Who did you have for photography? Recommendations needed!

[WDWbride2007]

Hi ladies,

My fiance and I are looking into photographers for our 2007 wedding. Although it is a bit early, we want to take engagement photos in the next few months when we will be in Disney. I am certain I will not be using the Disney photographers. I have had great things about Randy, and we are seriously considering him. I also liked Pat Tinkley and Damon Tucci. We want someone who can capture special moments throughout the day with an artistic flair. Although there will be some "posed" photos, I would hate to take portraits all day. Has anyone used the above mentioned photographers? Is there anyone else you would highly recommend? Thanks! princess:

[IrishCinderella]

Check out www.karlafountain.com...

She is very artistic...but above all, she's so sweet! Great to work with! :flower:

[UnderTheMistletoe]

Hey-

I know you said here you didn't want to use the Disney photographers. If it is simply becuase of the artistic flair, you may want to look at your options for Disney. Disney offers some incredible wedding albumns in their packages-- some of which I have never seen the likes of before or since! They are very, very artsy and stuningly gorgeous in their own right. The pages fold out in steps, etc.

Few photographers today stick with the formal protraiture for weddings; most of them tend to do a lot more of the photojournalistic style. For me, artistic quality comes in the way my albumn is put together. I HATE the traditional albumns- I already have one for my Sweet Sixteen, one for Graduation, etc. I don't want another one that looks the same. Disney offered us that option to have an incredible albumn that isn't traditional but has still has beauty in the way it's crafted and the way the photos are presented.

Consider taking a look at them in Franck's before completely closing your mind off to them. They are usually on the tables in the studio that you could look at... last time we were there (a week ago), they were on the coffee table in the grouping to the right as you walked in. The pricing options are available on the Wish Book. For the artsy ones, you pick out your 50-75 favorite photos and they do the rest. For the cheapest of the three, you are given xyz amount of money towards the albumn and choose your photos and do the layout yourself... this is the much more traditional albumn.

Good luck!
xoxo

[WDWbride2007]

Thanks, Jill. I will look at the albums when I visit Francks in December. (I will be visiting from Dec 29th to Jan 2nd...I know your special day is the 29th, so I will send lots of pixie dust) Unfortunately, I have heard about bad experiences with Disney photographers, and I feel that for over $1000 you should automatically get a master CD with your proofs. I am trying to keep an open mind, but I am afraid to trust my photos to a photographer I won't meet until that day. Photos are a priority for us as we have chosen not to have a videographer. Thanks for your input! Barbie

[UnderTheMistletoe]

Hey Barbie-

Thanks for the pixie dust on the 29th! Feel free to stop by the ceremony if you'd like. PM me if you want details! That way it's not, "Who is she?" :rotfl:

We feel the same way about not meeting them until that day. We didn't choose the videography option either. We didn't want the intrusion of the cameras, to be honest. We are actually meeting with the photographers on the 28th so that they can get a better feel for us and our expectations. Additionally, I wrote them out a HUGE list of the must-take shots I want. Having flitted around the Knot for 2 years, I had a few in mind :smooth:

I'm not 100% sure about all this talk of the proofs and the cost decreasing after 3 years, etc. For me, I never got the albumn for my Sweet Sixeen put together until around the time I was 18/19, so I'm not too fussed. Plus, I know the photos will be available online for people to order if they want.

Remember, you can always have an in-park or in-hotel shoot with them and see how you like them... just a trial run of sorts. If you get anything good, you could use them for engagement photos, STD photos, etc.

I am going to post a thread about the photography now... just to see if I can clear the air!
xoxo

[Snow_White]

I had a bad experience with Disney Photography for my MK Bridal Shoot (VERY unimaginative shots, he didn't seem to care about the pics--he was just going through the motions, if you know what I mean). However, we LOVED Randy!!!!!! We chose Randy to photograph our ceremony and reception--what an awesome guy and a truly wonderful photographer. He does the standard portrait shots (but they are anything but boring, I think he's a very imaginative photographer and gets lots of great shots), but he also gets a very large amount of candids as well. I just can't say enough good things about Randy...great prices, quality pics...he is wonderful :Pinkbounc We also chose not to have a videographer for the majority of the day, so pictures were VERY important to us. I am just SO glad that we found Randy and didn't get stuck with a random Disney photog. for our wedding day...thank god for the Internet, lol.

