Siren Wedding Photography: A Collaborative Project

In the spirit of March Madness, I’d like to reiterate the idea that a strong team of unselfish players can beat a superstar any day of the week. I’m not even a die-hard basketball fan, but that much seems obvious to me. The key to the team’s success comes in three parts. First, each player brings their own skills to the floor - they’ve worked hard and gained the experience they need to react instinctively to the situation at hand. Second, each player knows and understands the strengths of their teammates - they can read a situation and know how their teammates will respond to create opportunities for success. Third, they will unselfishly give up the ball to whomever has the best opportunity to make the shot - even if their own ego is at stake.

It’s in the same spirit that I’d like to introduce you to my friend and colleague, Derrick Brady, and our collaboration, Siren Wedding Photography. Derrick and I share studio space in downtown Greensboro, NC, and we’ve been working together to create Siren Wedding Photography as a tool to foster collaboration and reach more clientele in the broader wedding market. Derrick’s portfolio speaks for itself, but we both recognized that we could benefit from working together to attract the brides and grooms that would appreciate the kinds of services that we’d offer collectively.

So, as I write this, a whole several questions pop up in my head. These are some things I asked myself before Derrick and I agreed to work together:

1. How can I know that I want to work with someone else on a regular basis?

2. What can my clients get with Derrick and me that they cannot get with me and any other second shooter?

3. What kinds of services will we offer that I could not offer, alone?

Within a few months, we were able to work out the answers to these questions:

We photographed Noelle’s bridal session and wedding ceremony (to Colby), and the results were fantastic. At the bridal session, Derrick captured candid moments digitally while I made classic portraits on medium-format film. We later edited the photos to use a similar color palette for a seamless transition between film and digital. Later, Derrick worked as hard as I did, and as hard as I’ve ever seen anyone work at a wedding, to make sure that the detail shots were covered, the lights were setup properly for the reception, and was able to anticipate my movement during the ceremony so that we’d be able to cover different angles and stay out of each other's shot. When I was photographing down the aisle, Derrick was on the side getting the same great expressions from a different angle. It’s not that I’ve never worked with a second-shooter who was capable, in fact, I’ve never had a second shooter let me down. It’s just that the level of commitment to our shared vision was extensive, and I never once had to answer the question, “what do I do now?’

The families loved the pictures, and later we drew up ideas for new products. The more I think about it, the more I really believe that this is going to be really great for our clients. Having two full-time independent photographers working together to photograph your engagement session, bridal portrait session, groom’s portrait, and everything else (including the ceremony & reception) means you can look back to see the whole season from multiple angles.

If you’re planning a wedding that is large enough to include two photographers, I think it’s worth your time to consider Siren Wedding Photography as a premium service. In the next few weeks, I’ll be posting more in a series about the kinds of services that we can offer to our potential clients. If you have any feedback, please pass it along to me. You can comment on this post, send me some email through the contact-me button, or subscribe for updates on the next blog posts. As always, thank you for all your support!

Download our Siren Wedding PDF for more information about our services!