Episode 7 | Ryann Lindsey Photography

In this episode of the Wedding Day Podcast, Sonja Babich and Dan Riggs interview Ryann Lindsey of Ryann Lindsey Photography. They discuss the importance of wedding photography and the value of capturing moments on the wedding day. They also talk about the benefits of doing a first look and the role of the photographer in scouting the wedding venue. Ryann shares her journey from being a nurse to becoming a photographer and emphasizes the emotional significance of wedding photos. The episode provides insights into the process of selecting a photographer and the importance of trust and communication between the couple, planner, and photographer. The conversation explores the use of film photography and content creation in the wedding industry. Ryann discusses the advantages and challenges of shooting film, including the need for extra personnel and the additional time and cost involved. They also touch on the resurgence of disposable cameras and the importance of educating clients about the role of content creators. The conversation delves into the differences between content creation and professional photography and videography, emphasizing the value of polished, curated wedding videos and photos as heirlooms. Ryann also highlights the importance of trust and creating a positive experience for couples on their wedding day.


Takeaways

Wedding photography is not just about capturing beautiful images, but also about preserving memories and creating heirloom items.
Doing a first look allows couples to have alone time and join their cocktail hour, while still getting beautiful sunset photos.
When selecting a photographer, it's important to trust the planner's experience and find someone who aligns with your vision and personality.
Photographers should scout the wedding venue to identify the best locations for photos and consider factors like lighting and accessibility.
Communication and collaboration between the couple, planner, and photographer are key to ensuring a smooth and successful wedding day. Shooting film in weddings requires extra personnel and additional time and cost.
Educating clients about the role of content creators is important.
Professional wedding videos and photos serve as heirlooms and should be polished and curated.
Trust is crucial in creating a positive experience for couples on their wedding day.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction
06:47 The Benefits of Doing a First Look
13:13 Selecting a Photographer: Trust and Communication
29:09 The Pressure to Provide Sneak Peeks
39:04 The Value of Professional Wedding Videos

More from Sonja Babich & Dan Riggs:

Iron Diamond Media: https://www.irondiamondmedia.com

Summit Hill Studios: https://summithillstudios.com

Transcript

Wedding Day Podcast (00:00.27)

Welcome to Wedding Day podcast with your host Sonja Babich, CEO of Iron Diamond Media, a leading wedding resource featuring seven localized wedding brands across the country and Dan Riggs, photography and videography expert and founder of Summit Hill Studios. Come along as they travel from state to state to connect with the most creative and well -respected professionals in the wedding industry. Every episode will arm you with the hottest new trends, wedding day tips and details, and they'll show you all the joys of planning your perfect wedding day.

Wedding Day podcast episode seven is powered by Ryann Lindsey Photography, Hazel Grove Rentals, Florals by Kendra, La Beige Beauty, and Amore des Sucres. This week we're in Scottsdale, Arizona, home of Arizona Bride Magazine, talking to the talented Ryann Lindsey of Ryann Lindsey Photography. Today we'll talk about asking your photographer to go on a venue site visit with you, help you learn if digital or film photography is the right fit for your big day, and with the popularity of wedding content creators on the rise, what is it, and do you need to include it in your wedding day plans?

Hi, I'm Jenna Culley, owner of LinenFX Minneapolis. I bet I can guess the third thing you did after getting engaged. Number one, you called family and friends to share the good news. Number two, you started a Pinterest board. Number three, you realized that you have no idea how to bring that Pinterest board to life. That's where we come in. Let the design experts at LinenFX take your ideas and bring them into reality. We have everything, including floor length linens,

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Welcome to Wedding Day Podcast. We are here today with the creative force behind Ryann Lindsey photography.

Scottsdale, Arizona. We're so happy to have you on the show today. Thank you for having me. Thank you for having us. Yeah, exactly. You know, anytime. And if you don't mind, can I break your routine for a second? Because first, we have a beautiful cake here from my dear friend, Amorti Sucre. It's a congratulatory. We're all so excited for Wedding Day podcast. And we just want to let you know you have a big team cheering you on. That is so sweet. Yes. Great. When we arrived, she goes, I have a little surprise for you. And she would.

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deliver this beautiful cake and it's so trendy. So we'll talk about my bracelet later, but in honor of my Swifty love, I had to make sure that you both had your very own, and if you look at them, they're your very own friendship bracelets. That's a wedding day podcast. Are you kidding me?

They do. Yes. This is my first one. So those are your friendship bracelets from a Swiftie fans. Oh my gosh. That's so great. Thank you. I am in love and it matches my wardrobe. It's perfect. And it doesn't say Travis Kelce's number, unfortunately, but it's okay. But it's okay because I'm going to give out the beans that's a year I was born. So I love his number. 87? 87. That's now public knowledge. Yes. Well, thank you so much, Ryan. Thank you. But I just wanted to say thank you. We...

