Monday, January 25, 2010

Finding a Photographer: Part 2

As I continued my photography search, there were often times I felt that it was impossible to find reasonably priced photographers. I felt stuck, I couldn't find a photographer that we could afford that offered the quality I wanted. Sometimes, and I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, I would pout and say that if I couldn't have the photographer I wanted then why should we even bother.
But I trudged on, I had heard good things about finding reasonably priced photographers on craigslist so I turned there first.
Unfortunately, most of the photographers I found weren't very professional looking but I did stumble upon Nico Studios.

Here's some of their work:


While the price was right and some photos were cool Nico Studios just wasn't what I was looking for.
So back to the drawing board I went, perhaps to the most obvious solution. Jeremy VanAndel went to high school with Jus & me. During our senior year Jer (as he was known way back then) and I sat on the newspaper together, and he had even asked me to our senior year prom. Since college Jer has been shooting weddings for reasonable prices.

I know you want some love so here you go:


Jus & I set up a meeting with Jer to go over prices. As it turns out the high school connection came in handy. Jer never officially said how low he would drop his prices but Jus and I got the impression that he was willing to cut us a pretty good deal.
Jus and I agreed that we could see the progression of Jer's work. His improvement was apparent, however there were still some elements I was uneasy with. Jer prefers to shoot in black and white and I knew there would be too many colorful elements in our wedding to loose such a big part. Also, I really wanted the a second shooter and while Jer could find one he usually flies solo.

Were we ready to sacrifice some things in order to have a photographer that we could afford? Did you face any troubles in finding your photographer?

First 4 photos Via, Last 3 photos Via

7 comments:

  1. Those are great photos!!

    Our photographer is bartering with us. My fiance will be doing work for her. She does more of the traditional poses, not like those, so I am a little sad, but she might be able to do some "artistic" shots for me!

    Check out my blog! There's something for you! :)

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  2. Nice photos. I have never had to find a photographer but remember that you will have these photos for life, so don't sacrifice too much!

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  3. If remembering the colorful details of your wedding are really important I wouldn't sacrifice having only black and white photos. That makes me uneasy too since it seems that isn't exactly what you were going for. I like Nico studios over Jer.

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  4. Those are amazing photos. And it's always good to know your photographer well, so that's definitely a benefit.

    We spent way more than we thought we would on photography, but since there aren't tons to choose from in our city, we had to fork out a little more dough to be able to afford our dream photographer who lives a town away from us. So far, though, our engagement photos have proved that she's definitely worth it.

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  5. we spent entirely too much on our photographer. it was kind of ridiculous and i wasn't thrilled with what we got for the price. also...i implore you....ASK TO SEE AN ENTIRE WEDDING! when we saw our photographer's portfolio we obviously got to see all the best of the best. i was stoked. every photo was beautiful. but after we got our pictures back and was slightly disappointed i thought back over our experience and realized i wished i'd asked to see an entire wedding shoot instead of just some pictures from a bunch of different weddings. i think pretty much any photographer is bound to get a few great shots, but make sure you see a variety, as well as indoor and outdoor shots. our photographer's indoor shots SUCKED, which sucked for us, because a large portion of them were shot inside because it was freaking december. don't be fooled by shiny fancy photos, or choose based on emotion, cause i totally did that and regretted it. i had friends who chose an up and coming photog. and had the most amazing pictures i've ever seen. i think if you're clear about what you want, then you'll probably be happy.

    wow.....super long comment. can you tell i'm passionate about this?

    anyway, good luck with the hunt!

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  6. love these photos... very romantic and funny... ;)

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