Building relationships that last!

Over to course of time photographing weddings and other events I have found that I gain so much by the people I meet and the lives I’m able to touch. What tends to happen when I’m hired to photograph a wedding here at the beach or if I’m called upon to take seniors pictures or even pregnancy shots, I will often times develop a friendship with that client that continues on. Here is an example of some of my former clients who are now my friends.

Justin and Dody – at one point in time before I was photographing full time, I was doing computer repair and I had met Justin and fixed his laptop. At that time he was single, and it was a year or so later that I got booked to photograph a wedding and I knew the bride’s name was Dody and the Groom’s name was Justin but I would never have guessed that it was the Justin I knew from fixing his laptop and who owned Dewey Parasail. So to my surprise when I arrived on location on their wedding day, it was a super cool time being able to photograph their wedding. Justin did not know I was into photographing these days and just thought I fixed computers still. Now a year and a half later, he calls me up to take professional photos of his business and boats, he takes my wife and I out for some parasailing whenever we want, and we have a good time. We both have each other on speed dial and I’m looking forward to taking their family beach portrait when their new baby is born. Shelly and Dan – I got a call about a wedding and when I went to the client’s house we got to talking and I found out that Dan’s sister runs / owns Pohanka of Salisbury. And so after some fun conversation, I offered the suggestion if he could hook us up with a good price on a car, I’d hook him up on the photography. At that time we only had one car between the wife and I, and we were in the market for a new one for Olga. A couple of days later, he suggested we come in and he’d take care of us, and sure enough my wife found a car she really liked and without hesitation he gave us a pretty sweet deal. They got married and at their wedding we have a couple of photographers out there, got some amazing shots and he got the hook up as well. Now a day’s Dan and I are still friends, we both have each other in our phones and we keep in contact on facebook.


In other cases, I’ve met people in this industry like ministers, wedding planners, disc jockeys, and many others, through our constant running into with each other we often become friends. That is really the case in this next story.

Jason and Stacy – I meet Jason through a mutual friend and he was DJing at weddings. It wasn’t long before just about every wedding I was going to he was DJing and rocking the house every time. I found myself hanging out at these receptions longer then I was paid to be out there for and still taking photos and having a good time with Jason. It might have been a year later that he asked me to photograph his wedding to Stacy and without a doubt I was really honored. I met up with them to discuss their wedding day and their photography needs and we often had dinner chatting about it all. On the day of their wedding I had myself, my wife, Olga as second shooter, and my father to capture some video, and we had a great time partying. Stacy and Jason insisted we put down our cameras and have a drink and have some fun, and we did. They fed us good and by the end of the night it was not a job but a good time. And to this day, Jason is one of my closest friends and Stacy is really dear to me. They are both great people.
There are many more to mention but that might just turn into a book and not an article.
So if you are ever thinking of hiring a photographer, watch out because you might be making a new friend.