“My buddy is a pediatrician. I’ll just get him to perform my heart surgery real quick this weekend.”
A Doctor is a Doctor, right? They both went to medical school. What could possibly go wrong?
Look, I understand that your headshot and heart surgery are very different topics but I wanted you to understand that there are specialist in fields for a reason. Not everyone is an expert on all things and photographers are no different.
I don’t shoot weddings. I turn down wedding jobs all the time. I turned down one this week where the bride offered to fly me to Ohio to shoot her wedding.
Am I missing out on money? Probably (definitely), but I’m not a wedding photographer.
There are specific shots everybody expects in their wedding album. I don’t know what those are. I don’t want to know what those are. Sure I could take shot after absolutely beautiful shot of your wedding but in the end you wouldn’t be satisfied if the prerequisite wedding day photos weren’t in your album.
The same thing can be said of a wedding photographer shooting your headshot. “3,2,1, cheese” is not the secret sauce in the headshot recipe (FYI, its not even an ingredient).
Posing and coaching you for your headshot is very different from capturing your first dance at your reception.
Then there’s lighting. Bouncing light around a reception hall is a completely different lighting animal than headshot lighting. I’m not saying that lighting a reception isn’t challenging because it is. I couldn’t do it. I’m fine with that. I light and shoot headshots.
Florence Catania, a headshot specialist from California, agrees. She say’s “I own a camera but that doesn’t mean I’ll bring it to your wedding.”
Professionals become specialists in their field for a reason. Find the specialist that’s right for your needs.
