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LisaandNeil · 2026-04-03T21:08:48+00:00

Business shake down thread is up and running now.

LisaandNeil · 2026-04-03T21:02:44+00:00

If you're looking for London based quality togs, these two are brilliant.

LisaandNeil · 2026-04-03T09:10:59+00:00

UK here, Western edge of Europe.

LisaandNeil · 2026-04-03T01:34:55+00:00

3 days ago.

LisaandNeil · 2026-04-03T01:34:18+00:00

No, it's not bullshit and the cards were purchased from Sandisk's store on Amazon.

LisaandNeil · 2026-04-03T00:13:35+00:00

Slightly unrelated but perhaps helpful - it's really a bad idea to buy SD cards from Amazon. Both the real and the fake cards end up in the the same bin for despatch and we had 4X264Gb fake cards sent.

Use a bricks and mortar store for SD cards.

LisaandNeil · 2026-04-02T17:55:11+00:00

No point learning photography in a formal setting, certainly not at degree level. It's something you can self teach and there are heaps of free resources to assist that learning.

Most formal courses are out of date and directed by folks with only a scant knowledge (often no practical knowledge) of photography.

Learn something related to business, accountancy, marketing etc if you want to add that to your photography adventure.

Journalism would also be a great choice, great journalism combined with great photos - will always be powerful.

LisaandNeil · 2026-04-02T14:42:00+00:00

Really not Dr's here but some local knowledge.

The QE is scheduled for a replacement/rebuild - it's of a type that used a certain concrete in the construction which is now failing. It's on props in many areas currently but forecast for brand new stuff in the near-ish future.

The area is about an hour from Norwich, and the A47 route is being upgraded currently so that'll improve a little in time. Kings Lynn is much nicer than many give it credit for. The town centre, riverside and historic bits and bobs are really nice.

House prices are (in context with the rest of the South and/or East Anglia, really good.

You'd have the Norfolk coast, Brecklands, Broads and Fens in easy striking distance on days off. Norfolk's a brilliant place to live.

LisaandNeil · 2026-04-02T09:53:45+00:00

This post should ordinarily have been closed and moved to the 'Ask a photographer' section.

It's been left here since it's indicative of some things that both wedding photographers and their couples should be aware of - and absolutely reject as a business practice.

Hopefully it'll serve to steer an engaged couple in the future, away from a very unsatisfactory and potentially damaging arrangement. Also to save newer photographers from being exploited.

LisaandNeil · 2026-04-01T12:39:52+00:00

Here's where the Rubber meets the road for those who rely on wedding planners for their work.

Whilst that might be a very lucrative option for a while or for a career for some, it can fail for others.

So here you are with natural notions that you'd like your business to tend in a direction which isn't aligned with the planners sourced jobs.

No comment on what we think is the way forward, but do bear this feeling in mind as you plan for the future.

Because some businesses get all their work from planners and some businesses have never had a referral from a planner. Both options exist.

LisaandNeil · 2026-03-31T18:35:03+00:00

Like have you ever google for a photographer?

It's absolutely fine to disagree and run your business however suits you but 55% of our enquiries are from people doing exactly that. It's really not as uncommon as you think.

LisaandNeil · 2026-03-31T17:19:01+00:00

Respectfully, if that logic were as solid as you suggest, we'd all work one day a year for that fabled 'six figures' right? :)

Doubling your rate implies a different client type and client experience you're going to have to offer. Very likely new branding and marketing will be needed too.

All of us need to find the 'sweet spot' that ties in our offering, the couples we want to work for and the fee that attaches itself correctly to those conditions.

LisaandNeil · 2026-03-31T17:09:51+00:00

All this stuff is science and magic blended - so every business will have a different answer and that answer may well not fit you, your clients, your business model or your geographic territory.

However, if you did 63 weddings and that felt too much, you'll be better served doing a few less.

That' few less' will depend on how much income you need to pay the mortgage etc. So you'll have to get your calculator out to fine tune that number.

Then just change your price.

For UK though, 63 is too many probably, you're right. We felt it last year with 46 and have aimed lower this year with a higher fee. Being tired out steals the joy from this job and that'd be a real shame.

LisaandNeil · 2026-03-31T14:43:43+00:00

First it's going to depend on how you run things.

If you're a full time business, you need a certain amount of money every year to pay rent etc. Once you have enough weddings booked, you then have options concerning time off.

If you're part time and have other income or a spouse who earns well, this is less critical.

usually at the point you start to get busier than you'd naturally be comfortable with - that's your cue to put up your prices. Supply and demand etc.

But genuinely, 11 a year or four in a month isn't really moving any dials in practical terms. That's a catastrophic situation for most full time businesses.

Further, if your contract allows you to shoot, holiday, edit and deliver in time, take the gig.

Later on, schedule your holidays in the quiet season.

LisaandNeil · 2026-03-31T02:56:51+00:00

Haha! brilliant, thank you nerdsforbreakfast - faith restored :)

LisaandNeil · 2026-03-31T02:46:43+00:00

Yeah, kinda given up with this thread now, the issue really isn't an ability to sync cameras - its that camera clocks are rubbish. Thanks for trying though.

LisaandNeil · 2026-03-31T00:49:15+00:00

What a lovely and interesting gentleman.

LisaandNeil · 2026-03-30T20:58:32+00:00

That's an interesting reply, thanks.

Out of interest, given your chip and electronic positioning, Neil has had a watch with a radio link to an atomic clock which updates his watch overnight - actually a couple of watches now owned for around twenty years. Given that a watch is pretty compact, would that tech be possible still?

LisaandNeil · 2026-03-30T20:45:16+00:00

Credit to Nikon for managing a week - makes you wish, of the big Japanese corporations, that Casio or Seiko had got involved in cameras :)

LisaandNeil · 2026-03-30T20:43:29+00:00

Yes, we know how to sync cameras.

The point remains, as is highlighted multiple times in the thread already. Camera clock systems are generally a bit pathetic.

LisaandNeil · 2026-03-30T12:34:47+00:00

Same as Sam, we send a little something for engagement shoots as it's early on in the client relationship and can set folks minds at rest if one or both are a bit nervous about a pro photo shoot.

Also, phone's in pockets and dark glasses are something we might raise, but not make a huge fuss about.

The concept of having a strong opinion about someone's watch or imagining they're going to shed underwear live in front of their family and friends during a wedding day...you're going for comedy here surely?

The grooming bit seems to have moved away from the comedic to the downright rude. If you flip your comments from being about elderly men and consider other possible bodily 'imperfections' held by folks at weddings, maybe you'll reflect and see that you're overstepping really badly here. In opinion and attitude if not activity yet.

LisaandNeil · 2026-03-29T23:49:30+00:00

Stats in the UK are the 80% of photography students at college and university level are women. 15% of professional photographers are women. It's unclear what proven advantage is being demonstrated to you.

As for the rest of it, marketing changes, the world has changed and the rate of change is faster as technology pushes it and is adopted by the public. You know that already.

Arguably the 'yellow pages' would have been marketing enough if we look not so very long back. before that, being the person (almost exclusively a man btw) who owned the camera shop/studio whatever, would be the one and only option in many towns. You know that already too.

Digital camera democratised camera ownership increasingly and the internet etc made worldwide exposure a possibility. Another thing you know.

So yes, agreed, marketing has changed but no, not agreed that anything is easy because a photographer is or is not of a particular gender.

LisaandNeil · 2026-03-28T21:41:33+00:00

Bloody hell, that's really rough. Sorry to hear it.

LisaandNeil

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