When should you book the photographer for your event?
So you're planning your event, you've booked a fantastic DJ, great food, an awesome venue and you're ready to go, but wait, you forgot to book the photographer! Oh no, now what?!
The images you get from events cement the memories for a lifetime, and there's nothing worse than looking back at photos of special moments and remembering how great the event was, and thinking how bad the photos are and how they haven't captured the essence and emotion of the event at all. That's why hiring a great photographer is a must, but making sure you hire the photographer at the right time is important.
A photographer should be much higher on the list to book early, because there are a lot of advantages. I've run into this situation countless times, where people have incredible events planned, but haven't thought about the photographer and left it too late to book the right person and don't have the budget left for them. It’s actually the reason I am writing this blog.
If you book a photographer that's been around for a while, they will often know great people. Personally, I'm connected with Dj's, venues, incredible operators, special experiences and more. If there's someone you're looking for, often there can be an introduction made that will take your event to a new level and experience to make it even more memorable!
The other thing to keep in mind is, good photographers aren't cheap. And by cheap, I mean, you're not going to get 4-6 hours of photography with post-production for $300-$500.
When you book a photographer for your business, you're not just getting photos for this event, but marketing content you can use over and over. It's an investment in growing your content library to promote future events that bring more people in who are feeling 'FOMO' because they missed out on the first one!
The other thing I often get asked is how well the room will photograph and if there is anything that can be moved and adjusted to create the best visual results. This happens a lot with business events, conferences and expos. Having a trusted photographer on your side when doing location walk-throughs, or even making tweaks to the venue before the event starts, means you’re getting to get the best visuals possible. I’ve lost track of the amount of times I’ve arrived early to an event location, made a couple of tweaks to banners, branding etc and created images that went to that next level because of how the branding gets positioned.
With all of this laid out on the page, the three key things to think about when wanting to book a photographer are:
Book early as good photographers book out. You can sometimes get lucky, but being prepared takes the stress away from you and you know your photographer is secured.
Allocate the right budget. Personally, I don’t see the point of putting on an incredible event, especially if you’re running a business event, and then having mediocre or bad images created. The experience of the event has to be great, but if you want to do it again, being able to show off the highlights in a way that makes people want to be there next time is invaluable.
Choose someone who has experience around your type of event. One of my big philosophies is that it’s the little things and improvements that make big differences. Choosing someone who has been around events for a long time means they can make meaningful contributions to your event and capture the right images.
Looking for a photographer for your next event?
Think I might be the right event photographer to capture your event, conference or expo? Get in touch from the button below to start the conversation.
