How to get the most out of your Wedding Photos

0:00-0:18
Troy: Hi, and welcome to The Modern Jewelry Podcast. Today, I'm very excited to have Veronica Liebert from The Photography Photo to talk with us. Veronica, how are you?

0:18-0:20
Veronica: I'm good. How are you?

0:20-0:29
Troy: Doing so well. Thanks for being on the show today. I'd love to just jump right in. Can you share a little bit about your journey, and how you got started in the world of wedding photography?

0:29-3:27
Veronica: I guess. To be honest, I have been doing this for quite a while. I first got introduced into photography in general when I was 17 just in high school, my older sister was taking a photography class just in our high school, and she they let her take home a DSLR camera, and I was just playing around with it one day and just taking pictures of my mom's plants in the backyard and I realized that I really liked photographing things and that's where it kind of started. I guess every photographer has their point of, type of style photography that they first started with, and then gradually move towards what you wanted it to be like specializing, I guess, in. I started out with pretty much just plant photography, landscape and then moved towards working with actual people. I mentored under a different photographer for a while. She taught me a lot of stuff, especially with wedding photography and that's when I started realizing that I really just loved working with couples and it took a while. I was back in 2009 that I started working with photography, and I learned a lot when it comes to just learning how to pose couples, how to get them out of their comfort zone and just really be comfortable in front of the camera and then learning how to do different styles of photography cause I did it all in the beginning. I would shoot weddings, engagements, couples in general, portraits, senior photos, maternity photos, newborn photos and I would just do anything, anything that anybody would ask me to shoot. I would just do it cause I wanted to gain as much experience as possible. That gradually led to start second shooting for other photographers for weddings and then also just joining in on different type of shoots, editorial shoots, or anything like that, just learning from other photographers and it wasn't until about like, I guess, maybe 5, 6 years ago that I realized that I just have a niche in wedding photography like that is, that is my passion. That is my love. That is like the biggest art form that I have in being able to portray my style in photography, and I stopped advertising for any other style of photography. I would still take clients every once in a while, especially if they were previous clients, like asking to shoot their family photos or anything like that, and I would still do it, but I realized that it didn't bring me as much joy as it does with shooting wedding photography but then also editing wedding photography, cause that's a big part of it. I feel like I can be able to still work with clients when it comes to family photos and maternities or portraits, or anything like that, and it's fine for me but when it comes to the editing process, wedding photography, and like just editing weddings in general, and like couple sessions is what really brings me a lot of joy. So that's basically where it started from and then it evolved into me just really focusing so much on my work with couples and actual wedding days.

3:27-3:43
Troy: Great. So our topic today is getting the most out of wedding photos. So I'd just like to ask you first off, you know, from your perspective, what are some of the key elements that couples should consider to ensure that they get the most out of their wedding photos?

3:43-7:28
Veronica: I think the biggest part is just letting your photographer have that free range in the planning stages, I guess, and helping you plan your wedding and just letting them do their job basically because there's a huge difference in when you can tell when you're meeting with a photographer. If they've only been doing this for a year versus 13 years, like how I've been shooting with photography. I've gone through all the mistakes I've gone through all of the customer service skills of learning how to be able to handle wedding guests on the day of and how long it takes, and seeing weddings where that weren't planned very well where they just were trying to get through super fast, and they only booked me for certain amount of hours, and so they couldn't shoot really important parts of their wedding that they wanted to shoot. So that's the biggest feel like, one of the biggest key elements is to really just follow what the photographer asks of you and even from the beginning, when you reach out to a photographer and they respond with, let's schedule a time to have a phone call, either a phone call facetime zoom, whatever you prefer, whatever you're comfortable with because on that phone call, you're able to get a really good feel if we're like a good fit together. If we're going to have good chemistry and also it's just easier to explain the whole process of photography when it comes to your wedding day on a phone call than in an email. I feel like a in today's world when we are just so used to the fact of having everything super fast, like through reels and Tiktok videos and everything just really fast information given to us that we tend to gloss over all the important details that can be put in an email or in a pricing guide. So those phone calls are really important, and I feel like if you take the time and you just trust your photographer immensely to just have the time to just have a conversation, and let them explain how the whole process works. Then you're better prepared to plan your wedding. The majority of time I always suggest like, if you do have a wedding planner like, have that wedding planner do everything that they possibly can to make your wedding day go super easy, and then just work one on one with that wedding planner to make sure that they have enough time laid out in their timeline for the photos to be photographed seamlessly. I guess you could say so I guess that's one of the biggest things that I try to share with my couples when they first reach out is like, okay, let's take that time. Let's have that phone call and then answer those questionnaires that I send you and try to be as detailed as possible, especially if you only book me for just your wedding day, because when you book like my full package of having engagement photos taken and formal photos taken. Those are 2 very important times before your wedding day that you naturally just get to build a bond with your photographer, so that then, on your day of your wedding you already feel comfortable, and you're just like, “Hey, like you're here. Let's get this going like I trust you immensely to capture all the little important details that I want for my wedding day: and like the same with, like my second shooter that comes with me and everything and learning how to work with your videographer and stuff like that. Those are like the key things of understanding, and just really listening to your photographer of what we think is important for your wedding, and then you just try to figure out what works best with your budget cause I never, ever am going to force a client to ever say like, “Oh, you need to have this, or else your wedding's gonna suck” like no I don't ever say anything like that. I already just expressed to them of why I feel like these things are important and then I work with whatever's going to deal with their budget like, that's the biggest thing

