Less is More: The Paradox of Content Creators
If you ask a hundred brides who they hired to cover their wedding, you will for sure get all one hundred indicating they hired a photographer. Maybe 50 of them will have hired a videographer. And some will have hired a “content creator” but not necessarily at the same time as a videographer.
Why do these three distinct roles exist? Can’t I just hire one person? What even is a camera?
Just to be clear, I love taking professional video and photos of couples. It’s the best job I’ve ever had. And it doesn’t matter who am I working alongside, whether they are a photographer, DJ, wedding coordinator, or even a content creator, I treat everyone with respect and make the day fun and smooth while delivering the highest quality possible. The reason why this post will not sound very nice is because I do consider myself an artist, and being a good artist requires having an opinion, so I believe I owe it to you to offer that opinion.
The Final Product
When hiring a photographer it is assumed that they are focusing solely on still photos for the entire day. Some photographers, like me for instance, will guarantee at least some video at the same time, or at least offer it as an optional upgrade. Most photographers will simply not bother with officially adding video even as an option because to do video justice you need an entirely different contract due to the vastly increased complexity. Furthermore, in this industry video simply doesn’t pay as well as photo for the amount of work that goes into what we do. I am one of the few photographers that offer video as an official part of a hybrid package because I have specific technical capabilities that allow me to do both in a seamless workflow, and because I love video work dearly and doing video on a full photography day helps me build my brand as a sort of eccentric polymath. So we have two distinct final products here, still photos and video that may include professional audio and lighting. In my opinion these are really the only two things you need to be thinking about when hiring professionals to cover your wedding.
TikTok-ographers
When considering hiring content creators to cover your wedding alongside photography and possibly alongside videography as well, you should consider the following limitations. There is only so much physical space a group of people can occupy at once. I have worked with phone-based video vendors who are extremely careful and stay generously out of the way. Still, having more people on the floor might seem like you are adding value to your wedding day experience but this will come at the cost of space and time. If I’m doing a cinematic wide orbiting shot with my gimbal I don’t want to have to worry about slamming into someone just holding their phone live streaming to Facebook or Instagram. Not to mention more bodies in between you and your guests will also limit their view of you during your best moments. If you have hired a phone-based social media personnel then of course I’m going to work with them in the most professional way I possibly can but my point is that adding more people to the team will impact the other team members, so you should be absolutely sure it’s necessary for your specific situation.
The Illusion of Fairness
But what about photographers and videographers in general? Yes, it’s also true that even adding one videographer does make the team more complex and one or two photographers will have slightly more difficulty navigating a space. But the difference is in what each of us offers as a final product. The quality of video that you get from an instagram-centric media perspective is simply not much better than you would get if you had a few family members with the latest model of phone recording clips for you on the fly. If you take those phone clips and send it to me, then you have effectively removed the need for an extra vendor. Content creators pitch their services on fast turnaround and presenting in a style that is easy to consume on social media. But my point in this rant…er, I mean in this blog post is that your wedding day deserves a careful presentation, not a temporary, fast-paced edit that might feel dated in two years. The quality you can expect from a dedicated photographer or videographer is massively higher, assuming they care as much as I do about the integrity in their work, and therefore adding professional bodies with real lenses is a justifiable cost both in terms of money and the time space continuum. A phone-based vendor's business model is the opposite. Their priority is speed and social media hype, whereas my priority is the long-term integrity of the image. Like I said, if you have already hired someone to do that then it’s my job to respect them and work with them but if you’re on the fence about wether it is worth it, then please consider just gathering phone clips from your family members and sending them to me instead for the fast turnaround social media post. Having the extra space and peace is something your real professionals will appreciate and make better use of in the end.
The Best Solution
Since the entire paradigm of social media focused vendors is about generating hype fueled content immediately, why not simply add that task onto a package you are already paying for? A DJ, photographer, or even videographer can utilize phone clips from your friends and family, or even bring a device like a DJI Osmo Pocket to pass around and put together a hype edit within 24 hours. I would argue a DJ is possibly in the best position to do this as they are acutely aware of the energy circulating on a dance floor, and the dance floor is really where hype content makes the most sense anyway. If you really need the hype reel for the ceremony, too then I absolutely will offer a 24 hour turnaround social media post for next day delivery with no extra charge. That is how important it is to me to make your day run as smoothly as possible and to offer the best product I can.