[Fantasia Sam]

Well I love Randy - no doubt about it, I can't recommend him enough.

That said if I did it again I prolly wouldn't have bothered paying for the formal album - as much as it looks so great, it's also so big and heavy and I hardly ever get it out to show anyone. Randy does now do Digital Albums but to the best of my knowledge he contracts the work out and personally speaking I found his examples expensive and not to my taste so I went with a professional Digital Artist (for want of a better word) who did a fabulous job with our Randy shots - so I got the best of both worlds - a great photographer and a great Digital Album:

http://homepage.mac.com/samuel_taylor/samplealbum/PhotoAlbum28.html

[twojo21]

we havent had our wedding yet but we are using randy chapman of chapman photography. he was great on our engagement photo shoot, creative, friendly & our package is affordable & exactly what we want that nice mix of traditional & photojournalistic.

http://www.chapmanphotography.com/

[Rascal1003]

Randy is THE ONLY option for couples at WDW.

The guy is an inspiration. He really has perfected the defining method of wedding photography.
We were absolutely delighted with his approach. He is so laid back that you really feel comfortable and natural in front of the camera, and the photos really show that.

His work is truly awesome and his packages are very affordable and offer great value.

As a businessman, Randy conducts himself perfectly. So much so that he has inspired me to try the same approach in the UK.
I am a keen amateur photographer, but would love to go one step further and adopt a style akin to Randy.

I have had regular contact with him since we returned to the UK and he seems to find the time to send some great emails.

Go with Randy. With his experience, he has definitely earned the right to be considered number one in Orlando.

[ahutton]

Damon Tucci was our photographer, back when he worked for Disney Photo. I highly recommend him, he did a wonderful job capturing the moments we didn't know were happening. We didn't put together a shot list, just pointed out who everyone was and he did the rest. We have a wonderful collection of pictures of a beautiful day. He also did all this while blending into the background, so he was never in our faces. He also was great with all the folks who were taking pictures of their own, making sure they got the pictures they wanted too.

[hiwaygal]

I'm going to jump in and "defend" Disney Photographic Services!

They did the photos for our intimate wedding in September and I think they did an excellent job! Our photographer, Ty, was very friendly and fun and easy to work with. He called our room the night before the ceremony, to see if we had any "must have" photos, or any other input...unfortunately, we weren't in the room at the time but at least he tried! :)

Yes, Disney does charge a pretty penny for the high-res CD, but their system apparently works for them. It has so far...and who knows when they might change their policies on that? Right now, you can either pay $1000 for the high-res CD within a few weeks of your wedding, or you can wait three years and get it for $100. You can pre-purchase your proofs (for intimate brides, it was $225 in September, the cost may be higher for custom brides because there are more photos!) or you can purchase them after your ceremony (for $5 each).

Yes, past brides have been disappointed with Disney Photography Services, but more recent brides who have used them have been very happy with the images. Perhaps there are new photographers with more experience now.


Here's a link to see lots of samples that Disney does for all kinds of events:

http://www.collages.net/disneyweddings/

user name: Disney Photography Samples
password: 1971

[WonderWomanDC]

Actually, my husband is now photographing Disney weddings. I don't want to solicit business here on the board, but if you are interested in additional information or would like to email him, please send me a pm :)

[hmgolden]

I too loved my experience with Randy, and had a pretty crummy experience with DPS for our MK photo shoot. After the MK photoshoot, I was very glad that I had book Randy for the wedding day.