7:28-8:02
Troy: Yeah, understood. So I'm kind of reading between the lines here that if I'm you know, looking for a wedding photographer talking to different wedding photographers, probably the question I should ask is, what are we gonna do before the wedding? You know? What's your process? How often are we gonna talk? What's the setup? So if a potential photographer is not really giving me their time or not very clear about that. Then I might be a little bit concerned about you know what the results gonna be. I would call pre-production like what are we doing for pre-production before the wedding to make sure it goes off without a hitch.

8:02-11:07
Veronica: Exactly, and I'm glad that you bring that up because most of the time these clients that reach out to me it's the first time they're ever getting married, and hopefully, their only time that they're ever going to get married and so normally, these people they have no idea of how this process works at all, because generally what happens is that clients will look for a wedding planner to help them guide them through the process of how to plan a wedding, and then they will book their photographer so that they can have that booked way far in advance, even as close to 2 years in advance and then from there that photographer helps build the timeline to make sure and ensure that there's enough time for the photos that you want taken of your wedding day, and it's different for everybody. It's different for every client. Some clients want very limited times, family photos just like that immediate shots, and then a lot of times for those formal photos on the day of your wedding, or other people who care less about taking formal photos on the day of their wedding, and just want like little snippets of candid moments and so it's very different and so that's why it's important to give that time, and you're not booking me just to show up on the day of and photograph what goes on on your wedding like you're booking me for my whole entire customer service experience. Like I've built up a huge like understanding of the wedding industry. I know so much when it comes to different kinds of vendors. I know how to be able to plan a wedding, and I've learned so much even from other wedding planners that have shared their knowledge, their tips and stuff like that. Recently, I started a thing on my blog on my website where I just write down tips and I share tips of like, how to have your wedding day go as easy and seamlessly as possible and like that's the thing is like when you when you book, a photographer, and when you book me for my services, it's it's so much more that you're getting like I have these things laid out for you, and it's a process, because this is how I've learned and had had good results in the past on how to be able to have my clients open up in the way for me to understand what's most important to them on their day or their wedding, like, I constantly ask my clients like, close your eyes and just think of you go through your whole entire wedding day, and then the wedding is over. You go to your honeymoon if that's what's planned and when you come home from your honeymoon, what are you most excited about at that point and generally they're just like, well, my wedding's over, my honeymoon's over like, what is they're excited about? I'm just like, well, you're going to get your wedding photos back like, that's what you should be looking forward to. It's really like very simple stuff that I ask my clients. I just say literally, just close your eyes and tell me, what do you picture from your wedding? Like what do you picture going through your wedding photos and expecting to see and a lot of times they realize like, Oh like, that is actually very helpful, because I just tell them the first top things that pop up into your brain just splurt it out because I don't know. I don't know what's important for you. I don't know if it's important for you to have these certain details captured, or certain people on your wedding day captured.

11:07-11:16
Troy: Yeah, that's great. Are there specific types of venues or settings that tend to result in more stunning creative wedding photos?

