Q&A

Ask me and I’ll tell! BnB (72)

1.   Who will be the photographers for our Wedding?  I, Stephy will always be at your wedding (unless I died for some reason), and my 2nd shooter depends on who I like that day….  🙂  I try to match up my shooters with the personality that will fit best with my couple.  Sometimes, I may also bring an ASSistant if the occasion calls for it  

 

2.     Are you full-time photographers? We  are full time Wedding Photographers, but part time Portrait photographers.  (what does this mean?) We don’t have a studio that we sit at during the week to take family and baby portraits. Every weekend available not already booked though and certain days during the week, are committed for your big day!

 

3.     What do you do the rest of the Week? Stephy sits in front of 4 computer monitors and edits photos, chats, trains a pluthera of new employees how to do their jobs properly, pets her fur-babies and writes emails to everyone at the same time, is that talent or what? Ann coaches her two talented kids sports teams and is an awesome Mom! Janis is an editing machine, rubs her fur baby’s belly, eats good food, and cuddles with David.  Kevin manages a group of facilitators to impart wisdom on new technicians how to climb poles and fix stuff that’s broken.   Mikey fixes the stuff we break (we sometimes break stuff). Angee dresses up her daughter for pageants all over the country and drinks lots of starbucks.

 

4.     What kind of experience, background, and education do you have?  Steph has 13 years experience of Professional Photography and Associates in computer sciences technology.  Ann has a BA in Business Management and First Class Mom award from her 2 babies and has 13 years experience of professional photography under her belt.  Kevin has an Associates in Business and a First Class Award for dropping it like it’s hot and 5 years experience of photography under his belt. Janis has an awesome career of 14 years taking gorgeous photos of human interactions.  Angee has a 12 year career that started in San Diego and took her to the East coast due to military orders and back to San Diego (lucky us 🙂

 

5.     Have you received any formal classroom training as photographers?   For realz! Like we’d be able to compete without it! But nothing can really prepare you like real on the actual job action!

 

6.     I’m looking for a photo journalistic photographer. What is your definition of “photo journalism?”    pho’to·jour’nal·is’tic adj. tells a story from beginning to end in a beautiful way.   wong·ism n.  Artistic-photojournalism photography, portrayed by the coolest girl and staff ever

 

7.     How do you know how many pictures to take? Whatever it takes to get the job done! Seriously though, a lot. We have to make sure everyone’s looking and have no bats in the cave. You’ll thank us later.  We give you all the best done up and pretty before you get ‘em back. (no duplicates, raw photos, unedited, or blurry photos are part of ones you get back. That would be really crappy of us to give you those!) We can’t put a real number on how many photos you get because we have no idea what will happen that day.  But if you’re into #’s, it ends up being about 50-60 photos per hour. If you’re a pain in my ass and request extra touch ups/edits, there will be addition charges per case basis.  We shoot digital.

 

8.     What makes your photographs better or different than anybody else’s? WONGISM- please see #6

 

9.     Why did you choose wedding photography as your careers? A Zoltar machine told us it was meant to be. If you don’t know what that is, we can’t shoot your Wedding

 

10.   How do I prepare for my shoot? I have created a page that gives tips and things to do for any type of shoot! Check that on the preparation tab

 

11.   What time do you arrive to setup your equipment?  Everything is custom to what you need/want! So you tell us what that is, then we say when!

 

12.   Do you bring backup equipment with you? Yes … and plenty of it! We got you covered. We are Nikon users in case inquiring minds want to know 😉 (obligatory photo of me holding all the equipment)

 

13.   Do you provide a written contract and guarantee? Yessum. We do all contracts digitally (downloadable/printable for your convenience) and payments online! Easy peasy for everyone and your investment is protected.

 

14.   What are your policies regarding proofs and ordering?  You get 1 year of online viewing for family not to bother you too much with ordering and all that jazz

 

15.    Is a deposit required? If so, how much?  Yes please! Half the bill.

 

16.    When is the deposit/retainer due? Upon the final decision that you’d like Stephy and her crew at your wedding. But otherwise we’re kind enough to hang on for dear life for 7 days from the consult. If we don’t hear from you, we assume that you totally hated us and moved on. It’s ok, we’ll stop crying about it one day

 

17.     When is the final payment due?  Give us your dues 1 month before you get hitched or you will get ditched

 

18.    Are there any additional charges not mentioned (e.g., travel)?  We’re fee free unless you live way over yonder. But if you’re in San Diego County you’re fee free too! We welcome destination Weddings as well for a small travel fee

 

19.   How long does it take for photos to be ready? 48 hours teasers, the rest before you can say Worcestershire 10,000 times 

 

20.  What are the refund/cancellation terms?  No shirt, no shoes, no refunds * But you can cancel anytime and not owe us a penny more. We’ll even let you sell your date because we are super cool  *no refunds are given for any portrait sessions booked as well*

 

21. Do you shoot more than 1 wedding per day? No that’s your day! Plus can you imagine how fat we’d get from all the cake in the same day?

 

22. Do you carry insurance? We sure do, smart people always get insurance 😉 and we even have a business license!

 

23. What type of equipment do you have/carry?  Bodies: Nikon D850, Nikon D300s, Nikon D750, Nikon D800, Nikon D7000.  Lenses: Nikkor 10.5 fisheye, Nikkor 10-24mm, Nikkor 16-24mm, Nikkor 24mm, Nikkor 35mm, Nikkor 50mm, Nikkor 85mm, Nikkor 24-70, Sigma 70-200mm, Sigma 24-70mm, Nikkor 70-300mm, Nikkor 24-300mm, Nikkor 17-55mm, Nikkor 105mm

 

24. My friend knows how to edit photos. Will you just shoot the wedding and give us unedited photos?  No way Jose! It’s like saying, “Hey we don’t respect you enough as a professional and artist to have you fully do your job – we just want you to push a button”. When you walk into a restaurant you wouldn’t order dinner and expect the chef to bring out a bag of groceries. Post-processing is half of the art. There are some photographers who will do this however, so if this is what you’re looking for, we’re probably not the one you want.

