Darwin Wedding Photograpers

hey there i am getting married on the 8th of june and i am looking for a wedding photographer. the professional photographers in darwin are extremely expensive. so if anyone out there is an amateur photographer with leet skills and would like to earn some money on the 8th of june for a few hours work please contact me with your rates and a portfolio if you have one!!

thanks guys

What are you expecting in relations to shots and final product. i.e. prints, edited images (photoshopped), setups for shots (Bride Groom, Family, reception etc), Location, time of day. What is your budget?

we just want photos on a disc no photoshop. approx 4 hours ie. we want pre wedding shots, wedding is at sunset at darwin sailing club so shots then and then photos afterwards with family and a few happy snaps at the reception. open for suggestions on price

Buy a heap of USB memory and self addressed envelops and hand them out to guests with cameras. That's your cheap option.

We aren't looking for cheap we just don't think that what you pay phots in darwin reflects quality and quantity of the final product

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I would have done it for a carton if I was still there. But at the same time, you probably don't want to entrust your wedding photos to someone willing to do it for a carton :p

Wedding photographers cost anywhere from $2000-$5000 depending on the photographer and what you require locations wise and post production. That is about normal not just in Darwin. Photography suffers from the problem that any clown with a camera can take photos. Any clown with a paint brush can paint your house but you would rather someone who knows what their doing. Of course that doesn't stop clowns getting into the house painting or photography business but if they are charging you as a professional services and they stuff up you at least have a legal recourse. BTW from a hire business point of view the dry hire rate on a typical professional photographers set-up would be about $500-"000 a day for just the equipment.

Think about it this way mate, better off getting the real deal especially if you only plan on doing it once, that way 5-10-20 years down the track your missus cant complain you skimped on the "memories" for the day.

Nah based off,
3310.0 - Marriages and Divorces, Australia, 2010

The median duration of marriage to separation is 8.8 years. So only have to listen to her for 8.8 years.

Quote from Ratty;404718:
Think about it this way mate, better off getting the real deal especially if you only plan on doing it once, that way 5-10-20 years down the track your missus cant complain you skimped on the "memories" for the day.

Wow, you actually put some thought in something to do with marriage... hahahaha! :P

Do your research on what the local photographers on quality verse cost. If you can find a few "cheap" photgrapher with a history of weddings then have a look at the quality and creativeness of their shots and then do the same with the more expensive "professionals" and then compare the best of each in the formula of Creative/quality over cost.

I've dabble in photography but weddings are a sorta no go for me as it is that "special" day and the possibility of not getting the best shots on the day is daunting. Though that being said I have done a wedding for a close friend free of charge which if you have facebook might be able to see them here: Myk's Wedding Shots
As I said, if you can find a cheaper photography, make sure they have a viewable history of their work so you can see how good/bad it may be.

We've been together as long as the average marriage and we're just getting married. Hope she doesn't bail on the day. :P

Ended up paying under 5k for mine, and would have happily spent double that if I saw that much value in a photographer. It's pretty much the most important thing to get right as far as I'm concerned, apart from the obvious essentials.

My ring is a plain gold band, my suit is a hire, I designed digital invitations, I printed our place cards etc. - I didn't do these things to save money, I did them because I didn't see value in the money they would otherwise require. What matters to me is saying I do and the celebration with my friends and family. I want the best possible preservation of those moments, which certainly won't be my memory. :)

So anyway, my advice is obviously spend the money. Optimistically, you'll only do this once.

Quote from Ratty;404718:
Think about it this way mate, better off getting the real deal especially if you only plan on doing it once, that way 5-10-20 years down the track your missus cant complain you skimped on the "memories" for the day.

That's right... This is her day, not yours.. lol

I don't do weddings (anymore) but it's not worth my time unless I'm charging my minimum rate with is "50 and hour. it gets progressively more expensive.

Up here, 5K should get you a good photographer, but if you want the best opportunity, here are things to look for:

1. First things first is their portfolio. If they're good, then excellent. My suggestion is to go in critical. Remember these are your shots of the big day... if there's something you don't like about the photo's... remember them. Look at trends of the photographers style too. Do they do the same thing for every wedding they show you, or are they willing to mix it up a little. Have they had experience with different styles of weddings? One thing that really gives me the shits with some wedding photographers, particularly in Darwin is poor lighting control. They use top mounted flash units which is fine, but usually blow out the for-ground and underexpose the background.

