[AMA] Return of The Wedding Photographer :)

• 

  onetwothreefour on 25/01/2017 - 08:31

  What's the cheapest way to get into photography? I recently moved to a new house and the stars here are amazing, would be interested in taking some pictures of them but no idea where to start and don't want to spend much money to begin with.

  • 

    danielkcheung on 25/01/2017 - 09:04

    +1

    Photography is extremely broad with many genres and subjects. If it is night sky that you wish to explore, then my response will be restricted to this narrow scope.

    With stars, you can either do a static shot that shows the Milky Way or do long exposures that result in star trails.

    Unfortunately, there is no cheap way to achieve these as you will need a camera that has clean ISO performance at 6400 ISO pair with an expensive lens (f/2.8 minimum). Your best best is to buy the best DSLR (or mirrorless) that you can afford. Then grab a Samyang 14mm lens. It is manual focus but has a very wide perspective and has a low minimum aperture. You'll also need a tripod (preferably not too cheap!).

    To really get the most out of the images, shoot in raw format and learn the process of editing your images. I feel as though that is where the real payoff occurs - that is, creating the final result.

    I know this is OzB and cheap is preferred. However, in order to achieve certain results, cheap ends up being the more expensive way!

    BTW, YouTube has lots of great tutorials on camera settings as well as editing tips for photographing stars.

  • 

    nubzy on 25/01/2017 - 09:08

    +2

    I'd suggest to go and look at JB with their 15% off camera sale. A mirrorless camera like the OMD E-M10 for $764 is great value and currently has $150 cashback too. That would be one of the cheapest options to get into photography.

    • 

      danielkcheung on 25/01/2017 - 09:14

      +2

      Yes! You can probably pick up a decent OMD E-M1 second hand too! Micro 4/3 doesn't have the greatest high ISO performance but it has some very good fast glass that will make up for it. For example, I had the Olympus 12mm f/2 and it was pretty damn good.

• 

  lupiter on 25/01/2017 - 08:43

  I'm sure you'll get questions asking for the stories about weird/crazy things so here's the opposite:

  What's the nicest thing you've seen happen?

  • 

    danielkcheung on 25/01/2017 - 09:12

    +5

    Ah, this is a great question!

    I think the best thing I experience as an Asian is seeing fellow Asian parents show happiness, pride and joy. Even if it is for the briefest of moments (often a few seconds during tea ceremony). For me, I spam the shutter like hell during these moments because they're incredible rare. Yes, my father smiles and laughs in general but not with me, and certainly not about me.

    Another experience that really made me feel warm and fuzzy was when the mother of the bride stopped me after the wedding ceremony and thanked me for doing such an amazing job on the day as well as for her son's wedding 2-years earlier. Before she spoke, I was fearing the worst! I was terrified that she was going to say that the photos sucked or something … So when I heard what she said, my self-doubt was silenced. For about 2- minutes. Then it came back …

    I've seen plenty of beautiful 'things' but that's just money spent on material things (flowers, styling etc). The nicest things are truly the immaterial, the awkward smiles, the deepest hugs, and ugly crying - they're the moments that I know will truely be priceless. Perhaps not immediately but as time passes. That is the true value of photos.

    • 

      poboy on 25/01/2017 - 14:49

      +1

      Our wedding photographer captured an amazing picture of my wife's grandfather laughing and smiling. When he passed away a few years later it was that photo that was at his funeral. Your candid shots of the older generation will especially be cherished when that generation has passed.

      • 

        danielkcheung on 25/01/2017 - 15:02

        +1

        Trudat!

        Weddings are the one event where everyone is gathered for a joyous occasion.

        I make it a point to do portraits of grandparents (and parents) when I do family sessions. You never know when you'll need them!

• 

  Diji1 on 25/01/2017 - 10:30

  -8

  Great, a thread thread where a stranger, who appears to have the most normal life ever, acts as though it's really interesting to everybody else so they must be dying to ask questions for some reason.