We're all very excited for you guys and I'm really honored to be here today. This actually says wedding day podcast. You put some thought into this. I enlisted help from my 16 year old little sister last night and we made them together. Oh tell her thank you too. Thanks Sissy. Thank you for having us. Can we eat it now? I am so excited for this community of ours to meet the famous Ryan Lindsay. She has been open arms to us once we launched Arizona Bride and I cannot say enough.

praises and thank yous to Ryan, so thank you so much. It's gonna make me blush. No, but you are so talented and your story is so great. So I don't even know where to begin because you've been a photographer for 13 years, but what led you to here? Because your background has truly led you to this spot.

Yeah, you know, it's ironic. I'm only going to bring this up today because you guys know I spent the morning at jury duty trying to get excused so I could be interviewed for this podcast. But appreciate you. The irony in it is that my journey actually started. I wanted to be a lawyer. And so I went to Arizona State for pre -law and I worked for a criminal judge and realized I don't want to argue for a living and I don't want to read dry material and books for a living. So I actually switched to interior design later.

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decided that I don't want to design houses. Flash forward like 10 years later, I think it is because I like designing events and like flat lays and all of that, which we'll talk about. But three classes before I was supposed to graduate, I changed my mind and I went to nursing school and then eventually became a pediatric cancer nurse. And honestly, that was what started my career. I had been super hobbyist in terms of photography my whole life. I'd always loved taking pictures.

I was that girl that people actually were annoyed by because they're like, right and stop taking pictures. But the next morning they would say, oh, Ryan, do you have those pictures? And I'm like, ha, joke's on you. You yelled at me last night, but now you're grateful you have them. But in one year alone, I lost 17 kids and full transparency, I was a very negative person. I was very dark. Grieving, I couldn't figure out how not to grieve. Like I got very attached to these patients. And for a long time, I was just jaded. I thought that the world was surrounded by cancer and death.

And so tried a couple things. I started a cake pop business, a Tumblr business, and I just couldn't connect and eventually took some photos. And here we are 13 years later. I walked away from my master's in nursing education, my nurse educator, solid corporate job, and I'm just running my own show now. And you're so talented. It's been a crazy journey. I'm glad you made the switch. Yeah. It's interesting because I say this as it's very crucial to who I am today. But.

Everyone always wants to apologize right away. I'm not looking for sympathy or sorrys, but I will say I was a technical photographer for the first part. I just learned how to take pictures. And in 2021, I unfortunately lost my mom. And when I lost my mom, I realized I have no pictures of me as a child, like maybe a handful. Very few of my mom and I. And it really made me value what we do in this industry. Everyone looks at weddings as if it's just like this flashy popularity contest sometimes. And I think they forget.

it may be one of the only times all of your friends and family are under one venue, roof, ceiling, whatever you want to call it. And it's maybe the last pictures. So it's funny because it's actually followed my weddings. I've had a lot of grief from fathers of the bride or family members of people involved in the wedding that have died after and I took the last photos. So you really start to get a connection of what we're doing and what we're creating and the value of photos on a deeper level.

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They're not just photos for the gram. These are heirloom items, things that you're going to pass along to your children, legacy items, stuff like that. So yeah, it's really important. I'm a videographer, so I understand it is an important job. And you have to understand the gravity of the things that you're doing on that day and the moments that you're capturing. So good. When some engaged couple reaches out to you, how far in advance should they book a photographer? Yeah. So this.

I would normally say a year to year and a half is pretty standard in the industry. I will say at this point in my level of experience, I have a lot of clients that book six or nine months out. But overall, I think around a year to year and a half is pretty standard. That seems pretty standard. Yeah. So as an engaged couple, say they're working with a planner, when the planner presents photographer options, what should they look for when they're looking at those options?

Yeah. As weird as it sounds, trusting the planner's experience. I think a lot of it is finding out what the client's actual vision is, but realizing, I actually said this to a couple the other day, with all due respect, you're not educated on having a wedding, planning a wedding, getting married, because you've never done it. In the last 13 years, I have a lot of experience with all those little fires you have to put out at wedding days. So.

I think a lot of the time people look at the number and it's like, would you go buy a car just because it's 5 ,000 even if it's a lemon? Or would you maybe pay 8 ,000 to 15 ,000 based on the quality, the product, the experience? Like there's so much more that goes into it. So with like a planner perspective, it's not just the look of the edit. It's not just the gallery. You want to see that, but you also want to know, are they creative? Are they representing our vision? Are they going to be good with our family, with our friends? Do we vibe well? Are they?

just the person that shows up and shoots or they're the person that actually thinks of creative portraits or like the next, one of my biggest things right now is getting more alone time for couples. So I'm trying to come up with creative portraits combined with experiences. So what that looks like maybe is a first look and then we go to the bar and we do a shot or you have a glass of champagne and then 15 minutes later we get back into your portraits for 30 to 45 minutes and then join your bridal party after that for bridal party portraits. So.