 

25. I need 7 hours for my Wedding day Photography, when does the time start? It starts from when we arrive at your venue! It wouldn’t be fair of us to charge you to travel from where I live (I live in the boonies)  🙂  Anything after the start time is consecutive through the end of your time.

 

26. What will it be like working with you?  I’m so glad you asked…. Please take the VIP tour HERE!!!!

 

27. Can you do it cheaper?

28. Have you been to my venue?  During my 13 years of all types of photography, chances are I have, you can view some of the places I’ve been to HERE! .

Just because I haven’t been to your venue though, doesn’t mean it wont be fantastic and beautiful! I often find all artists get inspired by a new canvas (in your case venue). Even having been to a venue 30 times before, lighting changes along with other factors so just because a spot looked good for one couple, it may not work for another.  All my couples are unique so I do what is best for them.

 

29.  What can I expect for our consult? First we will find a good time/date to discuss your wedding via phone or video chat. I want to make sure we’d be a good fit before we waste each others time.  Also, I do get couples from all over the world, so meeting in person is not always an option for some but if you are local, it can be convenient for you so you don’t have to drive, park, get a sitter, and you can be in your P.J.’s!  If you decide you may not be able to live without me after we speak, you can easily book online. Everything is digital and accessible for your convenience and your coordinator (if you have one).  If you decide you may want to meet in person as well to look at albums or make sure I’m a real person (I’m as real as they get 🙂   we can set up a date/time. 

 

30. What types of payment do you accept? You can view payment methods here!

 

31. My venue is asking for a Certificate of Insurance, do you provide this?  Yes we do! It’s provided by our insurance company and emailed electronically to you and your venue 🙂

 

32. Can I give you a list of specific shots I want? You are welcome to give me suggestions on types of shots you want.  I do request a list of family members/names from you prior to the wedding to make your family photos go smoothly and quickly.  I take photos of each couple depending on what’s important to them, the style they like and their theme, how they interact with each other, etc…   While I am open to seeing the type of images that appeal to you most, I strive to create images that are unique to your wedding. When selecting a photographer, I encourage you to really make sure that you feel comfortable with their style. My goal is never to re-create a photo that lives on Pinterest that is another artists’ work, but to create art that is unique to you and your wedding.

 

33. Do you work well with videographers? See photo below

 

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JK

* Cat Cojulun of Ryan Films with Stephy*   – photos by Kevin Dunham

We love working with other creative like minded talented vendors! (not all vendors are created equal… FYI)  

Knowing that they will be giving you the motion of the stills we’re capturing is exciting and fulfilling

In fact, if you hire both Ryan Films and me, you get a super package deal! Check it out here

 

34. Are you Gay/Lesbian/LGBTQ/Trans (did I get them all?) Friendly?

I don’t know what do you think… 🙂

 

35. Can I pick specific spots/locations where I want you to take photos?

I’m always open to what catches your eye and what you think is beautiful. I get to your location earlier than my start time (even if I have been there a million times) because the lighting/weather can change from day to day.  So just because it’s beautiful one day, doesn’t mean the camera will see it as beautiful another day (example below).  Lighting is everything! Can you tell a difference? We all wish it were nice and sunny, but sun is not a photographer’s friend all the time. In this case, it was right in the couple’s face, causing them to squint and wash out their face with too much light.  Same venue, same spot, different times of day. 

 

 

36. What do you wear at Weddings? We wear all black because, not just because it’s slimming 🙂 In the event one of us are in a photo, we’re easy to Photoshop out and aren’t distracting everyone with our beauty and bright colors.

 

37. If you try to make me drink at your Wedding, these are what your photos will look like (fair warning). The way to my heart is the cake… all the cake

 

38. Can I have the RAW files?

Seriously no… what are you going to do with them? And you don’t even have the software to open these files… Do you even know what RAW files are? If you do know what they are and still want them… I’m not the photographer for you.   If you trust me to do my job, I will give you the best of me, guarantee.

 

39.  The year of 2020 has been hit with Covid -19, what if my wedding venue cancels my event, will I receive a refund? 

This breaks my heart for you guys, but this has definitely affected everyone. No one was safe from this.  If for some reason you get canceled, your retainer will follow to a new date (that I’m available for) at no additional cost, provided that it is due to a Covid-19 reason.  You will not receive a refund as the retainer/initial payment is non refundable, but the amount paid will still be good towards another event/photo session. This is in accordance to follow current mandates.

 

40. Since Covid-19 is going on, how will you guarantee safety at my event?

My staff and I will be wearing masks and have sanitizer and wipes on us at all times except during meals and drinking water. We are fortunate enough though that with our profession, we do not need to be close to you at all. This is also sad for us though because it means no hugs and we love hugs. But we will give you as many virtual hugs as we can!

 

41. Why should I have two photographers for my Wedding? Our packages include two photographers, but every once in awhile someone wants to budget down to one photographer. While it is still fine, sometimes great opportunities are missed with just having one person do everything.  It’s really cool to see the two vantages of the same photo taken! See Below. Same photo, different angle. Cool right??

We look forward to eating your cake at your wedding.

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Mahalo    .    Gracias    .   Merci    .   Arrigato    .    Danka   .    Kamsahamnida    .    Salamat…. oh and Thanks! 

xoxo

Stephy and the crew