In one of the professional wedding photographer forums I belong to I noticed a particular thread that begged the question if wedding photography was an overpaid job. In fact one other photographer in that thread cited an article written by Chris Pummer for CBS MarketWatch that pegged wedding photography as the 10th most overpaid job, after airline pilots. [Granted the article is nearly four years old now]
I'll let airline pilots fend for themselves, but I am quite sure Mr. Pummer hasn't the foggiest idea about what goes on at a wedding. And I am willing to bet he hasn't spent any time with a wedding photographer.
I was more than a bit apalled and a wee bit surprised to see wedding photography in that list at all. Fact is, while it is a joy and real blessing to be photographing a wedding, the work isn't even remotely complete when the guests go home. That's when the second half of the job I have committed myself to really begins; the post-production of all the images from the wedding into an album.
A typical wedding for me begins at about 8 in the morning and the reception ends at about 12.30 a.m. The first thing I do when I get back is to transfer all the images off of my memory cards and into my computer. The editing process is next. I take a quick look-through all of the images. Then I choose to leave in the images that work. Those that don't include moments when people's eyes are either closed or crossed. Out of focus images [yes, even the best have those in the bag] get pitched. The next phase is enhancing those images that will presented to my clients. A set of these are uploaded to a website for their preview and a second set gets burned to a DVD archive for safe-keeping.
When the print orders or the image choices for the album starts coming in, there is more time spent on a second round of color tweaks and converting some to black & white. But the bulk of the time in this third phase is designing the layout of the final album. After several revisions, in collaboration with my clients, the album is sent to print and bind. After it is received from the album manufacturer, the album is checked for quality and then shipped to my clients via FedEx.
From the looks of it, Mr. Pummer's job may be the most overpaid job of all.
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