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Actually, that was one of my favorite parts of my wedding day was that alone time. That is one thing I definitely recommend to couples. Taking that time of like 15, 30 minutes, walk away from your guests. It could even be just the transportation from the ceremony to the reception or a walk off the reception if their ceremony is on site. It's just time to be like, oh my gosh.

We're married! Hey, I remember you! Yeah. I'm glad you said that because as a videographer I've worked with a lot of photographers who are just like they just want the shots, right? Like they just want to go through and get as much done as they can in as little amount of time as possible. After the first look is a good example of that. Like they haven't seen each other presumably all night. Like they slept in separate beds, different places, different properties, whatever. And then, you know, this moment builds up to this first look. And...

A lot of photographers will treat that like, okay, you guys saw each other great. Let's jump right into portraits, right? Like couples portraits. And so what I do as a videographer, I'm like, hold up, you know, hang on a second. Let's, let's give them like, you know, 10 minutes. Yeah. So truthfully, that's why I re -transition. So not to go super foundational, but I don't know how much you've researched a first look. A lot of the time clients want to do a first look because they're sorry, don't want to do a first look.

Because they're thinking there's going to be some ultimate cinematic moment as they walk down the aisle when the reality is you're blacked out because it's like a surreal experience. All of your friends and family are staring at you. I would actually be curious to know the statistic of how many brides remember their groom's reaction walking down the aisle versus how many remember it when you do a first look. So the tradition originally, if I'm not mistaken, you can correct me if I am. But from what I've heard, it started back in like,

pre -arranged marriages when you didn't want people to run so people would just show up get married in the church and it was kind of just that. Yeah, and it was usually on a Sunday night. Yeah, it was a very different scene. I am a very big advocate of the first look for several reasons. One is that exactly like you said you do not get any alone time together on your wedding day. But even when I'm with you I can still foster an environment to give you some privacy. So I really educate my clients on one you're paying a lot for your venue.

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do you really only want all of your portraits in one or two spots? Whereas if you do a first look, A, you get a lot of time together. B, you can optimize the entire venue and get lots of portraits. And C, you can join your cocktail hour. And that's really the kicker is now all of your photos can be done. You actually get to be a part of your wedding and a part of your party. And then that one -on -one time, you don't get it a lot as a couple. A lot of times, some of those one -on -ones happen for sunset photos. And I love that. But my venue hat on.

make sure you're not disrupting the timeline, the food service, because I remember sometimes they would sneak away with their photographer like, I got filet mignon. It is sad to say how 100 % accurate you are. I will admit, I have had to, people that don't do first looks, I have had maybe five or 10 minutes to get all of their portraits. And it's a lot of the time people don't even think of asking what is our.

Banquet chef situation and what is that schedule? Do we have ten minutes? So on wedding days if I know we're gonna be late I will actually go ask the planner or somebody in charge of the catering Is it okay if we're ten minutes behind if that's gonna push the kitchen too much? Tell me now, but if not, I'm gonna push things back ten minutes. That's all I need I push the kitchen you mean because in a plated meal like filet mignon is not gonna

sit well for more than just a couple of minutes. You have to serve it at a specific time or it's not going to taste great. Yeah and then if we steal them during the dinner service, we still got speeches. So you're like, we sell the speeches, then this dinner is going to last three hours. So it's like, it's a catch. There's a whole lot that goes into it. So going back to like, if you really want those sunset photos too, that has to be part of the timeline.

Fairness though, when I do a first look with my couples, I can literally do all of their sunset photos in five to 10 minutes. Do you recommend photographers, when you select your photographer, to go scout out your wedding reception, your ceremony location? I personally, if I've never been to a venue, I do a lot of destination. I mean, prime example, I had a wedding in Lake Como pre -COVID.

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I can't just jump on a plane to Como every other day and go scout out venues. So usually when I do destination, I try to arrive like the night before, make sure I'm in safe, no delays. I would never fly on the actual wedding day. Ideally, I'd fly in two days before if it's feasible. And if I have time the day before, I'll try to just pop in at the tail end of the rehearsal. Nowadays, a lot of people are hiring you for wedding weekend. So if I'm working your rehearsal, that's my chance where I can go early, kind of scout it out, brainstorm a few ideas with the client.