That said, I agree with Sam - looking back on it, I wouldn't have forked out the money for the album with Randy. While I love my album, there are problems with it. First off, its huge and heavy so it spends most of its life sitting on a shelf in our living room. In addition, I was very surprised that Randy/Linda didn't alter the photos in anyway for the album (I will take partial responsibility for this complaint, as in an attempt to not turn into a bridezilla post wedding, I didn't specifically request changes made). For example, the one proof that I have of my dad walking me down the aisle has DH's aunt on one side of the picture and half of my boss' girlfriend on the other. I selected this photo for our album and it wasn't cropped at all, so my boss' girlfriend and DH's aunt fiddling with her camera are there forever. Also, there are other photos that should have been cropped or lightened some, etc, but the photo of me walking down the aisle is the most glaring of the mistakes. Here is a link to photos of our album (http://homepage.mac.com/waltersoyka/photos/PhotoAlbum19.html) so you can see what I am talking about. So in retrospect, I would have just taken the cd of all our randy photos and had an album made by someone else.

[Snow_White]

Yes, past brides have been disappointed with Disney Photography Services, but more recent brides who have used them have been very happy with the images. Perhaps there are new photographers with more experience now.


Actually, my bad experience with them just occured on Nov 3, 2005. Unfortunately, I think it's just pot luck if you're going to get a "good" photog. or not....and who wants to leave something as important as their wedding day to pot luck? I think it's a real shame that Disney operates it's photography division the way that they do. I mean, even with the DJ we were assigned thru Disney--we got to talk to him a month in advance, and had it not been someone we were comfortable with, we could have gotten a new one...it just isn't that way with the photographers.

Jennifer

[ahutton]

Oh, and while I love Damon and would use him again in a heartbeat for his style...

We were very disappointed with Disney Photo Services too. They "lost" our order, and in the midst of us moving we have NEVER received prints of our pictures. Our 9th Anniversary is next week. After a long and drawn out series of conversations we were given our negatives as a "we're sorry", but since they were done in a medium format (??) each negative is individually framed like a slide and we've had very little luck finding anyone who will print photos for us unless we'll agree to let them use a razor blade to cut the negative out of the casing. Since I feel like that is a bad idea overall, we have no actual printed photos.

[WDWbride2007]

Has anyone used Jeff Hawkins or Derek Smith from sunshine photographics? Thanks! :earsgirl:

[Snow_White]

Randy is THE ONLY option for couples at WDW.

The guy is an inspiration. He really has perfected the defining method of wedding photography.
We were absolutely delighted with his approach. He is so laid back that you really feel comfortable and natural in front of the camera, and the photos really show that.

His work is truly awesome and his packages are very affordable and offer great value.

As a businessman, Randy conducts himself perfectly. So much so that he has inspired me to try the same approach in the UK.
I am a keen amateur photographer, but would love to go one step further and adopt a style akin to Randy.

I have had regular contact with him since we returned to the UK and he seems to find the time to send some great emails.

Go with Randy. With his experience, he has definitely earned the right to be considered number one in Orlando.

I agree with every word you said!!! I can't recommend him enough. My husband and I are already talking about getting yearly pictures with him (during our yearly WDW trips)--that's how wonderful he is.

[Fantasia Sam]

I'm so glad to read of good experiences of Disney Photographic services and also understand that some have not been happy with their work.

That said I also know of other brides who had other "well known" photographers and were disappointed with their photographs - so it's not always Disney.

We looked at using Jeff Hawkins but I found him real pricey and justifiably so, then I looked at his work in more detail and the work of one of his associates, Melissa and found myself liking her photos more than Jeff's - but in the end the package that Randy was offering us was just too good to pass up at the price. Since I've been reading so much on Disney Weddings over the past 3 years I would say that whilst Jeff comes highly recommended and has ACTUALLY won awards I do feel that there are other photographers out there who's work in some respects is just as good if not better and they don't charge the earth.

[rosiejo]

I'm going to jump in and "defend" Disney Photographic Services!

They did the photos for our intimate wedding in September and I think they did an excellent job! Our photographer, Ty, was very friendly and fun and easy to work with.



We had Ty for our MK portrait sesstion 2 weeks ago and he was great - it was a really cold morning so he made sure we kept warm while taking us various places to take pictures - incuding on the horses on the carousel! The photos were amazing - he took about 70 altogether and we have them on a high res cd (we're from the UK so it was included in the $800 - sorry but I have to point that out for other UK brides out there).

