Today's Guest: Steve Stewart of Victoria Photography in Shelby, Michigan
Today's Host: John Bentley
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Steve Stewart Expert PageANNOUNCER: This VTalk Radio's Spotlight is sponsored by morephotos.com bringing photographers to the web to sell, display, and proof images since 1998. Welcome to the VTalk Radio's Photographer Spotlight with your host, John Bentley.
JOHN: Today we are in the studio with Steve Stewart, marketing director of Victoria Photography of Shelby, Michigan. Welcome, Steve, to VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight.
STEVE: Good, John.
JOHN: Now you guys have a wedding photography business in Michigan. Tell me a little bit about it.
STEVE: Well these are pretty exciting times, John. We've got some phenomnal things that we're doing right now with all the new digital photography, the effects that are available to person now if they are talented enough are just amazing. And what we do is primarily wedding photography. That's what we specialize in. That's all we do.
JOHN: Now weddings...this certainly...you got done with probably your busiest time of year. Do you guys do remote shooting, do you travel to do some of these weddings, or is all just right there in the Shelby, Michigan, area?
STEVE: Oh no, no. We travel quite extensively, as a matter of fact. Greater Detroit area, tri-county, pretty much people can think of us from Port Huron to Toledo. As a matter of fact, we had a really phenomenal experience just a couple of months ago up in Mackinac Island which was just gorgeous and it's just such a joy, I mean, to be in a business where you get paid to, you know, go to places like this. And to just be such a part of a person's special event, you know, with them and their family.
JOHN: Now when you go to shoot a wedding, are you taking more than one photographer, or do you have an assistant with you? How do you do that?
STEVE: Oh, that's a good question. We leave it up to our client. We really don't determine the way a lot of photographer studios do. This is going to be the way it's going to be, and this is what we offer. We tell people do you want a master photographer along with an assistant? Do you want a master photographer along with a PJ? What we call a PJ is a photo journalistic photographer that's going to be more of an intern who follows around and gets the...just the little things that are happening at the wedding. Just the little chunks of time and things that people might not notice, you know, maybe a four year old swinging his feet on the pews waiting patiently for the pictures to be taken of the church. You know, up close shots of maybe the brides veil, you know, just her earrings, or her jewelry that type of thing. And so we really leave it up to the client to approach that, but we do offer it to everybody so they have that opportunity.
JOHN: Now, obviously, after the weddings over and you go to shoot the wedding party, some people are not all that comfortable being in front of a camera. Are there some techniques that you use to make them more comfortable?
STEVE: Yeah, we really just make them feel at ease. You know, it's an excellent point you bring up. A lot of people do not like their picture taken. I'd say most. It's funny when you hand a person a photograph of a group shot the first thing thing they look at is themselves and determine whether they like the picture. It doesn't matter what the other 18 people look like, and so, basically what we try to do is set them at ease. The men are the hardest to photograph because they just, as soon as they take one picture and their arms are touching each other, they're ok, break,we're good, we're fine. No what we do is say, gentlemen, we're going to make this as painless as possible, we're going to work quickly and get you on to the party.
JOHN: Now you guys are probably primarily digital photographer? Do you ever get a customer that wants film done?
STEVE: Yeah, we do have that request very rarely, but after comparing the two and showing them the capabilities that we have with the new digital technology, they generally either decide to go somewhere else, you know, with a film photographer, or they change their mind and say, I would like digital. The problem is, I'd say, about a third of the professionals in the business and that surprises me haven't converted to digital, because they are afraid of it, and it is intimidating. It's very difficult work. It was, for me, one of the hardest things I had to learn. You know, we've been in this business 27 years, and to, you know, learn all this new stuff, but it's exciting, it's really neat the things you can do and what you can provide your client with the digital relm.
JOHN: Now certainly it's certainly easier for you guys to be able to submit the photographs online for customers to go and look at them. That aspect of the digital photography must be a tremendous help to you.