If I don't have the chance at the rehearsal, I'll show up about an hour before my schedule time and I'll purposely scout out based on the lighting that day where I think the best spots will be. But let's get real too. Like we are not, you're not a novice at this. Like you know what you're doing. And I feel the same, the same with me is like, I feel like I can, I can show up to any venue and I can instantly assess the situation and say, okay, this would be great here. Let's do this here. Let's do that there. So it shouldn't necessarily be like, um,

deterrent for you if if your photographer or your videographer hasn't been to that venue before or hasn't you know taking photos or videos there yeah I mean it's not it's not a deal -breaker by any means we I have 11 years experience doing this you have 13 in those years we've kind of figured it out right 100 % if you're a newbie photographer you have to be scouting the venues no questions asked my only challenge to all of us is this when did it become our wedding?

My personal clients I take, I actually do a venue walkthrough when I'm able to with the clients and I let them have a choice. I give them, we could do family photos here, here, here. I give them three or four different spots. I let them pick because at the end of the day, it's not my wedding. So I tell them, these are the good lighting spots. Now you can narrow it down. Or if I can't do a walkthrough, I'll send them the gallery of a wedding I did at that venue. And I'll ask them, can you favorite the locations you liked the most?

Then the second, like, so you have your priorities, your secondaries, and then if there's time, we'll hit these ones up. So it's kind of a prioritization of what your favorite spots are within your venue, where you want your family photos. Do you, I mean, not to call it out, but do you have a grandparent that's in a wheelchair that can't go up the stairs to this one only family photo spot? So maybe we need to find a spot that is convenient for grandparents that can't walk as far or.

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I mean, people are always injured. I can't tell you how many guests are showing up in those knee scooters. I'm actually, yeah, one example with one of my family photos, we are on a hill. I would never have picked that location for my family photos. And we're looking up and it's great. I still love the photos because we're all together. Yes, but I'm like, was that the right spot? Yeah. And that's where I come in with my planner with my plan A, B, and C, especially weather too.

Capability is for some of my elderlies as well And if you're if you're unable to do that walkthrough like you can do some of that day of two you can say look We went out we scouted we saw four different options for you Can you come with me for a moment and just take a look a lot of times? Our clients are choosing a venue based on photos that they've already seen so they know that I really love this You know brick wall that they have over here So they know they want to take their couples portraits or they want to take their family photos there, so

You know, you learn a lot. Like in Arizona, I'm a native here. So with the venues here, I've been to, I would say the majority of them, you kind of just know those iconic walls. Like with Andaz, it's the cactus wall that's near the lobby. And like with Mountain Shadows, you can get the mountain shots or they have, you know, the custom architecture that has been there since the original Mountain Shadows existed.

Bigger venues like Boulders, I definitely, you have to know that venue or else you won't survive that venue. It is huge. So if you don't have a game plan. If you don't have a car driver friend and know that venue, you are wasting so much time just literally trying to get from spot to spot. So I also educate my clients on when they're choosing their spots and their venues to keep in mind the distance. So when they're doing walkthroughs, they can let me know, like, do you think that's too far? Is there a favorite spot within Reason?

And then I also ask them to take phone pictures. So if they see something that draws their attention to send me a phone picture of it and I'll educate them like this is a beautiful spot, but the sun's directly in your eyes. So you're going to be squinting so we can do portraits. They're closer to sunset, but we don't want to do them in the middle of the day. Yeah. And again, it goes back to those inspired photos that they found love with to share that with their photography. And then you can help coach them when those can possibly happen. Yeah. So you, you would welcome.

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than someone's Pinterest board of shots that they like. They want you to emulate. They want you to recreate. So I love that you use the word recreate. I do not recreate any image, nor do I try to imitate. What I explain to my clients is create me a Pinterest board. But what I want you to pay attention is not the location, not the couple themselves, because how many times a blonde bride wants...

picture where there was a brunette bride and like the skin tones were different and the lighting was different and all these factors are so different there's no way I can ever produce that identical I mean I probably could if I really controlled it but on your wedding day I can't guarantee it so I encourage them to use Pinterest more as like what feeling when you look at a picture you feel something and when you feel it send those to me and if

I can look through those. I can see, oh, they're more attracted to those edgy GQ editorial type poses or, oh no, they're full candids. Let's just get them walking, dancing, laughing, giggling, picking on each other, having fun. So I think that Pinterest can be used in great ways, but I educate them right off the bat. I will not imitate or duplicate nor will I promise you that I will imitate or duplicate. I will try to get a similar feeling from what you have. And I'll try to coach you how to achieve that if you want it.

I love that because you know, no wedding is the same. Yeah, every wedding is different and feelings are too and emotions and the couple. So I love that you're saying that that you're not going to copycat another photo because you're creating their photo. Yeah, their magic that they have for sure. Do you have a particular style edit that you like better than like is there are you true color? Are you? It's funny for a long time. I think it was like your.

bright and airy and blown out or you're dark and moody and contrasty, I would say I fall somewhere in between. I struggled really hard in the early stages to not compare myself with what I thought the trend was. I actually shot film for a really long time and I will shoot it for clients now, but let's be honest. One, film's crazy expensive. Two, it's hard to get developed. People want their pictures faster and it's a very delayed process. And then let's talk about the discontinuation of film. You can never promise...

