Kristen Jensen - How to Start a Home-based Wedding Photography Business

As an artist, Kristen Jensen attributes the modern, candid style of her lifestyle photo assignments and wedding photography to her vast experience in the fashion modeling industry. Her years in front of the camera as an international model with Ford Models provided her with a wealth of knowledge as she transitioned to the other side of the lens. The transition was made with ease and an exceptional eye for detail.

As a result of years of international travel to elegant locations and experience assisting some of the top fashion photographers in the industry, Kristens passion for photography and editorial style was created and developed. She specializes in portraits of celebrities, artists, business professionals, children, and families, as well as high-end weddings in greater Fairfield County, Connecticut, New York City, and beyond. She has also shot in many destination wedding locales.

She is a contributing photographer for Ridgefield Magazine and Bedford Magazine. One of her recent lifestyle assignments in the Amish Country in Pennsylvania was featured in SWISS AIR magazine.

Her wedding photos can be seen in Modern Bride, The Knot, and Grace Ormonde Wedding Style magazines.

Kristen supports many local charities, foundations, and organizations through her philanthropic work. She has worked with the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, Kids in Crisis, and Teen Talk Ridgefield, Autism Society of America, Danbury Womens Center, Danbury Hospital, Ridgefield Playhouse, Ridgefield Symphony Youth Orchestra, ROAR (Ridgefield Operation for Animal Rescue), and Founders Hall of Ridgefield.

She is a member of both the Ridgefield and Danbury Chambers of Commerce, as well as the Advertising Photographers of America (APA), the Professional Photographers of America (PPA), and the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP).

Id like to thank Kai-Lin Black for all her help and Mona Klepp for helping me start, build, and run the business side of my company. I also would like to thank Sarah Bouissou, owner of Bernards Restaurant in Ridgefield, Stephanie Pellitier, former director of the Ridgefield Community Center, and all my other friends and colleagues in the wedding industry, who believe in my artistic abilities and have helped build my business to what it is today.

Kristen Jensen Photography Shot List

The following contract sample is for reference only. The legal information contained in this document and throughout the book are provided for informational purposes only. Readers are advised that the content contained herein is not a consultation, recommendation, nor legal advice regarding any particular matter, situation or circumstance by the author or publisher. If you feel you need legal advice, please consult an attorney in your jurisdiction.

Wedding Photography Contract

Wedding Photography Contract: page 2

Wedding Photography Contract: page 3

Here is a checklist that I made for myself when editing photos from a wedding. I like having a step-by-step checklist because even though I can do this work on autopilot, I have forgotten to do things before and this is a way to avoid that.

Take all of the numbered media cards shot at the wedding and use a card reader to download the images to a master folder called unedited jobs

Create a new folder within the unedited jobs folder using the bride and grooms last names and the month and year of the wedding. Add the word full to the folder to keep organized and know these photos are unedited. This may take some time if you shot in RAW format. Use a program called Image Capture to download files into folders. It makes the process easier and much faster.

Once all images shot at that particular wedding are downloaded (including those shot by the second shooter), make a copy on a separate external drive. Again, this may take some time if you shot in RAW format.

Burn all the images from the folder to DVDs or onto yet another separate external drive. Whichever the case, make sure you have three copies of the entire job saved.

Go through the images using Adobe Bridge to make sure all photos that were shot are downloaded and saved, and that all the money shots (e.g., ceremony, bride and groom portraits, first dance) are downloaded. Do this before reformatting media cards.

Create eight folders with the category names as listed below (make sure these folders are within the master wedding folder):

A: Getting Ready

B: Ceremony

C: Bride and Groom Portraits

D: Bridal Party

E: Family Portraits

F: Cocktail Hour

G: Reception

H: Still Lifes

Start culling photos from the entire folder. Delete any images that are out of focus, too under/overexposed, and all unflattering images of subjects.

Place the images in the specific folders created in step 6. Every image has a place to go in one of the eight folders.

Once the entire master folder is edited with files deleted or placed in their correct folders, start to edit folder A. Sequence the entire wedding as it was shot.

In folder A, select all and then sort by the date created, which sorts by the time in which the images were shot. (It is important to make sure that not only all of your cameras are timed and dated correctly, but that your second shooters are too.)

After the computer software has sorted the time sequence, go through a very tight-edit. Make sure all the images are in sequential order, then color correct and crop. Make some of the images black-and-white.

Treat each folder as if it is the only part of the day the client will see. Make sure the folder looks perfect going to select all. Batch rename the entire folder. (For example, I rename this folder A-gettng-ready_001.CR2 (CR2 is a Canon file extension for RAW). Do not make these images jpegs yet.