Our Creative Commune

When should you put your prices up, and by how much? It's 2022, inflation is climbing, and we can't quite agree.

Back in the UK, round Liam and Bee's kitchen table, we go through how we each set our prices over the years. Pete and Laura started very cheap and nudged up every time the diary started filling, until a client told them they were far too cheap. Taking albums out was another step up (they hated making them anyway). Liam started out selling film packages from a shop he ran with his brother. Then the arguments. Should your prices be on your website? (Pete and Laura always have, Liam and Bee never do.) If you stand still while everything else goes up, is that a pay cut? Why do couples seem happier to pay more for video? And what about the photographer who asked his Instagram followers to guess his price, found they'd guessed higher, and put it up?

Pete's number one tip: just do it. You can always put it back down.

Plus a listener question about working alongside a videographer whose style is different to yours, and Liam's coffee machine of doom.

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 Back in the UK and the missing coffee machine

04:40 How we set our prices

05:40 Starting cheap and creeping up

08:13 Taking albums out to raise prices

09:45 Liam's early days and film packages

13:24 Should your prices be on your website?

17:08 Testing your price with an Instagram poll

18:47 Should inflation push your prices up?

21:21 Photo prices versus video prices

27:25 WhatsApp as an enquiry channel

33:34 Our number one tip for putting your prices up

35:05 Finding a price you're comfortable with

44:51 Highs and lows of the week

49:31 Listener question: when your videographer's style is different

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 look after yourself when you're shooting every weekend and editing every day in between?

In our last episode from Spain, we talk about staying healthy and happy through wedding season. Sleep first (Bee has a proper routine, Pete is a night owl), then exercise, stretching (Pete can't touch his toes, and we tested it), what we do the night before a wedding, and what we eat and drink on the day: Pete's Huel and the fridge in his car boot against Liam's full Scottish breakfast, which apparently keeps him going for two days. Then the more serious bit. We talk about mental health, why pushing through isn't always the answer, and why it's fine to ask a friend to cover for you. We also talk about the wedding community looking out for each other, being kind in Facebook groups, learning to say no, and blocking out holidays before the diary fills up.

Plus the photos of all four of us that became our seventies commune album cover, why the big light is evil, and a coffee in bed squabble that turns into marriage counselling.

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 Our last episode from Spain

04:08 Our seventies commune photos

05:38 Staying healthy and happy in wedding season

06:40 Sleep, bedtime routines and night owls

12:17 Exercise and getting fit again

15:18 Can you touch your toes?

17:20 The night before a wedding

24:33 What we eat on a wedding day

27:13 Water, hydration and a full Scottish breakfast

30:48 Mental health and asking for help

39:37 Looking after each other, online and off

45:53 Learning to say no and avoiding burnout

51:33 Falling back in love with taking pictures

52:33 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.

How do you land your first destination wedding, and once you've got one, how do you price it, plan it and survive it?

Still at the villa in Spain, we go through destination weddings from start to finish. Pete and Laura's first was Morocco in 2009, complete with camel carriages and a camera bag left on a camel. Liam's was a three day wedding in Kenya on two hours' sleep a night, followed by a Singapore wedding that came from an engagement shoot in Liverpool. We cover how we get them now (a dedicated page on your website, engagement shoots in London for couples flying in, Instagram), how we price them, why we never book an Airbnb, arriving two days early, and what's different on the day, from late ceremonies and heat to an Italian wedding where the guests started eating at five and were still going at midnight. Liam wants about ten a year. Pete and Laura are happy with four or five in Europe. We finish with advice for getting your first one.

Before that, the wedding Liam and Pete have just shot together: a cove full of jellyfish, a pianist playing over the vows, and the loss of the flat cap Liam has worn to every wedding for ten years.

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 Heatwave and ice lollies

03:33 A book a day versus one book in six months

05:35 A beach shoot and a cove full of jellyfish

08:07 Shooting a hot, relaxed Spanish wedding

09:40 A pianist playing over the vows

15:43 How we got our first destination weddings

19:31 How to get destination weddings now

21:34 How to price a destination wedding

24:07 How many a year?

27:38 Flights, hotels and when to arrive

32:50 What's different on the day

39:03 The Italian wedding that never stopped eating

44:08 Advice for getting your first destination wedding

48:46 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 makes someone great at photographing or filming weddings? We reckon it has less to do with the pictures than you'd think.

Recorded on the terrace of a villa in Spain at the start of our first proper two week holiday, this is our first listener Q&A. Laura's answer to the big question is empathy and reading a room, spotting who matters most to the couple without being told. Liam says a friendly personality will get you further than amazing photos. Then: what drives our creative process, what to do when you feel uninspired at a grim venue (look for shadows, lines and shapes, as Liam proved once with a steam vent and an alley full of cigarette butts), why we release on a Monday, whether a drone is worth the cost of the licence, and our favourite part of the wedding day.

