Century Color Labs

Remember back in the day, when we only had a handful of television stations to choose from for our evening entertainment? Well, those days are long gone. Now there are channels that are not just for sports, but sport specific (golf channel, baseball channel), there are stations dedicated to news only and others devoted to home improvement. There is even a channel dedicated specifically for women; it’s called Women’s Entertainment or WE tv.

This channel is dedicated to all thing of interest to women, most specifically (almost) all things related to weddings. They feature shows like Bridezillas, Amazing Wedding Cakes, Platinum Weddings, and My Fair Wedding. TLC also boasts hit shows like Cake Boss, Four Weddings and Say Yes to the Dress. All these television shows built around one single aspect of the most important day in a woman’s life. But where is the show about the professional wedding photographer?

Come on people, if they can come up with a show every week about the wedding cake they can easilyturn out a show about the wedding photographer. Just as creating a stunning wedding cake is more than just whipping together some eggs, sugar and flour; producing stunning images of a couple’s fairy tale day is more than just clicking the shutter on a camera. There are a lot of other ingredients to the perfect image, lighting, shutter speed, posing, lens choice, etc.

It’s the photographer who captures every facet of the day. The photographer shows up before every other vendor and often does much more than photograph. Photographers help bustle the dress, play timekeeper to make sure everyone is on schedule, pin on boutonnières, herd family members for pictures, coordinate with the band/DJ for all traditional happenings at the reception and the list goes on. So where is the show about the wedding photographer and all the trials and tribulations they encounter on the big day?

Here is a shout out to all professional photographer associations and vendors. The associations are suppose to serve as the voice of the collective group. We need PPA and state affiliates as well as Kodak and WPPI to start a movement to create some positive exposure for the hardworking and dedicated professional wedding photographers. There are a multitude of professional photographers who could be featured and many options for a weekly show. The show could follow one photographer week after week and all the interesting people he/she encounters or a different photographer could be featured each episode. Hey, maybe there’s room for more than one professional wedding photographer show. Maybe we need our own network…

Too often we read articles that coach brides and grooms to save money by skimping on their photographic budget. Yet, we have all encountered people who testify that the biggest mistake they made on their wedding day was not hiring a professional photographer. It is time to come together as an industry and set the record straight. Professional photography is the one aspect that brides and grooms should NOT skimp on when it comes to their wedding day.

Besides memories (which fade) the only thing that will be left of the cake after the wedding is the photo of the cake. The only thing left of the flowers after the wedding will be the images of the flowers. The only thing left of that extraordinary day after the day is done is the photographs. Only a professional photographer can truly capture the emotions and beauty of that astonishing day to be cherished for years through the images they produce. So, where is the show that documents everything from the consultation to the big day to the delivery of the final album? Now that would be some “must see TV.”