Know Your Wedding Vendors
Episode 1: Followell fotography
Transcript:
Tommy
What's up, guys? I'm Tommy Kirkpatrick with Tommy Kirkpatrick Films, and I'm here today with my good friend Robbie Fowler. Well, a follow up photography. I do want to describe you.
Robby
amazing
Tommy
He is, and he really is. He's an amazing photographer. He's shot weddings all over Mississippi and all over really having been shot out of the country to. Yeah, all over everywhere. He's been shooting for how many years?
Robby
15 years.
Tommy
15 years. I've shot lots of weddings with him. He's amazing to work with. And so. Yeah. Robbie, tell us a little bit about yourself. Yeah.
Robby
So I got started in 2007. I did some mission work in Southeast Asia the summer between my junior and senior year of college, and just really became super compelled by photography as a kind of as a story platform, as the opportunity to relive an experience. I had this like, super pivotal summer in my life that I wanted to kind of remember, and I wanted to revisit, you know, And so I had these photos of people that I'd interacted with or moments that I experienced that for the first time.
Robby
I realized, you know, photography has this platform to allow you to reconnect to memories more deeply than you can do, just like conjuring them up on your own. Like you're able to see a photograph and remember like what you did right before that moment where you went after what that moment may have like smelled like or sounded like, and the power of like an individual image as sort of a gateway to memories is was captivating to me then it like motivates me now.
I feel like you drop a photojournalist into the middle of a wedding day and you are given this really unique opportunity to absorb a day that, you know, brides and grooms don't want to forget. And so I've always been sort of motivated by this whole concept of photojournalism or documentary style photography.
Tommy
That's awesome. And I know you elaborated a little bit, but tell me a little bit more about your style and kind of how you develop that.
Robby
I would say that that's probably the top line for me is a sense of timelessness. I just really have seen, I guess, over these 15 years how susceptible wedding photography is to kind of the trend of the hour. And I think I was super guilty early on of like, you know, slap and textures on top of photos that were completely artificial and like shoot concrete outside and like, whoa, look, I can make this girl's skin look like asphalt.
Robby
And you're like, Why? You know, why were you thinking that was cool at all? And so I, I think as I've maybe matured in my field, I've just wanted to shy away from things that scream like 20, 23, you know? And so second to that, in addition to trying to be just like super timeless, I also really believe that the importance of photography is to connect brides back to their own memories of their wedding day.
Robby
And I don't want to interject my own interpretation of those memories too much. So what that room felt like, what it looked like for her. And I want to allow her and the groom to be able to kind of expand upon the memories they have and not take away from them by giving them something that's pretty authentic. You know, I hope that my style is more defined by the the heart behind my images and not like the style of my toning of.
Tommy
Yeah.
Robby
Photo. You know, I want that content to speak louder than the maybe the esthetic of the photo. Really, what I want people to be struck by is like, wow. Like, how did he catch a moment that helps me see into that person's life So clearly, you know, that content to me just far outweighs like the the tones.
Tommy
Yeah, that that's awesome. I really have that perspective a lot and how important it is to think about the couple themselves and how they're going to be viewing these pictures. Not just like when you deliver them, but, you know, ten, 20 years from now.
Robby
Yeah, totally. I mean, this feels I'm a dad of three awesome kids and we've had the experience many times of pulling out our wedding photo album and, you know, telling them stories about our wedding day. And so it's probably strange, but like, I do feel like I often on a wedding day, I'm governed by the thought of, like, how can I help, you know, grandchildren to come to understand better who their grandparents are, you know, people that potentially they may never meet.
Robby
You know, like, how can I express who that person was on this day for these kids that will come from this union?
Tommy
Kind of shifting gears a little bit, the the next thing I wanted to ask is geared towards kind of the potential clients, because I think what's unique about our industry is that obviously there's a lot of our clients aren't repeat clients the vast majority of the time.
Robby
So none of.
Tommy
Us. Yeah, exactly. Hopefully none of them. But yeah, so a lot of times that couples come to us, they are this is their first time going through this process. They have no idea what to expect. So part of our job during that initial consultation is honestly just educating, like talking about, hey, this is what wedding photographer your wedding videographer is.
Tommy
This is kind of how the process works. So I think I really would love to pick your brain on what you think is something that you would love for couples to know or understand before they even first talk to you.
Robby
Yeah, And in large part, you're hiring a bunch of self-employed small, small business folk to to work your wedding day. And so that means a lot of things. One, people love to talk about the, you know, inflated expense of weddings. But in my case, you know, I shoot about 30 weddings of year a year, and those 30 clients are the ones who, you know, help me pay my mortgage, help pay our health insurance.
Robby
They help pay our car insurance and medical bills and our kids, you know, like valentines for school. I mean, it's like honestly, really unique position to only get 30 chances to make your kind of full revenue stream for an entire year. I'd also say that, you know, I just ultra practically allow the the vendors with whom you work to know as much about you as you are comfortable sharing, and you just treat these people as family and trust that they have your best interests at heart like 100%.
Robby
You know, we're all a team working together to deliver just a really spectacular experience for the bride and groom on their wedding day. But the best way for me to learn how to showcase the story of these people are to be trusted in to intimate moments and honest conversations. And and it also, you know, allows me to tell something uniquely true to these people.
Robby
And so just if possible, you know, just let your guard down and like, let your vendors in as much as you're comfortable once you've selected vendors. And that should probably be a part of your your deciding factor who you feel kind of a chemistry with. And do you feel like you can be honest in front of who you can trust?
Tommy
That's really cool. I love the kind of your entire message comes back to that relationship and that kind of just interaction with the couple and maintaining that and making sure you just do it well.
Robby
Yesterday, I mean, I was at a coffee shop and spotted a bride who whose wedding I shot. I think she was like my fifth or sixth wedding. Oh, yeah, 2000, early 2008. She was married and she just had the kindest words to say. And to be honest, like this first couple of years, I'm like the other way when I can't because my work has come a long way, you know, Hopefully the product has far improved, but it really is just so special that 15 years later, you know, she's just like gets tears in her eyes, thanking me for the memories that I preserved for them on that day.
Robby
You know, it's just like, what an honor you will be able to do this work every week. And, you know, for clients. So, yeah, superstition.
Tommy
That's awesome. Cool. Well, that's all we really have for today. Thanks so much, Robbie. I really appreciate your time. Loved it.
Robby
Thank you.