Today we’d like to introduce you to Dennis Crider.
Dennis, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started at the age of 33. I had no knowledge or insight of how to work a camera. My passion for capturing my newborn daughter and son was overwhelming. I would fumble around the buttons and settings of a camera only to be frustrated when exposure was wrong or shutter speed caused me to miss a moment. But I didn’t stop. That passion to capture that perfect moment, fueled me to obtain better equipment so that I didn’t miss any moments, as they happened. Other families saw what I was doing on social media. I was being asked by many families to capture their moments too.
In 2010, (after years of capturing families), I agreed to capture a wedding. It was extremely nerve-wracking but also exciting. It was then, that I realized, weddings are full of moments and emotion. It was like an explosion of excitement and curiosity had ignited in my soul. My passion grew exponentially for the craft of capturing moments and families on their most exciting day. I instinctively knew, this was my purpose in life. I could make a difference by freezing time in an artful way. It was like falling in love with what came naturally for me and it just all made sense. I was going to be a wedding photographer.
Fast forward 11 years later and I am a full time photographer with an average of 30-35 weddings a year. I am still a one man operation but that means personable service. The passion I had back then when I started, has never failed. Instead of fumbling around the settings of a camera like I used to in the beginning, the camera is now an extension of my body and soul. I shoot to make memories not only for me, but for those that hire me. Those memories become art on their wall and is frozen in time for all to see.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Has it been a smooth road? For the most part yes. But I believe that mistakes and moments of learning can either set you back or move you forward in a positive way. It all depends on your outlook. I take mistakes as a chance to learn. For example, I learned that if you restrict yourself to being a “natural light” photographer and never learn how to make flashes work for you, it will burn you eventually. I taught myself how to make flashes look natural or artistic.
I loved being a natural light photographer but when you enter a dark church with dark ceilings on a dark gloomy day, with little to no lights; this will make you learn flash very quickly if you want things to look like they do outside.
Also, the cost of maintaining a business and the time you must put into it, is more than I expected in the beginning. To run a self employed business is expensive and way more than most people believe it will be. Be prepared to run into cost from online galleries, subscriptions, contractors, taxes and equipment upgrades – just to name a few. Cameras are not cheap and the right lenses for those cameras cost even more. But my passion to capture those wedding moments perfectly, makes this all worth it.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I specialize in wedding photography with capturing families and seniors as a secondary passion. Being able to capture that fleeting moment as it happens in an unobtrusive way, is difficult but also my proudest moments. It’s like scratching off a winning lotto ticket, hitting a golf ball that lands in or near the hole, shooting a basketball from mid court and landing with nothing but net through the rim; It feels just like that.
I believe that I am very much different from most photographers. I don’t look at weddings as a job that I go into by repeating the same thing I did the weekend before. People hire me to create, to capture personalized art. I am not a factory photographer by repeating what I did last weekend. I want to create something better than my last wedding. I want to challenge myself to be better than I was the week before. Nothing will keep me from improving every week, month or year. I am fueled by passion to be the best at what I do. It sounds egotistical to say I want to be the best, but who wouldn’t want to be, right?
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
For those getting into wedding photography, here is some advice. I used to scout locations, I used to envision how the day was going to go. I used to clean every lens off before using it. I was going to capture that moment because I already saw it happening in my head. Then the wedding day would come along and it would be completely different and it ruined what I envisioned. So then I realized, I was missing other moments because I was pushing for the moment I had in my head. Instead of focusing on what was happening right in front of me, shooting for the moment and asking myself “how could I do this better than the last wedding. Whether that be shooting at different apertures for what is about to happen in that moment, shooting with flash or just going all natural. I stopped trying to force things to happen that I imagined in my head.
I still get nervous! I still wonder what the hell is going to happen on a wedding day that is going to be more exciting than what happened last weekend and how can I best it. What I think makes me different, is that I am not afraid to fail. I want to explore my creativity and figure out what failed and what makes me better the next time. Problem solving my technical and creative skills along the way. You should do the same when going into this field.
Pricing:
- $3500.00 Average wedding collection for 10 hours of coverage
Contact Info:
- Email: Dennis@Denniscriderphotography.com
- Website: www.denniscriderphotography.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/denniscrider
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/dcfotos
Image Credits
Dennis Crider Photography
