If you’ve been hanging out over on the official Toni Snell website (and let’s face it, no one does) then you may have noticed an updated splash page, and the addition of a section called “Client Proofs”…

I am slowly making the move to online proofing for my clients in an effort to streamline the album process with the focus on making album image selection easier, and hopefully quicker. Clients can now browse through their own password protected gallery, tagging their favourite images as they go, and then submit them to me with just a click of the mouse.

All weddings from June 1 will now be appearing on the proofing system, and couples will be emailed with their own password once the gallery is activated. If you have friends and family who want to check out your gallery, you will need to give them the password yourself. That’s just the rules.

There’s no exact answer to this question except for - whenever I get around to it! This blog is a personal project of mine to keep people updated as to whats going on in my day to day life. I do it first for my own enjoyment, and second in the hopes that other people get some kind of enjoyment out of it also. It is not a professional service that I offer, and I make no guarantees as to when any given event is going to appear. It just happens when it happens.

Blogging weddings for me is not a matter of taking pictures from the camera and putting them on the web. First up I have to download and backup all of the images from the day. I then sift through images from all four cameras, tagging my favourites and getting them into something representing a chronological order. From there, I have to convert these images to JPG’s, after which I open each file individually and make custom adjustments. The last step is then compiling the slideshow, and uploading images to the blog.

My first priority has to be ensuring clients receive their deliverables on time. During extremely busy times, blogging has to take a backseat while I get proofs out to clients who were married 2-3 weeks ago. Sometimes I have extremely hectic weeks full of client meetings which don’t allow me an awful lot of computer time. All of these things can delay images being posted to the blog.

These days I’m posting anything up to 70 images per wedding. In the old days I was posting maybe 20 or 30 images, and in the old old days it was more like half a dozen. Back then I was getting the images up the next day, sometimes even the same day, so I guess people have come to expect that.

I know it sounds like I’m whinging, but I also know I need to have the reasonable expectation that by creating this blog I may now have readers who are frustrated when there are no new images to see until a few days after the event. In the interests of a win-win situation and keeping everyone else and myself happy, I thought I’d throw it out there as to what you would like to see. I’d be more than happy to go back to the days of old and post only a dozen images and have them up quicker - but some people do prefer the wider coverage they get from my posts these days.

So I’m going to let you decide. What’s it going to be?

Despite what you might think, I get this question asked of me a couple of times a week:

Your calendar on your website says you are booked on my wedding date, but I just wanted to check that it wasn’t a mistake and you are definately already booked?

Yes. I’m booked. Trust me, I don’t fill those boxes out for the fun of it! I don’t update my online calendar until a booking has been confirmed (ie booking fee received). I am, however, more than happy to provide a list of other photographers, whose work I admire, that you may wish to consider. They’re all excellent photographers in their own right, and I have chosen them because I either know them & their work personally, or their reputation preceeds them. Seriously, if you’re going to choose anyone else - I’d choose them from this list!

Occasionally I get asked if I have a cancellation list in case a date becomes available. Cancellations are very very rare. I would hate to see a couple miss out on booking their next choice of photographer, whilst waiting for a cancellation that may never happen.

But hey, if your date isn’t carved in stone………let’s talk!!

I thought I’d start a section on frequently asked questions that I get asked on a regular basis. I’m going to start with one question that should be at the top of every brides list when they are interviewing potential photographers. Way more important than what your package includes, or how long you are there on the day for.

Do you have backup equipment?

Electronic equipment can and will fail on every photographer at one point or another. Anyone who thinks this won’t happen to them is fooling themselves. It’s not a matter of if it’s going to happen, it’s when. I’ve had lenses fail on me, I’ve had flash units fail on me (and by fail, I mean being dropped from a great height!). And just last weekend, during a wedding, I had my barely 6 month old camera fail on me for no obvious reason. (She’s in with the doctor as we speak - get well cards and flowers, whilst welcome, are not necessary!).

The point is, shit happens. Is your photographer prepared for this inevitable occurance when it rears it’s ugly head? At every wedding, Poo & I are carrying 4 camera bodies on us at any given time (one in our hands, one on our belts). We’re also carrying 7 lenses on us or our belts, of varying focal lengths, so if anything ever happens to one, you can easily switch to another to complete the job.  With the situation on Saturday, we were able to switch my main lens to another body, and continue as if nothing had happened. I shudder to think what would happen in a situation where there was no backup available.

Remember, accidents happen!

If you’ve got a question you’d like answered, let me know, and I’ll feature it here.