11:16-14:39
Veronica: Yes, I'm very picky when it comes to that. That's why I feel like the perfect process for me is for a client to find a good wedding planner and for that wedding planner to very open, be very open to what the client wants, but also suggestions from the photographer cause for me I know some people love to work with harsh light and with flash photography or anything, but I am a huge lover of natural light. So in a perfect world I think it would be amazing to have someone shoot in type of like a greenhouse building, not like an actual greenhouse, but if it was like some type of tent that was all glass or something, see through to allow natural light going in, because people can always have any type of fear of it raining on their wedding day so if people could have that type of situation, and even for the getting ready photos, nice solid off white walls in the background with pretty decor, but has big windows like that's the thing is like, if you can find a location that has big windows that lets in natural lighting that you're already winning at that point and that's why the majority of people get married during the summertime, so that they can be able to have outdoor weddings cause you get that natural lighting and every event during your wedding day, like cutting the cake, your first dances stuff like that. You're gonna have that pretty natural lighting versus shooting inside a dark venue where you're gonna have to rely on a lot of flash photography and other lighting going in and that's something that I talk about with my clients after they've booked, and we go through the whole process of their initial phone calls and everything, I explained to them and show them even examples through past wedding galleries like, Okay, this is this was shot midday. Look at the harsh lighting that it was, and then this was shot in their reception, in their wedding venue like look at the difference that it is with flash photography. Look at the skin tones, look at the differences in the backgrounds and stuff like that but then this was when I took formal photos during like really good golden light hour and that's what I generally do with all of my weddings. I tell my clients, ok I’m just gonna steal you guys from your perception for a little bit, so we can take those really nice shots right before the sunsets to get those really nice portraits that you can be able to print out and frame in your home from your actual wedding day because I always tell them it's nice to book formal photos before your wedding, or even after your wedding. That's a big thing that people do now, too, is take those formal pictures at a location that you want after your wedding day and just so that you can print off all the pictures that you want that are good quality cause on the day of your wedding that's when I take those my clients out is like, right before sunset. They can have those nice, beautiful photos from their wedding day but then, just going over the importance of showing them the differences cause people don't even understand that, too. They just think their wedding photos are gonna look gorgeous and have that natural lighting throughout their entire wedding but when you go actually go through the process of your wedding planning and you start realizing. Oh, it's gonna take a lot longer than I thought it was going to take and we're gonna have to start a lot earlier in the day when the sun is like right above our heads and so that shading is gonna be really horrible underneath their eyes and stuff like that, and just not the best lighting explaining it to them that way, and not even just so much through words, but through photos. They're like giving them straight up examples of what it looks like throughout the entire wedding.

14:39-14:54
Troy: So tell me when you're shooting a wedding, how do you like to balance the you know the capturing of those candid, spontaneous moments with like the post shots to make sure you have a real, you know well, rounded collection for the wedding?

14:54-17:04
Veronica: In my opinion, to be able to get a good, well rounded, candid, and post shots is to always hire a second shooter as well, cause it's not gonna hurt. That second shooter can solely be the person who takes the candid shots, whereas I go through, and I grab the main candid shots of the bride and groom or the couple in general but then also those post shots of like family photos or portraits, or anything like that, so in a perfect world that I wish everyone would just book a second shooter. That's what I always suggest to my clients. I mean, I, of course, have shot countless weddings by myself, and I'm able to get that rounded effect and rounded photos but if a client can be able to understand the importance, and just like having the bang for their buck of hiring that second shooter as well. They'll definitely get more than what's expected when it comes to those type of variety of candid and posed but if I am working by myself, how I generally do it is I just constantly throughout the type, just being very specific to the details, and just aware of what's going on. Where, say, like, your couple is getting ready for the family photos, and we're just waiting for everyone coming forward. You're just not just standing around waiting, you know, like what if something's going on over here like maybe the flower girls are taking some selfies or something like that, and just grabbing those in between moments shots and that's one of the biggest things that I get back after I send a good wedding gallery to my clients where they they reach out to me, and they tell me they're just like I didn't even know that this happened on my wedding day like so and so was doing something, and I was in my dressing room getting ready, and I never saw this point of view, like those are the exciting moments that a couple is able to see once their wedding gallery is delivered, and just being able to cherish and actually relive their whole wedding day again, and being able to see it in different eyes. Different point of views. That's just the beauty of wedding photography is just being able to capture those little moments that you probably didn't even think that you wanted that was given to you like little presents from your wedding, from your wedding photographer that you get to cherish for the rest of your life.