2. Look at their other photography styles too if they have their general photography portfolio available.

3. See what they shoot with (equipment). I'm not suggesting they must have the full pro gear, but if they have a Dribble and a stock lens or worse a semi-pro point and shoot then probably go thanks but no thanks.

4. Insurance. Do they have it? If they have AIPP (Australian industry of Professional Photographers) is featured on their advertisements, they're covered by at least some insurance. You'll need to talk to the AIPP or check their website (Google it) for their current listing.

I'm with everybody else... there are some things on the wedding day you simply should get right, and frankly the photographer is right up there behind the guy holding the service, the couple getting married and the witness (for which the photographer could double as) and the rings.

3-5K should get you something pretty okay.

EDIT: Just to add, in my experience, photographers here are usually within 10-15% quantity of product to down south. (Ie, up here you're charged around 15% more for the same product). The other option is to bring a photographer up from down south.

Well..with my Second time round we chose to bring a Photographer up from Alice Springs. Paid for a hire car plus accommodation and got out of it for just under $3000. Luckily we knew him so got a great deal on the price. Some may say he is not the best but his point of difference was the sheer volume of photos. For this we got "The Wedding Album", "The Coffee Table Album", "A Digital CD Album" and also a digital of every single photo he took untouched almost 800 I think from memory.
So the moral of the story....DO IT RIGHT FOR HER......Find some point of difference that appeals to both of you and treat the wedding like a basic budget, what you save here you can then place there and so forth.....

Quote from CyphiX;404720:
Wow, you actually put some thought in something to do with marriage... hahahaha! :P

hey i may not believe in the idea of marriage but i do know women, and if you plan on keeping her happy after your married, preemptive damage control is always smart :D

Not sure how much she charges, but look up Melanie from Silva Wedding Photography. Yes I'm a friend of hers, but I've seen some amazing photography from her as of late. I just looked at her website and it doesn't have as much of her work as her Facebook page.

So, my wedding is all wrapped up. My experience further enforces my opinion that you need to spend the money on photography and in hindsight I would have been happy to spend more.

I was so busy, emotionally overwhelmed and eventually drunk that the entire day and night is just one big fucking amazing blur.

Trying to recall specific moments was tough even on the way home that night - it was almost a shell shocked feeling. It was just such an electric, dizzying and frantic evening. I was totally unprepared for the experience, not expecting it would be nearly that taxing.

Looking at some guest photos has already done a good job of jogging my memory and helping me reflect on the day. I can't wait to see the professional photos - they'll be cherished.

Hey mate, if you don't want to go the full professional photographer I can probably help you out.
I haven't done any weddings yet but I'm confident I can do them.

Most of my work can be viewed at Flickr: insane phototography

Cheers,
Dan

Quote from rec;404929:
So, my wedding is all wrapped up. My experience further enforces my opinion that you need to spend the money on photography and in hindsight I would have been happy to spend more.

After seeing only a sample of those photos; I couldn't agree more.
They are fantastic.

Money spent in Brisbane does not equal money spent in Darwin.

Might as well get your crazy aunt to take the photos because for photography like rec's you will need to pay 10 grand.

From what I've seen the bulk of wedding photographers in Darwin are a) talentless, and b) extortionate.

literally, as in, they take your wedding photos at great cost, then hold them for ransom if you want extra prints, and if you want the digital copies at decent resolution, you're shit out of luck.

A lot of that is standard practice Harbinger and generally isn't any different anywhere for professional work. (keeping raws and limiting distribution of digital copies). That said... while I wouldn't say many of the photographers here are that bad (a handful do leave a lot to be desired), I personally don't know any who specialise in wedding photography and do a comparable job cost wise down south. I've seen work of some of the full time pro's up here and while some are not bad, there are others I feel shouldn't be a primary photographer.

Quote from Kagetsu;404961:
A lot of that is standard practice Harbinger and generally isn't any different anywhere for professional work.

