Photographer Austin TX - How to choose an event photographer

It has recently come to my attention that there is a lot of confusion about what an event photographer really is. Most people understand the concept of the "photographer", but because photographers specialize in so many different areas, everyone seems to have their own understanding of what one does. For myself, I was trained in a traditional studio environment, taking family, children and senior portraits. This was my concept of photography for a long time. But now the "photographer" is an ever evolving phenomenon. The introduction of digital photography has expanded everyone's awareness of the art form, and the traditional photographer is being forced to evolve with it.

In steps the "event photographer". With digital advancing at a rapid pace the possiblity of delivering a professional quality photograph onsite has become a reality. But I gotta tell you... it ain't cheap! To deliver a high quality image an event photographer needs to invest in quality cameras and lenses, fast & reliable computers with lots of hard drive space, expensive software that will allow you to show, print and deliver the photographs quickly onsite, and dye sublimation printers. You also need a way to carry all this equipment, transport it and workflow systems in place to manage it all. All of this costs big bucks!

So what you will find in the marketplace are three varieties of event photographers. One... the professional event photographer who bites the bullet and invests many thousands of dollars to run his/her business effectively with numerous systems capable of producing high volume and high quality portraits onsite at events. Two... a photographer who owns a studio and is "getting into" event photography with purchase of one dye-sub printer to expand their current business. Or Three.... an opportunist who sees event photography as a quick way to make money, but refuses to invest in quality equipment to do so.

I will be blogging further about the types of event photographers and giving suggestions on how to select the best photographer for your event in the days and weeks to come.