Are you a wedding or portrait photographer in the Houston area? If you are, then you need to become a member of the Professional Photographer’s Guild of Houston. It is one of the longest running professional photographic organizations in the area with over 50 years of rich history.

Quite a few changes are being made this year. I know, because I am helping to make them. I currently sit on the board of the PPGH as Treasurer this year. I like having control of the money.

We meet the third Tuesday of each month and have a different speaker each month. Before the program begins, we have print competitions, the results of which determine our coveted Photographer of The Year trophy/award. It’s great bragging rights with over 200 members.

You are planning your wedding, and choosing the right photographer for you is so very important. How can you tell how passionate a photographer is about their art? You know you need to ask questions to make an educated decision, so you search the bridal magazines and websites and sure enough you find a list of questions to ask.

Before you bring that list with you to the photographer’s studio (assuming they have a studio), you might want to visit their website and look for a FAQs page. Most of the questions you have found in that magazine will more than likely be answered there. The more simple questions you can answer before hand, the better.

So what should you ask?

1. Do you belong to any local professional organizations?
2. Do you, or have you, ever sat on the board of directors of this organization?
3. Do you compete reguarly with your photography?
4. What awards have you won?
5. Which award are you most proud of?
6. What is the most frequent complaint you receive from your customers?
7. Are you insured?
8. Who is your mentor?
9. Who are your three favorite photographers?
10. What have you done for continuing education in the past three years?
11. What do you plan on doing for continuing education this year?
12. If you could have any camera in the world, what would it be?
13. Out of all the photographs you have taken, which one is your favorite and why?

Now, don’t you think that the above questions will be more likely to start a real discussion? The stories that the photographer tells should allow their true passion for their craft to be seen. Questions like “Do you take back up equipment?” are a waste of time. You can probably find that answer on the photographer’s FAQ page, because I can all but guarantee they are tired of answering it.

For quite some time now I have been working on the new Professional Photographers Guild of Houston’s Website, and it is very close to launching. We are switching to a new company called Member Clicks which allows the integration of a shopping cart and other very useful tools for organizations to stay active and better communicate with it’s members. This will allow members and guests to purchase reservations for monthly meetings. Additionally, tickets can now be purchased for events months in advance.

It’s been a labor of love, and one that I am sure will continue for some time. I’ll post when the new site launches. Should be in about a week or less. Hopefully before our next meeting on the 16th.

A few days after each wedding, a customer satisfaction survey is sent via email to the client. This survey was just returned.

Q. Do you feel the team as Solaris Studios responded in a timely manner to any questions you may have presented?
A. Yes

Q. Did your photographer show up on time for your wedding?
A. Yes

Q. Was your photographer professionally dressed at your wedding?
A. Yes

Q. Did you feel your photographer attended to your requests during your wedding day?
A. Yes

Q. Did you receive your online gallery in less than two weeks after your wedding date?
A. Yes

Q. Were you notified that your wedding day DVD’s were completed in less than two weeks after your wedding date?
A. Yes

Q. On a scale of 1-5, 5 being most satisfied, how happy were you with the quality of your wedding day photography?
A. 5

Q. On a scale of 1-5, 5 being most satisfied, were you satisfied with how many images you received from your wedding?
A. 5

Q. If applicable, were your Engagement Portraits delivered in time to have on display at your reception?
A. Yes

Q. If applicable, were your Bridal Portraits delivered in time to have on display at your reception?
A. Yes

Q. If applicable, was your Guest Book delivered in time to have on display at your reception?
No Answer Provided

Q. Were you aware that we offered a line of Guest Books to have at your wedding?
A. Yes

Q. Would you refer Aric and Solaris Studios to a friend?
A. Yes

Q. One a scale of 1 – 5, 5 being very satisfied, how satisfied were you overall with the performance of Aric and Solaris Studios?
A. 5

Q. How do you feel that we could improve our services further.
No Answer Provided

Q. Would you like to leave a testimonial?
A. Aric,

Everything was absolutely amazing! You did a wonderful job and I look forward to using you in the future. The pictures really captured the entire wedding. I’m glad I didn’t hire a videograhper because with your pictures I didn’t need one. Again, thank you so much for all of your hard work!

Sincerely,

Hazel and Kyle Gibson

It’s Monday, and Monday’s are reserved for the following tasks.

First, I have to secure the images that were taken during the previous weekend’s wedding. This means downloading compact flash cards to the server, and initiating a drive to drive backup.

Next, all of the raw images need to be backed up to DVD and filed.

And finally, all of the images need to be imported into software called Lightroom to begin the editing process.

All of these steps are done first thing in the morning before anything else takes place. Once these things are completed, then we check message and meet with any consultations or sales meetings that may be scheduled. If there are no meetings on the books, then the editing process begins and will take hours to complete.

Our goal is to have the edit of the wedding completed by end of business on Tuesday. Once the edit is completed, we begin the upload of the edited images to the client’s online gallery as we leave the studio Tuesday night. When we return to the studio on Wednesday morning, assuming everything went smoothly, the upload will be completed and we email our client with access instructions .

This structure will 90% of the time allow us to get our client’s images online so fast that they will be able to see their wedding day images while they are still on their honeymoon! Nothing like instant gratification.

One of my goals is to help other photographers, and one way I plan on doing this is by creating an additional 10 spots on the first page of Google through a website called Ten Houston Wedding Photographers.com

Well, if only for a moment, the site was actually located on the first page of Google! I was so happy. But just as quickly as my happiness came, it faded. The site fell in the ranks.

I am not discouraged though! I have hope and belief now, and I am more determined than ever to make this happen!

I arrived at the church on time. As a wedding photographer, on time for me is 20 minutes early.

Nobody was there. Another 20 minutes pass, and still no one. 45 minutes before the wedding is to start and a groomsmen arrives, so I finally get confirmation I am in the right place. And then bus load after buss load of people were suddenly there.

Please, do not get me wrong. I am not complaining in any way here. When I attend a wedding I am there to serve, and I do so to the best of my ability, and always with a smile on my face. I love photographing weddings. The purpose of this blog entry is to help future engaged couples.

The wedding started off schedule, which had a trickle down effect all the way to the end of the reception. The reception end time came very quickly, and the couple was understandably not ready to call it quits. It was a great party, and in full swing when it was time to end, so the decision was made to extend the event an additional hour.

Now, for just a second, think of what it means to extend your event at the last minute for an additional hour. If you have surrounded yourself with seasoned professionals, your decision to extend your event will not be a problem.

Make sure you know how much overtime costs for each of your vendors. Is it a different rate than their normal hourly billing?

You should surround yourself with the best vendors your money can buy at your wedding, so things go as smoothly as possible, especially if you think you may have to extend your event. And just know that starting things off schedule on the front end can mean things go long on the back end of your event, and that is going to equate into money.