Not the usual things to think about when choosing Your Wedding Photographer:
Does Your Wedding Photographer have a ‘Can Do Attitude’?
Conflicts
It does not matter how many awards your photographer has or how cheap they are!
You have to be able to work with your photographer and they with you. After all you want the Photographs from your wedding to be your lasting memories of the day not your struggle with the photographer.
Plan early, by all means look at the awards or price but most of all find someone who shares your passion for Your Wedding.
The Iceberg
Knowledge and Skills are very important when choosing your wedding photographer and they are apparent above the surface in marketing or in questions you can ask. Don’t forget to ask about a photographers depth of experience – do they only do weddings?
What is not always visible and is easy to hide behind a polished sales pitch is the attitude. Get to know your photographers – are they putting on a pretense or is what you see what you get.
When push comes to shove will your photographers put down their cameras, roll their sleeves up and get stuck in to help with any aspect of your day?
You might never know for sure till disaster looms but if you have made sure you have no conflicts and understand the attitude (not the sales pitch) of your photographer then you will feel safer that any potential disaster can be averted or resolved quickly.
At Your Wedding by fotologic Julie and Ian have those life experiences to deal with almost anything!
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December 26, 2012 | Categories: Wedding Photograph | Tags: Cost of Photography, Destination Wedding, fotologic - Social & Event Photography by local professionals, Free Information, Home Photographer, Ian Bonthrone, Location Photographer, Party Photographer, Photographer, Photography, Photography Stuff, Portrait Photographer, Portrait Photography, Travelling Photographer, Wedding Colchester, Wedding Photographer, Wedding Photography, wedding Photography Essex, Wedding Tendring, Weddings Harwich | Leave a comment
Ethics and Fairness in Wedding Photography – Our Way
It has happened to me twice, that is getting married but also going through the pain of booking and paying for a photographer, and being stuck with the Album chosen before the wedding and not being able to afford to upgrade them.
Planning a Wedding is full of choices from the location to the dress; from the food to the honeymoon and the majority of these choices are consumed at the wedding with the exception of the Honeymoon, but when you come home that too is over.
The one thing that will provide you with lasting memories of your Wedding is your Wedding Album. It will always be there to remind you of that special day so it is important that you choose wisely.
You pick the photographer you want and as part of the booking you are expected to choose from the Bronze, Silver or Gold Package (or any other title put to the packages). In general the only real difference in each package is the number of pages and images that will go in your Album.
This raises 2 big issues:
- Until you see the images how on earth do you know how many images you would want in the Album?
- How much extra will you have to pay after the wedding if you want more images?
When we set up Your Wedding by fotologic, we thought long and hard to find a solution to both the issue of pre-paying for your package and the ethical issues regarding pricing after the event.
The Solution we found is relatively simple! Pay for your Photography before your wedding; then once you are back from your honeymoon and know what your finances are like and most importantly have seen your images decide what Album you want from fixed prices you know before the Wedding.
We decided that it was fair and ethical to allow couples 1 year after their wedding to sort themselves out financially and to choose their long-term memories.
The High Street Photographic Industry has become known for High Pressure sell so we adopted an Ethical Pledge to support our novel approach to selling Wedding Photography.
That pledge is here for your consideration:
- fotologic & Your Wedding by fotologic pledge never to use pressure sales techniques.
- When we quote you a price fotologic and Your Wedding by fotologic will let you know what is included; we will tell you what else you can buy from us if you want to buy more, but you will not be pressure sold anything.
- The only additional costs will be for Travel and Accommodation where needed. We are happy for you to arrange this or we can charge the actual cost at the time of confirmation.
- fotologic & Your Wedding by fotologic will not encourage you in with conning approaches geared to make you spend more.
- Any discounts offered, any promotions we do are all genuine offers, genuine promotions. We do not expect you to buy more, we simply ask you to tell others about your experience of working with a photographer who has signed the ethical pledge.
- We will not ply you with alcohol to help you lower your guard.
- We want you to have a thoroughly enjoyable experience with fotologic & Your Wedding by fotologic, which means we will work hard to make sure that we deliver good customer service. We will be there to help.
- If we get it wrong, please tell us, because let’s face it, we are human, and we may get things wrong at times. We will apologise to you without making excuses and we will work with you to put our mistakes right.
- We do not use credit agreements, because we only expect you to spend what you can afford to spend.
- We will openly help you and guide you – for example, if you are interested in becoming a model then we will provide you with realistic advice. We will not tell you that you could make it as a model if it’s unlikely.