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Fuji 400 because if we run out of Fuji 400 now we have to switch to different films. Okay, so I'm gonna go do a good timeout. So explain what film is in digital. Yeah. Like explain all that. I think that's super super fascinating because honestly I didn't really know until I came into the publishing world. So yeah, take it. Don't get me wrong. So first off I'll say I love film. I used film to become more of an intentional photographer because every time you click that button it's...

literally $3 is a rough estimate. And I mean, you could save even more because if you hire a film loader and postage and all of that, but I mean, it's not cheap. The other thing is with every roll, it's such a small amount. Like whether you're using a medium format, which is this very technical, but you can use a medium format. It's 120 or 220, or you can use a 35 millimeter, which is more often like a hobby camera that a lot of people will just have around their houses when they have a vintage camera. It's usually a 35 millimeter.

35 millimeters you get 36. I really hope that's correct. If not, forgive me for my my miss miss quote. We're not fact. I know I'm not not fact checking while myself today. And then with with medium format, it's half that. So with that, I think film, it's a very true to life, very romantic and soft.

My only negative about film is that I noticed I was missing those in -between moments while I was loading film. And so those breaks and those pauses are where I would really, if I'm gonna shoot film, I really need two or three extra people. So I always have somebody digitally side -by -side backing me up. Horror Story, I actually had film lost in the mail once. So if I wouldn't have had digital backups, I would have lost all their wedding photos. So I always will back up film with digital no matter what.

And you probably need to have a bigger team if you're shooting film. Yeah, you do. You pretty much have to have at least like a film loader, maybe just literally there to load film. That's all they do. And then you would also have somebody maybe as like a third shooter taking digital while you also would have a second shooter. And then you have to decide, does that second shooter shoot film and digital or just digital? So while I love film, I actually realized a lot of couples don't want...

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Forgive me, they don't want to pay for the time it's going to take. With film, you really need to allow time in your timeline. So what might take eight hours in digital, I would want 10 hours, and you're paying me more, and you're paying for the film cost, and probably another person. So it is an expense. So I used it to kind of design my edit style. So I did what we call in the film world anchor images. So for several weddings for several years, I would just shoot probably like five to 10.

rolls of film, I did it on beaches, I did it in the desert, I did it in green scenarios to kind of just develop that anchor image of like those colors that you were talking about. So by finding those colors I liked, I was able to kind of find a digital balance where I still like the colors. But I also think sometimes film is too blurry and too soft. And there are sometimes I want crisp, but it doesn't have to be overly crisp if that makes sense. I will tell my clients,

If you don't want to pay for film, buy me two disposable cameras. I'll carry them in my pouch and throughout the day I'll pop a picture here or there. You can go get them developed and hey, if you want to send me the digitals, I would love to have them because I'm taking them all. But I will do that just for them and just let them have their role that they can develop on their own. And I think that that's more true because then if I'm busy, I can hand it off to one of their bridesmaids and say, hey, can you grab this shot for me? Or you can pat like, you don't have to do necessarily a camera at every table.

but even getting the bridal party involved. You can still create some film images for fun, but then you get those consistent images with digital. I think the little cameras are coming back though. For sure. Like the Kodak one or the Polaroid picture? I think they're coming back. I kind of like it. But do you think that interferes with your work? So I think it's all about how you educate the clients. I, in my contract, I make it very clear that you can't hire a competing photographer or any other photographer.

We'll talk about it later, but I also in my contract say that you can't hire outside content creators. Content creators you say. We'll get into that in a sec. But I think that I pre -educate my couples that I will never be rude to your family, but if you have somebody in my way and I think it's going to hinder your photos, you're paying me a lot of money and their little photo on their iPad or phone. Like I'm not afraid to politely ask.

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Can you put your iPad away or can you take your tripod in the middle of a Catholic church ceremony out of the aisle? Like you literally have a tripod in the aisle year in every shot. So I will secretly calmly walk up to that parent or that aunt or. What do you recommend? Because I was at my niece's wedding and it was just phone, phone, phone, phone, phone. And she's walking down the aisle. I'm like, not to embrace that moment through my two eyes. How do you recommend to control that? I think I so.

