A Wedding Photo Story
As Printed in Catholic News Services in their "annual wedding suppliment"
sent out for inclusion in all the Catholic Newspapers in the United States
and Canada.
By JOHN STRANGE
Bill Collins is the life of the party at most of the wedding receptions he
attends. That's because Collins, a professional photographer in Richmond,
Ind., spent the day shooting the wedding and the preparation before the ceremony,
on his Nikon D-1 digital camera. During the reception, his digital photographs
are available for all to see on his laptop computer. It's not rare, he says,
for the bride to sip her wedding day champagne and click through pictures
on the laptop, a crowd of guests gathered over her shoulder. Nor is it rare
for guests to order favorite prints directly from him, either in person that
day, or online later. Such arrangements are becoming more common, says Bill
Hurter, editor of Rangefinder Magazine for Wedding & Portrait Photographers
International, a professional association of about 3,000 photographers. As
digital camera technology advances quickly, nearing or surpassing the quality
established by 35mm cameras, it is also moving into the field of wedding
photography, offering new choices for the bride and groom and new opportunities
for the photographer.
"It's giving the photographer a whole new way to sell prints," says Hurter,
of Santa Monica, Calif. Many photographers will leave their cards, complete
with Web address and phone number, at each place setting. Later, guests can
log on, see the pictures, and order professional prints. Even >better,
the long-distance uncle or cousins who could not attend can see what they
missed just a few days after the wedding online.
"It's very hip and efficient," Hurter says. Perhaps more importantly, says
Collins, digital cameras allow more images for the photographer and bride
and groom to choose from. With film photography, he said, each time he pressed
the shutter cost him about $1 in film and developing costs. Digital photography
allows him to shoot two to three times as many images as before. There are
more images, no wait for developing, and more people to see and appreciate
the pictures. With film photography, "if you're lucky, five percent of those
who attended the wedding ever get to see the pictures," he says. Today, few
guests at the reception leave without looking at the laptop "slide show."
"It's the hit of the evening," he says.
Collins, who lives and works in the triangle between Indianapolis, Cincinnati,
and Dayton, Ohio, offers his customers a $1,095 digital package which includes
five CDs with high-resolution images, which the bride and groom can print,
place on their own Web site, or otherwise reproduce, an album of 36 8-by-10s,
and a posting of the photographs on Collins' Web site for eight weeks.
RESERVE TODAY
before your date is unavailable.
