Is there any life event more ripe for social media than weddings? The same spirit of love is always present, but everyone's wedding is different - sometimes drastically.
So people share their experiences and questions, and a vast community is borne. (Isn't it paradoxically awesome that as online communities grow, they seem more tightly knit?)
Despite many competitors and wannabes, though, one wedding photographer/blogger has managed to distinguish herself apart from the crowd. Michele Waite has been featured in many top-tier wedding blogs and magazines, and it's no surprise why. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
We were lucky enough to speak with Michele about her work, her life and what social media means to her.
Nina Shoes: Your website reads: "I will never say, '1-2-3, look at the camera.' Hopefully, you'll hardly know I'm there." Explain why this approach is important to you.
Michele Waite: In general, I like to get my couple set up in a nice lighting situation and let them interact naturally. I move around them, and they're being themselves together.
The rest of the day, I'm there as a photojournalist to tell the story of the day. I'm not about taking people out of the story that's happening. It's pretty rare that I really orchestrate a scene. It's just about me moving around the scene that already exists.
NS: Were you always a photographer? Did you feel not only that you wanted to be a photographer, but you had to be?
MW: I grew up with a father as a photographer. I was around it from a small age. It was always around me. It was more of a hobby.
Then people asked me to shoot their events, their weddings, and organically it grew into a business. I started almost 16 years ago when the portrait photography world was stale. I was just being me - shooting what I liked to shoot - and people responded.
NS: Why do you love photography? More specifically, what do you love about photographing weddings?
MW: My main love is weddings. I find I work best with restrictions, and weddings provide a lot of restrictions. I have to deal with any lighting situation on any day on any background, and I have to go with it. I have to deal with people who maybe aren't willing to be in front of the camera. There are a lot of problems to deal with.
It's how I like to cook, too. With a full refrigerator, I just have to make something from what's there. If I was in a studio and everything was perfect, I wouldn't know what to choose.
Weddings are such cool events. It's a chance for a couple who is in love to show off and demonstrate how they are together for their friends and family.
Weddings have turned into people realizing it's whatever they want. It's so fun to see what couples share with their friends and family. It's cool to be involved.
NS: You play with color a lot. How do you decide whether a photo should be black and white or full color?
MW: Generally, when I shoot I am pre-visualizing how I want things to look. Sometimes shooting for a black-and-white scene. Sometimes color is a distraction. It's more about the moment and the story, and color just takes away.
NS: What inspires you?
MW: I tend to love really quirky, off-beat things. I joke with clients that chances are we're going to run into some random artifact on the side of the road that will be awesome.
I have this red couch image. It's a red velvet couch that happened to be sitting on the beach when we did the shoot that day.
Things like that tend to follow me. My personality tends to attract whimsical, quirky things. I like to throw in unexpected elements into the day. What sort of cool interesting thing are we going to find to make your wedding unique. That spur-of-the-moment treasure inspires me.
NS: You seem like a quintessential case of someone doing what they love.
MW: I feel really blessed. I've done this for 16 years - close to 600 weddings - because I must really love it. I still love and get excited about it. I clap and get excited sometimes. I love the problem solving, the surprises of how a couple will interact. It's pretty cool.
NS: Talk about the impact of social media and blogs (including your own) on your business.
MW: The industry has gone bonkers in the last four years. There used to be 4000 wedding photographers. Now there's more than 100,000.
It's insane what digital has done to the industry. All that is a challenge to me. I'm willing to go through the 80 percent computer stuff in order to get to the 20 percent I love.
It is great. It's opened up a whole world of weddings for me. I used to only work in my area, but now I travel all over. People realize they're not restricted to events in their area. That's been a huge impact in my business.
I can incorporate my personal life on my blog - such as pictures of my kids - so people hire me and already know me. It spreads the love out and everyone can access to who I am and my work.
NS: Did you start your own blog because you felt you had to keep up or because you genuinely enjoy it?
MW: It was a combination of both. I sensed that I was in an industry where this is going on. Some in the industry are falling behind because they're not paying attention to what's going on.
It's almost a must-have and must-do. There are a few who don't, but very few. I know I have to do this. It's part of my job.
NS: What has surprised you most about blogging yourself and collaborating with bloggers?
MW: How quickly people respond. Within two days of being featured on Green Wedding Shoes, I booked four or five out-of-state weddings.
It always surprises me that people are on their computers completely trusting their sources. They couldn't meet me because they live the on East Coast; they booked me because of one post on one blog.
NS: For someone stuck behind a desk who loves photography, who dreams of taking the leap, what's your advice?
MW: Get a lot of experience. Shoot with other photographers. Do it on the side for as long as you can.
There are a ton of photographers who grab a camera, shoot a lot of images, think it'll turn out, and then go work a wedding. You have to have enough experience that you're not practicing on someone's wedding. Know what you're doing.
Be a second shooter for as long as possible. Intern. Work for free. Get a ton of experience before jumping in.
Keep up. Be inspired. Be current.