17:04-17:41
Troy: You know, that makes me think of recently, at my sister's wedding she got married at these beautiful gardens and before the ceremony here my 2 boys like out in the gardens, catching grasshoppers and bugs and things, and my son, one of my son's, my youngest caught this huge grasshopper he was holding it and the photographer was taking pictures of it. I'm like, I don't know if this is gonna make it into like the final cut but that's gonna be a really cool picture, just because he's dressed up so handsome and he's holding, you know this grasshopper with this beautiful background in these gardens. So anyway, that's what it made me think of.

17:41-20:40
Veronica: Exactly, and like these are moments that you didn’t even think was gonna happen. Like you can try so hard to plan so much in advance but in reality, when you think I always tell my clients like don't get so stressed about making sure every shot is covered. That's why you booked me for that like, trust me to be able to capture every single photos that you want, and like I go through all the questionnaires. I go through all my notes beforehand to make sure that I'm aware what my client wants, and make sure I get those shots and remind my clients like, Hey, let's take some time, so we can grab these things since we talked about it before, you know, but then, at the end of the day like leaving it up to my style, and like how I capture stuff and just making sure that I grab the photos that you're gonna love, you know, and that's what I love to do. I love to see what's going on and like, when I have a second shooter, I'm just like, I basically, I assign my second shooter to go with one person and try to grab as much candid moments of them, and then I'll work with the other one and grab all the shots of them, and then the second shooter then goes during cocktail hour to grab, shot candid shots of the guests and everything like that, people don't think of that. You know. They're just like what is going to be going on when you're getting ready. You're getting ready to walk down the aisle like, what is everyone else doing? And you're just wondering like this is the one of the biggest day in my life. I want to get as many photos captured on the biggest day of my life, and like that second shooter's just there, seeing what's going on taking those photos just grabbing those memories and I even love it, too, you know, like, when I go through it like I don't know what that second shooter took photos of when I'm going through the editing process I'm, I get to go through and I'm just like, Oh, like this happened there like that's so cute, you know, and just being able to just, I am such a sucker for the weddings, and like I sometimes it makes me laugh because I tear up all the time like when I was editing some weddings recently, like I full out end up crying just like looking at some of these pictures, and it just sometimes I don't know. People think I'm weird or anything like, but that's how obsessed I am when it comes to the wedding industry and just weddings in general. I had one wedding where this girl, she had her grandpa walk her down the aisle, and it was just so beautiful. They had a little moment before him when she was getting ready where he walked in, and, like I took pictures of his reaction, seeing her in her dress, and he just started crying and I almost started crying, too but then what made me actually start to tear up was during their first dance when she asked him to take her out on the dance floor and do their first dance, and he actually stopped midway and pulled out his handkerchief and started dabbing. I mean, there was not a dry eye in the entire venue. I swear it was so beautiful, and it's just like tender moments like that where I'm just like in my head. I'm just like, gotta get the shot, you know, make sure I document this but then also, I'm just like I'm gonna cry, you know?

20:40-20:51
Troy: That's wonderful. I'd love to talk about what you're getting your reputation for, could you explain to me what fine art wedding photography means to you, and how it influences your work?

