Ask Anything :: Who takes the pictures?

To be honest, we continue to be a little shocked when we get asked this question, so it’s clear we need to do a better job of communicating how our Mother/Daughter team works. Every once in a while, during a conversation we’ll hear “so which one of you is the photographer?” Today, we’r answering the question “Who takes the pictures?”

We both do. Yep! We are both photographers, we’re both “lead” photographers, and we choose to work together as a team. Long ago and far away, before it dawned on us to shoot the same event as a unit, we tried photographing weddings separately. We knew we wanted a second shooter/assistant photographer along with each of us, so we would hire someone to photograph along side us, individually.

Early on, we realized this set up wasn’t what we really wanted. We wanted to work together. It’s why we went into business together after all! Plus, we didn’t enjoy working with different second shooters at each event. So we decided to only accept one wedding a weekend, and join forces to be a team. Two lead photographers, covering every wedding together. We tell people all the time that we’re spoiled and frankly, kind of selfish. Why? Well, it’s more fun to work together, it’s easier to work together, and we produce a better product and experience for our couples when we work together. Sure! We could make double the income if we decided to split up and be the leads on two different weddings each Saturday… but it’s not worth it to us and we realize it’s not a benefit to anyone. So we stick together. There are so many husband and wife wedding photography teams out there, that we joke we’re the Mother/Daughter equivalent.

Over the years and the nearly 100 weddings we’ve photographed together, we’ve created a method for covering the weddings we shoot together. There’s a flow, a consistency, a supreme level of trust, and unspoken communication that happens when we work together. Each of us has our favorite aspects of a wedding to photograph, and we’re lucky they’re not always the same thing. Maggie loves the detail photos, while Betty really loves to photograph the getting ready moments as they play out. It’s a perfect match, because Maggie gets to indulge herself in a lot of creative time photographing the details without having to break away. Betty has the ability to be fully present with the people in the room, rather than the things in the room, and she’s always there to capture what she sees. Because we have so much trust in one another, neither of us feel the need to “check in” on the other’s work as we might need to with an associate photographer, making our area of coverage the only thing we have to focus on. When we work together, we’ve realized that our couples receive more photos, and better photos.

There’s a dance that goes on in and around the events we photograph. Between the two of us, we know exactly where to stand during a ceremony to ensure we are photographing “our areas” while staying out of the other person’s sight line. It’s almost like choreographing a dance. There are times, especially during portraits, that we both seem to photograph the very same things, but in reality we’ve developed a way to photograph couples and bridal parties that allows us to be incredibly efficient. Moving quickly is always something that’s very important on a wedding day, and because there are two of us, we can literally have cameras in two different places at once. Compared to the norm, we spend very little time photographing bridal parties but we don’t have to sacrifice quality photos, or number of photos. Moreover, we are photographing the same moment from two different perspectives… two versions of the same moment. That’s the part we love the most about working together. And from what we’ve heard, it’s something our couples really love too.

 

Being able to see a ceremony from two different perspectives is always a benefit. For this wedding, while Maggie stayed put at the back of the center aisle, Betty could swing off to the side to photograph more of the couple’s expressions as they said their vows. In extremely short ceremonies this is critical, because one of us might not have had enough time to get from the aisle, to the side of the guests, back to the center aisle for the first kiss. Plus, we don’t have to move around half as much as we would if we were shooting along. We get to be quieter, and less obtrusive. Hopefully, you never notice us!

 

Betty had the chance to hang out in the bridal suite, just waiting for moments to happen like this one of the Bride reading a letter from the Groom, while Maggie could spend all the time she needed setting up the detail shots like this one of the rings on the wedding invitation. This helps cut down on coverage time!

 

This is a great example of the same moment happening from two very different perspectives. During this couple’s First Look, Maggie was taking in the moment in a more wide shot at the bottom of the steps, while Betty hid behind a pillar to narrow in on the Groom’s expression when he saw his Bride for the first time. Having both of these photos made us happy!

 

Logistically speaking, it’s nice to divide and conquer on a wedding day. When the ceremony is over, it’s usually time to take the formal family photos. Family formals happen during cocktail hour. Cocktail hour is usually the only time we could sneak into the reception space to photograph all of the decor in it’s most pristine condition, before guests start to take their seats, spill their drinks on the linens, take out their menu cards, or crowd around the cake for their own pictures of it. Because there’s two of us, Maggie can work with the family while Betty gets in all of the decor photos on time.

 

When we get to work in venues with unique set ups, we can get more creative too! This ceremony was fun, especially when we got to add in Betty’s bird’s eye perspective. Maggie was at the back as usual, but thanks to Betty’s shot from above, we were able to see the Bride’s reaction immediately following their first kiss.

 

It’s also fun to work together during portraits, not to mention engagement sessions! Here, Maggie was just off to the side grabbing a tighter shot of this moment while Betty grabbed the full length version.

 

Timing is everything on a wedding day, and whenever we’re lucky enough to sneak away for a sunset session we usually have just moments to capture as many poses and perspectives as possible before all light is gone. We can move incredibly fast when we shoot the same pose at the same time, with two completely different compositions. While Betty grabs the wide shot here, incorporating the venue in the background, Maggie comes in for a close up, more intimate photo of the couple. Two birds, one pose (see what we did there?)

 

Each of us is better because of the other. Neither camera would be as good without the other there, along side. We’re better together.