the best photographer

Q. How long have you been in business?

A. I started creating photographs back in 1976 and people actually started paying me in 1980, so I consider myself to have been “in business” from 1980.

Q. Where is the studio located?

From 64 EAST (if you’re coming from the beach, Norfolk or the Peninsula you’ll probably be heading east on I-64; if you’re coming from Suffolk, Western Branch or Deep Creek you’ll be heading west on I-64) you can use the off ramp at exit 290B. The exit will say Battlefield Blvd.; south business 168. From here you are approximately 3.8 miles (look at your odometer) from the studio. You’ll pass Volvo Parkway, Chesapeake General Hospital and the Water Tower at the intersection of Battlefield and Kempsville Road. We’ll be on your right at the Harbor Watch Shoppes. The buildings are kind of a light pink stucco with teal awnings and fixtures (I think the designer was watching too many Miami Vice reruns – one day I’m going to stick some pink flamingos in the hedges!)

You could also exit at the off ramp at 291B. Follow it to the fork and keep to your left – the signs will say 168 south, Manteo and Elizabeth City. Use the first exit which is 13B. At the bottom of this exit you’ll turn left onto Great Bridge Blvd – rt 190- and follow it to the intersection of 190 and 168 (Battlefield Blvd), you’ll see the Chesapeake Water Tower. Turn right onto Battlefield and follow it .7 of a mile and we’re on your right at the Harbor Watch Shoppes.

From Kempsville just follow Kempsville Road to Battlefield, turn left and go .7 of a mile. We’ll be on your right.

From farther south in Chesapeake (Hickory) and Carolina just follow Battlefield Blvd 168 north, you’ll cross over the big bridge and then almost immediately cross over a smaller bridge. After that little bridge I’m on your left.

Professionel fotograf her

Q. What hours are you open?

A. I discovered early in my career that I can’t work a 100 week and be creative for my clients plus I’m not a department store. I’m an artist and want the freedom to not be stuck in the studio when I can be shooting outside on location. In the summer I often find myself working about 60+ hours with my schedule including weddings on Fridays and Sundays as well as Saturdays; and portrait sessions at sunrise and just before sunset on the beach. 

I try to keep studio hours of Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 10-6 and Wednesday and Saturday from 10-2 but these times are subject to change. Also I may not personally be available but have someone at the studio to allow client’s to drop off orders and pick up finished work.

Q. Most photography sites have a lot of copy about how “we capture those special moments”. You have very little of that but a lot of photographs. Why?

A. Too many photographers all use the same copy, it’s like they got the words off a Kodak Marketing Brochure or a greeting card. They all sound alike as they try to tell you how different they are from all the other photographers! Sheesh!

I believe that people come to a web site to either buy a product or find answers to questions. And since I can’t sell you someone else’s pictures I want to make sure that when you leave my site you will have a good idea of what I offer and will have seen lots of images. 

Q. There aren’t a lot of the traditional pictures like the bridal party at the altar in your gallery. Do you take those pictures?

A. Of course we do! Every photographer worth their pay takes those images. I knew enough to take those images at my first wedding, stuff like that is a no brainer. Probably 80% of every wedding event has those images in common. Is that why you want to hire a photographer – because they have a limited imagination? What I want to show and want to try and create for you is that 20% where we tried something that was exciting and different. If you want a cookie cutter wedding where all we had to do was replace someone else’s face with yours then please don’t come to me. That’s boring. 

Q. How many weddings do you shoot a day?

A. Only one – yours. When you book me for that date it doesn’t matter if 2 weeks before the event the location and times change, I’m still your photographer. In 2003 we had a spring wedding on a local military facility; wedding and reception were both scheduled to happen on the base. And the couple was told that because we had just gone to war with Iraq that they wouldn’t be allowed to use the chapel or O Club. As they were frantically trying to find new facilities their worry with me was, “Are you still going to be able to shoot our wedding or will we end up with a substitute photographer?” They hired me – they got me. Probably the hardest assignment I ever shot was on August 19, 2000; just as I was heading out the door I got a phone call telling me my father had passed away. I still worked the event. That’s my job and my level of commitment.

Q. How does someone book you to shoot a wedding?

A. With a signed contract and a $300 non-refundable deposit that will be applied to the coverage cost. Once the contract is signed I allow you 72 hours to change your mind. Once that time passes you will be responsible for the total amount of coverage no matter what.

