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Tell us a little about yourself?
My name is Barney Walters, and besides photography my passions are skiing, F1 racing, Apple products and above all, travelling the world.
How did you get into wedding photography?
I have been a wedding photographer for just over 2 years, I starting shooting weddings after I met another photographer at a wedding of one of my relatives. We talked and it went from there…
Can you share how you’ve made your business a success? Any mistakes you made along the way?
To a degree its luck, but you make your own luck, from the first day you talk to someone, its about having the confidence in yourself, belief in yourself and never giving up. I carry a camera with me everywhere, even if its just my iPhone. Take pictures everyday and compare with other photographers. When in any doubt, when I have made a mistake or just not feeling the passion, I do one of two things. Read a couple pages from a Richard Branson book or browse the web and see how the vast majority of other photographers are all the same, in the knowledge that I am a little more interesting.
How do you advertise yourself and what for you has really worked?
SEO, Facebook and word of mouth. The three things I put most my time into as far as advertising goes. I belong to a couple of website searches and have done a couple leaflet drops in the past. However for national coverage I find the web and word of mouth the best. Plus it only costs your time, and I’m lucky that I enjoy doing it.
Why do you think people hire you?
They believe they deserve good wedding pictures. They are fed up of the same old stuff that is produced by the majority. They want something a little different but nothing stupid. Sensible and well thought out photography.
How many weddings do you average per year?
Current I photograph about 25 a year, I could use a couple more, but love having time available to travel and to photograph other people, things and events. Variety in life.
Whose wedding would you love to shoot?
Impossible to say, what I love about weddings is the people, and if I get a couple that are really suited to each other and give off the same persona, then my job is easy. They do the magic.
If you were asked to shoot a destination wedding, where would you hope it would be?
I have been asked in the past, and with my love for travel this is the direction I would like to push my business in years to come. Where would I hope it would be? Somewhere you wouldn’t normally think of.
Do you have any goals for the future photography related or otherwise?
Travel the world with a camera and get paid to photograph what I find interesting.
What do you think is key to being a successful wedding photographer?
Make sensible suggestions.
Are there any other wedding photographers whose work inspires you, can be a well know photographer or somebody you’ve stumbled across?
I find very few current wedding photographers of any inspiration. There are a small handful who’s work I look out for. There are great photographers around but in a saturated market. I always say… ‘ if you were in a room with 100 photographers all of whom had a display of pictures, you could make easy work of picking out 5 on a shortlist. The internet unfortunately makes this job a lot harder.’
Final then. A serious one. Have you ever ripped your trousers when you’ve bent over or squatted down at a wedding to take a shot. Basically has anything ever gone wrong during a wedding?
Optimism is Key. All I can say is… ‘Prior planning prevents poor performance. ‘
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