Our Creative Commune

Would you send a couple footage you hadn't checked?

A story doing the rounds this week, about unchecked raw footage sent to a couple, gets Pete, Laura and Bee talking. Stressed crews say things at weddings they'd never want played back, so check anything before it goes to a couple (and if you're listening back to eight hours of microphone audio, charge properly for it). And if a couple complains, pick up the phone and apologise. Then pre season nerves. Laura worries about an imaginary wedding full of faceless people until she talks to the couple, which is why we have a call with every couple a month before. Liam takes no notes and kept a paper diary until the pandemic, which terrifies us all. And with direct flash and "shot on iPhone" looks everywhere, are we turning into the old people shouting at everyone to get off our lawn?

Plus Liam texts from a windy wedding in Spain where a coffee ends up on the dress, Pete's watch claims two hours of table tennis burned 1,400 calories, and Albert gets a Yes Day.

Our Creative Commune is four wedding photographers and filmmakers chatting about photography, videography and the wedding industry, just like we do over coffee most mornings.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro, and Liam's in Spain

03:36 Fitness trackers and table tennis calories

05:43 Recording on our last Saturday off

06:44 Grateful for a busy year, worried about the next

12:21 Should you ever send unchecked footage?

14:30 Things said in the heat of a wedding

16:38 Charging properly for raw footage

20:10 Check everything, and pick up the phone

21:42 How you behave on the day matters

25:18 Pre wedding nerves

27:54 Month before calls with couples

32:38 Are we the old guard now?

38:17 A full gallery versus the Instagram feed

40:21 Highs and lows of the week

Say hi on Instagram @ourcreativecommune

liamandbee.com

lawsonfilms.co.uk

lawsonphotography.co.uk

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why are more wedding suppliers cancelling on couples?

With Liam away on motorbike training, Pete, Laura and Bee talk about a run of last minute enquiries from couples whose videographers had pulled out. Has COVID changed how easily suppliers cancel? We grew up in a culture where you turned up whatever happened (Laura says we'd have gone with Liam with an arm hanging off), so we talk about finding cover rather than just cancelling, recommending someone else, and the times when family really does have to come first.

Also this week: how to get any work done in the Easter holidays (our top tip: don't, stop fighting it), whether this is the best time of our lives, why Laura stops caring about an award a week after winning it, Pete's sudden urge to take over the local table tennis centre (Bee has already designed the logo), and the Bitcoin Pete sold far too early. Plus a Pilates class that turned out to be musical theatre at 6.30am, and a Lake District picnic with a Hercules flypast.

Our Creative Commune is four wedding photographers and filmmakers chatting about photography, videography and the wedding industry, just like we do over coffee most mornings.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro, and Liam's off on a motorbike

02:03 Working with kids at home in the holidays

04:06 Ahead of schedule on the edits

06:07 Top tips for the school holidays

08:39 Is this the best time of our lives?

10:10 Goals, and forgetting awards

13:12 Pete wants to run a table tennis centre

15:47 A virtual second shooting workshop

18:18 Couples whose videographers cancelled

19:18 Why suppliers cancel more easily now

21:24 Finding cover versus just cancelling

24:01 Work to live

26:35 Spending more at Easter

29:38 The Bitcoin story

32:41 Highs and lows of the week

Say hi on Instagram @ourcreativecommune

liamandbee.com

lawsonfilms.co.uk

lawsonphotography.co.uk

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if you shot fewer weddings on purpose?

Our first guest in the room with us is Adam Wing, a Northwest wedding videographer, YouTube educator and host of the Think Wedding Business podcast. After his daughter was born, Adam chose to have his quietest year ever, and kept putting his price up until he got fewer yeses, without earning any less. He tells us how it all started with his uncle Howard, a wedding singer who paid him to edit GoPro clips, how terrified he was at his first wedding (he didn't speak to the couple until the end of the day), and why he thinks couples book him for the experience as much as the films. We also talk about filming a whole wedding with one camera and one lens, why groom prep often isn't worth it, early ceremony times, how video has gone from an afterthought to a priority, copycats ("no one can do me better than me"), the polished editorial trend, and making an online course from a teleprompter in lockdown.

Before Adam arrives, Liam and Bee report back from an anniversary weekend where a side of broccoli cost eight pounds, and the two families accidentally book the same holiday. Plus the photographer who brought a Nintendo Switch to a wedding and played Mario Kart with Adam during the meal.

