CLIENT FAQ

Where are you based?

I live in Montreal, Canada.

Do you travel for Weddings?

Yes. I primarily photograph weddings in Ontario & Quebec (half of my weddings this year are in the surrounding Ottawa Area). For travel beyond these two provinces, I recently created a list of venues and locations in mostly Ontario & Quebec, take a moment to read my Canadian Wedding Photography Bucket List. If you’re loving my work and want to bring me along to photograph your destination wedding, I’m in.

Do you speak French?

Yes, or should I say Oui! I am not strong at writing in French especially if the writing requires nuance in language and humor, but it is a priority of mine to have my site translated in the next year.

HOW MUCH SHOULD I SPEND ON A WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER?

If you google this, you will get prompted with some type of reply that says “wedding photographers cost between $500-$10,000” *rollseyes

If you’re hiring a full-time wedding professional wedding photographer you should anticipate at base minimum starting point of $2500. Quick math: If a photographer books 20 weddings, their starting revenue is 50K, but that’s before all the costs involved in running their business.

But let’s drill down a little bit further into the actual math of it:

When I work a wedding, I know it’s about 8-10 hours of planning, scouting, administration, & travel. Then I have a full-day of shooting (10-12 hours on my feet) and then another 35-40 hours of editing.

At minimum, each wedding I photograph is about 60 hours of my time and that’s not counting the work I do to run my business. Quick math: each wedding takes up two full work weeks to “complete” — so if I have 20 weddings x 2 weeks/wedding, that’s most of my year accounted for. My base cost of doing business is 35k before I even pay my mortgage.

So when you see pricing from photographers that says, for example: $350/hour — they’re building in all the unseen hours into each hour they are actively taking photographs as an “easier” way to calculate for a portrait, event or wedding. It’s actually a terrible way of communicating the value of their time & work, but I didn’t create this industry! So that 10h wedding at $3500? Look at it as their paycheck for two weeks worth of work.

Three Types of Wedding Photographers:

• the quality photographers that charge more, because the spend more time on less weddings (i.e. named one of the Top Wedding Photographers, Jose Villa takes on a maximum of ten weddings a year - like Justin Bieber/Hailey Baldwin);

• the quantity photographers, they take on A LOT of weddings, they have a staff and they hire out their work to editors, and they often run a studio too — they’re ‘technically’ good but what lacks overall is artistry and nuance… you’ll get documentation, instead of personalisation;

• and finally the budget photographers, these are photographers looking to make a portfolio and need an in to the industry — they’re looking for clients who can take on risk and so you must proceed with caution at this level — you will have to compromise on something so just try to understand what that might be before your wedding day. If it feels too good to be true, it probably is.

My base wedding package starts at $2989 and elopements start at $1495 + applicable taxes. Thank you for coming to my Wedding Photography Math TED Talk!

What is your “style” of wedding photography?

The wedding photography that I embark on is influenced by fine art, theater and movies (my mother is a painter, my father a theatrical & architectural lighting designer) with a deep appreciation for nature, light and humanity. My work has been described as fine art, cinematic and candid.

What If I DON’T LIKE HAVING MY PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN?

Don’t worry, I hear this from most of my clients! As a professional wedding photographer, leave it to me know when to disappear into the crowd so you can be with each other candidly and when to throw a little prompt your way to dissolve those awkward feelings without making you be someone you are not. The great news is, most of the time you are both so busy getting married and celebrating, you end up forgetting that you’re being photographed.

how do we book YOUR SERVICES?

Take a moment to fill in this form - I’ll be in touch within 24-48 hours :)

What Cameras do you shoot with?

There’s a quote floating on the internet that I’m about to paraphrase where someone likens great cooking to it being how good your stove is… it’s just not true and that’s how I feel about gear. Gear does not make you a great photographer but it can really assist you in achieving your vision.