20:51-
Veronica: Yes, definitely and I'm glad that we're diving into that, because when I try explaining that to people I understand that there is a shift from what wedding photography is and what fine art wedding photography is, and how I like to explain it for me myself is that I have such a deep love when it comes to fashion photography. I love fashion. I love vogue. I love anything to do with like New York Vibe, and anything like that, with how models portray articles of clothing and and that type of art and I even dived into that type of world when I when I started fashion school a couple of years ago and just learned a lot about that type of industry and to myself I was like, well, I want to bring that type of art into my wedding photography. Years ago I felt like that wasn't possible just because of how clear cut the wedding industry was and how the norm was when it comes to like poses and photography in general when it comes to wedding days because everyone feels like if you're seeing model pictures, then they're not real people, and like these are not real people. We're not real couples that you're shooting and stuff like that when in reality you see all the time like models get married and like, look at their wedding photos. They're like they're beautiful, you know, like, recently, for example, there was Cole Sprouse or Dylan Sprouse or one of the Sprouse twins got married to a model, Barbara and I was obsessed with their wedding photos like I went through every single wedding photo that they shared on vogue and everything and like a lot of their formal photos we're definitely like modelesque, you know, I mean, they definitely shared a lot of their reception photos, where it's just like the normal reception photos of them with their first dance and just candid moments and everything but it's just pure art of them, like sitting on chairs and on the the lawn and everything and it was just gorgeous, you know, like that's what I aspire to be. That's why I try to bring a lot of that editorial work into my own personal photography and I share this stuff like the clients that reach out to me are the ones that really want that, you know. Like, even though they aren't models themselves in real life, they'd like that type of art, and I can make model work of out of anybody and that's the thing is like, people don't believe that they can be able to be portrayed in that way, or be able to have art of themselves and I'm just like you have no idea, like when I look through someone through the lens of my camera. I see them in such a different way. I'm able to see people like with their raw emotions, raw love for each other, but in such a beautiful way and that's why I tried to limit myself of what I show people like when I take their photos, and then I show them on the back of my camera, on the screen, because I don't ever want them to feel and just focus on the negative parts of their bodies, because cropping is such a huge big part of that, you know, like the editing world of LightRoom has changed and enhanced so much these days where I'm able to do a lot of when it comes to what my clients want but a big key that I've been able to learn, I guess, is learning how to crop and it's just basically sizing the photo to make it very beautiful in a way. A lot of the art into my editing goes into learning how to crop and learning what to cut out of the photo versus leaving in the photo and so when it comes to fine art wedding photography. To me it's being able to portray these type of poses or these kind of candid moments where I'm able to also show like this could be on the cover of a magazine, you know and a lot of my work does portray that and I explained that to my clients, and like they see my previous work, and they are elated to be able to be portrayed that way, too, and like, I guess, one of the most meaningful responses I got from a client one time was I sent her wedding gallery when went down to Dead Horse Point in Moab, and they were wearing their wedding clothes. They decided to take formal photos after their wedding, and I then sent her gallery afterwards, and she sent me this long text where she was just like, I can't even believe that's me. She's like, I know that you have a lot of skills in editing and everything she's just like but I am Wowed like I can't I can't believe that's my face. I can't believe that's my body. I can't believe those are like the pictures that you took of us and everything. She's just like cause I try remembering back to our session and remembering what you told me to do, and how to pose myself, and whatever and she's like it, it just blows my mind. She's just like these are so beautiful, and she's like thank you so much for portraying me in a way that I don't even see myself and then like it makes me even tear up just now just hearing my clients say stuff like that because I'm just like, you guys are so beautiful like, you guys are beautiful human beings but we are so, we are very quick to judging ourselves and I do this all the time, too. This is a reason why I don't get a lot of portraits taken of myself, cause I don't like pictures taken of myself like how ironic, you know but when it comes to photography I just love being able to grab those shots, and I'm just like all the time I'm very vocal. When you, when you attend the session with me, stuff just comes out of my mouth, and I'm just late later on, like all of these laughing pictures, you get my couples. I thought it's pretty much just stuff that comes out of my mouth that I'm just like, I don't even realize what I'm saying sometimes and then, majority of the time, I'm just like, Oh, my God! Like this is gorgeous like, you guys don't even know how great you look right now, and my couples just start laughing because they don't see themselves as these modelesque people and everything like that but to me, I'm just like you guys are killing it, you know, and like being very vocal, and just like sharing these things and just like showing them just like, look how amazing you 2 look, you know. That's what fine art wedding photography is to me.

26:40-26:57
Troy: Awesome. Tell me about to pull off some really quality, you know fine art shots. How do you collaborate with the other vendors? Obviously, you know you have a vested interest in the venue and the flowers, you know just to make sure everything looks good.