Our Creative Commune is four wedding photographers and filmmakers chatting about photography, videography and the wedding industry, just like we do over coffee most mornings.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

03:37 The farmhouse spa and the eight pound broccoli

06:10 Chasing sunsets at weddings

13:23 Our guest, Adam Wing

15:54 Choosing a quieter year

18:59 Price up until you get fewer yeses

24:36 Early ceremonies and groom prep

27:41 How it started: his uncle and a GoPro

33:21 Best Newcomer, and where enquiries come from

35:54 Style, and one lens all day

40:04 Making an online course in lockdown

50:27 Video's rise, copycats and editorial trends

55:32 Filming versus editing

59:35 Minimal kit and sharing the aisle

1:02:42 Highs and lows of the week

Adam's website: https://www.adamwingfilms.com/

Say hi on Instagram @ourcreativecommune

liamandbee.com

lawsonfilms.co.uk

lawsonphotography.co.uk

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you get noticed when you're new to wedding photography?

It's a listener questions episode. The big one is how to gain traction when you're starting out. Our answer: make friends and join a small referral group, second shoot as much as you can, don't be ashamed of being cheap at the start, look after your first couples because referrals snowball, and go back to your craft rather than chasing the marketing noise. We also answer the best piece of kit we've ever owned (Liam's underwater housing, Pete's old 50mm 1.2, Laura's earplugs, Bee's MacBook), how to learn video, and how to edit mixed lighting. Laura's rule: turn the lights off and use the window. Bee shoots everything at one white balance and uses indoor and outdoor presets. And does anyone choose purple uplighters, or is it always the DJ? Also, pineapple on pizza.

Plus a Scottish castle wedding and the long drive home that Laura talked Pete out of, a surprise extra speech that sends Pete running between mics and cameras, and Liam's plans for a motorbike (he isn't telling his mum).

Our Creative Commune is four wedding photographers and filmmakers chatting about photography, videography and the wedding industry, just like we do over coffee most mornings.

Timestamps:

00:00 A Scottish castle wedding and a long drive home

07:08 Workflow guides and blogging a big Spanish wedding

09:44 New SEO pages for the Cotswolds and Thailand

10:44 Late night bike rides and motorbike plans

15:52 Best piece of kit you've ever owned

18:24 How do you learn video?

22:06 Running between mics for a surprise speech

25:15 Editing mixed lighting

27:21 Turn the lights off, and purple uplighters

32:01 Pineapple on pizza

34:03 How do you get noticed as a new photographer?

40:12 Whatever happened to big touring workshops?

46:20 Highs and lows of the week

Say hi on Instagram @ourcreativecommune

liamandbee.com

lawsonfilms.co.uk

lawsonphotography.co.uk

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What can a career in dentistry teach you about photographing weddings? Quite a lot about anxious people, it turns out.

This week we catch up with Janina Brocklesby, a documentary wedding photographer from Lancashire and a Rangefinder Rising Star. She left an NHS dentistry job after a friend on holiday asked why she didn't do something she loved, bought a Nikon D750, and went full time in December 2019 (great timing). She talks about how awards have helped her business, the day the Rangefinder news arrived on the same day as a tough complaint, why she tells couples up front that at nearly five foot ten she can't be a ninja, working as a duo with her business partner, and shaking through her first talk on stage. Her advice for anyone starting out: go to the meetups. Community over competition, and what's the worst that can happen?

Before Janina joins, Bee's side plate moves on its own in a York chippy, Pete books an elopement in Scotland, and Liam takes his new electric mountain bike up Rivington Pike and falls off in the mud.

Our Creative Commune is four wedding photographers and filmmakers chatting about photography, videography and the wedding industry, just like we do over coffee most mornings.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro and a table tennis invitation

03:03 A ghost in a York chippy

04:37 Booking an elopement in Scotland

08:15 Liam falls off his electric mountain bike

13:28 Our guest, Janina Brocklesby

15:30 Awards as marketing, and Rangefinder

18:11 Good news and a tough complaint on the same day

24:26 From NHS dentistry to photography

28:27 What dentistry teaches you about anxious people

31:02 I can't be a ninja

32:34 Working as a duo

40:16 Loneliness and community

43:19 A pre wedding shoot gone wrong

58:51 Advice for newcomers: go to the meetups

1:05:02 Highs and lows of the week

Janina's website: https://reportage-studios.com

Say hi on Instagram @ourcreativecommune

liamandbee.com

lawsonfilms.co.uk

lawsonphotography.co.uk

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hidden camera bags, locked rooms, kicked tripods and a band eating your sandwiches. Who's sabotaging your wedding day?

