looking for photographer
Can anyone reccommend a good local photographer ?? My daughter is getting married and so far I am shocked by the quotes she is giving me.
cmj ClickHappi.com
521 Grand Avenue
Hackettstown, NJ 07840
973-727-5309
http://www.clickhappi.com
amazing !
darluggh Cathy Miller Photography - lovely person and she does wonderful wedding photos, corporate photos, food photography - you name it. I've used her several times and she is always timely, conscientious and very cooperative. Really reasonable rates, too. camille723@earthlink.net
borninthe1960's HTV - "Home Town Video" for a videographer, Ron is a great guy. Located in the building across from Stubers and next to the Shell station at 5 points.
GC 
Tidyhttp://www.faziofilmworks.com/index.html
Check out John Fazio. He's an outstanding wedding photographer.
3wbdwnj He is not super local but will travel! I used him for my wedding and he just did my friends wedding this month too! www.johngallino.com
kk2012 
Rebecka Cmj - for reference you might post the quote you thought was too high, or your budget.
Also, I wouldn't go with someone who does everything, or tries to. A food photographer who also does weddings, or vice versa... really?
So many wedding pictures I have seen lately are all very "artsy." It seems like they are all doing the same thing in an attempt to be different and unique - which defeats the purpose. ie - whole bridal party jumping up in the air or a close-up of the bride's shoe, upside down, with her ring over the heel. Not my thing.
Can you give us what range your getting and what your budget is?
Be aware that price may be no indication of quality with photography, especially around here. You may be able to get someone to come from NYC or Philadelphia, pay less, and get better photos.
Chris cmj- What are you considering too high? It depends on what they are including in your package. Are you getting albums, 2 shooters, copyrights (which is huge in my opinion), online gallery? You have to remember 8 hours of photo "coverage" doesn't mean 8 hours of work. Photographers have to travel, process, and edit all photos
music gal- Think you are talking about photojournalism style which to me is my favorite. To me you don't even need a video because every moment and detail is caught with photographs.
I wouldn't consider myself a wedding photographer but I would consider "small" weddings. I was just asked to do one at Fenway Park but not a huge wedding. I really enjoy engagement shoots, family, newborns, children, and graduation. Maybe one day I will do large weddings.
Nosila Congrats, Nosila! I def think you are ready for a wedding!!
music gal - I absolutely love the style of pics you describe. To each her own, I guess! ;-)
Thank You very much for all the feedback, i am checking out every single recommendation. After looking at a few I am embarressed to even mention the figure that i THOUGHT was high...lol.....I THOUGHT wedding pics went for maybe $1,000-$1,500...i was sadly wrong. I see now the average is closer to $ 3,000
UUGGGHHHHHHHHHH...lol.....
I thought I'd share this on the pricing of wedding photographer.. http://www.petapixel.com/2012/01/26/why-wedding-photographers-prices-are-wack/
alpha1beta Kathy Harris Photgraphy. She is right in Hastings Square. She did our wedding in October of last year and I couldn't be happier with the job she did.
KSmith Jackie Gunning
908-451-4274
oneloveweddingphoto.com
my daughter used her - she is fantastic!
wc gal I can surely tell you who NOT to book. PM me if you want the name to avoid. I still have to work with this d-bag for my albums. They are way over the price you thought was already high. Unfortunately I am stuck with horrible wedding photos that I paid more than three times that amount for. Live and learn.
Tracy KSmith, I believe I met that woman at a bridal show and really liked her. I'm sorry I didn't meet with her.
CMJ- You can get an awesome photographer for that price. You just have to be open to your option consider someone who is not fully up and and running as a photographer, photography students, and photographer who have just jumped into their own business. You just may not get all the albums and stuff to go with it. You would prob end up having full copyrights to all the pictures and then that way you can print your own copies and make your own albums.
How large is the wedding? That makes a big difference too. Depending on the size I would be willing to discuss the oppertunity with you.
