Y our wedding day is one of the most important days of your life. Most weddings take months to prepare – sometimes even years. That’s why having a great photographer is so important. You want to be able to preserve that special occasion.

That’s a lot of pressure on Wedding photographers. They have to ensure that they can get some of your favorite memories on film so that you can relive your special day. Especially when you feel like wringing your husband’s neck… again.

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Jen Harvey of Jen Harvey Photography (based out of Maryland, US) about her work, passion, and what she does to make sure that all of her work is safe.

JB: What made you choose wedding photography specifically?

JH: I believe in Love, I believe in the fundamentals of marriage and honestly – there is nothing more beautiful than a blushing bride on her wedding day! Watching her throughout the day and seeing the flutter of nerves, excitement and anticipation is an honor. After my own wedding I just knew that my decision to purse wedding photography was in fact the right choice for me.

I am a story teller, I am there to document the most important story in two lives; the story of them joining and becoming one. There is no one that spends as much time with a bride and groom on wedding day as the Photographer and Videographer and we are there to document their story with authenticity. This is the story that they will tell their kids and their kids will tell their kids. I am documenting something that is to become their first family heirloom – WOW! These photos are pieces that in some way or another will be passed on even when the couple is no longer living on this earth, exactly like my grandparents wedding photo, placed in a simple silver frame, was passed down to me when she passed away this December. Now that photo sits in my office next to my wedding bouquet.

JB: Do you find it different than other types of photography and why?

JH: Yes, wedding photography is very different than any other photography, in more ways than I can count. Yes, the knowledge and basics of photography are the same across the board but being a wedding photographer is about so much more than just taking a photo. I honestly can’t stress this enough. Right off the bat you often help in the basic structure of planning the wedding day.

Couples rely on us to know how the day should flow in order to have ample time to photograph the details of the day. You are interacting very heavily with multiple people and personalities. Stress levels are often very high on wedding day and you can’t let that effect you and the job you are there to do. You need to manage time and people and stay on track as this is a day that can’t be repeated.

JB: How many pictures do you normally take at an average wedding?

JH: Every wedding is different. There is really no way to say how many photos a couple will receive from their day. A wedding that is 6 hours long will receive a different number of images than a wedding that spans 12 hours. The best way to answer this question if asked by couples is to explain to them that every wedding and couple are different but it is safe to bet that an average of 50 + images per hour of coverage will be delivered.

JB: How do you keep all of those photographs organized on your computer?

JH: Over the years I have come up with a solution to organizing files that works for me. This is something that at any given point can change if something better comes up. I do not store anything permanently on my computer – I usually work off of external hard drives or work on my computer’s hard drive then transfer the entire file to the hard drive once the event is completed. Due to file size of RAW images it’s hard to store more than 2 or 3 events on the computer/laptop so I have gotten in the habit of working directly off my hard drives.

On my hard drives, I break everything down by Year > Event Type (weddings, engagements, personal) > Then name the files by date > couple > Location. This allows the Files to fall into chronological order. I usually do the same for personal work or I just name the personal files by event “Christmas” “Saint Martin Vacation” etc.

JB: I can imagine that there is a lot of editing involved. What kinds of programs do you use?

JH: I wish there was a more elaborate answer to this questions, but I keep things very simple. I use Photo Mechanic & Light Room. Rarely I will use Photoshop. I also have the entire adobe creative suite but the other programs rarely get used with my style of editing. I work to get my images right in camera to minimize the amount of work in post-production.

My style of editing is very classic and natural. Photo Mechanic was the biggest game changer which I added into my work flow last year. The images virtual have no buffer time to you can see your image at full resolute almost immediately. If you know anything about how large those files are you know that this can save you hours. You can quickly click through and flag any image that are blurry, eyes closed etc. and remove those from you files with in minutes for a full wedding… and by minutes I mean 30-60 probably.

JB: Do you keep back-up copies of the originals in case of emergency? Do you keep multiple copies of each photo in each stage? That would add up to a lot of images!

JH: Do I keep backups of the originals, YES! And I will probably keep them for the remainder of my career either as hard copies or online. At this point I don’t not purge original files. However that might change in the future I am not really sure. The likelihood of someone needing you to go back through their wedding photos 10 years later for 1 photo is probably slim to none – but, I haven’t been in business for 10 years so I really can’t say.

I have enough memory cards that I can usually leave an entire wedding on the cards until it is fully completed as well as my hard drive and online back up. So right there that is 3 forms of backup of original files. Once the wedding in completed and delivered I only keep the original RAW files and the Fully Edited JPG Files that I deliver to clients and any product files like the images I selected for the blog, albums, cards, etc. They all go into that client’s main folder.

JB: How do you back-up your work? Do you use a different system than when you back-up other types of media?

JH: Well I don’t back up other types of media, only photos so it’s all the same. I use external portable hard drive as I travel a lot and they are small and can be stored easily. I label them with my logo sticker and use a label make to date the range they cover. Then I know what weddings are on what drives by the date. Other than that there is online backup that does automatic backups.

JB: Have you had any horror stories in the past about losing large amounts of work, any type of photographs? Wedding photographs specifically? I can’t imagine how hard that must be since you can’t go out and re-take wedding photographs.

JH: We are going to pretend you did not ask this question. *Knock on Wood* NO, I have not. 1 thing I do to prevent this – memory cards come in all different sizes. I use smaller cards 8GB & 16GB so that smaller chunks of the wedding are capture on 1 card vs. using larger 32 GB or 64 GB cards that can hold upward of ½ to all of the wedding on one card. I just have to pay close attention to how many frames are left on my cards for important moments like the 1st kiss or walking down the aisle.

However I will usually put in a new card at the beginning of a ceremony which prevents this even being an issue. Also, My camera – a Canon 5D Mark iii has the ability to save 2 copies on image taken so I use a CF memory card as my main memory card and a large 32GB SD memory card as my back up memory card. I have JPG copies saved to the SD card. This is my back up if anything catastrophic were to happen to my primary memory card.

And yes, because you can’t go back and re do the photos this is extremely important to have some kind of a plan in place – a camera with a secondary memory card slot was really important to me. I also have a 5D Mark iii as my back up camera so if something were to happen to my primary camera I have a 2nd one that works and does the exact same thing and the primary one.

JB: What types of photography do you work with? Strictly digital? Film? How do you keep, store, and back-up film?

JH: I mainly work with Digital. However, Last summer I did buy a Pentax 645 medium format film camera for personal work. It doesn’t get used as much as I would like but I am getting there.

When she’s not out at a wedding, you’ll probably find her with her husband John, their pups (Ellie & Bear), traveling, drinking coffee, or sporting a pair of great heels. If you would like to see more of Jen’s work, you can find some great images on her website, her Facebook Page, and her Instagram. You can also contact her via Twitter (@jenniferlynnJLP) and via e-mail ([email protected])

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