Q. The client must pay the full amount? Even if they decide to book a cheaper photographer at a later date? Is that fair?

A. I implemented this policy after having 2 brides cancel their events with me. One had been booked for 4 months with me and I had turned down 2 other weddings because I had a booked date. She found a studio that dropped a $6000.00 package to $2395.00. The other bride told me the week of her wedding that the fiancé had dumped her. I found out later that she told the Founder’s Inn 3 months earlier that her father had suffered a stroke and the DJ a month earlier that she had decided to get married in the Bahamas. In both cases all the other vendors had contracts that specified what mine currently does and they got paid. I didn’t and I lost money because I turned away weddings. I don’t like having a policy like this but the alternative isn’t fair to me or my family. This isn’t a hobby and I certainly don’t lack for clients. Now I’ve had clients that had honest situations that I was able to work with and I refunded them their deposits and have not held them to the contract. But that’s because they were honest with me and I was able to rebook the date. 

Q. How does the client know who is shooting their wedding?

A. They know because they book that photographer and it’s specified on the contract. Only once have I changed a photographer on a client. The photographer assigned to shoot their event was having some serious health problems and I was able to call in a personal friend who is an outstanding photographer as a replacement. I called the couple up and explained to them what I was doing and why. It also turned out that my wedding event was at the same reception facility and ended prior to theirs – in fact their reception hall would be the one I just finished shooting in. So I stayed for a couple hours at their reception to make sure they were having a great time and got excellent coverage. They were delighted that I had taken so much interest in them.

Dygtig fotograf til bryllupper

Q. How many photographs do you take at a wedding and reception?

A. I have no idea. I don’t limit the amount of images produced. I’d guess a wedding shot on film usually produces around 250 images. Events shot digitallyand using digital proofs might give the bride 400 or more pictures to select from. The important thing is this – I shoot the event. A small intimate event might only produce 150 photographs. The last wedding I shot at the Chrysler Museum was done totally digital and I had 2 other photographers assisting and I think we gave that couple almost 900 digital proofs.

Q. Are you the only person to show up or do you have an assistant?

A. Depends on the event. Most occasions I have at least one person with me just to move equipment from the church to the reception hall. That person may or may not be a photographer also.

Q. What kind of equipment do you use?

A. The best. When we shoot film I use Mamyia medium format with 35mm for the photojournalism. Now we’re using the Nikon D100 which gives me the best of both portrait and journalism equipment.

Q. Do you allow the bride to suggest photographs and will you let guests take pictures?

A. That’s two questions and the answer to both is absolutely. While I have a generic list that I’ll go over with the bride the week of the wedding I also encourage you to ask for anything you want during the event. And I don’t mind if guests take pictures – for heavens sake it’s a family day, what am I going to do, run around forbidding people to take pictures? (But I do know photographers who do just that.)

Q. How much does wedding coverage cost?

A. Both on the site and right here I’m telling people that basic coverage runs between $2000-$2500. And Basic Coverage is described in the wedding section, if you don’t know what that is then please go and look over the information.

But understand that coverage will vary from bride to bride. If you want me to shoot your event on a Saturday in the middle of a busy wedding month like June than naturally I will cost more. But if you use one of my associates than the cost is less. If we can provide you with digital proofs as opposed to paper proofs than you can reduce your expenses. A wedding event for 40 people, all in a church or Temple, on a Friday or Sunday, in an off month, with digital proofs and a small album will cost less. 

If you want pricing info then use the form we’ve provided on the web site and send me an inquiry. If you can actually call that’s even better. I’ll be glad to talk with you and give you an estimate.

But please show me more respect than sending me an e mail saying, “Just give me your prices.” Someone whose main concern in hiring a photographer is only “how cheap are you” is not the kind of client I’m looking for.

Q. So how then can someone who isn’t local get prices from you?

A. That’s an entirely different situation. Wade Studios shoots between 35-50 weddings a year and about 40% of those events are from brides who are getting married here but live out of the area. They have found my site through a web search (some months we have between 15-20,000 visits on our sister site www.HRWeddingPlanner.com ) and can’t meet me but are doing everything via the internet and some long distance phone calls. I’ve had clients book me from California, Washington – state and D.C. – New England, both the Carolina’s, Georgia, Texas, etc… in fact I’m trying to figure out who the “longest distance” client would be as I have had brides book me from Seoul, Korea; Kobe, Japan; Hawaii and Bogotá, Columbia.