STEVE: Oh, that is an excellent point. John, our biggest thing I can tell people right now that our clients love is the online ordering, the online viewing of prints that the bride...I say that she doesn't have to go run and play den mother-girl scout cookie leader anymore, you know, running from place to place with her proof book collecting checks from people and then coming back exasperated with a proof book, you know, and eleven checks in the box. She just says to the people, here is the website, here's the password protection, you know, go on, order what you want. It's all guaranteed. They can go on with ease and order any pictures they want, and the work is guaranteed which means if they don't like the photograph, they can order another one, if they don't like that, they can get their money back. It just makes everything so much easier for our client, because they've already gone through the whole process of planning this wedding of all the work and the effort and, you know, they don't want to run around showing people pictures. So really you make a great point, and that is I would say the number one thing that we're just proud of is the website, the proofing, and it's a fulfillment site meaning they can actually order their pictures right there individually, and the bride and groom don't have to worry anything about it.
JOHN: Let's talk about some of the facilities down there in the Shelby area that you guys deal with. Do you have some wedding halls or banquet facilities that you do a lot of photo shoots at, a lot of weddings?
STEVE: I would have to say there's no special one. We actually have a real new situation close to us here just two miles away at the Shelby Township Community Center and it's where the municipal offices are. It has one of the most gorgeous gardens called Heritage Garden, and we have such a tremendous working relationship with the park's director there, and we are absolutely one of the only photography studios allowed to come in there as a business and book the park for our client and there's just no other studio around that can, you know, that has that capability, you know, because; otherwise, you have to be a resident of Shelby Township. It's not a huge community, but at the same point, we just really love working over at Heritage Gardens. Goodness, there's so many places as far as locations to do...there's the Henry Ford Estate over in Grosspointe is one, Blossom Heath in St. Claire Shores, those are over on the water, which most people around here know. There are really some tremendous possibilities in terms of photographing things, and some of the banquet facilities in town have really done a tremendous job of making their lobbies into a place where a photographer can really work their craft in terms of a circular staircase or, you know, marble fireplaces that type of thing. But the single one of the banquet facilities I really probably couldn't say, because there are so many good ones.
JOHN: Now, before we take a break here, why don't you give our listening audience your website and contact information, Steve.
STEVE: Ok, it's www.proartphotos.com. That is P-R-O-A-R-T-P-H-O-T-O-S.COM. The phone number is (586) 254-2599, again it's (586) 254-2599.
JOHN: We are in the studio today with Steve Stewart. He's the marketing director of Victoria Photography of Shelby, Michigan, and you're listening to VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight. We'll be right back after these commercial messages.
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ANNOUNCER: We now return you to the VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight with your host, John Bentley.
JOHN: We are back in the studio with Steve Stewart, marketing director of Victoria Photography of Shelby, Michigan, here on VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight. Welcome back to the program, Steve.
STEVE: Thank you, John.
JOHN: Now we've been talking about weddings, because that is your primary function at Victoria Photography. I imagine that this is a big undertaking. You must pre-screen your couples, do you have a planning session before the wedding? How do you approach that?
STEVE: Good question. Our president, Dan Hanson, is just adamant about planning. He wants to know that every wedding event that we cover, the bride is going to be totally comfortable, she's going to have every tool at her grasp to really enjoy the day, and one of the things that he stresses is we don't have time limits, we don't worry about what schedule the church has. You have us for the day, and also to sit down in a planning session ahead of time and go through every eventually what we call the speed bumps and the potholes that just come along and jar you into reality on a wedding day, and it could really maybe upset a bride. Once a bride's upset in the middle of the day, if it's rough enough, she will make it a really tough day for the rest of the day. So he's really adamant about planning ahead and making sure that every eventuality is covered and, you know, that if the grandparents, for example, are really late, that you know she is understanding what are we going to do about that type of thing. So that's really one of our specialties is event management.
JOHN: Ok, let's talk about a situation that has happened at a wedding that you've done? What unexpected thing has happened, and how have you guys approached it and dealt with it?
STEVE: Well really I would have to say the overall factor in what you're asking is a timeliness issue, and that is key people, principals in the wedding, arriving late such as parents, grandparents, or wedding party. And that again, back to the planning session is where we tell the bride, we actually tell them, lie to people. If we're going to get started at 2, you tell them 1, and you'll be amazed at how many people show up at quarter to 2, you know, or whatever. The fact of the matter is that's really the big thing is people don't anticipate how long things are going to take. But other than that, we've seen everything under the sun from, you know, cakes falling to, you know, the groom getting in an accident in the limo on the way to the church, you know, type of thing, and these are things that are unavoidable, but the fact of the matter is is you do kind of have to plan for them, and some you can plan for, some not so much, but basically I'd have to say it's a timeliness is the biggest thing overall for weddings and that's again back to the planning process.