With Bee away in York, Pete, Laura and Liam swap stories about the people who make our job harder, nearly always by accident. A guest tidies Pete's camera bag under a table during the speeches. Venues lock rooms behind you. Liam shoots a whole ceremony on one lens after his bag goes missing, and leaves his entire camera bag at a London bus stop (it was still there). The bride's dad hands back a stack of memory cards. Tripods get kicked, marquee floors wobble like the sea, bands pile speakers on your bags and eat the suppliers' food, bright video lights flatten the dancefloor, and coordinators call guests in early. Sometimes it's the couple: the sunset that was now or never. Our advice: ask the venue for two hours for the drinks reception, and learn to laugh about it.

Before that, Liam loses a booking days after it was agreed because the venue recommended someone else, and gets an enquiry for a Swiss engagement shoot with a horse. And we remember Laura being child locked into a wedding car by bridesmaids. Plus Liam's impulse buy: an electric mountain bike.

Our Creative Commune is four wedding photographers and filmmakers chatting about photography, videography and the wedding industry, just like we do over coffee most mornings.

Timestamps:

00:00 Bee's away

04:09 A Scottish elopement and a very specific idea of light

10:21 Losing a booking to a venue recommendation

11:23 A Swiss engagement shoot with a horse

18:09 Wedding saboteurs: the hidden camera bag

19:41 Locked rooms

24:51 A camera bag left at a bus stop

26:23 Memory cards from the bride's dad

30:24 Kicked tripods and wobbly marquee floors

33:02 Bands eating the suppliers' food

37:41 Coordinators calling guests in early

40:42 Bright video lights on the dancefloor

43:17 When the couple miss the sunset

47:20 Ask for two hours for the drinks reception

52:00 Highs and lows of the week

Say hi on Instagram @ourcreativecommune

liamandbee.com

lawsonfilms.co.uk

lawsonphotography.co.uk

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Enquiries are down, weddings are booking later, and Facebook is full of worry. What do you do about it?

Pete and Laura have had about half the enquiries they had at the same point last year, and Liam and Bee are getting plenty of enquiries but fewer bookings. Our view: quiet spells are for doing the small marketing jobs, a few minutes every day, rather than waiting. We talk about small referral circles over big Facebook groups, how to earn a place on a venue's recommended list (show them pictures of their venue they haven't already seen a hundred times), being easy for planners to work with (stick to the timeline, don't be a diva about your food, tag them), Google Ads, and why reaching nearly 400,000 accounts on Instagram brings in about one bride a week.

Liam's SEO tip is that plenty of searches are image searches, so your alt text and captions matter, and Bee's Pinterest test got bonkers reach. And when Pete looked back, most of last year's bookings came in September, when they were too busy to notice.

Plus Liam keeps walking into Pete's ceremony shots, Liam's slightly mad video ideas (a GoPro in the bouquet, or on a bowl of soup), and the launch of our Patreon.

Our Creative Commune is four wedding photographers and filmmakers chatting about photography, videography and the wedding industry, just like we do over coffee most mornings.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

01:02 Get out of the aisle, Liam

11:17 Are enquiries really down?

12:48 Lots of enquiries, fewer bookings

16:56 Small referral groups versus big Facebook groups

18:26 Ten minutes of marketing a day

20:30 Big Instagram reach, few enquiries

21:31 How to get on a venue's recommended list

24:05 Working well with planners

25:39 Google Ads and SEO

29:18 Image search and Pinterest

35:01 Why Facebook polls skew the mood

38:07 Liam's GoPro video ideas

42:21 Our Patreon

46:29 Highs and lows of the week

Say hi on Instagram @ourcreativecommune

liamandbee.com

lawsonfilms.co.uk

lawsonphotography.co.uk

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Should you charge for raw files, and what happens when a couple gets their hands on your raw footage?

We start with a debate from a Facebook thread. We said yes to most of the handful of raw file requests we've had over the years, but we're now leaning towards putting a price in the brochure so it isn't sprung on anyone later. The videographers are firmer: raw footage is how the sausage is made, and someone can cut a bad film with your name on it (one couple did, then loved Laura's version of the very same footage).

Then our guest, Sam Hurd, a wedding photographer and educator from Baltimore with over 100,000 followers on Instagram. Sam talks about a market where couples are booking later and at shorter notice, how a Craigslist job at the National Press Club led to his first wedding, and the marketing experiment that got him around 400,000 views in four months: leaving photographer reviews, with his favourite images, on venues' Google listings. We also cover his prism and Ring of Fire tricks, being copied (and Rick Rubin's The Creative Act), testing AI editing apps, the Canon R3, and the differences between UK and US weddings, from speeches to sunshine. His practical tip: pack a second pair of comfy shoes for the reception.

Plus Liam gets moved on from Borough Market for having a proper camera.