Important thing well at a Catholic Church you can't do this because I don't think that the priest is going to stand up there and say this but a lot of the ceremonies they will before the ceremony begins the officiant whatever will say listen we hired professionals for the day You know the couple wants a what do they call it a clone unplugged. Thank you Yeah, they call it an unplugged ceremony. Please. It's a nice way of saying don't pull your phone out here, please because we hired professionals and so That's a good tip

If you're going to hire an officiant to say, oh yeah, but a good officiant will know that. But if they don't, let them know, like, hey, can you please say this ahead of time? And that should, because that's coming from the bride and groom, not from a photographer, not from a videographer. I've had family members that said, no, I will not move. I will not set this down. I will say that I just challenge wedding guests to be better. Take your photos on arrival. You don't need the photos and videos of them kissing down the aisle if they have a good photographer. So.

So I'll say the two exceptions. If you look and you do not see a photographer around and the bride and groom are drinking champagne or something, please pull your phone out and document that memory for them. But realize that we were hired to document the couple. If you want to take a photo of you and your date or you and your spouse or you and your friends, go for it. Take it on the phone. We'll also take it for you. But you're not my client. We were hired for the bride and groom.

You don't need to do our job. You get to actually be a guest and enjoy it. You don't have to work. So just like unplug themselves. They should unplug themselves. It's a date night in a way. It's like even 30 minutes. Just put your phones away. So you use a phone every once in a while to take photos, right? You're a content creator. What is that? What is a content creator? That's kind of a new thing these days. I know what it is, but our listeners might not know. Absolutely. So basically we all can talk.

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I think we all agree, we know photographers take the photos of the wedding day. Videographers do video. This new, I would say trend hype over insta moments is how we kind of refer to them as. Photos or videos that are taken from a cell phone perspective, these are where you can either, sometimes within your own team, you can hire outside companies to do it. I personally, I know I've...

talked to Dan a little about this, so he knows how it feels. We talked off camera, yes. But let's just say this. I think that content creators, if it's done correctly, the goal is that your photographer and your videographer are really creating those heirlooms. That word. If you don't know it, look it up. An heirloom is something that stays forever. It is truly timeless. It becomes something special to you and your family, to future generations. It's...

That wedding photo of your grandparents from 100 years ago that you still have in a box that your parents kept and now it's passed on to you. The video that you watch every year on your anniversary, those are heirlooms. That is why you hire professionals. That is why videographers are important. Photographers are important. It's not replacing us by any means. When it comes to content creation, I think that...

The world really loves real and raw and unedited. And I think that's this phase we're in, especially with newer generations. So me specifically, we offer content services. I do it for weddings through Ryan Lindsay Photography. And I also have Riley .co. It's my secondary brand. That is more content creation for brands, businesses, influencers, more individual basis. That's a cool opportunity where they can get quality video content. So it's not just weddings. But in the wedding world, I think,

As a photographer, I felt the pressure, and this is why I'm on board with it to an extent. As a photographer, I felt the pressure to provide a sneak peek that night. Then I would go home and I would go through all the photos and I would be disappointed because while it was a beautiful photo, the one five away from it was so much better, but I was rushing. A lot of people forget that we're artists and part of our art is not just taking a camera and clicking a button, whether it's to record or photograph. It's.

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processing the images, making sure you pick the best ones, curating them, fixing the colors, making sure you really feel and produce something you're proud of. So I used to do same night sneaks, and to be honest, the pressure was getting bad. I would go home the next day and just like, I didn't like the phone edits or I didn't like the edit because it was dark outside and I want to test my edits in daylight and nighttime because I'm weird like that. So I think the idea of content creation came in where...

obviously TikToks and reels and that people want to be funny. There's that spectrum of it. But a lot of it, they just want some like random, raw, behind the scene moments. So I trialed this out for a year actually, where I personally paid several weddings, someone to come with me, tag along with me. They would get behind the scenes of me working, but they would also just grab behind the scenes of the videographers working, the planners working. They would grab behind the scenes of the couple being photographed, a few of just the couple. But really,

we would make a highlight reel the next day. It gives videographers a break too, just so that you have a second to comb through all that footage and really produce something, again, more intentional and thoughtful and not feel the pressure of rushing. The biggest thing with me, what we do is I still keep it to a cell phone, or I might eventually go like a little point and shoot camera. I'm not trying to be as quality. I don't direct as much as a videographer would or a photographer would. So with the behind the scenes, it's just those insta moments.

Honestly, most people say they last 24 hours and then they're gone and that's it. So when you look at the difference content creation are instant moments for instant gratification and short time like short Lifespans that sort short lifespans whereas a good wedding video and a good Photo gallery that you get from your client from your photographer. Those are your heirlooms Those are the things you're gonna cherish until the you know, the end of time So if I as the videographer then?

were to because as videographers, we don't want to break. We don't want to share any of the videos. We really want those moments because that's what they hired us for. Right. As a videographer, if you're taking photos during the first kiss and I come up and I with my phone take some photos of the first kiss, you would be OK with us sharing that on Instagram or TikTok and tagging them before they saw any of your own photos. So it's a balance. I will say if it's like.

