In our digital age it seems like everyone has a decent camera. It doesn't mean that they know how to use it or that they can take decent photos, but carry a big enough camera and people think you know what you are doing. Don't get me wrong, there are quite a few amateurs out there that really do know what they are doing. Just because they are not making a living out of their picture taking doesn't mean they are inferior to what a professional could do. But you have to admit that there are a lot of people out there with a nice camera that just don't know what they are doing with that camera, or they don't have the eye to capture above average images. I admit that I'm a bit biased. As someone who does make my living by my photography, and as someone who takes it seriously, I believe there is value in hiring a professional to cover an important event, especially someone that you are confident will get the kind of images you want.
Along that line, we also live in a time when people want and expect fast results. Digital images can be posted online moments after they are taken. We go to a wedding and the day after everyone is posting their images on Facebook. So why does it take the professional photographer so long to get their images online? Not too long ago, about a week after one of my weddings, I stumbled upon a blog written by the bride. I know there was absolutely nothing nasty meant in what she wrote, but she was writing about the wedding and said they were still waiting on the images from the photographer (me) . . one week after the wedding (I was on schedule to post the images just a couple days after her post). If you are curious as to why most wedding photographers take awhile to get through their images, I would highly recommend reading a blog posting by Anne Ruthmann. She does a nice job of walking people through the process. Generally speaking, I deliver my images within 2-3 weeks of the wedding. I deliver all the images I take, and I go through and color correct, crop, level, and check exposure on every image. Anne is right in saying that today the photographer is the lab. It is time consuming work, and it is tough at least for me to spend long periods of time doing the work. My creativity and my body can only take so much of it at any given time. Add other weddings and projects to the equation, recognize there is only so much time available, and you realize why images just cannot be posted the day after the wedding. Hopefully though it is all worth the wait.
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