How to Choose a Photographer
Important days, important events and important moments deserve to be preserved through photographs and or videos. However, you shouldn’t have to live your moment with that responsibility of creating photos the entire time. That’s where I come in. A professional photographer in the Chicago suburbs. But there are a TON of photographers in Chicago so how do you choose? How do you trust the photographer (hopefully me) to capture those moments?
My intention with this post is to help you feel comfortable choosing a photographer. Like with just about anything else, if you don’t have a photographer already chosen, you’re going to be asking around. Whether it’s from word-of-mouth referrals or your best friend, Google.
Of course, word-of-mouth is much easier because it’s a referral from someone you already trust. But if you search for local event photographers you might be saying something along the lines of “oh ****, there’s so many to choose!”
After some clicking, you’ve compared and contacted a few photographers. The easy stuff. Quality, rates, availability, yada, yada, yada. But you’re still unsure. Bring in the intangibles.
Here are some traits of a trustworthy photographer during a consultation:
Confidence. Surprising right? But I don’t mean confidence as “I’m the best photographer”. There are SO MANY “best” photographers in Chicago or anywhere for that matter. A confident photographer can speak about their work, what they offer and how they shoot while acknowledging that there are many other creatives just as good if not better.
Friendly Humility. This is kind of synonymous to point #1. There’s a confidence in knowing there’s a lot of talented competition. Though, the separation of one confident photog from another or an arrogrant one is their friendliness.
If you feel like you’re having a fun conversation during your consultation, you are probably getting closer to finding your photographer. And typically this friendliness will carry into the shoot and treatment of your guests or even your boss.
Please keep in mind that many creatives are naturally introverted. They can be quiet and reserved, but are incredibly talented. In some cases, once a camera is in hand, the confidence and extraversion reveals itself. A camera is like a security blanket. So it’ll be up to you, friendly client, if you want to give these creatives a chance. And I hope you would. But something that these introverted creatives definitely have is…
Passion. We want to showcase our talents and we want to do what we do best. Shoot. Something to ask about if you haven’t heard already is how they shoot an event. It’s pretty common, but photographers should be roaming. For example, a panel on stage shouldn’t rely on one stationary position and varying focal lengths to create different images.
When spatially possible, a photographer should be able to create unique images from each side of the stage along with varying focal lengths and compositions. This is where passion and creativity comes in during the event. So be sure to ask about shooting situations.
Empathy. Speaking of shooting situations…as creators, there’s an intimacy with our craft. We want to create in our style. But in order to create something we are happy with, a photographer playing 20 questions in your consultation is wanting to understand how to create images to YOUR liking.
If you don’t have any specific image/style requests and just want us to be there, that’s fine too. A roaming empathetic photographer will most likely try to capture everything anyway. (But any additional info such as a run-of-show schedule does help relieve the anxiety)
These are some traits that should help you feel comfortable in hiring a photographer.
And if you haven’t figured it out, I may or may not but definitely am describing how I handle my business and how I would tackle photographing your event. So I’ll be looking forward to our consultation call. ;)
….but if you like another photographer’s work better, keep this in mind while choosing. And choose wisely because we photographers are much more valuable as a long-term partner than a one-time service.
Happy hiring and thank you for the trust!