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in your professional camera and you highly edit it and you only share a photo and you don't credit anyone else on the vendor team. I might take offense. And so with that being said, if hypothetically you shared a photo, I mean, I don't really care that much. I guess it depends on what it is. Be honest. It depends on what it is. If this is the difference, if you were to produce a photo of quality that I could produce, you're basically doing my job.

But if you were to post a behind the scene video versus a beautifully edited video, it's a very big difference. So I'm not very particular. I would just say credit me too. I was there with you and if you took a photo, technically it's fine. Just credit me. Lying. Lying. You would hate it. Lying. I'll give you an example. So I was filming a wedding a month ago. The venue coordinator was walking around.

All day long with us and it was fine. Like I love it, you know hang out with us take take video take whatever whatever you're doing it wasn't until Afterward where I realized that this person and I'm not gonna say he or she this person Was filming on their phone all the biggest moments of the day. So your first look your First kiss coming down the aisle. These are all the same things that we would capture as a videographer, right? And I'm like, okay. Well, they're just doing this for promotion for the venue The venue wants to have video to share on their website, whatever

The next day, I see it wasn't just behind the scenes stuff. I see that this venue had produced a highlight film. Like this was essentially what we do, a highlight film. Put it on Instagram and it was all the biggest moments from the day. And it just, it bugged me. Like it really bugged me because then I felt like, well, they're hiring us because they want to see what they look like on their wedding day. Well, now they've already seen it. So, you know, what am I doing here? I'll say this. If, okay, I'm going to challenge you. It's hard. It's hard.

Because our egos, right? Like I'm the same way. I'm the referee, OK? If you post a cell phone photo, I'm not threatened because my edited photos are going to blow your cell phone photo out of the water. The quality is going to be so much better. The direction, like your side angle, maybe it was one good shot. I'm going to give them hundreds of good shots. So like I'm not scared of a cell phone photo. With video, I do get what you're saying. The way we create content, I will admit, it's a little more messy.

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It's not as delicate as a wedding video. I was going to say like real life -ish. It's sped up in weird places and slowed down. And it's literally something that has no thought. And so even still, I've had several clients over the last year, like I have been guilty. I've made highlight videos the next day. With little titles and everything, right? But I've credited the videographer too. And I didn't specifically say, oh, I created all this content. Unless they specifically hired a content creator, I would

claim that. But with that being said, I totally understand it if I was out there with a real camera videoing, like the same system, three cameras, tripods, like completely trying to take your job 100%. You're in your right. Go away. Tell them to go away. I think it's a balance of understanding that your final product will be so much better than this raw, rough, real. I mean,

If you want an example, go to my Instagram right now and the last few posts, look for the WIPA event in Phoenix and you will see the very first is a reel and you'll see the highlight. And then look at the three posts that follow that reel and you'll get to see my work compared to the behind the scenes. And even just seeing the difference in quality, it makes sense. We're not gonna be replaced by them. So.

understanding that the trend is going to this Insta moment world, that people just want instant gratification. I want to remain very protective of my art and my process and the whole creative vision I have. So in order to do that, I feel like these Insta moments kind of buy us time to just take a deep breath and process what we felt about the wedding, if you can. So I'm going to ask a fun question just because this content creation is so different and new.

Can this be actually like sent to the couple and they post on behalf of themselves on their social media? Cause that's kind of what I would kind of want is that I'm paying and then I want to share a blip, a quick, a quick blip of my day in the real life of a phone. Is that not the case? It can be. Yeah, it can be. You can add collaborators on Instagram and whatnot and it'll share into their feed.

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I guess it's not so much the credit. I mean, we keep talking about credit. It's not so much the credit. The why that we do what we do when we're filming is because the biggest joy that I get from that is when we get to send the finished product to the bride and groom, they get to see moments that they may not even been present for. And so I feel like you're stealing, not you. I feel like that moment is being stolen away. Like I want, I want these happy tears. I want you to see things like, oh my gosh, Dan, I can't believe you captured that moment. It's so incredible.

And if they've already seen it, then I don't get that email. And then I'm sad. I'll say it to keep in mind, like most content creators, you're never going to be from the director perspective. So even myself, I'll back up a second. The reason I started my own content creation team is because there's enough chefs in the kitchen with photo, video planners, and clients. And then you have makeup. You have so many people you're juggling already. So to add one more person who's trying to direct your couples.

