7 Reasons to Hire a Photographer

In a digital age and everyone can be their own photographer, why would you hire a photographer for something you can do yourself with a single click?  I realize that hiring a professional photographer is not for everyone, at least for every occasion but I have come up with a 7 reasons why you should hire a professional photographer for any reason at all. I'm talking about paying another person (a significant amount of fee) to take photographs for you.

1. For a special occasion

This is obviously the first reason people hire professionals so that the photos are of high quality and a dedicated photographer would mean important shots are taken without fail.  Wedding is at the top list but there are other special occasions like birthdays, engagement and maybe a corporate event.  Speaking from a wedding point of view, everything you see on the wedding day are also paid for but what make them last in images would be the photographs. Everything else will either finish, be cleaned up, returned or thrown away but photos last longer (possibly forever).  You would want to make sure you get a professional photographer do it rather than asking your cousin who just bought his DSLR 3 months ago.  

2. You want to participate in the event and not be busy taking photographs
I also know you can be a good amateur photographer but its hard to participate in that event if you're trying to get the shots every few minutes.  Can't elaborate more as its self explanatory if you are a serious or even a professional photographer yourself. Nope, asking another person to take your photo will not do either. In my experience, this usually results in terrible photos. Even with a high shutter speed, people who don't know my gear can still end up with blurry photos and let's be frank. The average person does not handle a DSLR well. They will first try to look at the screen and wonder why is it black and then the next thing is they scramble to find the shutter and then they take forever to take a shot.  Its a mess! Relax and let another professional do it for you. Just because you're a dentist doesn't mean you can extract your own tooth! No, you are not Rambo!

3. You don't have the right equipment

Professional photographers invest A LOT of money on equipment and tools and that's not the only part of the expenses. Other expenses include assistants, computers, software, transport, training and even their time - all of which you would not pay for unless you're a professional or you have tons of money lying around. There is a lot that go into one great shot that you would think is done only with a click of a button. Its not that simple. We try to make you look like the people in Pinterest that you may not get with your own skill and tools but professionals know how with the tools we have.

4. You deserve good pictures

Selfies, wefies - they are all good. I take one of those every now and then too but how about a good picture that you would want to frame and hang on your wall?  A picture that your friends and families can admire for years? A shot that can make people envy and wished they can have as well?  Just too many of us have so-so photos of ourselves and our kids, how about a few good ones taken perhaps yearly or bi-annually?  

5. You need professional photos for profile and resume photos

Licence and passport photos are just plain straightforward and BORING. They are just meant for just that - for identification and official reasons. However for resumes and business profiles, you would want to exhume positive messages like - confident, polished, professional, approachable and successful.  Its already hard to stand out with everyone having the highest qualification and best working experience. I don't think an extra step by taking professional headshots will do any harm. It would help you to stand out and be more memorable and increase the chances of being hired.

6. You don't know how to look good in photos

If you were born beautiful and know it, good! You probably would look good with any kind of camera pointed at you.  But even then, I would still recommend taking photos with a professional for other reasons in the list.  For the rest of us who are not that confident about our looks and a bit insecure about our bodies, a (real) professional photographer brings the best out of every human being for whoever they are and for their true self even without photo editing. Even the prettiest person I've photographed has their own insecurities about themselves and you would be surprised that the most confident person is not the person with an hour glass body either.  My job as a photographer is for a client to feel happy about their photographs knowing that they don't have a perfect 10 look.  So I would ask where they feel the least insecure and I take many shots for them to choose from.  Sometimes they will be shots that would look great to me but to them they may say 'I look fat', 'my eyes looks small' or 'my ears look big'.  These are all feelings that I need to respect and not at all delirious because I have similar feeling towards my face and body of my own. I also teach clients to pose and relax and have fun so that they have good memories during their photoshoot.  By the way, makeup also do wonders not only visually but also as a confidence booster!

7. You pay for every other services

I'm not putting off other professional services out there but merely highlighting that professional photographers don't survive on complements and 'exposure' alone. You would pay a chef in a restaurant for that fine dining, plumber for fixing that leak, a tutor for your son, music teacher and even for a personal trainer but why not a professional photographer?  I recently asked how much was it to hire a personal trainer and it was USD70/hour.  That one hour probably wouldn't change your body so you should be hiring them weekly and to a certain number of months. As much as I realized that hiring a PT is not for everyone, hiring a photographer is also not for everyone. I'm just saying, if one can think that paying a PT is doable, paying a photographer for whatever fair fee is also doable - and - for photographs that can last beyond the hiring period - I do think that's a great deal.  

I didn't decide to be a photographer because I wanted to be rich. Its not as glamorous as anyone think it is. Its a highly competitive career and its not a one time investment kind of business too.  ROI doesn't come fast enough and every time we get some money, most of it will go to expensive equipment as a way to stay ahead and improve our overall quality. For every photographer you pay, its paying their bills or their kid's music lessons or their next gadget to improve their business.  My primary reason was to get into serious portraiture photography without involving only my kids, because it would be unreasonable to have them to be my only published images.  However, my secondary reason happens to be also about my kids and that is we could give them the best education without depending only on one income.  And the only way I know now is to be the best at what I do and turn into more than a photo-taker or a cameraman.  I need to know marketing and service all at once.

So, did any of the reasons strike you or you simply don't have the needs or even means right now? Don't worry if you don't. These are just reasons I would hire a photographer even for myself. Next post, I will go through why you should hire me as a photographer in Busan, Korea.

You may also want to hire a photographer if you don't want all your holiday photos to be like this