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Home: Video University Forums: Digital Photography for Videographers:
Scouting out locations

Brackish
Veteran

Oct 21, 2007, 6:43 AM

Post #1 of 5 (475 views)
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Scouting out locations	Can't Post

As I've been talking to some prospective photo clients,
I've been getting the question "Will you go prior to the
day of the event and scout out the location?"

I've never gotten this with video so wasn't quite
expecting it.

Is this pretty common to hear from photo clients?

Now, some of these locations would require some
travel time to get there, being not close by.
I'm wondering how y'all are handling this question?

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"We'll always show up at the wedding with a gift bag for the bride. Inside we have these incredible fuzzy slippers in the teal of our branding."

John K.
Veteran / Moderator

Oct 21, 2007, 11:14 PM

Post #2 of 5 (461 views)
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Re: [Brackish] Scouting out locations [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

I've been getting the question "Will you go prior to the
day of the event and scout out the location?"
Is this pretty common to hear from photo clients?

Brack,

Quit charging $300 for all day coverage and a leather album; or, you gonna tell me a story about how this $300 gig landed you a $20,000 job??? Tongue

John

Shadow
Veteran

Oct 22, 2007, 1:11 AM

Post #3 of 5 (450 views)
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Re: [Brackish] Scouting out locations [In reply to]	Can't Post

I've been asked it before. If it is a local spot then I'll go to check it out before hand.

That being said, I've driven to a place just for my own piece of mind to know exactly where to place them for photos - that wedding had very little time for photos and there wasn't any time for mucking about during the photo shoot trying to find the best light.

I had one person ask me if I would cover a wedding that is a 2 hour drive from here, I said yes, even waived the travel fee. Then she asked me to come up and scout it out before hand. I explained that would be a good 5 hours out of my day and if she wanted that done there would be an extra charge, i never heard from her again.

But generally, around town or close by I'll go for a drive and see the spots.

__________________________

Brackish
Veteran

Oct 22, 2007, 1:50 AM

Post #4 of 5 (447 views)
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Re: [Shadow] Scouting out locations [In reply to]	Can't Post

Well, I just scouted my first one today. It was in town - about 30 minutes
away by freeway. Got there at 5 p.m. and the sun was about down
already. By 5:30 the sun was all the way down. So, I did see that
we're going to have to plan to have the photo shoot completed
by 5 p.m. So, I know I had best start the shoot by 4 p.m.
So I learned this much ... but I guess I could've learned this
without driving 30 miles.

I did take some test shots. Maybe once I have a look at the pics I'll have
more of an idea if it was worth the effort to scout it.

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"We'll always show up at the wedding with a gift bag for the bride. Inside we have these incredible fuzzy slippers in the teal of our branding."

Brackish
Veteran

Oct 29, 2007, 4:10 AM

Post #5 of 5 (377 views)
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Re: [Shadow] Scouting out locations [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

I've driven to a place just for my own piece of mind to know exactly where to place them for photos - that wedding had very little time for photos

So, I shot the one for the location I had scouted out. This one, like yours, had little time for photos. I'm glad I scouted it and knew some good spots. I also learned (from the scouting) some shots not to bother with - shots that didn't work out as well (from viewing the test shots that were taken during the scout) as what I thought at the time I took them.

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"We'll always show up at the wedding with a gift bag for the bride. Inside we have these incredible fuzzy slippers in the teal of our branding."