It's just, I'm sorry, it's a headache for you as a videographer. It's a headache for me as a photographer. So I have trained my content creators to basically side by side with me for a few clips, get behind the scenes where they get me. I specifically say you can get some of the video, like the videographer directing, but the thing that's kind of different is I would never have my content creator, for example, go underneath a veil and create a veil video that matches what you're creating. So I get it.

maybe they caught the first kiss and they caught the first look and all of that. But the reality is your videos are going to be so much better. I'm not giving. So I am not always giving the raw footage now. Now that it's a service we're offering, how it works is basically they have a choice. If they want us to create content for them, that's an option. If they want just all of the basic raw cell phone footage, we can just airdrop it to them at the end of the night or upload it through a shared album, give them like.

couple weeks to download it and then go from there. So that's really the difference going back to content creation. Yeah. It's just really through the iPhone versus the quality and the professionalism behind the camera. Yeah. It's also always vertical. It's usually for things like reels where we're putting music over. It's really short clips of those. So it might be the quick kiss, but it's missing all these other emotions. And the thing with video... The dun dun dun.

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Yeah, and you capture the audio like I don't know how to explain this with videographers get the audio so you have vows and you have the moments when they're up front and like you can hear the emotion and it's very hard as a content creator to like exude that in a real So I think it's more realizing. It's a I hate to say this. It's More of a superficial level. It's like we're just scratching the surface for content you as a videographer are going deeper

you're getting more than we would get. Less like behind the scene per se, you're getting more of those real creatively directed moments. Well, and it's certainly more polished. Yes, polished. So polished. Perfect. On a wedding day, what is like the thing that just fills your bucket? Like, what do you do with a couple that you feel is your your stamp on on their wedding day? Oh, man. I mean, it sounds weird, but trust is first.

You can't do anything on a wedding day if your couples don't trust you. It's very different in terms of the experience. I think that I spend a lot of time investing prior to the wedding day to make them feel, and I straight out tell them, I want to be your best friend, your crazy cousin, your sister, whatever. I want to be a part of your family. I'm going to be with you all day. I'm going to treat your family like my family. I want everyone to feel welcome. As far as the couples go, I think it's just more so.

I'd say my favorite is when the groom was like, that wasn't as bad as we thought, but it's more so that I'm trying to figure out ways to enhance their experience and not control it, if that makes any kind of sense. So being able to just, I think, see them be themselves is my favorite part. And then me being able to enable really cool creative portraits because they're trusting me, they're going with it, and they're bringing their own vibe and energy to it. I think the more...

I guess like chemistry I can get with my couples on the wedding day and a lot of it just comes with trust. Like if I walk in, even if I've never met the bride, the very first thing I do is hug her. Hug her like she's my best friend and just immediately make her feel at ease. I tell her I got you. I never let her know when we're behind the timeline unless I absolutely have to. I'm really good at reworking that. That just comes with experience. So it's, I'm trying to make sure their experience is better and I think sometimes vendors, if you're not careful,

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are just there to do their job and they forget that this is the most important day to them and if you rush, like if I'm five minutes late on one segment, I'll figure it out. They'll be fine with it. We'll make it work. But like if you're constantly telling me we're five minutes late, you're actually messing with our flow and like I'll make sure they're at the ceremony on time. Just trust me. And energy. Yeah. And energy. No couple wants to be knowing that they're running late. They want you to - No, never tell them. Ever. Never. Yes. We just want you to -

grab their hands and say, hey honey ones, we gotta hop in that car and get you to the church. Yeah. It's gonna be all right, we got this. I love that you hug, cause I hug. So that's one of the first things I do. Like sometimes I meet the clients ahead of time, sometimes I don't, sometimes it's a Zoom, whatever, right? So I always go up and I hug them and it breaks down their barriers and it lets you know like, hey, I'm a safe hug, come on over. I'll hug the groom, I don't care.

I'll hug everybody. Oh, I hug them all. I hug the caterer sometimes. When he brings me the food, when the service people bring me the food, I hug them too.

You're a hugger, which we all know Sonya Bear's a hugger too. I mean, think about it, besides the planner, I'm with them all day long. Yes, that's such good points. I've taken my brides to the bathroom and held their dress up while they pee. That's what we do. That's how close you get with your photographer. You have to be there with them. I've never done that. Oh, you're a 10. Yeah, that's amazing. Ryan, we're trying. Well, awesome. Well, thank you so much, Ryan, Lindsay Photography for having us today.

And you know, of course tune in to wedding day podcast on all our social channels YouTube Spotify and Apple you can watch us on YouTube which is really cool and this and of course this will be published on all seven brands of Arizona bride California wedding day Oregon wedding day, Washington wedding day, Minnesota bride Nebraska wedding day and Wisconsin bride Yeah

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All right. Well, cheers to you. And I can't wait to dive into this. Oh, thank you so much for the cake and the bracelet. The bracelets. We love you guys here. So we're excited to follow this. We love you back. Thank you. We love you more. All right, everybody. Until next time. See you. Bye.