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