Promotional Material

Well I suppose you would have to expect it. Photographers advertise their talent in trade. That is, they show you examples of their work that are inevitably from other sittings and / or weddings they have accepted. Since many photographers will also make their subjects sign over any rights they might have not to have their photos displayed for commercial purposes by the photographer themselves, this is their right. You could therefore potentially see a photograph of yourself winning a photography competition, appearing on a pamphlet or perhaps being sent out in an email to someone else.

The latter is the case with some friends of mine. A little less than two weeks ago, The Boy, The Pussycat and I attended the wedding of some close friends. We had a chance to meet the photographer properly as we also spent most of the day with the bride and groom acting as 2nd & 3rd shooter and videographer. The Boy and I have since however received an email from the photographer as part of the Bless The Bride with Blanket Brochures business, ie. not connected to our friends wedding at all. From seeing the photographer and their work on the day, The Boy and I both felt that we had still not yet found the right person for our wedding but I was glancing over the rates for comparison when I thought one of the images looked familiar.

I remembered a location we had been to for the formal photos of our friends and a pose that the bride and groom had adopted for one of the shots. When I had a closer look at that particular image however, and then took in the other two photos on the page as well, I realised they were all from our friends’ wedding that we had attended two weekends ago. Its flattering I suppose to know that your images are considered worthy of being used as promotional material and more attractive than other photos owned by the photographer. I actually kind of like the idea and it would amuse me if a shot of my wedding actually made it into a magazine or something. The Boy doesn’t quite share my opinion however. I guess we’ll see what happens to our shots. Of course, we still kind of have to choose a photographer first!