Hardy Klahold Photography

• Advertising in magazines – I did it, many photographers use ads to get their name out and you should start here to find one. I can see the fun, you just got engaged and now you are sitting with all your girlfriends, a bottle of wine and a bunch of wedding magazines in your apartment planning the big day. Here is a thought;  Every town has this one restaurant everyone is talking about, but you just can’t find it. They don’t have a website, they don’t advertise. When you finally get the phone number to make reservations, you are informed that they are booked out for the next three weeks. How does this work? Good service, great products and a good name does not need advertising. People start talking about it. So listen to your friends, they might have name for you.
• Meeting with the photographer - “10 questions to ask your photographer when you meet with him the first time.” Oh, we vendors love those forms in the magazines. Sometimes I’m tempted to write an article: 10 tips on how to find a good wedding magazine! Believe me these forms wouldn’t be one of them. Don’t get me wrong, those questions are a start but they won’t tell you anything about the photographer. We all know those question catalogs and we all have the answers ready for you. Please ask new questions, personal questions which are important to you and your event. Bring your mom and your fiancee to the first meeting. Four eyes see more than two and six eyes see more than four. I always encourage my brides to bring their fiances and their moms to the first meeting with me. I love to talk to them to introduce my services and more importantly, myself. Three people ask more questions than only one… and let me tell you there is no such thing as a stupid question, there are only stupid answers so listen to how the photographer answers.
• Slide shows during your wedding reception – lifetime warranty on your wedding album – second photographer at your wedding and other promises. This point is a big one. Let’s be frank: You hired me as your photographer and not as an entertainer for the wedding reception. Here is another inside scoop for you: Those instant slideshows at the reception have only one purpose for the photographer: advertising. I don’t think you would like the DJ having a big banner hanging across the dance floor with his name and phone number on it, so why would you want a table in the room, surrounded by half of your guests, with a laptop in the middle playing photos of your wedding? No one pays attention to your wonderful reception party anymore, because they are all kept busy by the photographer and his little commercial break.  Lifetime warranty on your wedding album – I recently heard this one, so I thought it’s worth talking about it. What does lifetime actually mean? My life, your life, the lifetime of my company? Honestly I have no idea. So here is what I came up with and this is how everyone should handle it: If something happens with your album and it is not your fault, the photographer should take care of it! – Good wedding books come with a warranty by the supplier… I believe it is something you should talk about with your photographer, but I as a photographer would not use this for marketing. A warranty is something that varies with the manufacturer. Photographers should work with companies that extend warranties as a matter of course just like it’s taken for granted that I will bring a camera to the wedding I shoot. – Second photographer or assistant – This person has a name. So ask for his or her name. He or she should be an experienced photographer as well, ask for the portfolio also. This is just basic knowledge, but I don’t know how often I heard the story that the second shooter turned out to be the husband or wife, who just had a camera hanging around his or her neck. My second shooter has a name and a portfolio. So ask questions about the second shooter.
• Uncle Harry – May I introduce to you America’s busiest photographer: Uncle Harry is still in business and his name stands for all the friends and relatives who have a camera, like to take photos and offer the wedding couple their help. We thank you for that uncle Harry, but No Thank You! We want to be sure uncle Harry has the same fun time  at your wedding as does everybody else in the family. Your wedding day is a very special day. It is the story of two families joining together and a story about love and emotions. Do you really want this to be documented by someone with no experience? Uncle Harry has the tendency to only photograph his family side. He does not know the other people at your wedding, so they are not important to him. The time will come when he will ask himself the question: Do I still need to be the photographer, or can I change to be a guest? I promise you he will decide to be a guest. Photos from the cake cutting will be taken from his table. To bad that you didn’t hear him calling you to turn around and smile into the camera. The details of your wonderful decor, uncle Harry didn’t think that this was important to you, so he wouldn’t waste any time on photographing it. To get everything on the memory card he just lowered the resolution for the photos, but he promises you that the photos still look good on your computer screen.
• It’s your day, your show – The documentation of your day should be the photographer’s priority number 1. Hire a photographer with this in mind and not just be there to fill up his portfolio. Let the photographer be “the fly on on the wall” who tells your amazing wedding day story. The best complement I received from a client was “your photos showed me the most wonderful moments of my wedding day I didn’t even know that I had them”. This is what wedding photography should be all about. Creating memories of a very special day in the life of two families. Talk about this when you meet with your photographer the first time. Tell him about your family, yourself and how the two of you met. A good photographer will ask you this anyway, he wants to get to know you and your family before he shoots your photos. He wants to get a picture of you that helps him understand what you are looking for. Another very simple hint that tells you that your photographer cares: He makes notes while you are talking. He is not just writing down your name, the date and the name of the venue.

You deserve the best for your special day, go out and find the perfect photographer for your wedding.