If you fit into then use the form we’ve provided for wedding information and contacting me via the site. I’ll get back to you as quickly as I can to provide you with as much information and cost estimates or quotes as I can based on what you tell me about your event. 

Q. Isn’t your pricing policy evasive?

A. I’m not trying to be evasive. I want the best clients I can get. And I want you to get an accurate price – what I quote you is exactly what it will cost. There are no hidden fees. Some studios that will give you a price sheet are more interested in “getting you in the door” and then adding on extra items and services. In some businesses that’s called “switch and bait” and it’s illegal.

Q. So do you actually turn some business away?

A. Yes. Sometimes I’m really not the best photographer for that bride or event. I had a mother of the bride call me once whose daughter’s wedding was on a summer in July. She was having the ceremony at a church that I know costs between $800-$1000 to use, depending on who officiates. The reception was being held at the Chrysler Museum which would run several more thousands and was a sit down dinner for approximately 180 guests at $30 a head and they were paying for the first $3000 of drinks and had both a DJ and a live band. (I know all this because the mother went to great lengths to impress me on how up-scale this event would be.) But she thought that my cost for covering the event and producing the album was outrageous – after all, they were just pictures. She told me her budget for photography was around $800. I could only politely explain to her that covering the event and producing the album would cost me more than that and that I could probably easily book 3-4 children’s or high school senior portrait sessions on a Saturday and make more profit than she was allowing in her budget. 

She asked if I had anyone I could refer her to and I gave her the names of a couple of other photographers who were in her price range. She then asked (I still have to laugh about this) if they were any good. I replied not really but they were within her budget. That didn’t go over very well…

Now here was someone who had no respect for the photography and whose main focus in hiring a photographer was cost. She could easily have afforded me but can you honestly think of any reason why I would have wanted to work with her? Instead I booked a small ceremony that was held on a little farm way out in the country. In fact I was probably the most expensive investment that couple made in both their wedding coverage and their honeymoon! But they were a delight to work with and loved the work I produced for them.

Q. Why is wedding coverage so “expensive”?

A. You’re asking a photographer to give up 8 hours of prime studio time and provide you with a beautiful leather album which, on the average, holds about 80 images. At the studio the photographer will spend another 8-12 hours designing your album and placing orders. On a Saturday an average photographer should produce a session every hour that brings in between $300-$400 dollars. And that’s an average photographer. And on top of all that time and expense the photographer gets to work under all the pressure of coordinating a whole bunch of people with never enough time and lighting conditions that he didn’t select and must correct and control and be everywhere at once.

And you wonder why wedding photography is “expensive”?

Q. What should a bride look out for in selecting a studio for their wedding?

A. I’d say watch out for studios that book your event but can’t tell you who is covering it. They either are booking the dates and then hiring anyone who answers an ad to cover it or are showing you the owner’s work and booking the date with a “lower priced” package and then switching their coverage to the next bride who books their more expensive package. Have them put it in writing exactly who is shooting your wedding. If they give you some reason why they won’t do that – run!

If they say you get or can buy “all your proofs” make sure that means “all”. Studios are notorious for using proofs in the wedding album and giving you what was left over.

Never let anyone place charges on your credit card without your authorization. Never. 

Don’t get hung up on equipment. If the only thing the photographer has to impress you with is the size or expense of her camera then you’re in trouble. I’ve seen some of the most gosh awful work done on $4000 Hassleblads. And one of the most beautiful images I ever created I did with a $10 plastic Holga camera as an experiment. While it’s true that “it’s a poor workman who blames his tools” it’s also true that the best equipment in the hands of a poor photographer won’t get you anything better than your old Aunt Minnie could have taken.

Don’t buckle into a high pressure salesman approach. One local studio actually tries to get prospects that are just out collecting information or “shopping” to sign a contract before they are allowed to leave. They’ll tell you it’s better to have a contract now rather then possibly lose the opportunity to hire them and besides – they’ll let you change your mind. Of course you lose the $500 deposit and they can take you to court but, yes, you can change your mind.

And don’t place a lot of faith in those “personal referral” letters. Do you think someone is going to show you a letter of complaint or a bad referral? Come on!

Q. When should someone book you?
A. As soon as possible. I usually am booked solid from sometime in April through mid-November. Many brides book me a year in advance. With any vendor, and I mean florist, caterer, DJ, photographer, etc… if you like their price and service and feel comfortable with them then that’s when you should book them. Never let anyone pressure you but always remember that the first person to book gets the date.