- We aim to renew, reuse and recycle wherever we can, and will work to reduce our carbon footprint.
- We respect copyright and intellectual property of other businesses and artists.
Our Wedding Quotations include all the Photography at your Wedding for the specified time, our choice selection of your images in a protected on-line Gallery and our assistance to choose and design your Album.
We quote separately for your Album so that you can choose the size and number of images at any time even up to 12 months after your Wedding Day. This is to ensure that you do not feel pressurized to buy a particular package until you have seen the images. It also allows you to only pay for the Photography element of Your Wedding before the day! Albums are only paid for when ordered! We will provide you with our Album Prices from the very beginning.
If you do decide that you would like to purchase up front we will hold the album cost until you make your image cost so that if you change your mind on the size you will only pay the actual difference in price if you choose a higher value product.
If friends and family wish to contribute to your Album as a wedding gift we can accommodate that.
We believe that an Ethical Approach to Wedding Photography results in Happy Satisfied Clients.
If you would like to discuss this post or your Wedding please contact us.
52.698945
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December 26, 2012 | Categories: Wedding Photograph | Tags: Cost of Photography, Destination Wedding, Event Photography, fotologic, fotologic - Social & Event Photography by local professionals, Free Information, Home Photographer, Ian Bonthrone, Location Photographer, Photographer, Photography, Photography Stuff, Portrait Photographer, Portrait Photography, Travelling Photographer, Wedding Colchester, Wedding Photography, Wedding Photography Colchester, wedding Photography Essex, Wedding Tendring, Weddings Harwich | Leave a comment
We have finally launched our brand new Wedding Photography web site ‘Your Wedding by fotologic‘. Your Wedding by Essex photographers Julie & Ian Bonthrone is there to cater for both UK and Destination Weddings. For those who are new to fotologic here is a small bit about us and more importantly ‘Your Wedding by fotologic‘
Tell us a bit about yourself.
Julie & Ian Bonthrone are Your Wedding by fotologic , based in the beautiful UK countryside and seascapes of North East Essex, the setting for the famous landscape painter John Constable.
Julie and Ian both know what it takes to capture Your Wedding exactly how you want it. Highly recommended by our clients we are passionate about capturing the moments you hold dear. We are proud of our photography and work hard to make each and every photograph a work of art. We love to shoot both UK and Destination weddings and have been commissioned for events in Australia, Slovakia, Germany, Dubai, Spain and of course, all over the UK.
Why did you choose to become a photographers?
Photography as a business found us. Julie has always been artistic and learned photography during a Graphic Design course at college; Ian who has enjoyed photography since childhood learned his photographic craft in the military, however the route to photography as a business was varied.
Julie, prior to her photographic career has worked for one of London’s most prestigious hotels, a major record label, Cruise Liners, as a Beach Life Guard and for the UK Coast Guard. Ian has had a full career in the Royal Air Force as a Search and Rescue Winchman/Paramedic and has also worked Stage Security for some of the worlds biggest Rock Groups and Festivals.
9 Years ago Julie & Ian decided to start a small business out of something we both loved and fotologic was born. fotologic, crazy as it sounds now, was started with the intention of not marketing ourselves as wedding photographers, however if people liked our work and wanted us to cover their wedding we did. More & more people asked us to shoot weddings and events both in the UK and internationally and so ‘Your Wedding by fotologic’ was born. Destination Weddings has become a passion, as are the unique challenges they bring.
How would you classify your style of photography?
I don’t think we would put our selves in a pigeonhole. Our Branding of ‘Your Wedding” by fotologic‘ is all about Your Wedding – Not Anybody Else’s
And that is what we want to capture we want Your Wedding to be the very best it can be for you. To Julie and Ian it is helping to craft your memories that is important to us., which is why we want to get to know our Bride & groom, to understand them, to know what they want to work with them to provide their lasting memories. It would be very easy to talk about “us”, “our” or “we” in relation to wedding photography but the most important thing is “you” and “your” .
Do you have any good wedding stories?
We have loads of stories from torrential downpours in promised sun spots, the Groom turning up late, dress disasters to venue’s not quite ready. Destination Weddings bring with them unique challenges. Julie and Ian are up to the challenge. We both have a ‘Can Do’ attitude that has allowed us to capture the best of Your Wedding we want Your Wedding to be the very best it can be for you. We are not just your Wedding Photographers; from the moment you book us we will be your man & girl Friday.
Both of us are no strangers to dealing with any eventuality, we are sure that once you get to know us some of our Wedding and Life experience stories from the past will come out. Our backgrounds ensure the experience needed to deal with all eventualities, not just photography. We are sure that you will not find many wedding photographers with such rich life experiences to underpin what they do for Your Wedding.
