A good friend of mine posted a really good blog post about pro photographers at weddings and why its rather important to consider using one (link at the end)

In the name of fair and full disclosure she was using my photos as the professional examples because they were her wedding photos.

Pro photographers usually put up their shields as soon as someone questions their fees. Indeed most blog posts about this (especially when related to wedding photographers) tend to be met with a whole barrage of other photographers extolling the virtues and benefits of using a professional snapper and all the tricks of the trade they use to entice the potential client to hiring them.

At this point I could pull out list and tables to show why you should hire me - similar to the endless musings of photographers who break down their fee, sometimes rather facetiously to highlight how much they are worth - you know the sort of thing..the charts and info-graphics that are designed to show the layperson ‘why I’m worth it’ - You pay me £x and this is how much money I make after paying for kit, insurance training and so on.

Some of this may well be true - there are a lot of associated expenses with being a pro photographer that are often overseen, and indeed I used to think like this - I always seemed to be on the defensive.

I think it’s a natural human instinct to protect your territory, to justify your worth and to make sure to the point of neuroticism that every client who hires you sees just how much value you’re bringing to the table.

I get the obligatory conversations at least once at every single event I shoot - no matter where it is:

person: ’How many pixels is that?’

me: ’I don’t actually know, probably a lot.’

person: ‘Oh that looks expensive.’

me: ‘Yeah it’s not cheap.’

person:’A good few hundred.’

me: ‘Few thousand.’

person: ‘Wow.’

me: ‘Yeah.’

At some point they may also throw in the line ‘It must take really good photos then’ (let's not even go there)

There is also a distinct possibility that someone at the event will try and ‘outgun’ me with their camera/lens, or just stand around with a general smugness at having a camera similar to the hired in professional .

Then there’s the ‘office photographer'. Someone in the office has a decent camera, they ‘love photography’ and they’re going to shoot the event. The office photographer tends gets bored rather quickly and the draw of the free bar is more appealing than spending the night taking photos.

It shouldn’t be difficult to see the value of hiring in a professional photographer. It’s easy to see their portfolio and make the call if you like their work. If you don't - there are plenty more for you to see.

So now head over to the blog post at  http://darlinglovelylife.com/2014/01/why-hire-a-pro-wedding-photographer-when-everyone-has-a-camera-phone/ and have a read.