What do you mean, you’ve brought on an Associate Photographer!?!
There was a time not very long ago that I swore I would never do this, that I would never trust someone else to shoot as Ashley Gerrity Photography. I had all sorts of reasons, most of which were ego-based, some of which proved that I had trust issues. But as I moved into 2015, I decided to swallow some pride, have some faith, and make the big jump into building my team.
Shooting down the barriers:
Let’s start with the trust issues. How could anyone else provide my clients with the same level of art that I could create, I thought? I’d had a hard enough time trusting second photographers to shoot grom prep without me in the beginning. Couples trust me with their wedding day. It is a completely non-replicable, earth-shattering responsibility and I carry that weight with me every time that I pick up my camera. Over the years, I’ve found a few other photographers who care as much as me and work in a similar manner to me. These are the ladies that I trust to shoot entirely independent of me on the wedding day, capturing prep in one room while I am working in another or photographing cocktail hour while I hit up the reception.
And then there is my ego. Ask any photographer if they aren’t consistently critiquing the work of other photographers at any given point in time–if they say “no,” then I firmly believe they are lying. We look at the masters of photography and study exactly what they did well with lighting and posing, we look to our peers and analyze how we would have done things differently if we were in their shoes, and we look at our team and evaluate whether or not their images are good enough for a client’s gallery. If you are lucky, we are sitting back and thinking of the things that we will do better the next time that we pick up our own cameras, too. (My clients are lucky, I’m constantly nitpicking my own work.) Who am I to decide that a more editorial approach is stronger than a documentary approach? An artist, but that doesn’t mean that my opinion is the only valuable one.
So who are these associate photographers?
I’m extremely excited to be bringing on Rachel as studio manager and associate photographer starting this summer. To say that I trust Rachel would be an understatement. I’ve known her for almost a decade, long before I was a photographer. When I was in college, she photographed a two day boudoir marathon for me, helping me to create 12 styled shoots for a calendar (so she knows me very well). When I’ve been sick on a wedding day, she has picked up my slack and helped me put on the smiley face for my clients. She manages our interactions with other professionals on the wedding day and has photographed dozens of weddings with me. Rachel has studied with the world-renowned David Sachs and has been photographing weddings for twice as long as I have. To say that we are lucky to have her on board is an understatement. Rachel brings a documentarian’s eye to the Ashley Gerrity Photography team, with a shoot from the hip style that isolates beautiful moments in the chaos of the wedding day.
Also, accepting limited commissions with Ashley Gerrity Photography is Serena. Why is this awesome news? Because Serena was part of the team that photographed my own wedding, so I am extremely lucky to be able to continue working with her through the years. Serena is a nationally acclaimed boudoir and glamour photographer and was the youngest person to receive the Professional Photographers of America Masters Award for her photographic excellence. Serena has a clean editorial style with an extra hint of intimacy.
What’s in it for you?
Booking a collection with an associate has lots of perks. It opens the door for Ashley Gerrity Photography to work with even more awesome couples in 2015 and beyond and gives you the chance to work with the photographer whose style is most attuned to yours.
* By offering specialists in documentary, editorial, and blended wedding photography, you now have the option for a photographer who is perfect for you, while knowing that the post-production and client care will be handled by award-winning Ashley Gerrity Photography (and me!).
* All associate collections include an engagement session with both Ashley & your selected associate, so that you are comfortable with both your primary photographer (the person who will spend your wedding day with you) and me (your main point of contact at the studio). These are the only collections that automatically include an engagement session and the only non-wedding sessions that include two photographers,
* As we are all managing our own budgets, one of the biggest benefits of working with an associate photographer is being able to work with Ashley Gerrity Photography at a lower rate while still enjoying the artistic quality of our studio’s work.