JOHN: Ok, what about I've got an uncle who has a digital camera. I'm getting married in a few weeks here, why shouldn't I, you know, he's going to do it for nothing.
STEVE: I see it coming, John, friend of a friend photography company.
JOHN: Yeah.
STEVE: Basically, you bring up an excellent point and that is in this day and age, digital cameras are made to basically do what it was as young photographers we had to learn in terms of composition, you know, back lighting, all those things where we make a joke out of the fact that the "P" on the Program stands for professional. You know, because if a person puts it on "P" they are now a professional photographer. And the business is going to take a hit, but I think it's starting to realize people for a while were really walking away from, you know, professionals, and now that they've seen the results of that, a lot of them, they're coming back and saying, you know, my friends had their friend or relative or a friend take these photographs, now they're all, they are just pink, everyone of them. I'm like, yeah, because of the hard work is in afterwards in the post production and the editing, going through in Photoshop and doing the densities, the lightings, the color balances, all those things and people just don't understand you have to learn more about file management than you do about photography when it comes to digital. If you're a good photographer, it's going to show, but the fact of the matter is, so many of these people now are learning that lesson that that friend of a friend photography is not always worth it, and not even to mention back to what I said about event management. You just really have to, you know, it's like the old Superbowl ad, hurrying kittens. It's so difficult sometimes with these wedding parties, because they want to party, they want to enjoy themselves, you know, it's an open bar and o'derves, and all they, they want to enjoy themselves, but we need to get beautiful photographs for them, and so like I say it's one of those things where you take that chance, but the problem is, John, you can't get it back and you can't fire a bad photographer. That's what you have to remember about the wedding business. You get one shot at it, and the fact of the matter is, if the photographer does not know how to manage that event you're going to have one very frustrated lady in a white dress who is not enjoying her event now, and she's getting really not very good photographs.
JOHN: Good point. Before I let you go, let's talk about what is the most important goal, what do you want your clients to come away with when they, you know, come to you as a photographer. As a wedding photographer, what do you want them to walk away with?
STEVE: Well, believe it or not, we want them to walk away knowing that they are really going to enjoy working with us, or we would rather they just walk away. Because we are only going to photograph one event at a time, you know, each photographer can only be at one event, and the fact of the matter is, if they're not going to click, if there's not going to be some spark there in terms of enjoying each other and them respecting the fact that you're a professional, you looking at the fact that they're going to be serious about the planning process, it's better off that they go get their uncle to photograph the event. We want to work with people who are serious who are really looking for the most gorgeous photography available and really the people that are looking for the newest thing which is the coffee table book. This is a thing that our studio does. We have a design team that will just blow people away, and this new coffee table book is just so phenomenal, again our president, Dan Hanson, he had coined the term "This is not your parents photo album", and people just laugh when they see it, because it's like, wow it's so stunning that they're like, wow you're right this is not our parents photograph album and all I can say is as a marketing director I seem to see almost for every single coffee table book that our design team puts out of here, we have a phone call within a week to ten days, maybe two weeks from somebody...you did, you know, Ann's wedding, and I just saw her coffee table book, I want that where do I come? And we've actually had people just say I'm mailing a deposit, I don't have time to get to see you, but I'll get with you in a week or two, and that just makes us so proud of the work we do, and the fact that we're serving these people in a way that a lot of other studios can't, but again that coffee table book, once it's in people's hands, it just blows them away and, again, we're very proud of the work we do, and we love what we do, John, that's one of the big things is, you know, for wedding photographers is, you know, not dragging yourself around a wedding event. They're really just enjoying the fact that you're paid to do something so fun.
JOHN: Well I want to thank you for joining us, Steve. I certainly wish you and the gang over there at Victoria Photography the best in the future here, and thank you for joining us on VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight.
STEVE: Thank you, John.
JOHN: Again, We've been in the studio with Steve Stewart, marketing director of Victoria Photography of Shelby, Michigan. Steve before I let you go why don't you through your website and contact information out again, ok?
STEVE: Certainly. It's www.proartphotos.com. P-R-O-A-R-T-P-H-O-T-O-S.COM, and the phone number is (586) 254-2599.
JOHN: And I want to thank everybody for listening audience listening to us today VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight. I am your host, John Bentley, signing off. Have a great afternoon.
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