I wish people would also understand that the higher the price doesn't mean the better quality of pictures. I'm amazed at how many of my friends decide a photographer based on price more than anything and not because of budget but they believe with a $$$ amount they MUST be better.
Here are some of the photos I have taken...the two weddings you see posted were just friends weddings I was not the photographer so some of the angles are not perfect as I didn't want to get in the way.
http://alison-anne-photography.blogspot.com/
alphabeta - excellent post!! That's exactly what goes through my head sometimes. People do not realize how much effort photographers put in, or how expensive our equipment it!
Not sure if this will help you out or not...what we did for my wedding was nix the "getting ready" shots and almost all shots of the reception. We did only a few reception shoots like the first dance, speech, and cake cutting. I figured that in all reality I was not going to hang any pictures of a group circle dance or drunk cousin earl showing off his moves. Did I really need a picture of me putting on makeup? I have never seen anyone frame one of those pictures and actually display it. I have never seen anyone display the infamous "shoeshot" photo that is often taken. I elected to have the photographer do a lot of portrait style pics of the tables in order to remember my guests. I purchased a cd of all images as well as his copyright release. I believe that this is called ala carte pricing. We did our our own album. All in all I spent about $1500 on pics. Our photographer was Scott Bush and he is quite well known on the Knot. The ala carte pricing gave us the pictures we wanted at about half the cost. Photography is not an area where you really want to skimp because these photos are your only professional visual memory of the day. By all means I do not think that thousands of dollars must be spent - I really think you need to be creative and realistic with your budget and what you expect of the final product.
Antimony 
CJ. 
Sunshine www.stvphotography.com
Sara Voorhees, she is local, and fantastic. Very reasonably priced as well.
kelleo22 I am a local photographer.. you can get good work done for between 1,000-1,500.00 but again it depends on your expectations.. my packages range from 900.00 - 3200.00 depending on needs/wants of the clients .. how many hrs and how many images... etc.! Please feel free to contact me for work examples and package info :)
main.shooter1@gmail.com
Best of luck on your hunt for your daughters wedding photographer!
main.shooter1 I will let everyone know what we ended up doing and again thanks for all the input. We are going to really start looking/researching aggressively at the end of may when she graduates from college. I can only focus on one thing at a time....lol..... We are however booked for davids country inn for the wedding itself and we are very excited about that.
I believe the photographer is usually the one behind the camera. hehehe....sorry. Call me "Goof-Ball." :)
Lenny 
JessM. watch out for fauxtographers, there are tons of them out there, they usually have lots of trendy effects on their images. Just because they can take a better picture than you doesn't mean they are good. :-)
>Bruce
Haha. Obligatory fauxtographer website:
http://youarenotaphotographer.com/
Some Guy (Art) Omg thanks for giving me the laugh I needed, Art. That site is fabulous.
Someone once posted a family pic on here they had done. It was a long time ago, probably years. And the "professional" photographer took their picture on the most wrinkled sheet I have ever seen. I did not comment at the time, but just shook my head.... it's kind of amazing what people get away with in this business. But then, as a consumer, you sort of need to be able to say, um, Mr. Photographer, do you not own an iron, if not professional backdrops?
And yet how many still haven't got shots with real definition, have a horrible hot spot on some unsuspecting model's face, have the exact same shot 492 times, or have a couple posed on a bridge so far away you'd think their faces are postage stamps?
But that website, I don't care who you are, that's a funny joke right there.
Any time your baby picture looks like a "real doll", hang it up. ;-)
CIP Studios!! The Best! Erol & Joann are Awesome Photographers. Check out their web site www.studiocip.com they are local just great people to work with.
J&J I second heart&solh photography, awesome work and absolutely lovely to work with! Would not use anyone else.
Third endorsement for Heart & Sohl Photography from me. Jessi does most of the kids, family portrait work and Sean is really great with beauty, glamour, fashion, etc. work.
RAD
P.S Sean and I host a couple of local photography workshop groups and sometime work together on glamour and fashion shoots.
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