For our actual ceremony we had Mike from DPS for our opening shots inside the poly and he took some nice ones of my dress and my mickey necklace etc. We then switched to another photographer - Ryan from Total Imagery - we were fixed up with them through Virgin weddings and I cannot praise him enough we had great fun having the photos done and had fun as well as formal ones. He took about 140 altogether and we have them on cd - we paid extra for him to "photoshop" our album so we have some great effects on the pictures.

I agree with Sam about the formal album - it is hard to carry and I daren't take it to work - but I love it! I'm going to organise a digital album though so I'm glad I have the prints on cd.

RJ

[Miz-chan]

We used Damon Tucci for our wedding in Oct. 2004 at the Yacht Club. We were very happy with him :)

We also had a honeymoon photoshoot with Disney,,I didn't have any problems with them at all,,the pictures came in on time and they were always there to answer my questions. The actual photo's were nice,,although nothing spectacular,,we were happy with the photo shoot as it was a lot of fun,,but we were much happier with Damon's photography.

The only problem I see with Disney is that you don't know who you will get as a photographer,,some seem to be great and others only so so. Actually the biggest problem with Disney Photography for me was that you have to pay soooo much for your negatives. With Damon our Negatives were included in the package so we are able to make as many prints as we like. I believe alot of the outside Photographers offer this,,I know Damon does,,as well as Randy.

Whoever you decide to go with,,don't be afraid to ask questions,,and see if you "click" with them while talking,,sometimes this can help on the day of the wedding,,*smiles*.

Congratulations,,and Good Luck :flower:

[Fantasia Sam]

We had Ty for our MK portrait sesstion 2 weeks ago and he was great - it was a really cold morning so he made sure we kept warm while taking us various places to take pictures - incuding on the horses on the carousel! The photos were amazing - he took about 70 altogether and we have them on a high res cd (we're from the UK so it was included in the $800 - sorry but I have to point that out for other UK brides out there).

For our actual ceremony we had Mike from DPS for our opening shots inside the poly and he took some nice ones of my dress and my mickey necklace etc. We then switched to another photographer - Ryan from Total Imagery - we were fixed up with them through Virgin weddings and I cannot praise him enough we had great fun having the photos done and had fun as well as formal ones. He took about 140 altogether and we have them on cd - we paid extra for him to "photoshop" our album so we have some great effects on the pictures.

I agree with Sam about the formal album - it is hard to carry and I daren't take it to work - but I love it! I'm going to organise a digital album though so I'm glad I have the prints on cd.

RJ

RJ - Ty did a great job :bounce:

And was that Mike Strickland that you had for your ceremony - there are a couple of Mike's but I thought I saw his profile in one of your shots on your blog?

[WDWbride2007]

OK...so I have fallen in love with Karla Fountain. She has yet to get back to my information request a few days ago. I know her prices start at 3K. It is a large chunk of my budget, but as I mentioned on my other thread...it is the #1 priority for me. I found in some old posts that fellow DIS brides have used her. I was wondering if anyone knew what was included in her packages. Do you get an engagement sitting? Do you get the negatives? Does she make albums? Although I wanted my DF to make the albums since he is a computer artist and graphic designer, he would rather not have to do it. How many hours of coverage? Will she come to a rehearsal dinner? In other words, any info would be appreciated. Oh...is it better to just call her or wait? Thanks! princess:

[IrishCinderella]

OK...so I have fallen in love with Karla Fountain. She has yet to get back to my information request a few days ago. I know her prices start at 3K. It is a large chunk of my budget, but as I mentioned on my other thread...it is the #1 priority for me. I found in some old posts that fellow DIS brides have used her. I was wondering if anyone knew what was included in her packages. Do you get an engagement sitting? Do you get the negatives? Does she make albums? Although I wanted my DF to make the albums since he is a computer artist and graphic designer, he would rather not have to do it. How many hours of coverage? Will she come to a rehearsal dinner? In other words, any info would be appreciated. Oh...is it better to just call her or wait? Thanks! princess:

We signed our contract with her just a couple of weeks ago! She will reply to your email, but if you want, I can email you most of the information she sent to me...*PM* with your email...BTW, when we met with her down in Florida, we found her to be so sweet and fun...I was expecting an "snobby artist" and I was so pleasantly surprised! Plus, we saw four of her albums in person, and they are just spectacular! I think even your DF would be impressed! :banana:

[rosiejo]

RJ - Ty did a great job :bounce:

And was that Mike Strickland that you had for your ceremony - there are a couple of Mike's but I thought I saw his profile in one of your shots on your blog?

Not sure of his surname to be honest... but his profile is probably pretty recognisable! He was great though :goodvibes

[WDWbride2007]

After much deliberation and hours spent online, I am down to my top three choices: Karla Fountain, Randy Chapman, and Jeff Hawkins (in that order). I have seen tons of pics by Randy, but not many by Karla and Jeff. Does anyone have an online album of shots by either of these photographers? Alternatively, do you know of a website with photos? I have looked at every image on their sites, but would like to see more samples. Thanks again!!! princess:

[WDWbride2007]

Just a website for anyone out there obsessed with photography like me...=)

http://www.wpja.com/wedding_photojournalists/local_wedding_photojournalism/fl_florida/index.htm

The Wedding Photojournalism Association only invites selected photographers to join their ranks. They also give out awards for outstanding photos. The link above is to the members that are available to shoot weddings in FL. I was very happy to see Karla Fountain recently won an award. Even if you aren't looking for a photographer, check out the site. There are amazing images!

[groomtb]

I too loved my experience with Randy, and had a pretty crummy experience with DPS for our MK photo shoot. After the MK photoshoot, I was very glad that I had book Randy for the wedding day.

That said, I agree with Sam - looking back on it, I wouldn't have forked out the money for the album with Randy. While I love my album, there are problems with it. First off, its huge and heavy so it spends most of its life sitting on a shelf in our living room. In addition, I was very surprised that Randy/Linda didn't alter the photos in anyway for the album (I will take partial responsibility for this complaint, as in an attempt to not turn into a bridezilla post wedding, I didn't specifically request changes made). For example, the one proof that I have of my dad walking me down the aisle has DH's aunt on one side of the picture and half of my boss' girlfriend on the other. I selected this photo for our album and it wasn't cropped at all, so my boss' girlfriend and DH's aunt fiddling with her camera are there forever. Also, there are other photos that should have been cropped or lightened some, etc, but the photo of me walking down the aisle is the most glaring of the mistakes. Here is a link to photos of our album (http://homepage.mac.com/waltersoyka/photos/PhotoAlbum19.html) so you can see what I am talking about. So in retrospect, I would have just taken the cd of all our randy photos and had an album made by someone else.

Thank you hmgolden, the Randy album is exactly what we're trying to find for comparison. We have no doubt he'll do a wonderful job for our wedding photo session, but the album he offers...we don't know.. :confused3
it has a nice story style to it but I think my fiancee would want it more..'disney' i guess? probably will see about outsourcing the wedding album or make our own.

[UnderTheMistletoe]

Has anyone used Jeff Hawkins or Derek Smith from sunshine photographics? Thanks! :earsgirl:

I thought Jeff Hawkins was waaaay overpriced! He's more than Disney even.

xoxo

[UnderTheMistletoe]

After much deliberation and hours spent online, I am down to my top three choices: Karla Fountain, Randy Chapman, and Jeff Hawkins (in that order). I have seen tons of pics by Randy, but not many by Karla and Jeff. Does anyone have an online album of shots by either of these photographers? Alternatively, do you know of a website with photos? I have looked at every image on their sites, but would like to see more samples. Thanks again!!! princess:

I am fairly certain Jeff Hawkins (www.jeffhawkins.com) is the link. I thought he was waaaay overpriced.

xoxo

[pixie08]

We are also getting married in 2007 and have already had contact w/ photographers. I feel the same as you do about dps..I refuse to pay $3000 for a photographer I will not meet until the day of my wedding Only get a low res cd(as oppossed to high which is extra) and only one album(I also need 2 parents albums and extra prints). Now I am not saying people have not had good experiences with dps because some have...but I have also heard awful stories. Best thing to do is look at all the photographers work and see which you like. DPS is good if you can not meet your min then you may have to use dps. We personally are going with Randy. I love all his work and everyone I speak to can not say enough amazing things about him. We have spoken to him already and he is a doll and even sent us price list....good luck!