Plus a 2.30am start, Bee's new coffee machine that made one awful cup and gave up, and the important question: would you rather have fingers for toes, or toes for fingers?

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 Our first episode outside, from Spain

02:33 Last week's wedding together

04:06 Should you have a drink at a wedding you're working?

10:18 Why we're in Spain

15:24 What makes a great photographer or videographer?

18:57 Our creative process

25:05 What to do when you feel uninspired

29:15 Making a good picture at a grim venue

31:19 Why do we release on Mondays?

32:20 Fingers for toes or toes for fingers?

33:20 Pricing photography versus film

40:00 Which drone, and is the licence worth it?

44:31 Our favourite part of the wedding day

47:05 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.

Forgotten suitcases, broken cameras, snow, injuries and the wrong church. What's the worst thing that has ever gone wrong for you at a wedding?

This week we share our disaster stories (nearly all from at least a decade ago, as Liam is quick to point out). Pete and Laura drive four hours to a wedding in France and find their suitcase still on the bed at home. Laura's camera breaks at the start of a reception and she pretends to shoot the whole thing. Liam drives through snow to a Formby wedding where he is the only supplier who makes it, and does portraits on the beach at minus 17. Plus illness, injuries, getting lost, forgetting names and putting your foot in it. Back then you pushed through. Now we would rather you reached out and asked for cover.

Before that, Pete reports back from his first solo destination wedding and admits he may have changed his tune (a suppliers' table with wine on it helps), Liam runs his creative portrait workshop in Liverpool, and Laura floats the idea of a video workshop.

Plus Bee's high of the week: a very strange production of Joseph with her 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 Back from hot yoga

01:01 Two weddings at the same new venue

02:32 Pete's first solo wedding in France

06:06 Liam's Liverpool portrait workshop

09:08 Should we run a video workshop?

12:43 Things that have gone wrong

13:14 The early days

17:21 The suitcase left on the bed

19:26 Forgotten batteries and a broken camera

21:56 Being ill at a wedding

23:27 A snow wedding at minus 17

24:30 Injuries on the job

27:04 Saying the wrong thing and forgetting names

30:15 Traffic, getting lost and the wrong church

36:23 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 was your first wedding camera, and would you trust it with a wedding now?

This week it's all about kit. Pete and Laura started on a 6 megapixel Canon 300D with a nifty fifty and a one gigabyte card that cost about 200 pounds. Liam started on borrowed film bodies, including one early wedding he would rather forget. We go through our camera journeys from Canon to Sony and back again, manual versus aperture priority, why we have always shot primes, and Liam's new 28-70mm f2, which might be too perfect. Then the software and websites we use, and how Liam packs for a destination wedding (lithium batteries, mini light stands and an underwater housing that takes up half a suitcase).

Plus the hottest day of the year, a portable air conditioner balanced on a footstool, a Scottish castle with Cromwell's cannonball hole still in the wall, and a listener question: when will we stop shooting weddings?

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 the hottest day of the year

02:07 This week's weddings

05:13 A Scottish castle with a cannonball hole

07:44 What we shot our first weddings on

10:47 Liam's borrowed film camera disaster

12:19 Film versus digital, manual versus aperture priority

15:23 Canon versus Sony, and our camera journeys

20:03 Why we shoot primes

22:35 Liam's 28-70mm f2

24:37 If you could only keep one lens

29:13 The software and websites we use

34:26 Packing for destination weddings

40:05 Highs and lows of the week

46:11 Listener question: when will you stop shooting weddings?

Say hi on Instagram @ourcreativecommune

liamandbee.com

lawsonfilms.co.uk

lawsonphotography.co.uk

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

If all four of us are introverts, why do we keep choosing a job that puts us in front of a hundred strangers every weekend?

Over a bottle of prosecco after Pete's birthday walk, we take the 16 Personalities test and compare results. We all lean introvert, some a lot more than others, which leads into how each of us fell into weddings in the first place: Liam's cousin's wedding in 2002 that he didn't want to shoot, and the talk in a hotel conference room that changed Laura's mind about weddings for good. We also get into planners versus whimsical shooters, and the wedding showtime switch that gets us through the day.

Then a Facebook storm about a venue reportedly charging recommended suppliers 10 percent. We agree it isn't great, but did the pile on and review bombing go too far? And shouldn't people get the chance to put things right privately first?

We finish with two listener questions: is Silverstone better in person, and when is the right time to leave your day job and go full time? (Do the sums properly. A two grand wedding is not two grand in your pocket.)

Plus a 16km surprise birthday walk with a ploughman's the size of a planet, and Liam's fifteen hour castle wedding.

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 Prosecco in the afternoon

01:32 Pete's 16km surprise birthday walk

04:38 Liam's 15 hour castle wedding

05:41 Taking the 16 Personalities test

08:18 Who is the most introverted?