I disagree. A vast majority of commercial photography is the opposite of what you're saying. When you pay someone to photograph something, you're paying for... *drum roll*... photographs. High-res, low-res, what-evs.

It is ONLY in the wedding industry that they try and milk it (like everything else with weddings). You can however, find photographers (at least in the bigger cities) who are reasonably priced AND include everything basic you would expect - like hi-res photos. We just paid under $3k for a dude called James Field who was with us from 10am til 11.30pm. He also provided a photobooth for people to take photos of themselves (well it was a DSLR on a tripod with a 19" LCD attached to it for instant proview - with a wireless remote). He was the equivalent skill level of a photographer who would cost well OVER $3k for 4 hours.

My suggestion is to either pay the money to fly someone up, or just make do with everyone's photos from the day.

I was only referring to the wedding industry, as it works significantly differently to most other photographic based businesses. As for commercial photography, it's a mixed bag, depending on what you're working on... generally speaking, in commercial shooting, yes, you're paid for a product, which is usually the image so they can use as required. (ie, advertisement, magazine, commercials etc). I'm not saying there isn't value in the industry either... All I'm suggesting is generally speaking you get what you pay for, and especially so in wedding photography.

Keep in mind... weddings you're after an entire album + extra's. Giving the client raw's is akin to giving them unprocessed negatives (film days)... sure we here understand the basics of it, and some understand the complexities... but generally speaking, most will not. And as a photographer, if I've spent my good time and they've paid for a good product, and then they take the 'raws' and print them out at Harvey Norman and they look like shit, and then slander me because they can't print them well enough (and it DOES happen) then of course I don't want my work being displayed incorrectly.

Packages | Gallery Two Six

this guy did a great job at our wedding, i dont know photography but he captured every moment and and i think he shopped me a bit so i dont look so ugly next to my beautiful wife :D

we got the dvd ans books made up as well

My professional wedding shots are weeks away yet, you guys (Milenko inparticular) might be referring to the four photo booth shots Elle put up which we got from Simon Bills as a preview - the DVD with the rest is in the mail. But that's just the photo booth, not even the "proper" professional shots. Or, you may be referring to Grandinferno's wedding photos which I've been tagged in many of?

The guy we hired was David Sievers. Have a quick click on some of the menu categories for a look at his work: David Sievers Photography. We explained we didn't really care for prints. We're getting a coffee table book with a selection of photos, but otherwise we just wanted his photos provided digitally as we haven't owned physical photo albums for many years and any singles we want we'll print ourselves. He was understanding and tailored a package for us.

Flying someone up for the day is probably a good move considering that return flights might be as much as $600, but the alternative is that you pay a premium for sub-par results.

In regards to the wedding industry trying to milk you, indeed they do, but you really just have to do your research and know your stuff when hunting for photographers.

E.g. We spoke to Benjamin Liew regarding a photo booth who said it would cost $800-"100. That included up to 700 low res images and "300 digital images for Facebook." He said images would be available for guests from $5 each!? If we wanted high res photos it was "100 and we would only get 100 photos.

Strangely and undesirably his photo booth setup only took a photo every 30 seconds. It seemed he was trying to spin high dollar value due to the fact he claimed to "process the images" and delivered "Facebook versions." The processing claim really irked me. These photos wouldn't be taken by the creative eye of a human, it's tripod mounted with a static lighting arrangement. We didn't want these doctored, just set it up right initially and they'll all be fine. Copy from card to disc and you're done.

Anyway, we replied explaining that we don't require his "processing" and didn't really believe there's value in his package. We also noted that Facebook will provide Facebook versions for us by itself. We went on to explain what we did want: push button shots, unlimited digital photos in high resolution jpg, delivered via DVD for $500~ optimistically, which he wouldn't accommodate. The sad thing is he probably takes many people for that ride of his.

We then found exactly what we wanted for $550 via Simon Bills - who was awesome to deal with - and the four preview shots already delivered look great.

I'm a bit confused, you said you hired David Sievers, but then you say you found exactly what you wanted from Simon Bills? So who did you eventually go with?

Both. Bills for the photo booth, Sievers for the professional photos.