I did my BFA in Photography when it was all still in film. I printed in black & white and color darkrooms. I shot with my trusty Nikkormat 35mm; but I also worked in medium-format (Pentax/Hasselblad) and large-format cameras. When digital happened I bought a Nikon D50… and then I found the Mirrorless cameras.

After a brief romance with the Sony Alpha, I “discovered” Fuji and have invested in their beautiful prime lenses, two bodies, a gazillion batteries, etc. I love their dual card slot (which means I’m shooting the same image onto two cards at once, which reduces the potential to lose images significantly). I try my best to keep it simple on a wedding day and avoid swapping out lenses often by carrying two bodies. You never ever know when equipment can fail you.

Do you always work alone?

No. I hire a second photographer for weddings with a guest count over 120 invites.

Other times it might be necessary depending on wedding day timelines and coverage needs (where are you both getting ready and when? do you want a photograph of you from the front AND back when you walk down the aisle?..)

Do you have privacy clauses?

Yes. I understand that not everyone wants their wedding/event/portrait available for all to consume. All couples I have worked with understand that publishing my work is how I obtain new work and so it has it’s function. But I am not in the business of photography for the sole purpose of being visible, but rather that I provide artful witness to your story. Clients requesting privacy will have a “no other use” clause in their contract. Often there are photographs that are evocative of the moment but remain anonymous and in those instances I request on a per photograph basis a permission to publish.

There are photographers that make clients pay a premium for privacy, but often this actually acts as a tax for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ couples who are seeking privacy for safety and tokenism concerns. This is not ok and you should never agree to pay a higher price for your privacy!

What if it rains?

I love interesting weather and challenges. If it’s cloudy: it’s a perfect soft-box with no squinting; sunny & bright: incredible opportunity to play with harsh light; raining: I’ll juggle an umbrella and chase you through the rain. Some of my favorite wedding photographs happen BECAUSE of the rain. So while I don’t wish it on your wedding day — I don’t worry about it and neither should you.

What if you get sick?

This is a very real concern (see CoVID-19). If this were to happen I am a part of an online forum of wedding photographers who chat on the regular and we meet up in person from time to time. We know each other’s work; we share referrals when we are already booked for a job; we seek each other out if we’re in need of help (like a second photographer; equipment questions; etc.); and in those unfortunate moments (which are rare) we cover each other should this happen.

Do you offer Wedding Albums?

Yes I do! You can find out more information about my packages, wedding albums, photography boxes and wedding guides by requesting access to this page here.

Can I have all the images/Can I have the Raw Files?

The short answer is: No. One of my biggest jobs as your wedding photographer is to sort through all the blinks, winks, yawns, accidental photobombs, awkward, not-so-amazingly candid photographs. Editing, for me, is where 75% of my job happens. And for good reason: you want a polished finished set of photographs that you don’t have to think about weeding through. This is also where I decide on color and mood and flushing out the story in a way that is the most compelling to you both. I tell couples to think of a minimum yield of 50 finished retouched photographs per hour of coverage.

Do you Offer video?

You know the saying “Jack of all trades, Master of none…?” that’s how I feel about combining these two services. While both are visual mediums I sometimes think we’re comparing apples to oranges. Do I also offer paintings? (Not… yet.) What I am trying to say here delicately is that as a one person Photographer (that has no interest in expanding into a studio with a lot of photographers to manage) that I view my art as my business or my business as my art. I don’t want to discredit studios that can offer both but I do know how much work there is involved to doing the one thing well. It’s a question of quantity vs. quality.

I recommend (and can recommend a few vendors) that you hire both services separately for their expertise, don’t hire one to do both.

Do you only photograph weddings?

While weddings are my primary passion, I also photograph a LOT of trees and bodies of water. Kidding not kidding?

I do photograph Engagement Shoots, Boudoir, Portraits and if it feels like the right fit, some other non-wedding Events (like Anniversaries, Conferences, Birthdays etc.)

I also create art prints, which are currently being shown and sold at the Hampton Gallery in NDG, Montreal.