Thoughts on a wedding photographer.....

[beanbag]

I'm currently looking for a wedding photographer for my wedding next year in June.

Since it's in Bulgaria, my choices are slim as it would cost far to much to fly my photographer of choice (Claire Morgan - http://www.claire-morgan.com/), to Sofia to do the job.

I have however come across the following chap who seems to be pretty good but I'd like a second opinion on his work.

The site is in Bulgarian, but the photos are perfectly visible on the following URL:

http://lyubenov.com/main/index.php?option=com_expo...

Feedback and opinions would be great.

Thanks,

BB

[A M G]

Not what you asked, but I cannot recommend this guy highly enough, he photographed my wedding last year, and I know he regularly travels overseas for the same.

[beanbag]

A M G said:

Not what you asked, but I cannot recommend this guy highly enough, he photographed my wedding last year, and I know he regularly travels overseas for the same.

Cheers for the recommendation, but we really can only use a local photographer.

Once you add in their flights, hotel, expenses and so-forth, it gets extremely pricey.

A top local photographer is about €500, whereas a top photographer from abroad is about €1500+ once you add all their expenses into the price.

[Simpo Two]

There's some nice work there but also some where I suspect black & white is being used to mask second-rate compositions and exposure issues. Mind you at £451 it's fair value.

The 'trash the dress' sequence is quite fun.

But it's not my opinion that counts - it's yours

[Gemm]

Shame you can't hire Claire. She's a great photographer.

[beano500]

Two things:

1 Do you like the style? (I do - I think that it's quite individual, maybe not classic, but I don't mind the effect and I think Simpo is probably correct in the reason for the treatment - but I could also see some excellent canvas prints on the wall et cetera)

2 Can you get on with the chap? (I am just having a private chuckle over potential language problems - Simpo, for all his faults, has a reasonable grasp of English, well better than mine, so we got on OK )

[beanbag]

Simpo Two said:

There's some nice work there but also some where I suspect black & white is being used to mask second-rate compositions and exposure issues. Mind you at £451 it's fair value.

The 'trash the dress' sequence is quite fun.

But it's not my opinion that counts - it's yours

Ta for the feedback John. It's a tough choice but that's some useful info on the B&W work. I've seen very little if any colour work from this chap so I've just requested this from him.

I'll post it here and perhaps you could judge it a little to let me know again the quality of his work.

Thanks once again!

[beano500]

beanbag said:

I've seen very little if any colour work from this chap so I've just requested this from him.

I followed a link to a Scottish wedding which, in colour, has the same blown out treatment. If you like that sort of thing, it's an interesting style. It might look a bit dated in 50 days let alone 50 years! But it might be your cup of tea?

[Simpo Two]

beano500 said:

the same blown out treatment. If you like that sort of thing, it's an interesting style. It might look a bit dated in 50 days let alone 50 years! But it might be your cup of tea?

Or in Gordon Ramsay mode:

'Snap - tilt - black and white - done!'

[beanbag]

Simpo Two said:

beano500 said:

the same blown out treatment. If you like that sort of thing, it's an interesting style. It might look a bit dated in 50 days let alone 50 years! But it might be your cup of tea?

Or in Gordon Ramsay mode:

'Snap - tilt - black and white - done!'

The problem is that 99% of all the photographers that I saw were utter crap. The majority looked like they could now have access to digital compact cameras or a cheapo SLR and call themselves photographers.

One of them was a 17 year old kid who couldn't really tell me what camera equipment he used and wouldn't show me anymore than a couple of photos. Turns out he used an old Canon compact digital camera and probably after taking a couple of photos at a wedding, was told his work was great and as such called himself a photographer.

At least this other guy is serious, seems to know what he's doing and has positive feedback on various Bulgarian wedding and photography forums.

[andy-xr]

So, from the sounds of it, you cant afford not to fly Claire Morgan out to do it properly then?

[beanbag]

andy-xr said:

So, from the sounds of it, you cant afford not to fly Claire Morgan out to do it properly then?

Something like that, yup.....New car, new hifi, wedding, and holidays all amount to a very expensive year! I need to reign back a little!!!!