  The thread starts off with a title that suggests such epic interesting stuff happened before that he must refer to himself in third person!

  • 

    onetwothreefour on 25/01/2017 - 10:36

    Three pages of comments on the last thread so some people must be interested.

    Move along and be grumpy somewhere else.

  • 

    danielkcheung on 25/01/2017 - 10:36

    +1

    Please accept my humble apology for causing you such grievance.

• 

  Paulb5 on 25/01/2017 - 11:04

  +1

  Broaden your horizons on the business venture. You could capture the full wedding experience from venue to cars to flowers. I would have loved to know before my wedding what everything was going to look like, the best spots for wedding pics etc.

  • 

    danielkcheung on 25/01/2017 - 11:11

    Broad is good, but its waaayyy too early to be everything for everyone. For example, Easy Weddings has the largest market cap but it doesn't work for most wedding vendors (and it may be a bit overwhelming for brides from my research). Right now, I want to serve a core group of people, build traction, get social proof, validation, and hopefully some early revenue. When it goes to VC (mind boogles at the thought of reaching that stage!), other people more experienced and skilled and take leadership of those areas. Those problems can be easily solved with hiring the right people. Don't have $$$ at the moment!

    Thanks for taking the time to check it out though! It means a lot!

• 

  nomoneynoproblems on 25/01/2017 - 11:18

  Not long ago you were having issues with findings work and considered going back to your old day job, what's changed now?

  • 

    danielkcheung on 25/01/2017 - 11:27

    +3

    Another great question!

    To be honest, nothing. I mean, a lot has changed but if I were to zoom out, I didn't do anything to make things change.

    For full disclosure, my wife and I live with my parents. Rent free. There. I said it.

    Secondly, I'm still very far from hitting the financial goal from doing wedding photography. I have a few bookings since the last AMA but nothing like rockstar level ;)

    But to be very honest, the biggest thing that changed was my mindset. I don't meditate but I practice mindfulness every single day. It allows me to be less of a douche online (although it is admittedly difficult) and avoid arguments with the wife that are not necessarily. Mindfulness gives me an immediate feedback loop on what I'm feeling and why. And this translates across to my view of the business. Plus, not fighting with the wife gives me incredible peace as she is super supportive.

    Yes, things aren't great. But dayam I'm fortunate to be a creative person. Cashflow may be random but dayam, I'm lucky to not have to hate Sundays because the work week is just around the corner.

    Stepping away from the business for the entire month of November helped too. I found my inactivity probably mades things less bad. In the past, I was extremely reactionary. I would offer crazy discounts without much though - just to get a sale. When traveling in USA, I realised (a) how lucky I am to be living in Australia and (b) not thinking about the business every single day prevented me from self-sabotage.

• 

  poboy on 25/01/2017 - 14:54

  Hi Daniel,

  Congrats on the site. You sound very knowledgable and 'wanting to help'. I think you can harness this on your website. I would push your profile onto the home page - make yourself an authority. Show your damn image and give me stats showing that you know what you're talking about (100+ weddings, 50,000 wedding snaps, 2 bridezillas).

  There's also a good opportunity to capture qualified email addresses by offering a guide, e.g 10 things…

  Good luck.

  • 

    danielkcheung on 25/01/2017 - 14:57

    Wow, that's some really good feedback there!

• 

  bluesky on 26/01/2017 - 18:28

  Some stunning pics you took of your US trip. Thank you for sharing your story, experiences etc. All the best to you! Cheers.

  • 

    danielkcheung on 26/01/2017 - 19:31

    +1

    Cheers! USA was good fun and it was a humble lesson for me that even with scenes like NYC AND Yosemite in front of me, making a great photograph takes incredible passion (and some luck). I particularly enjoyed making super high resolution panos tho! It was super fun to edit and merge together to see the final 100+ megapixel image!

• 

  cupcake on 23/05/2017 - 14:35

  Those are great photos!