There's been a lot of discussion recently regarding the case of Marc & Sylvia Day's wedding photographs, (or lack of, depending on your viewpoint!)
As a specialist wedding photographer, it saddens me to hear of cases like this on what is one of the most important days of a couples life. The sad truth is that it's more commonplace than it should be. In this day of digital technology, anyone who picks up a camera thinks it's easy to be a wedding photographer. But the opposite is true, it's a highly specialised task. To quote the great Ray Lowe FMPA, "You would not go to an unqualified Doctor for an examination, so why book an unqualified photographer for one of the most important days of your life ?"
Most wedding couples think nothing of spending £3000-£10,000 on their wedding breakfast, but then baulk at £3000 on their wedding photographs. Their guests can enjoy their feast and pat their full bellies and declare "wonderful meal", until breakfast that is. Your photographs are for life. They will be handed through your future generations for years to come, for the enjoyment of your children, and theirs after. For me, sadly, I am unable to show my children a photograph of my Father as I don't have any, and he has been gone 30 years. For me it's too late, I just have my fading memories. I urge others to take the opportunity and not leave their future generations to suffer as I do.
I leave it with the words of our Chief Executive, the Master Photographers Association to sum up.
Comment from the Chief Executive of the Master Photographers Association:
I was appalled to read about the West Yorkshire newlyweds, Marc and Sylvia Day, who had to sue their wedding photographer for producing shoddy wedding photographs and video.
The photographer in question was not charging cheap prices either, so how can couples be assured that the photographer they choose is not going to make a mess of things?
The answer is simply to entrust this most important event to a Master Photographer. The Master Photographers Association is the only trade body in the UK to insist its members are full-time professionals and are qualified to a high minimum standard. They also follow a strict code of conduct and carry the appropriate insurance.
The bungling photographer, Gareth Bowers, was not an MPA member, but appears to have been a former member of the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers - a privately run society which does not enforce the strict entry criteria of the Master Photographers Association.
I'll be discussing the benefits of using a Master Photographer in a radio interview booked for next week.
Colin Buck
Chief Executive, MPA
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