Two kinds of assignments that I constantly turn down, events and weddings. Why, you may ask, especially as in Vietnam wedding photography is a big business. The Sky’s the limit. If you can afford it, you flaunt it.
I digress. The reason why is “know thy limits”. I believe there are quite a few capable photographers that already do several events a week. They have the experience and skill set to do it well. It is an area that I don’t want to enter. Weddings too. Wedding photography is a discipline on it’s own. The typical wedding studio here in Vietnam employs so many staff. It’s a big operation.
You can see them take turn at the popular locations. They shoot more or less matching scenarios. Poses practiced and well rehearsed. They have different packages on offer, starting from low to sky high.
We used a similar studio for our own wedding album. Did so many clothes changes in a day. Did not want to do a location shoot. Too shy for that. Wedding couples always gather small crowds. Especially around Notre Dame church, downtown Saigon.
Anyway. We got an enquiry and we politely thanked them and said no as we felt they would be better served elsewhere.
Normally that would be the end of the story but they asked us to reconsider. We still thought it was in their best interest to still decline. Then, upon arrival, they showed up at our studio, telling us that they really liked our work and they still wanted us to shoot for them. How can you say no to a request like that. We couldn’t. Too humbled.
So we did our first wedding session. Our way.