Our Creative Commune is four wedding photographers and filmmakers chatting about photography, videography and the wedding industry, just like we do over coffee most mornings.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro and a Cairngorms wedding

04:35 Should you charge for raw files?

10:14 Raw video footage, and how the sausage is made

14:00 Our guest, Sam Hurd

17:58 Couples booking later

21:39 How Sam started

23:40 Google reviews as marketing

32:24 Underwater photography and going mirrorless

35:03 Prisms, Ring of Fire and repeating ideas

39:44 Being copied

42:22 Testing AI editing apps

45:32 UK and US weddings compared

57:30 The Canon R3, lenses and spare shoes

1:06:08 Top tip for newcomers

1:11:23 Highs and lows of the week

Sam's website: https://www.samhurdphotography.com/

The book he recommends: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-Act-Way-Being/

Say hi on Instagram @ourcreativecommune

liamandbee.com

lawsonfilms.co.uk

lawsonphotography.co.uk

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A couple emails to say you're double what everyone else quoted, and asks for a full breakdown of your price. What do you say?

That's what happened to Liam and Bee this week, so we talk it through. Should you ever have to justify an artist's fee? You wouldn't email a restaurant to ask why their pizza costs more than the place next door, and you can't walk into Chanel and ask why a bag costs what it does. We agree that haggling is usually a sign of the wrong client, that people underestimate how few weddings you can shoot in a year, and that the right couples book on your style. Where we disagree is whether experience justifies a higher price. Liam and Bee say yes, because of the problem solving and backup kit that come with it. Pete says he's never paid for experience beyond about three years, and that vision matters more.

Also this week: Pete's imposter syndrome at a videographers' get-together, Liam's Thai wedding with five videographers (one in a tuk tuk, one flying a drone), whether drones belong anywhere near a ceremony, and a couple who wanted underwater photos in a river in March. Plus Bee's perfect Travelodge, surrounded by supermarkets.

Our Creative Commune is four wedding photographers and filmmakers chatting about photography, videography and the wedding industry, just like we do over coffee most mornings.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:33 A Hexham Travelodge surrounded by supermarkets

05:40 Do R5 and R6 Mark II files edit differently?

09:45 Imposter syndrome at a videographers' meetup

11:50 Pricing and high end weddings

12:51 Liam's Thai wedding with five videographers

14:24 Do drones belong at ceremonies?

18:30 The couple who asked us to justify our prices

20:04 Pizza, Chanel and artists' fees

22:11 Haggling and discounts

24:14 The right clients book on style

26:19 Does experience justify a higher price?

28:26 Odd requests: underwater in a river in March

40:53 Highs and lows of the week

Say hi on Instagram @ourcreativecommune

liamandbee.com

lawsonfilms.co.uk

lawsonphotography.co.uk

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why aren't your enquiries turning into bookings?

Liam and Bee had dozens of enquiries in January and only a handful turned into bookings, so we try to work out why. It's not price, and it's not style. Couples are slower to commit, they're shopping around more because there are more photographers than ever, and plenty simply ghost. Is a 5 to 10 percent conversion rate normal? Someone in a Facebook group says theirs is 2.5.

Also this week: Liam and Bee's first in person workshop in Manchester (by lunchtime they were on slide twelve of 197), and how much teaching takes out of you. Laura tries the new Canon R6 Mark II against the R5, the suppliers get rock hard cold chips at a wedding, and Liam's editorial pre wedding shoot is interrupted by a banner plane. Plus no spend February (Amazon doesn't count), a cupboard full of supplements, a robot vacuum called Guffy, Liam giving first aid to a roofer who fell off a house, and a listener who started shooting weddings at 55.

Our Creative Commune is four wedding photographers and filmmakers chatting about photography, videography and the wedding industry, just like we do over coffee most mornings.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro and no spend February

03:05 Health shakes and the supplements cupboard

06:12 Gadgets and a robot vacuum called Guffy

08:13 A wedding together at Mottram Hall

09:47 The Canon R6 Mark II versus the R5

11:53 Suppliers' meals and cold chips

13:55 Liam's 5k a day challenge

15:05 Liam and Bee's first workshop in Manchester

18:12 Why teaching wipes you out

29:31 Pete meets other videographers

31:03 Lots of enquiries, few bookings: why?

35:45 A pre wedding shoot and a banner plane

39:53 Never too late: starting at 55

41:23 Highs and lows of the week

The chocolate health drink: https://supernovaliving.com/

Say hi on Instagram @ourcreativecommune

liamandbee.com

lawsonfilms.co.uk

lawsonphotography.co.uk

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.