Tampa Wedding Photographer | Pin or Don’t Pin
Expectations and Reality with Your Wedding Photography
Tampa Wedding Photographer and Pinterest
Ahhh Pinterest, some of us love it and others of us dread those words. I use Pinterest for ideas for the kids, their rooms, new cooking ideas, and so on. It is a great resource of completed ideas. I am not completely Anti-Pinterest. I think it is great that couples look to color schemes and ideas for decorating on Pinterest. Realistic Ideas not those that have been styled for the sake of a blog post of submission. It’s downfall is that a lot of what you see on pinterest wedding related isn’t always “real weddings”. Styled shoots and portrait sessions take time and time that photographers do not have during actual weddings to photograph. IE: You have plenty of time to arrange things that are appealing to the eye, detail, and model like “brides”. We have thought about doing a styled session to not only display some beautiful images but to show the amount of time spent on those sessions you often see on pinterest without the time stamps to show actual setup start to finish etc. A lot of what you see isn’t always the realistic aspect. We have a pin board with some of our own shots. Those shots are not nearly as pinned as some of these styled sessions. Understandably so.
I have often received pin boards from couples (that I told them was fine to send over) with ideas for their wedding sometimes none of the images applied to their wedding location or time of day they were getting married. A noon wedding cannot have those beautiful sunset shots. I wish I could control the sun sometimes, but I haven’t been given those powers yet (I don’t want those powers either!!). So why do I have them send them over? typically, there is a trend to the posing that stuck out to them. It gives me a feel for what appealed to them because most of the time it falls within the same style I shoot. I NEVER will copy someone else’s posing but it gives me some inkling into what appeals to their eye.
We have one specific image on pinterest that was a REAL wedding where the sunset just worked for what I had in mind and the limited time we had. It’s a great image BUT the sun was ideal and isn’t always this ideal, something we make clear to couples at their consult. The weather and sun doesn’t always work out the way things appear on pinterest. I will say it again- Completed ideas.
It is a great source of a one stop shop for ideas but keep in mind that a lot of what you see may not apply to your own wedding (setting and backdrop) and that a lot of work went into some of those images (time) that just may not be available at your wedding. It isn’t to discourage pinterest but to have realistic expectations for your wedding day instead of these dream settings and dream lighting that just aren’t possible for your day. So you are more then welcome to send your inspiration boards but keep in mind you didn’t hire a photographer to replicate the images you saw on the boards of pinterest but you hired them for their creativity that they have displayed for you on their own site and portfolios. Keeping an open mind and being open to your photographers creativity will make your wedding your own and not telling someone elses story.