After photographing around 500 weddings in Montreal, the UK and a few other countries I’ve long had a plan to launch a second site more focused on my non-wedding/family photography.
I still love shooting cool weddings so have no fear, this site will remain updated regularly with my wedding photos, family sessions and some of my band portraits and concert photography. But there’s a new site in town. Yee-haw!!
In the past, I’ve often been asked if I think it’s a good idea having both wedding and music photography on the same site. Some people looking for a wedding photographer may be put off when they see the music photos, perhaps because they want their wedding photographer to specialise only in weddings. That’s fine and I totally get that point of view. But, I believe that the kind of wedding clients I wish to attract will often be music fans. And having photos of bands and artists they love in my portfolio can not only help people remember me when browsing wedding photography sites, but can also give us something in common that helps build a conversation early on. Couples are not only looking for someone who will take photos that they’ll love at their wedding but they’re also looking for a photographer that they’ll get on with and enjoy having with them on such a significant day. Hence I’ve always shown the music photography alongside my wedding work.
But that thinking doesn’t necessarily work the other way around.
Unfortunately, wedding photography is all too often seen as being right at the bottom of the professional photography ladder. As wedding photographers ourselves we are all too aware of how much skill is required to consistently deliver a set of hundreds of quality wedding photos to our clients. In other areas of photography, however, wedding photographers are viewed as less skilled than say fashion or portrait photographers. I totally disagree. Weddig photographers need to be good portrait photographers as well as landscape, product, documentary and fashion photographers. And we only get one chance to get it right!
The problem comes when somebody is looking for a portrait, commercial or music photographer. If they land on my website they could well take me less seriously simply because they see I photograph weddings too. It’s silly but unfortunately all too often very true. So…
I’d like to begin shooting even more editorial work, portraits and commercial work so I’ve launch Steve Gerrard Photo.
The site was designed by my good friend Bryn at Growing Kenneth who also designed this site. My idea for the new site was for something minimal that displayed the images in a clear way. I took inspiration from some of my favourite photographers including We Are The Rhodes, Randall Slavin and Derek Bremner. All very simple, clean sites that showcase the images well.
The new site is still a work in progress. I have many more images to add and will be also adding a section where people can purchase limited edition prints. I’m also working on my first book of music photography!
I really hope this new strand to my photography business will lead to some interesting work alongside my wedding and family photography. I guess time will tell…