09:51 How we each fell into weddings

13:00 From a BBC plan to Manchester

15:34 Planners versus whimsical shooters

18:40 Timeline questionnaires and group shot lists

20:14 Why introverts keep doing weddings

23:18 Should venues charge suppliers 10 percent?

27:22 Pile ons, bad reviews and sorting it out privately

38:14 Highs and lows of the week

46:55 Listener question: is Silverstone better in person?

49:27 Listener question: when should you go full time?

Say hi on Insta @ourcreativecommune

liamandbee.com

lawsonfilms.co.uk

lawsonphotography.co.uk

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

Is it possible to run a wedding business and still have a life?

This week we talk about work/life balance: living on less and shooting fewer weddings (Liam reckons about 25 a year would do it), what happened when Liam and Bee put their prices on their website for a month, why little things like the morning walk and a decent coffee matter so much, being around for the kids, and how a group of introverts manages to be ultra professional on a wedding day. Have we got the balance right? Mostly. Bee still works every day, and Liam and Pete still travel too much.

Before that, Liam's eventful trip home from a wedding in Spain and what you do if things go wrong mid wedding, and Pete's birthday weekend at Silverstone, which ends with a souvenir lump of rubber from the track that Bee now keeps next to a bit of the Berlin Wall.

Plus Pete's Starbucks years, the AeroPress, and a late night cat emergency.

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 Welcome back, Liam

00:31 Liam's eventful week in Spain

03:08 What do you do if you get ill mid wedding?

07:48 Pete's birthday weekend at Silverstone

13:27 Track walks and a souvenir of rubber

18:02 Work/life balance

20:34 Living on less and shooting fewer weddings

22:08 What happened when we put our prices online

24:11 Morning walks, coffee and little joys

27:17 Being home for the kids

29:21 Bedtimes, TV and a cat emergency

33:00 Extroverted introverts at weddings

36:32 Have we got the balance right?

38:33 Highs and lows of the week

liamandbee.com

lawsonfilms.co.uk

lawsonphotography.co.uk

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

How long does it take you to edit a wedding, and could you ever hand any of it over to someone else?

With Liam away shooting in Spain (and, as usual, impossible to get hold of), Pete, Laura and Bee compare how editing works in each business: who culls, who grades and who checks whose work. We compare numbers, from the 7,000 or 8,000 frames shot on a wedding day to the 600 to 850 we deliver, and Laura breaks down the five days that go into a wedding film. Then the big question. If you could outsource one thing, what would it be? Email, maybe. Culling, absolutely not. We also talk about how far we trust AI culling and editing tools (this was 2022, and things have moved on a lot since).

Plus a live phone call to Liam on a beach in Spain, Pete's enormous birthday treadmill, sprinting in with the drone when the first dance is announced, Pete ringing Laura mid wedding to tell her he might have forgotten the confetti shot, and Bee's Tamagotchi low.

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 Where's Liam?

01:34 Impossible to contact on a wedding day

03:11 Phoning home to moan mid wedding

08:15 Severance and Stranger Things

11:18 Who edits what in each business

13:49 Editing routines and the garden office

16:54 Editing to music, podcasts or silence

18:28 How many photos we shoot and deliver

20:31 Culling, and black and white versus colour

25:14 How long it takes to edit a wedding film

26:14 What would you outsource first?

30:54 Phoning Liam on a beach in Spain

33:29 Highs and lows of the week

liamandbee.com

lawsonfilms.co.uk

lawsonphotography.co.uk

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

How did four wedding photographers and filmmakers end up living round the corner from each other and walking the same canal every morning?

In our very first episode, recorded round the kitchen table with a microphone weirdly in the middle of us, we explain how the commune came about and why living close by made such a difference after years of working on our own. Then we get on to destination weddings. Liam loves the adventure and has shot sixteen weddings at one venue in Spain. Pete is quietly phasing them out. Laura and Bee would rather do more weddings at home and go on proper holidays. Liam also runs through what he found out about working in Spain, Italy and France after Brexit (this was 2022, so check the rules before you book anything).

Plus Liam falls down a ravine into a field of thistles mid portrait and has to be pulled out by the groom, we mourn the pub with the free pool table, Liam joins a 24 hour gym that still has its Christmas lights up, and our highs and lows of the week.

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 Welcome to the commune

00:32 The morning canal walk

02:33 How we all ended up in Adlington

10:38 Why living close by changed everything

12:09 Shooting fewer weddings together

15:19 Pete shooting weddings without Laura

18:22 Liam's week: Cotswolds, Anglesey, Shropshire, Spain

21:25 Destination weddings: love them or phase them out?

22:55 Working in Europe after Brexit

26:12 Are destination weddings worth the cost?

29:13 The pub with the free pool table

31:15 Highs and lows of the week

40:23 Liam joins a 24 hour gym

44:00 Packing lists and goodbye

liamandbee.com

lawsonfilms.co.uk

lawsonphotography.co.uk

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