[Simpo Two]

If you took a tripod and a remote control you could save £451

[rickybouy]

Hi there i got married around 6 weeks back and used this chap www.murrayphotography.com he is amazing and will travel he is currently rated top ten in the UK but it depends what style you want check out his site, the best thing about him is he is totally out of site but captures the day in an amzing fashion i work in advertising so work with photographers on a daily basis if you want something that wil stand out he's the man!!

hope it helps

Rick

[rickybouy]

Hi there i got married around 6 weeks back and used this chap www.murrayphotography.com he is amazing and will travel he is currently rated top ten in the UK but it depends what style you want check out his site, the best thing about him is he is totally out of site but captures the day in an amzing fashion i work in advertising so work with photographers on a daily basis if you want something that wil stand out he's the man!!

hope it helps

Rick

[beanbag]

Chaps, I need some serious critique on the following photographers. I'm not going to say which I prefer or which I think is better, but I'd really like proper feedback on them to make a final decision.

Photographer #1
http://sharon.ambrish.com/gallery/stirling/index.h...
http://lyubenov.com/main/index.php?option=com_expo...

Photographer #2
http://www.claire-morgan.com/index2.php?v=v1

Thanks!!!

[andy-xr]

First is a snapper, second has artistic merit in quite a lot of what I saw.

I'm guessing thats reflected in the price. There are some basic mistakes in the first that once you see in your own photos will nag at you more than the new Mother in Law

[beanbag]

andy-xr said:

First is a snapper, second has artistic merit in quite a lot of what I saw.

I'm guessing thats reflected in the price. There are some basic mistakes in the first that once you see in your own photos will nag at you more than the new Mother in Law

After a lot of thought (mainly the budget), we've decided to go with Claire Morgan and I'm very pleased I got my way.

The only problem is she's based out of Bulgaria so we need to arrange flights and a hotel room for her while she's in Sofia. Either way, her work is superb and has won many awards including:

- Honorable Mention of the 2009 International Photography Awards.
- Active member of the Wedding Photojournalistic Association(WPJA).
- Featured in the 50th Anniversary issue of Practical Photography Magazine UK. After winning Photographer of the Year in 2005, she was interviewed to see how her career has progressed since.
- Awarded 1st place in the People/Wedding category for her entry, "Balloons" at the IPA Photographer of the Year 2008 awards in New York.
- Awarded Honorable Mention for her series 'Naked soul' in the category: Fine Art - Nudes at the 2007 International Photography Awards (IPA).
- Awarded Honorable Mention for the category: Nature - Seasons and Fine Art - Portraits at the International Photography Awards (IPA) in 2006.
- Practical Photography Magazine UK awarded Claire the 'Photographer of the Year' title in October 2005 after 3 rounds and a series of themes that had to interpreted into pictures. Claire finally won the title with a series of images interpreting the theme 'Age'.

Very pleased with the choice! Can't wait to see the results after the wedding!!

[Simpo Two]

I have to say that the photos in the top link look pretty grim - over saturated and over contrasty (a more extreme version of what I found JPGs from a D300/D700 to look like) and composition pretty dubious. Just wrong.

I do like Claire Morgan's work. My only issue is that some of her shots are annoyingly not quite level and some don't seem sharp, but probably few people other than togs would notice. Nice and artistic and a good use of processing for effect rather than cover-up.

Lyubenov's colour seems a bit odd in places but as he's local and affordable, I'd say go with him.


ETA: Just seen that you've booked Claire. Hopefully you did this because you like her work, not because she's won lots of awards!

Edited by Simpo Two on Thursday 26th November 09:52

[beanbag]

Simpo Two said:

I have to say that the photos in the top link look pretty grim - over saturated and over contrasty (a more extreme version of what I found JPGs from a D300/D700 to look like) and composition pretty dubious. Just wrong.

I do like Claire Morgan's work. My only issue is that some of her shots are annoyingly not quite level and some don't seem sharp, but probably few people other than togs would notice. Nice and artistic and a good use of processing for effect rather than cover-up.

Lyubenov's colour seems a bit odd in places but as he's local and affordable, I'd say go with him.


ETA: Just seen that you've booked Claire. Hopefully you did this because you like her work, not because she's won lots of awards!

Edited by Simpo Two on Thursday 26th November 09:52

I've met Claire a couple of times and she was at our home yesterday showing us her work. She is by far the best photographer I've met for the wedding. The Bulgarian photographer I showed you is the best I could find out there and comes recommended by many people although I don't see exactly what for....

Either way, I love her style which is less posed and more natural and artistic although she's very happy to do the typical "classic" poses.

We've also decided to a "trash the dress" session later in the year in the Alps with her so this is something else I am looking forward to. Should be very fun!