[flaccog]

We used Gary Fox for our October wedding. B/c our wedding was on a Friday, we got a little bit of a discount. For ten hours of coverage we paid $1,500 (I think is prices have gone up a little since then)and were VERY happy with our photos! Gary was great to work with, he made us feel at ease (as neither of us really liked having our picture taken) and got all the shots we wanted. During the reception he was there snapping photos everytime something "picture-worthy" happened. Within 72 hours our photos were on his website for ordering and we had our high res proof CD and 4x6 proofs when we got back from the honeymoon.

Here is the link to my photos:

http://www.gfoxfoto.com
Click "Enter" to enter website, Go to "Recent Events" and scroll down until you see Flacco/Saylor wedding 10/28.05.

Hope that helps! :)
Gina

[Laurafoster]

We are probably going to be using Randy - mostly because he is a middle of the road price but has a really good reputation. Whilst the DPS pics recently are beautiful! im just not 100% happy with not being able to choose a photographer!

[groomtb]

need a backup plan very soon incase Randy Chapman isn't availible... :(

Can anyone recommend other photographers that's affordable and great as Randy?

Thanks

[princessblueeyzes]

need a backup plan very soon incase Randy Chapman isn't availible... :(

Can anyone recommend other photographers that's affordable and great as Randy?

Thanks

There was a new post tonight about another photographer here on the Reception Options for Intimate Brides thread. I hope Melichar you don't mind me posting this here.

Melichar stated in the ROFIB thread:

"Also, regarding photograhers, we have booked Damon Tucci. We met him on this trip and loved him, and his work is amazing, very beautiful, elegant and stylish, and I think his prices are around the same range as Randy Chapman. We tried to book Randy at first, but he wasn't available. I am happy we are going with Damon, he isn't mentioned as much a Randy, but his work is outstanding."

[groomtb]

There was a new post tonight about another photographer here on the Reception Options for Intimate Brides thread. I hope Melichar you don't mind me posting this here.

Melichar stated in the ROFIB thread:

"Also, regarding photograhers, we have booked Damon Tucci. We met him on this trip and loved him, and his work is amazing, very beautiful, elegant and stylish, and I think his prices are around the same range as Randy Chapman. We tried to book Randy at first, but he wasn't available. I am happy we are going with Damon, he isn't mentioned as much a Randy, but his work is outstanding."
Thank you, found his website...will do some research :)

[princessblueeyzes]

you're welcome. Hope things all work out for you.

[FutureAshleyDukes]

need a backup plan very soon incase Randy Chapman isn't availible... :(

Can anyone recommend other photographers that's affordable and great as Randy?

Thanks

I was also going to recommend Damon Tucci, and he's a itty bit cheaper then Randy. Only by $50.

[Laurafoster]

personally i really love the work DPS has done recently - it just gets me how much more expensive they are compared to the others.

[groomtb]

I was also going to recommend Damon Tucci, and he's a itty bit cheaper then Randy. Only by $50.

I must have gotten a different quote from Damon! it started from $3000 lol :rotfl:

But I was able to book Randy afterall so it's all good now :teeth:

[princessblueeyzes]

I must have gotten a different quote from Damon! it started from $3000 lol :rotfl:

But I was able to book Randy afterall so it's all good now :teeth:

so glad you were able to book Randy. Gald it all worked out for you :flower:

[groomtb]

so glad you were able to book Randy. Gald it all worked out for you :flower:

Thank you :goodvibes