Photography Websites

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by nathan mccreery on October 16, 2009 at 8:38am

If you're "starting to get into wedding photograph as a hobby" be sure you are charging enough to make it worthwhile to you or it will stop being fun pretty quickly. If you aren't, people will use you and not respect you for your skill or invested time. I've seen hundreds of people just like you who are young and have a lot of energy and creative ideas and get so tired of having the whole weekend dominated by the wedding of someone they don't even know very well and don't particularly like. If you don't approach it as a pro would you are going to end up having someone really mad at you over nothing or you'll give in to outrageous demands just to placate a demanding brides mother. Use contracts that protect your interests and charge enough to make it worth while. You need to charge an amount that's characteristic of other photographers in your area. If you charge too little people won't respect you. If you charge too much you won't get work.

In terms of web hosting just Google website templates and you'll have hundreds of options.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Samantha Abbott on October 16, 2009 at 11:11am

Thanks so much for the input. I have been doing some research as for pricing, and have a pretty good idea where to start with that. Contracts are definitely a point I had not put much thought into. I am going to try google, and see if I can find a good basic contract to use as a starting point, and thanks for the tip on website layouts!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by nathan mccreery on October 17, 2009 at 3:19pm

I just heard an ad on the radio about INTUIT. You might check them out. Please consider the contract. I have known studio owners that messed up a wedding and ended up paying for the wedding to be re-staged!

If you photograph weddings, especially a lot of them, it is almost an inevitability that a piece of equipment will fail during a job. I one had a camera fail at a wedding and there was no indicator of it until I got the film back and there were no exposures on it (a contact on one of the shutter curtains had broken off, the flash was going off just like normal after the shutter closed). the contract limited my liability to the cost of the wedding photographs that had been paid.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Samantha Abbott on October 17, 2009 at 8:21pm

Great tip, yet again. Would you be willing to share the portion of your contract that covered that? I am working on compiling something, and didnt even think about that aspect!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by nathan mccreery on October 18, 2009 at 10:38am

there is a phrase that says "...studios liability is limited to the refund of any down payment or deposits made in the even that the wedding photographs cannot be delivered for any reason". I also carried an insurance policy through the Professional Photographers of America. Its coverage wasn't as strong as I would have liked but it was better than none at all. I did have one claim in 30 years of working. They provided legal counsel to me at no charge and would have covered had there been a judgment against me. Fortunately the outcome was not adverse to me. It would behoove you to be very cautious here. Remember, we live in a litigious society and people don't have to have a reason to bring suit other than a difference of opinion,or wanting something you have. Always protect yourself!

IMHO if you are working in a very metropolitan area the chances are much greater than if you live in a smaller area like I do. People are much more willing to try to work things out if they know you and see you often than if it is in an area where you have little or no contact beyond the business at hand.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Rhitu Raj Sarma on October 18, 2009 at 6:58am

You can try smugmug.com. It's a great site with very pleasing appearance. There are 3 levels standard $40 /y, power $60 /y and pro $150 /y. with power and pro accounts you can do a lot of customization and pro level lets you sell your pictures with your own price. I have a power account (www.rhitusworld.com) and I am very happy with it. you can check it out. And also all their plans allows unlimited number of photos. You can create new galleries for each of your weddings. You can try the site free for 30 days before you want to commit.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by detlef on October 18, 2009 at 3:46pm

I am with smugmug..have a look

• ▶ Reply