Two photographers, same pictures/video??

[Jelly]

Tell me if this sounds strange...

I am shopping around for wedding photographers and noticed that two SEPARATE photographers use the same photos and video for their advertisements. They have separate studios and I see no affiliation with each other. What gives???

X-Sight Photography

Master-piece Photography

 

[aphisiglovessae]

Hmmmm... That IS weird. I would send an email and ask! I''d be interested in hearing their explanation.

 

[Jelly]

I emailed both to see what they had to say. Unfortunately it''s Saturday night and probably won''t hear from them till Monday at the earliest.

 

[aphisiglovessae]

Ah poop, the suspense is going to kill me! In the meantime, why don't you check out www.wpja.com ? They are the Wedding Photojournalist Association. My photographer recently became a member and the members are supposedly the top 5 percent of wedding photojournalists in the world. All the members' websites are listed and you can search by area. It's so fun to look at all those websites!! And the photography is breathtaking!

 

[MelissaSue]

My friend once told me that her wedding photographer told her that a lot of other photographers buy sample photos and then display them as thier own at bridal shows/websites.. etc.. I didn''t really ever believe her.. cuz I didn''t think they''d be able to get away with it.. and what sort of shady place would LET photographers buy photos to claim as thier own.. But maybe it is true..
OR.. the other option is they used to be in business together and have since split off..

 

[MelissaSue]

Okay. I examined the websites a little further.. and I think I have a better explanation.
Both of these places are big studios. The one says they have 20 photographers.. and the other sounds big too.. especially with two locations.
I think the explanation is that one or more of the photographers must work at both studios.... and the same pictures are just part of thier portfolio so therefore are on both websites..
This makes sense to me.. but its still a little shady.. Honestly.. if I were you I''d find a photographer that only has one or two photographers.. so this way you know what you are going to get. You could draw the worst photographer from one of these big studios.. and there is a lot more run-around to get answers that way too..

 

[gingerBcookie]

woohoo! Go MS!! Our online serach extraodinaire turned all-things-wedding-detective! You have a wedding related question? She''s got your answer! LOL...you are too funny girl! I awear...you should go into th wedding planning business, you have a natural talent!

back on topic - other than thinking that sounds fishy and i would not go with either of thoe photographers, i have nothing constructive to add

When I was looking around, I decided not to go with those big photo groups. THe prices did tend to be a shade lower, and there are def some good photographers in those groups, but the quality control is just too shaky. Very few agreed to gurantee a photographer. AND, at least around houston, there are so many independant photgraphers here that its not hard to find one you like for a decet price, and there are tons of photographers newly branching off whose pirices are low to attract a client base and build up their portfolio that the hardest part is choosing just one!

 

[aphisiglovessae]

I considered the fact that maybe photographers work at multiple studios, but that didn''t really make sense to me. It would cause tons of scheduling problems and ethical issues.

 

[qtiekiki]

I''ve heard that some big studios contract some of their photographers and that''s why a lot of time they can guarantee a photographer. So they can be contracting the same photographers as MS suggested. Though why are they advertising a Santa Barbara wedding when the studios are in Sac and SF. That in itself seems weird to me. I am sure you are not really considering them, and you are just curious as to their explanations. I am too.

ap - I don''t think they have a lot of scheduling conflicts because there are enough photographers for them to pick the one that is available (reason for not guaranteeing a specific photographers).

 

[MelissaSue]

style="WIDTH: 99%; HEIGHT: 60px">Date: 1/29/2006 12:24:04 PM
Author: gingerBcookie
woohoo! Go MS!! Our online serach extraodinaire turned all-things-wedding-detective! You have a wedding related question? She''s got your answer! LOL...you are too funny girl! I awear...you should go into th wedding planning business, you have a natural talent!

Oh ginger - you make me blush.. LOL.. Its so funny because since college I''ve always been the one that everyone comes to when they need to find something online.. I USED to be able to find just about ANYTHING.. But.. as there gets to be more and more junk on the internet.. search engines have become much less helpful. As for wedding planning.. I''ve just been doing it for too long! LOL.. I''ve been engaged for 15 months already.. and I had my dress picked out BEFORE that.. I actually joined the knot.. in JULY OF 2002!!! SAD SAD SAD..