About Your Baptism.An Important consideration when hiring a photographer.

Hi you!

You ended up here for a reason. I assume you’re browsing around getting ready for your child’s baptism. Congrats! in that case ,hope that the baby keeps you happy and have a decent sleep by now 🙂  Congrats for working to build a great family. That’s a step forward. You know that ,because every hard thing is a step forward.

Now, I wanted to go over something that crossed my  mind and experience and I’m sure you want to know this before your christening.
I’m writing here as a father,parent and as a photographer, and you should consider this: 

PEACE OF MIND with your baptism photographer!

I didn’t realize this till after I had to hire myself photographers for our son’s baptisms. Maybe I assumed all the photographers are like me and disregarded a very important aspect by default. 

I mean, having your mind at ease about who is around your baby on the baptism day.

We were lucky with our first son (I had a little time to spend with the photographer before)
But not so lucky with the second baptism photographer. Of course it was my fault as I didn’t dig too deep because of time constraints. Of course it was too little too late at the event and after.
 I could have used my partner at the time, but I wanted him and the family to enjoy the christening in person and presence, something I strongly encourage for this kind of life events.

 So going back to the second photographer I hired.
Everything looked good online, and the photos were nice.  But today, having a good portfolio online shouldn’t really say that much.Why? because if you take 1000 photos 10 are good, I promise you. It’s just basic chance. Those are the photos you see on their website portfolio. And that’s deceiving. What you don’t see is how the photographer works, you don’t see how he/she interacts with people, your guests, or with  kids and your baby. Neither how he/she is dressed up

  It’s not easy to organize a christening. Book the Church, book the venue, make invitations, make table arrangements, call for balloons, flowers,favors. Go get christening clothing. Call family and friends, well… there’s a lot!
You get to booking a photographer! Awesome, you have a cousin that used this guy and  she was happy with him! Great, you’re set! That’s why I get recommended by word of mouth more times than any marketing campaign can ever help with! Because  you thrust your family and friends, because personal relationships are strong!

That said,  since the baby came,you haven’t got the chance to get out of the house for the past 6 months other than work and basic grocery shopping, and the photographer your cousin recommended, is booked or just too expensive.
Next thing you do is look for someone online, just like you do now !
Wait, what?!
That’s too much! Too much info out there, it’s confusing and TOO much!
I get that lately.Too much information.What’s the better option, I want the best bang for my buck..
Well that’s not how it works in this case.
You should know by now, that kids work differently. That Whatever type of conceptions you had about life, once you had a child, things changed and are constantly changing! Which is a good thing!
However, it mainly comes down to having a safe and good environment around your family and baby. To trust the kids, and people that you come in touch with. To be comfortable with the photographer you choose for the baptism. To be ok with the baby interacting with a stranger that you don’t know too much about.  To have PEACE OF MIND (with your photographer! )

The end result is directly dependent on how your photographer interacts with you , the family, the kids around AND the baby. On how the first impression happens and how short this day is to get a second impression 🙂

So what I’m trying to say  is…Yes,  there’s a lot of options out there (virtually everyone out there with something else than a phone, IS a photographer) There’s some great photographers, and each have more experience with one type of photography.

Some have great prices and even good photos, but try to find out more, from reviews and maybe from videos of the guy you’re hiring. Make sure that if you save a buck with this guy, is not going to cost you more at the end of the day.  Chances are that you might know someone from an event he/she shot in the past and you can give them a call and find out more. Even better, try to speak on the phone and meet in person (I know, I know, it’s old school :)) Who has time to meet people anymore :)))

And if you are a photographer reading this, getting ready for your next gig, my advice is this:
Once you have agreed on pricing and a package with your parent/client, money should be set aside and forget  all about it till AFTER the event.

While at the event, and this will help you get the candid emotional photos you want, try to be part of the family and be there with your heart and mind. Do everything you can to be helpful and document the most important life event you can be part of (another blog article on this). Bring your good vibe and just be there (no texting and shooting :)) You’ll thank yourself later. I’m sure the parents will to.

Just my 2 cents…