3 Stages Of Wedding Photography Preparation
By: Tulsa Wedding Photographer
Jake Aldrich

The failure to prepare, is preparation to fail. – John Wooden

While this may have been applied to basketball at the time of the quote, this principle applies to many important things in life, including wedding photography.
This preparation for the wedding day can be followed in three steps. Treat them like wedding rehearsals. Let’s see how.

A Few Months Before
A few months before the actual wedding, a tulsa wedding photographer should
try and do a planning ‘run through’ with the wedding couple, and plan out the day. You may not have all the details chosen yet, but it is a good starting point to get things narrowed down. An experienced photographer can also help you with ideas that you may not have thought of, and details to consider.
Another thing to potentially plan for is a “photo-run-through” aka, engagement photos. As a photographer, you get to know the couple even further, learn about their personalities, and get them ready for feeling comfortable when posing for pictures. Besides these advantages, you get the opportunity to discuss style with the wedding couple, and inquire more intricate details they would want to incorporate in their wedding photos.
You can also use this time (either in addition to, or in place of) to do bridal portraits. Usually featuring the bride and her dress, many times at the place of the ceremony (or at another scenic location) the bridal portraits offer the bride a chance to get some beautiful shots that she and all of her family members will want to keep, and possibly more importantly, gives the bride another excuse to be the princess if the day. Getting dolled up, hair and makeup done, and donning the dress that she plans to be married in is a great run through for the big day.

One Week Before
This is ‘making sure’ rehearsal for the wedding day, in order to ensure the same situations discussed previously are still on the list.
Most important shots like pre-ceremony and post-ceremony shots of the couple or the group shots should be planned at this time. Shot sheets that feature specific family member names can also be very helpful in organizing the day, since it is difficult to off hand remember every shot you may want, especially in the whirlwind of the day.

The Night Before
Sleep well! Your big day is ahead of you, and your photos are the last thing you will need to worry about. With the preparation you have gone through for the day, everyone should be on the same page, and you are free to enjoy your big day!

By: Tulsa Wedding Photographer
Jake Aldrich
Epic Photography Tulsa

Often I am asked, how to best start a photography business? The answer mainly depends on which area of you wish to specialise in photography, or you may decide to be a \’all rounder\’. You should clearly know this before the start of your business. Theres nothing as distracting to achieving your goals as constantly jumping from a specialist area to other specialist area; you never make it in anything! You definitely need a plan for your business and target and goals that you have to work towards. Your main aim should be to develop competency in as little as 2/3 areas. You have the option to choose among portraiture, commercial photography, pet photography, wedding photography, group photography and much more. The main difference among them are pressures youre under for producing that level of skill you need in order to please your customer. For example, wedding photography will need working under lots of pressure among lots of people to produce these goods in just a few hours, however commercial photography could give you a couple of days, for example working with equipment instead of people. Hence, you have to decide if youre a peoples person and also if you have the ability and skill for finishing off the work in your chosen area. You also need to discover what photography style you have; this mainly applies to portraiture and wedding photography. Will it be reportage, will it be formal, will it be candid or perhaps a mix of these? Then, after you created a good picture of where youre heading to with your business goals in photography, you have to start looking at the competition. What are the prices out there, the size for the market, what gear you need, the experience you need to develop, how and where could you develop it if you dont have it? Again, as an example, wedding photography represents an area I would say you stay away from before you gain confidence, people skills, technical expertise, and other skills required for creating a high standard produce. Usually, I advise people starting with group photography then work their way onto weddings. Ideal is if you could get a little experience by shooting together with some professional photographers, you could offer support service at zero cost in assisting the pro at weddings. Youll learn lots of experience this way. Other photography areas let you become familiar with exposure and lighting techniques before deciding to tackle the weddings photography. So maybe pet photography, or group photography would be best to start with. Successful business means getting and then keeping your customers. Your aim in the beginning of your photography career should be to work extra for the first customers. For example, youll find that if you take nice photos for a family plus make a good job, theyll remember you and then youll be the first choice for other family occasions. Marketing like this is the best by far type for your photography business.