Why Hire Us
Selecting a wedding photographer is likely to be among the most difficult and expensive decisions you make for your wedding. In an age when almost everyone has a camera and an Instagram account, making that decision is harder than ever — there’s so much choice, so why not go with the cheapest option?
We won’t be the least expensive option in the Denver or Colorado market — and we don’t intend to be. There’s much you should consider when choosing a wedding photographer. As we’ve mentioned before, you should first choose us because you like our photos and you like our personalities. You’re likely to spend more time around us on the wedding day than anyone else — even your future spouse. It’s why we want to meet with you beforehand in a casual setting.
Now, let us tell you more about what else sets us apart.
Experience. Between us, we have photographed more than 150 weddings over a decade of photography. Weddings are all about capturing moments — the big ones and those you least expect — and years of photographing in complex and difficult situations prepare us for almost anything that can happen. We know where we need to stand to capture a moment from multiple angles. We’re ready with the right lens and camera settings when you share your first kiss, which sometimes isn’t always clear in the ceremony and often lasts for only a few seconds. These are photographs we do not miss.
We take control when we have to — say, during family portraits or while posing formal bride and groom photos — and we fade into the background when we need to in order to capture genuine moments. We can manage a daily timeline, and in case you don’t have a wedding planner, we offer advice and suggestions to ensure it goes smoothly and the photographs look great.
Wedding photography is among the most difficult types of photography to execute well because it requires us to know how to capture moments, pose brides and grooms, stick to a timeline, effectively see and manipulate light during the day and night, and set up large group shots with families to ensure everyone’s in focus and properly lighted. Our ability to make you comfortable in front of a camera is paramount. Most people will never be photographed professionally as much as they will on a wedding day. Our ability to pose couples is the difference between acceptable photos and great ones.
For Catholic and other religious couples, we have photographed dozens of Masses, church services and other religious rites, always being respectful while capturing the wonder and sacredness of the day.
We avoid on-camera flash whenever possible. The photos you have on your smartphone from inside a dark room don’t look exceptional because direct-flash photography never makes people look flattering.
Very few can develop all those skills after just a few months with a camera, regardless of how good that camera is. Trust us, we were once there ourselves! It took us many dedicated years of practice to effectively learn to do this.
Teamwork. Anya and I have photographed together for years. We grew our business together from the start, and we consider ourselves co-equals during a shoot. We know each other’s strengths, and we know where we need to be during critical moments on a wedding day. Some photographers hire second shooters with whom they have limited experience working. On the rare occasions we have to hire a second photographer to help us, we rely on a trusted group of professionals with whom we’ve worked multiple time in the past — and we pay them well because we expect them to be as reliable as we are. Although this has never happened, should an emergency situation mean we can’t photograph your wedding, we know trustworthy professionals of comparable ability who can replace us.
Professional-grade equipment. We shoot with professional-grade Nikon lenses and camera bodies — the best money can buy. We don’t want to compromise on our technical ability to capture your day. If the weather’s bad, our equipment can handle it — we’ve photographed in rain, sleet and snow. If the lighting is too low in a church or a reception room, our cameras and lenses allow us to comfortably shoot in poor lighting. Our backup equipment is the same as our primary equipment.
Professional-grade equipment isn’t the only reason we can capture beautiful photos — and there are many photographers who have great equipment but don’t have the skills we list above. In the end, the photographer decides when to capture the picture and how to frame it — the camera is merely the tool to create it.
Backups and backup equipment. We never walk into a wedding with one camera. Each of us carries two cameras. In each of those cameras, we shoot simultaneously to two memory cards. Why is that important? If one card goes bad, there’s a backup. If a camera goes bad, there’s a backup. We carry multiple lights, light stands, batteries and backup batteries for the same reason.
When we’re finished shooting, we upload the work to our computer, copy it over to a second hard drive and then back it up to the cloud, so your photos are secure in three places as quickly as possible. We save copies of every wedding photograph we take — even the outtakes — to those hard drives.
Liability insurance. Our equipment is insured, and we carry liability insurance in case something goes wrong. Accidents happen in the whirlwind of a wedding day, there are a lot of moving parts, but we are well-covered no matter the circumstance.
Price, of course, will always be a factor. You never want to hire a wedding photographer for $500, tempting as that may be, but you don’t want to waste money, either. We’ve heard countless stories from couples whose siblings or friends hired the cheapest photographer they could find — which ended in disappointment because the photos didn’t meet their expectations.
Once you feel comfortable with all we’ve listed above, consider whether we have package in your price range. In the end, you and your guests will enjoy the food and cake, your friends and family will return home, and that which you will carry into your new life together is your marriage, memories, wedding rings and wedding photos.