26:57-30:17
Veronica: Oh, yeah, that's another big thing that I talk about with my clients, cause I tell them I'm just like there's a lot that I can do in making you look good on your wedding day or in a session but you have to realize that I'm not a miracle worker like I'm not God. I can't just make these wedding photos look like exactly what you can see like a wedding magazine. There is a lot of work that you have to put into to be able to produce the type of photos that you want, cause a lot of times when they bring me photos like example photos and stuff like that. I have to nitpick these photos out and explain to my clients and say, like, Hey, you realize look at her gown. Look how beautifully detailed her gown is! I don't know who the vendor was, but you have to realize that looked just like how gorgeous that gown is. You need to think about the type of quality of wedding gown that you're going to be buying for yourself or the Tux, or anything like that and then the florals, like really look into like, okay, look how beautiful this picture is, or look at these gorgeous photos from these wedding venues. Look at all the detail that went into decorating that wedding venue. There's not even just the florals, but there's the vases, there's the cups, there's the table sets. There's the fine linens, there's the, you know, like the name cards, any, all of these little details that wedding planners and other wedding vendors you know, really excel in their craft and creating their, and that that, too, are able to create wedding find like fine art weddings, is by putting all of the little details, and that's what cost money, you know, is like, really budgeting. If you want this level of photos, this is how much money you need to put into to be able to getting that level of photos and I have to explain this to my clients cause they see the pretty pictures, and they're just like, I want that and I'm just like, Okay, what part of this photo do you want exactly? Cause if you want all of this wedding. Then I'm telling you right now you have to look into a good wedding florist, a good wedding venue that has gorgeous settings in the inside already, and like your wedding gown, like all of the tables and even the seats, the chairs, little details that people don't think about their weddings that I have to nitpick for them and help them realize that if they put all these details together and they create all of the the core for me to photograph. That's what they're going to get at the end and that's what they're going to photograph and that's what I love when I work. I can tell immediately when I talk with a client and they have specific plans and details, and they can be able to name drop vendors to me. I can already tell where I'm like this girl knows what she's talking about, or this guy knows what she's talking about and knows what she wants, knows the type of details as she wants, and is trusting these vendors to be able to create a beautiful setting for her weddings and now and it's gonna be already naturally easy for me to be able to capture it, because when you work with good vendors, who already do a good job when it comes to piecing these dream weddings together for me to photograph it, any part of your wedding that you're gonna be sitting at, walking through or having guest amongst, you're going to love because you already thought in your head. I put so much effort in planning this wedding and help having my wedding planner execute my dream wedding that I'm able to actually just get, I know for sure fact that I'm gonna get the photos that I want.

30:17-30:41
Troy: That's great. How do you or how have you in your experience dealt with those, you know, unexpected challenges. I'm thinking of planning a wedding. You're looking at the calendar just being like, what is the weather going to be like on the stage? Is they're going to be rain? Is there going to be wind? Is it going to be extremely hot? You know weather it's obviously one of those unexpected challenges. But yeah, How? How have you dealt with those?

30:41-
Veronica: I mean, there's always gonna be issues with the weather and you just a good wedding photographer and a good wedding vendor in general is just gonna be open to those and just plan for in advance but even just being able to help explain to your clients how we handle these situations, and being prepared in general I guess. For one example, I shot an elopement in Santorini and we were, in my head I went into a thing I'm just like I'm gonna get these gorgeous shots of them with the ocean in the background, just like their dress flowing in the wind. It's gonna be pretty! And it down poured rain on me the entire time and I don't like the rain. I hate being in the rain. It gets cold, and I'm wet, and I just, I just don't like it, but it turned out to be one of the most prettiest photos I've ever taken in my life, I think, to be honest, and it's just crazy that way. It helped me have a new subjective of like learning to be very accepting of that type of environment I guess you could say but my clients just killed it, you know, like they just went in and they they brought out the type of photos that they wanted, and we still got the shots and stuff, even though they were soaked at the end of it, and just understanding afterwards, like just trusting your photographer that they got those photos, and like when I showed them those pictures afterwards, like even just saying like, Wow, like, I'm so glad I did this, you know. I'm so glad that we still went forward because you don't need to be swayed against taking those photos. If you think it's going to rain and again, that is mainly for, like formal sessions or engagements, or anything like that, just rolling through it, and like I've been in so many different type of situations I've been in, you know not blizzards, but like snowing. It was like snowing during one of my sessions, and on, of course, wedding days, just dealing with the rain and just going through it and just having to wait but that's another thing, too, is like I always tell my clients. Say you have your wedding venue booked for 8 h I always tell my clients okay, I can be there for those 8 h, but I always tell my clients, book me at least for 2 extra more hours. So for that situation like 10 h. and even though you're not going to be at your wedding venue for those full 10 h. It prepares for the worst, because, like, say, if it is raining throughout your session, and you don't want to go on the rain to ruin your hair and your makeup and all that type of stuff and like say we do have to take some extra time to wait for the rain to pause so that we can go out. Take your formal photos or your family photos, or change locations to be able to take these photos and stuff and just being open to them. That's what I tell my clients like, if you prepare for the worst. Then you're not going to be disappointed on the day of your wedding, you know. Just being very, very open with that type of expectations.

