misa’s Dad is an amazing man – humble, incredibly polite, and absolutely single-minded on ensuing his daughters are happy.  He seemed to be very proud, but did not betray too much emotion.  I only wish I could have spoken with him during the day.  I’m limited to about ten Japanese words and phrases, and there’s only so many ways one can string them together into meaningful conversation.

The best part of a wedding should be the reception. And this was one of the best.  With the band rocking out on hair metal hits of the 80s, the crowd was very quickly on their feet dancing.  And as you can tell from their smiles, everyone was having a great time.

After such an enjoyable wedding shoot as this one, who knows, I might just do some more!

A family portrait in Werribee South

An Australian family portraiture session should, in my opinion, be fun, relaxed, casual and outdoors.  I can’t think of anything worse to be hanging up on the family loungeroom wall than a stilted, studio shot of Mum, Dad and the kids in their Sunday best, with a nondescript backdrop.  I’m thinking in particular about my own, taken when I was about 10 or 12, which still makes me cringe when I see it.

Remember when you’re choosing family, wedding or other photos of the people close to you to display prominently in your house, that you’ll see these photos every day.  I believe you would be happiest with photos taken in a location that makes you feel happy when you see it again and again.  The photo should bring back a memory of joy, associated with either the time or the place. 

A photograph that is being hung for viewing needs personality and character, rather than looking like a traditional posed image with painted on smiles.  It’s a little like music.  The Top 40 is full of tracks that really have no depth, and therefore no longevity, but you are immediately attracted to them.  Over time you’ll get bored with them.   A timeless track is often the one that grows on you, rather than immediately catching your eye.  So, listen to your photographer when he/she advises you on which photos are best to display.  They may not be the ones you initially think.

Thanks to Damon Howes and his family for this session on a brisk, but very sunny late afternoon at Werribee South Beach. I hope they’re enjoying their new collection of family portraits.

DJ Delco at Eurotrash

I’ve been redesigning my web site to bring it more in line with the kind of things I do.  To begin with I much prefer to blog about all the photography-related things I think about and do, rather than simply posting finished, professional quality images (in fact, I rarely do that!).  So on that basis I bring you a new design with more of a portal/news style template.

I noticed that I don’t have any posts about shooting portraiture, and it’s been a little while since I shot such a project.  But I did dig one up so that I can populate that sub-category.

DJ Delco is a local DJ who’s trying to break it in Europe.  He engaged me to shoot him at Eurotrash, a cool little inner city club with fantastic decor for photography.

The majority of this shoot was taken with the Canon 30D at ISO 1600 with no flash, using my 24-105 to allow me to get as wide as I could in this small venue.  I used the room and natural lighting wherever I could to maintain the character of the location.

It was an enjoyable shoot, with the bar open, the DJs friends on hand to spice things up, and to top it all off DJ presented me with my very own DJ Delco t-shirt!