What’s your preferred type of camera equipment?
Julie and Ian both use Nikon equipment, because that is what we are comfortable with. Neither of us would be conceited enough to say they are the best. The camera is a tool to a photographer just like a hammer is a tool to a carpenter: The clever stuff is in the eye and mind of the photographer not the camera!
What would you recommend for a couple just starting their search for a wedding photographer?
We wrote a blog post recently about the Can Do Attitude in Wedding Photography. http://yourweddingbyfotologic.com/wedding-photography-a-can-do-attitude/ in essence there are 3 important things to think about:
1. Plan early, by all means look at the awards or price of photographers, but most of all find someone who shares your passion for Your Wedding.
2. Get to know your photographers – are they putting on a pretence or is what you see what you get.
3. When push comes to shove will your photographers put down their cameras, roll their sleeves up and get stuck in to help with any aspect of your day?
Anything else to add about yourself, the wedding industry, photography, brides, grooms, etc?
We have re thought the process of paying for Your Wedding photography.
Weddings are an expensive undertaking for Bride and Groom and for years Brides have been pressurised into choosing and paying for their Album Package when booking their wedding photography and then paying Extra if they later want more images or pages in the Album.
We think this is crazy!
We quote separately for your Album so that you can choose and pay for the size and number of images at any time even up to 12 months after your Wedding Day. This is to ensure that you do not feel pressurized to buy a particular package until you have seen the images. It also allows you to only pay for the Photography element of Your Wedding before the day! – Albums are only paid for when ordered! We will provide you with our Album Prices from the very beginning so that there are no hidden costs.
If you do decide that you would like to purchase your Album up front we will hold the album monies until you make your image choice so that if you change your mind on the size you will only pay the actual difference in price if you choose a higher value product not some crazy extra image or extra page charge!
Julie and Ian look forward to discussing your special day with you and if you decide to book us, you are assured of Julie & Ian’s assistance and help prior to Your Wedding and our undivided attention while we are with you at Your Wedding.
Julie & Ian
http://www.yourweddingbyfotologic.com
http://www.yourweddingbyfotologic.eu
http://yourweddingbyfotologic.co.uk
52.698945
-2.513588
December 26, 2012 | Categories: Uncategorized, Wedding Photograph | Tags: Destination Wedding, Event Photographer, Event Photography, fotologic, fotologic - Social & Event Photography by local professionals, Free Information, Home Photographer, Ian Bonthrone, Location Photographer, Photographer, Photography, Photography Stuff, Portrait Photographer, Portrait Photography, Travelling Photographer, Wedding Colchester, Wedding Photography, Wedding Photography Colchester, wedding Photography Essex, Wedding Tendring, Weddings Harwich | Leave a comment
Life takes all sorts of turns. I have taken a business development role that will see me spending 2 out of every 3 months Down Under in Australia. Wonderful I hear you all shout – well yes and no! It means that Julie will be left to hold the fort at fotologic 2/3rds of the time and inevitably I will have to pass some of our Event Business to others. On the positive side I will be able to offer my services in 2 countries so I suppose I could call my self an International Photographer.
On a serious note it is memories of long detachments in the military and I know I will have some time on my hands that would normally be spent with Julie. As a result I have decided to go back to School and will be starting a BA(Hons) in Photography. Why does an established photographer want to do this and go back to the beginning – for me it is about the Art of Photography not the Craft. It is the Why not the How. It will be a journey of discovery and re-thinking of my photography…………. a journey where the destination is self development.
And did I say that I will be doing most of this in Australia where it is warm and sunny!
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February 11, 2012 | Categories: Photography Degree | Tags: Adult photos, Australia Photography, BA (Hons) Photography, Back to Basics, Brisbane Photographer, Cost of Photography, Event Photographer, fotologic, fotologic - Social & Event Photography by local professionals, Glamour Photographer, Ian Bonthrone, Location Photographer, Martin Graeham Dunn, Model portfolio, Nude Photographer, Photographer, Photography, Photography Degree, Photography Stuff, Photography Training, Portrait Photographer, Portrait Photography, Queensland Photographer, Seniors Photography, Travelling Photographer | Leave a comment
I have neglected this blog for too long. If you are following fotologic you will know that we have moved.
Now based in the beautiful countryside of North Essex, true Constable Country, we have access to isolated sea shore, woods, open countryside, the only Redoubt Fort north of the Thames and the narrow streets of historic Harwich, one time home to Lord Nelson. We now have our own Portrait Studio and access to larger Studio Facilities locally.