33:30-33:54
Troy: Yeah, that's true and I'm just thinking of marriage in itself is kind of dealing with the unexpected and going with the flow and bringing 2 worlds together. Well, you know, looking to the future, how do you see the role of technology and artistic trends, you know, really shaping the future of wedding photography?

33:54-37:55
Veronica: You know, I know that things are going to change, and because it's constantly is changing and I don't know how their wedding photographers are. I've talked to some other people, and like we seem to all be kind of on the same page, or we just like we hate the fact that visuals and videos are are such a huge aspect when it comes to portraying or like capturing an audience and I guess a big thing a part of that is like reels and Tiktoks like when when that all came out on Instagram and stuff, and Instagram is such a huge tool, and being able to portray your work. I struggled a lot with that because I'm not a videographer. I work with so many videographers. I work with a particular one just one on one and I try to understand their craft and I try to understand how they do their videos and stuff but it's not something that comes naturally as it does with photography. So when it comes to creating reels and being able to portray my work in that way, that is something that I struggle with, and just I just to be very transparent with anyone who listens to this is like. I try to be very open with that with my clients, and just tell them like, Hey, I'm a great photographer. I know how to take pictures, and when it comes to the videography world I always then refer them to my videographer or other people, you know and so I guess everyone has a hard time with change. Everyone, especially when it comes to the wedding industry. We have to keep up with the new trends and stuff like that, but in a way, I have to find the positivity about it because it does help. I mean, my business in general has definitely grown so much just because of technology, you know, like versus just being able to attract a certain type of audience or clients here in Utah, I've been able to attract so many clients outside of Utah, just because of Instagram and the Internet and stuff like that and so I've been able to see a lot of parts of the world where you know traveling to Greece and to Paris, California. Italy this next month, and just a whole other places that I'm traveling to next year, on the east coast and stuff, and just being able to portray that type of art skills with other clients that are outside of my, my little bubble I guess you could say. I have to contribute to technology and just being very open to it. So that's why there's a lot of pros, and there's lots of cons but I'm not negative towards it. I know there's gonna be lots of stuff that I'm gonna struggle with learning how to do and learning how to really invest and bring into my personal business, lifestyle and everything but when it comes down to it like just being open to it and like, that's the thing is like Social media is a big aspect of my life just because I have to keep up with what's going on in the world when it comes to trends, and what people are viewing, what people are interested in, and clients will bring it up all the time, too. They'll either send me screenshots of stuff. They'll send me videos, or they'll send me pictures of what they see, and they ask me like, is there any of the way that we can be able to incorporate this into my wedding day, or into my session and I'm just, you know, trying to be opened with it because I'm not ever gonna say no to someone. I'm not gonna say unless it's like something completely out of my editing style or comfort, I guess you could say but when it comes down to it, that's another thing is just like I'm I'm so obsessed with the wedding industry that I, I follow so many people on Instagram, just other wedding vendors, other wedding photographers, and like on TikTok constantly like my for you pages just constantly just wedding stuff and like trends that I see and other stuff that people are doing cause it's interesting to me. I'm naturally interested and infatuated with this type of work and with what's going on in the world, and just seeing so much, and even being able to bring it into my style of photography, too.

37:55-38:06
Troy: That's great, Veronica and I think your passion has really shown through in our conversation today. So if our listeners want to find you, they want to see your work. Where would they go?

38:06-38:40
Veronica: So my website is Vphotographyphoto.com and that's where I direct a lot of people there just because A) I've taken a lot of time and investment into making that website portray a lot of my work, and who I am as a photographer. So you can see a lot of my work there, and you can reach out to me through my inquiry page but for faster portfolio work you can definitely check me out on Instagram @Vphotographyphoto. That's my handle there, I do have a Facebook page as well. Just labeled Vphotography shares the same information and posts that I do on my Instagram page but yeah, you can reach out to me there and that's where you can see my work.

38:40-38:55
Troy: Great and we'll be sure to include those in the show notes, on our podcast website. Thank you so much. This has been so enlightening and I've just really enjoyed the conversation with you so thank you Veronica.

38:55-38:58
Veronica: Thank you so much.