photojournalism style, seasonal only

Lifestyle Wedding, Fashion & Beauty
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Hi All, I have been thinking of this for a while now and now just looking for a bit of research.

I am a photographer based in the UK and go to Pakistan approx once a year on some non photography work. I have possible option to go to Pakistan for approx 6 to 8 weeks on this one visit and was wondering if I wanted to pursue this what would be the best time of year to do this.

so main questions would be

1, when is wedding season in Pakistan?
2, most of my packages are bespoke here in the UK, so what would be a typical requirement for a wedding package in Pakistan or would you rather have a bespoke package to suit your needs?
3, what would you be prepared to pay for a photographer?
4, any other requirement you would have please state.

If I can find that it might me worth my while I could probably do this as a regular annual visit

any feedback would be really great,

I have a facebook page, please let me know if this kind of style would work in Pakistan

here’s a link

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Re: photojournalism style, seasonal only

wedding season in pakistan it typically in the winter...so anywhere from October to March. I dont know how much people are willing to pay there, cause I myself live in Canada. And Im not sure what a "bespoke" package is. If you can clarify that, maybe I can give you some more information.

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Re: photojournalism style, seasonal only

I just took a look at your facebook page. WOW...you are really good!

I think more Pakistanis now are getting into the more photojournalistic type of photography...so you may have some interested people. But I think getting your foot in the door, and your name recognized there is going to be the difficult task. you should think of advertising in pakistani bridal magazines (Brides and You, Me and My Wedding, Libas, etc.) and that way people will know who you are, and the ones who want your style will contact you. also, you can look into working with some salons. Most bridal salons in pakistan have studios set up to do bridal photosessions. I think it will help you out in the beginning if you start with them. Some of the more popular salons are, Deplix, Alle'nora, Sabs.

I have some pakistani bridal magazines at home (Im at work right now), so I can check contact information for advertising in the magazines, and I can also get you contact info for the more popular salons in Pakistan. Hope that helps!

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Its interesting that the off season here is peak season in Pakistan, very helpful to know.

A bespoke package is basically a made to measure product for the bride and/or groom.

At this stage we establish the size of event, style of event, kind of coverage required, this helps me establish wether the client needs one, two or even three photographers on the event. As you can imagine every bride has their own specifics and of course I like to offer a personal service to ensure the brides gets exactly what she needs.

The end goal is to provide a service which is second to none and every album I produce will speak for itself.

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Thanks for your kind words Saima.

I am not a big fan really of most of the big name salons in Pakistan as I have seen by going through most of the bridal pics on this forum, every bride pretty much looks the same but with different colours, but they all have one thing in common, white faces.

I am not looking to be a big name photographer in Pakistan as am very happy with my established reputation here. My wife and I travel up and down the country doing weddings and up until now we have never advertised in any magazine or tabloids.

My wife is a fantastic makeup artist and when I see some some of the work on some of the brides in Pakistan I always wonder how the bride actually looks as all of their skin tones and textures are no longer visible. Some are due to the makeup artist and some due to pictures being over photoshopped.

I think I would rather be a best kept secret than be an over busy unapproachable photographer.

We get a lot of enquiries here from some of our clients here in the UK that are getting married in Pakistan. We have always refused this in the past but now we are getting loads of requests and feel it might be something we can do hence why I am doing some research.

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Photojournalism is catching up in Pakistan and is the way to go as opposed to the traditional stiff posed work. BTW the dual color/bw fx are considered passe' here in US but might work well in Pak. I guess I will found out in September when I hit the Lahore market.

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Re: photojournalism style, seasonal only

The reason the wedding season in Pakistan is from October to March is because it is just unbearably HOT in the summer months there. Summer pretty much starts from mid-march and lasts until mid-October. And no bride wants to be melting on her wedding day.

You are right, the salons there are like a production line...each bride looks the same.

If you are getting requests from brides in the UK to do photography for them in Pakistan, that is a really good start, and you will be able to pick up local clients there as well when they see your work. And you can also let people know when they are booking you for photography, that your wife is a makeup artist. You never know who is looking!

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thats how pretty much our work is done here as we are able to complement each others work and it works superbly.

I am still keen to know what people want as a package, surely it cant be your typical album for a personal shoot and one for the event and one for this and one for that. Then placed in the traditional (tacky) cardboard albums with the clear film to cover the photographs to protect it. please correct me if I am wrong but thats all I have seen from some of our customers who have got married and come back however I do hear that storybooks are starting to appear in the market now.

Some of these traditional albums I have seen are apparently from top end photographers in Lahore not to mention any names.

I suppose with time (like anything else) things will move on, likewise in Bridal wear, Pakistani fashion for long bridal shirts is just about catching up here in the UK, about time too.

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Re: photojournalism style, seasonal only

Funny thing is I am also going to go to Pakistan on photography purposes but my approach is a bit different. I am looking more in to photojournalism non-wedding related and writing travelogues. Good luck with your ventures.

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thank you and good luck to you too

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Re: photojournalism style, seasonal only

Thanks :) Got any gallery where peeps can see your work?

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yes there's a link to my facebook page at the top

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Re: photojournalism style, seasonal only

Will check it out, thanks.

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Re: photojournalism style, seasonal only

Looks like nobody really has any time to help me with my research, or maybe there isn't really a major requirement for this type of photography in Pak at the moment.

O well,

Thanks to those who replied...

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affysmooth, its not really wedding season there at the moment & my sense is photographers aren't booked as early in the planning process as they are in the US & UK - its not unusual to book a year in advance in the US, but that isn't really the case in Pakistan as far as I know. I think you are best off developing a client list from people you know in the UK who would like to use your services when they go back to Pakistan - they are more likely to plan in advance & be easier to design a bespoke package for while in the UK. And then see what happens as you meet other guests to develop local clients.

We recently held a party for my parents wedding anniversary & I noticed that our photographer had a much more outgoing personality than some (he was really good at rounding up the kids, for example & getting people to pose for the family shots) & he got asked for cards by a lot of our guests, saying they wanted to see how our photos turn out & then maybe hire him for their own events.

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Re: photojournalism style, seasonal only

there is no season for weddings in pakistan all seasons are equal depends on your work and contatcts that you have my contact work even in june

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Thanks For your input guys, however I am just trying to figure out that if and when I come to Pakistan normally around december January time and normally visit Karachi, is it worth while to extend my stay for a few more weeks (probably 6 weeks in total) will there be much demand for this style of photography. I am thinking maybe just a couple of selected weddings a year whilst I am there not much more than that.

Maybe I should ask the girls that have recently got maried and and those that were looking for this style of photography, did you get what you wanted? Ok maybe you are happy with what you got but if there was further choice out there would you have considered it? And finally what advise would you give to a bride to be in a similar situation?

I am getting the feeling if I am totally honest that there isn't much interest in this style of work in Pakistan and people are generally quite happy with the choices that are available which is fair enough. I was just very keen to do some weddings there as its totally different kind of atmosphere and lifestyle and I think this kind of photography if planned properly would have been fantastic, maybe thats just me though.