All the above provides an even greater range for our location portraiture and fashion shoots, being in the countryside we are also launching our Horse & Hounds package. We will be offering Stable and location shoots for all Horse Owners and Location Photography for Dog Lovers.
In the New Year fotologic will be launching our Wedding Photography Service with a new focus on your needs.
We don’t believe that any couple getting married know exactly what finished album they want until they see the images from the wedding. Our packages will be based on coverage and all prepared images supplied for previewing on disc.
After your Wedding you can decide at your leisure how you want to display your memories from that special day. Options will include Coffee Table Books through to Italian Hand Stitched Leather Albums. Another advantage of this method of Wedding photography is that guests can contribute to your Album right up until the day you decide what you want.
Ian
52.698945
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November 28, 2011 | Categories: Wedding Photograph | Tags: Adult photos, Baby Photography, Bump photography, Bump to baby, Colchester Photography, Cost of Photography, Dog Photography, fotologic, fotologic - Social & Event Photography by local professionals, Glamour Photographer, Harwich Photography, Home Photographer, Horse & hounds, Horse Photography, Ian Bonthrone, Les Petits, Location Photographer, Martin Graeham Dunn, Model portfolio, North Essex Photography, Nude Photographer, Pet Photographer, Photographer, Photography, Photography Stuff, Travelling Photographer, Wedding Colchester, Wedding Photography, Wedding Tendring, Weddings Harwich | Leave a comment
There are now over 50 images in my Over 18 gallery
The Gallery is set to random so the images will appear in a different order each time you view. I have removed the password for January, at the end of January the page will be password protected so register now if you want to continue viewing these images.
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January 1, 2011 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: 18+photos, Adult photos, Babestation, Babestation Girls, Babestation TV, Babestaton Knockhill, erotic images, erotica, Event Photographer, fotologic, fotologic - Social & Event Photography by local professionals, Glamour Photographer, Home Photographer, Ian Bonthrone, Location Photographer, Model portfolio, Naked Pictures, Nude Photographer, Nude Photos, Photographer, Photography, Photography Stuff, Portrait Photographer, Portrait Photography, Seniors Photography, Travelling Photographer | Leave a comment
Happy New Year to everybody I have worked with in 2010. I can happily say it has been a pleasure.
fotologic have enjoyed 2010, we have seen a change of website and unique web visitors of over 42000 in 18 months, we have launched our successful Precious Moments, Les Petits, Femme and Noir Photography packages alongside our ever popular Home & Location Sessions.
fotologic Event Photography have also had a successful year covering many social events from School Proms to Charity Dinners & Masonic Ladies Evenings to Andrew Flintof Cricket Academies and we have also had the pleasure of working with many corporate customers including:- Barchester Health Care, Leica Microsystems and Babestation TV.
Our Events have also seen us working with a number of Celebrities like Charlie Dimmock, Frank Bruno, Paul Rankin, Joe Egan, Errol Chrisie, Jimmy Anderson, Darren Maddy, Shane Lynch, Linsey Dawn McKenzie and Ricky Gervais (ok Ricky’s look alike).
To all our Customers
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Please keep visiting us for new developments in 2011
52.698945
-2.513588
December 31, 2010 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Adult photos, Animoto, Baby Photography, Bump photography, Bump to baby, Cost of Photography, discount photography training, discount training, erotic images, Event Photographer, Event Photography, fotologic, fotologic - Social & Event Photography by local professionals, Free Information, Glamour Photographer, Home Photographer, Ian Bonthrone, Les Petits, Location Photographer, Martin Graeham Dunn, Model portfolio, Nude Photographer, Party Photographer, Party Photography, Party plan photo shoots, Pet Photographer, Photographer, Photography, Photography Stuff, Portrait Photographer, Portrait Photography, Precious Moments, Pregnancy photography, Seniors Photography, Travelling Photographer | Leave a comment
In time for the New Year I have just uploaded 21 images to the over-18 Gallery. If you wish to view these images please subscribe to the blog and i will e-mail you the password.
The Gallery can be found HERE
More images will be added over the New Year Weekend.
52.698945
-2.513588
December 30, 2010 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: 18+photos, Adult photos, erotic images, erotica, fotologic, fotologic - Social & Event Photography by local professionals, Glamour Photographer, Home Photographer, Ian Bonthrone, Location Photographer, Model portfolio, Nude Photographer, Photographer, Photography, Photography Stuff, Portrait Photographer | Leave a comment
It does not!!!!
