of Wedding Photography Rising Stars
d
wPDN’s
KC Wong
Age: 37
Resides: Singapore
Best lesson leARned: “There is room
for individuality in wedding photography.
I don’t have to shoot like Jose Villa. I just
have to be me.”
KC Wong was a news photographer doing weddings on the side when his ideline began to grow—and his supervisor told him he had to choose between the two. For Wong, the choice was “a no-brainer.” Journalism in Singapore, with its government-controlled press, “is a pretty sterile environment.” On the other hand, clients there found his photo-j-style wedding photography to be “a bit refreshing.” He and his wife were also expecting their first child, and self-employment would give him flexibility. So in 2006 Wong turned to wedding photography full-time. He had a growing pool of clients based on word of mouth but, he says, a low price point and a lack of business acumen. Both of those were turned around four years ago after a colleague
approached him with the idea of a Singapore Wedding
Photographers’ Network. A group would band together to educate potential clients about better
photography and challenge and support each other in producing it.
“We branded ourselves as Singapore’s best,” says Wong. “We wanted to educate the consumer that
we can produce works of fine-art quality, but at a premium.” He admits that
offering quality work “at a premium” can be difficult: “The volume of business is
not as much as I hope to have sometimes.”
BO TH © K C WONG
work in black and white (shot with digital bodies).
As Wong talks about his life and work, he provides a glimpse of the attitudes
learned while being brought up in a Chinese family. At the newspaper, for instance,
“I always looked up to my senior colleagues for inspiration.” For marketing, his
focus is that photographers’ collective, where the 14 group members work for the
benefit of the whole. And he says the key to his images is the balance of yin and
yang. “For me, everything must be in balance. If you have black, there must be
white. If there is light, there must be shadow.” Because of this, he often prefers to
—Jay Mallin
Dave
Getzschman
Age: 35
Resides: Oakland, California
Best lesson leARned: “A love of
photography is insufficient. You must truly
love interacting with people. While your responsibilities include
aspects of documentary, fine art, fashion and portrait photography,
you must be an adept communicator, crowd wrangler, conflict
resolver and cheerleader. Study psychology before photography.”
When Dave Getzschman finished his first gig as second wedding photographer to his friend Ben Chrisman, he
had just one thing to say: “You don’t have to pay me if you never make
me do this again.”
Getzschman, a news freelancer who was recruited by Chrisman, had
shot occasional weddings before. But nothing prepared him for the intensity with which
Chrisman, co-owner of a top wedding studio, covered an event.
“When nothing was happening he would just approach people and say, ‘Hey, let
me take a cool picture of you,’” says Getzschman. What Getzschman learned from the
experience is that “you really can shoot weddings in documentary fashion and you can
have fun and challenge yourself. I do more photojournalism for weddings than I ever
did for newspapers.”
Today Getzschman technically retains his main newspaper client, though he hasn’t
had an assignment from it in months. Instead, his real work is weddings booked through
Chrisman Studios, which have him traveling to places like Colombia and Mexico. And
though the weddings are a lot of work, Getzschman likes the photographic opportunities
they present.
“You are in this environment in which everything looks great and everybody is
pretty excited,” he says. He responds by shooting graphic images that take advantage
of the super-saturated colors of a destination wedding. But along with his 35mm
digital bodies, he also shoots medium-format film, both color and black and white, and
occasionally a Holga for different looks. “It seems like everyone is using the same tools
these days. The looks blur.” And he prefers to work without lighting, challenging himself
to get strong images from the light that is already there.
