With anything that you want to buy, whether a good or service, you want to know how well it performs. You want to see reviews. You want to see what it can do.
We all know the adage; “Pictures are Worth a Thousand Words.” Well in my profession, pictures are essential: the most important thing I do is constantly update my portfolio. As an on-site hairstylist focusing on weddings and other one-time events, I do not have a repeat clientele like a stylist in a salon. Pictures are absolutely necessary for me to book new clients. A bride-to-be has to be able to see what I’ve done in the past and what I could possibly accomplish on her big day before she would even consider hiring me. (And of course with weddings, I hope never to have a repeat client!)
The most important way I keep my portfolio updated requires me to obtain photos from wedding photographers from weddings I worked on. I have always emailed the photographer personally to ask for specific photos, and waited until they sent them to me. This worked well for a while, but now as I’m booking more and more, it has become painfully obvious when I am on wedding #10 and I haven’t gotten to update my portfolio from wedding #1, because the photographer has not gotten around to email me the photos I requested. This puts me in an awkward position: I don’t want to seem like a nag constantly asking for photos, but… I need those photos! Now, I do understand that photographers are busy. Think about this: for the amount of time they spend behind the camera shooting a wedding, they spend 5x as much time editing the photos from said wedding. Phew! That’s a lot of work in front of a computer. So I want to make my request as easy as possible for them to fulfill.
I also see the flaw in how I, and other vendors alike, request photos for use on their sites. After we all individually email the photographer, they then have to sort through their huge list of photos to find the ones we specifically requested, upload them, and send them. What a pain! I can only imagine what goes through the photographer’s mind when they get 10 emails from 10 different vendors: the baker asking for pictures of the cake, the hairstylist asking for bridal party shots, the florist asking for the pictures of the ceremony and tables, the DJ asking for that “really cool shot where I was dancing with the bride!” and on and on and on.
Wouldn’t it be great if there were a platform, a site, something, that a photographer could upload all of their photos to, where only the vendors that worked with them on a specific event would have permission to download the pictures for their portfolios? So that they only needed to upload their photos once and that’s it?
Guess what?! That platform ALREADY EXISTS!! Say hello to Two Bright Lights.
Created in 2009, Two Bright Lights is an image sharing service and online submission tool that started out for wedding industry professionals, but now also is used by photographers and creatives in multiple industries. It is just what the wedding industry needs. So why aren’t more photographers using it? I don’t know the answer, but I’m here to encourage every single wedding photographer to get on there. What could possibly be better than only having to upload your photos once for 10 different vendors? You’ll no longer be nagged by each vendor for the photos they want, and takes hours of work away from your already heavy workload.
How does it work? Simple. You, the photographer, creates an account on Two Bright Lights. You can choose the free account or premium account based on your needs. Next, you upload your photos from an event, i.e., “Jennifer & Mark’s Wedding”. You can then tag the vendors that worked with you that day (i.e. Hair-by-Rochelle, Joe Shmoe Photography, Jane Smith Makeup, etc.) or tag them later. For a vendor to obtain the photos for their use, they first have to set up their own account on Two Bright Lights. If they have been tagged by a photographer, they will have immediate access to view and download the photos they need. If they haven’t been tagged, they can search for events they were a part of, and after a simple request and approval by the photographer, they will then be able to view and download the photos they want.
Baltimore based wedding and lifestyle photographer, Serena Severtson of Love by Serena Photography, has used Two Bright Lights for just over a year and loves it:
“Two Bright Lights allows me to save time, avoid tedious tasks, and work efficiently! It simplified the task of sharing photos with others… I would HIGHLY recommend Two Bright Lights to any vendor – but especially photographers! It’s a fantastic way to get your work out there. Vendors want to share your work from weddings they’ve participated in and it makes the publication submission process quick and easy.”
It was only after working on a wedding with Serena that I first learned of Two Bright Lights. She encouraged me to sign up, and after I did I was able to download the pictures from that wedding instantly. So easy! (I’m happy to call Serena a friend, who did mine and my husband’s engagement session as well!)
Want more information about Two Bright Lights? Visit their FAQ page to start, they’ve covered more there than I could! Still not convinced? Drop them an email! They would love to chat.
Happy Photo Sharing, and Good Luck to all vendors in the 2012 Wedding Season!
For Jenna’s hair I did medium width curl using a 1-inch marcel and pulled the curls apart to relax and separate them. She then put a white flower hairpiece in to complete her tropical look!