Over the past 20 years the cost of purchasing a professionally shot image or album has hardly increased at all, while inflation and average wages over the same period has risen exponentially.
The overheads for professional photographers has also increased exponentially. Look at some of these costs which any self employed photographer has to pay:
- Office Studio Rent
- Telephone – fax / pager / mobile
- Advertising-Promotion -ads/ printing / mailings / web sites – design + hosting / mailing lists
- Equipment-computers/ cameras
- Training
- Subscriptions / insurance – business, equipment, employee liability, public liability, professional indemnity
- Healthcare
- Professional Services – legal / accounting
- Utilities
- Repair
- Car Expenses
- Office Supplies
- Photography Supplies -non-billable (film tests, samples, expendables)
- Postage / Shipping
- Office person / Payroll expense
- Retirement Account
- Tax / VAT
- Time (Photoshoot 1hr, First Edit 2hr, Preview 1 hr, finishing 3 hrs)
But it does not stop there, we are constantly under pressure on pricing – why?
Firstly customers have the disposable income to spend money on high end Camera’s on the assumption that the better the camera the better the picture taken – unfortunately (or fortunately) the quality of the image is not proportional to the price of the camera. It is a mix of Training, Talent, Craft and finally equipment)
Secondly, there is always someone out there offering a lower price. This is a fact but the costs of running a photographic business are the same. So the question has to be asked.
What are they cutting out to offer the low prices?
Things that should worry you:
Insurance,
Training,
Professional Membership
Image Quality
Tax Avoidance.
Next time you see advertised a £35 photo shoot of 1 hour complete with a package of images of your choice please ask why the photographer is working for less than the minimum wage? (1hr shoot can equal 7hrs work) £5 per hour and that is before any overheads are accounted for.
When all the above is said;
The Choice is yours.
Ian Bonthrone
fotologic
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December 29, 2010 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Baby Photography, Bump photography, Bump to baby, Cost of Photography, Event Photographer, Event Photography, fotologic, fotologic - Social & Event Photography by local professionals, Free Information, Glamour Photographer, Home Photographer, How much to pay, Ian Bonthrone, Les Petits, Location Photographer, Model portfolio, Nude Photographer, Party Photographer, Party Photography, Party plan photo shoots, Pet Photographer, Photographer, Photography, Photography overheads, Photography prices, Photography Stuff, Portrait Photographer, Portrait Photography, Pregnancy photography, Seniors Photography | Leave a comment
Ian Bonthrone of fotologic spent a day recently with Martin Grahame Dunn perfecting lighting and posing for portraiture ready for 2011.
Training and constant re-evaluation is the key to photographic progression. Only the very naive or dumb will claim to be totally self taught. It is inconceivable that without the help of others, without inspiration from the works of others, whether, taught directly or indirectly, that anyone could claim to be top of their profession. What is worse is that some of these self delusionalists will then set up training courses.
I have chosen to learn from those who are recognised at the top of their photographic craft.
Training with Martin is a true Education. With only 5 delegates, 1 lovley model and a full day of Studio time Martin was able to spend a lot of time explaining advanced lighting. When I say advanced I dont mean complicated and in all throughout the day we never used more than 2 lights. We did however make best use of the light to create stunning portrait images.
52.698945
-2.513588
December 29, 2010 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: discount photography training, Event Photographer, Event Photography, fotologic, fotologic - Social & Event Photography by local professionals, Home Photographer, Ian Bonthrone, Location Photographer, Martin Graeham Dunn, Nude Photographer, Party Photographer, Party Photography, Party plan photo shoots, Photographer, Photography, Photography Training, Portrait Photographer, Portrait Photography, Seniors Photography | Leave a comment
fotologic’s central location means that we can cover a large majority of the UK for portrait work within 1 day. We can come to your home and set up our mobile studio or we can capture you at a location of your choice.
On Friday 10th December fotologice were in South West London for a Precious Moments pregnancy shoot and will be returning again in 2-3 weeks when ‘bumb’ becomes baby for a ‘Les Petits’ session so that Mum & Dad can have a combined Bump and Baby Album.
52.698945
-2.513588
December 11, 2010 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Baby Photography, Bump photography, Bump to baby, fotologic, fotologic - Social & Event Photography by local professionals, Home Photographer, Ian Bonthrone, Les Petits, Location Photographer, Nude Photographer, Party plan photo shoots, Photographer, Photography, Portrait Photographer, Precious Moments, Pregnancy photography, Seniors Photography, South West London, Travelling Photographer | Leave a comment
Ian Bonthrone - Photographer 