Images: sasmoore and shannonyenphotography

Welcome back to your weekly insight and edge in the wedding world. Here’s what we have on Lensel you today:

It’s Reset Season - how to move your wedding work forward this year.
Wedding publications and directories: good, bad and ugly.
Come behind the scenes with Jack Henry on the classy Sydney wedding

Here we go…

News this Week

That insane wedding scene in Withering Heights is one that needs to be studied. Wed Vibes did just that, dissecting the ‘wedding codes’ of the movie here.
New Apple. This week Apple released a bunch of new new. An upgraded and faster Macbook Pro the most exciting for photographers, but don’t sleep on the new Macbook Neo for a non-editing alternative.
Wedding day breaks. A little rest of the feet or keep pushing through? Should you or should you not take little breaks on a wedding day. This discussion dives into a surprisingly controversial question.
Display Battle. Among Apple’s releases is a new Studio Display that may be the perfect editing screen. But for the price we’d suggest not sleeping on this new Benq display.
Sigma’s 1.2 85mm is coming this year. Here’s a sneak peek look at it, and all their other new lenses this year.
Peak Design released four new camera bags this week. And yeah, they are practical but still so ugly though. (tell us we are wrong). Who’s starting a better bag brand? See the bag releases here.

Are Wedding Publications Getting Out of Hand?

Image left: maeandcomonthly Image right: amyelizabeth.photo

There’s been a lot of conversation in the wedding world lately about publications and directories. Good, bad, or are they even scams??

A business model that often relies on the creative work of photographers, planners, florists and stylists… often submitted for free or for payment, in exchange for the PROMISE of exposure.

The area can get grey, fast.

Recently Vogue has been on a rampage, demanding photographers and planners etc stop using their logo on their socials and websites. Things got serious. Even Jose Villa had to take his Vogue logo posts down last week… see here. And perhaps you should too. There are reports of Instagram accounts being taken down over this.

It begs the question though, where’s the give and take and benefit for both sides?

Photographers supply the work that fills platforms like Vogue. Yet many feel the relationship has slowly tilted toward one side capturing most of the value. Many wedding vendors pay for listings in popular directories with ‘big’ numbers only to be met with minimal benefits and broken promises. ‘Best Of’ lists that were once aspirational and honest now often function as undercover paid placements, without clearly saying they’re ads.

In another post this week, wedding planner Mae&Co shared a carousel with a strong call out of the wedding publication industry that hit on exactly all of this.

And it clearly struck a NERVE. Clearly a lot of vendors have quietly felt THESE same tensions.

see the maeandcomonthly post here

Do you feel the same?

• Do wedding publications still bring meaningful value to photographers today?
• Should “Best Of” lists and vendor directories be more transparent about advertising?
• What would a fair relationship between vendors and publications look like?
• What would you like to see change in the wedding publishing world?

Just HIT reply and let us know your perspective or story.

DEEPER IDEAS

🌶️ Reset Season: How to reset your photography brain this year

Images: bottega53 and raphaellegranger

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PHOTOGRAPHER POV

The Fundamentals with Flair: A Classy Sydney Wedding with Jack Henry Photo

See the BTS from Jack Henry

Great wedding coverage starts with the fundamentals RIGHT? Clean hero frames, solid ceremony coverage, perfect balanced colours, and the key moments captured just right.

Then with foundation locked in, the space opens up to push a little further. Film and instinct and whatever you want can take over.

This VERY classy wedding from jackhenryphoto is a prime example of just that…

“Most of the day I’m just hunting for a clean frame with good light, then moving whatever’s already happening into that space. If the frame and the light are right, almost anything people do inside it will look good.”

READ THE FULL FEATURE HERE