Timothy Faust Photography [Logo]

I will be teaching several photography workshops this summer through Altitude Fine Art Photography Gallery in Breckenridge, Colorado.  For more information, please visit www.altitudegallery.com/workshops.

One Day Business of Wedding Photography

When: September 24, 2010

Where: Breckenridge, CO

Cost: $199 per person

Includes Lunch and models

Are you interested in wedding photography? This class will teach you what you need to know to break into the business the right way. This workshop is broken in to two distinct parts; a classroom session filled with ample time for Q&A, followed by a field session with professional models.

Visit www.gobreck.com to book your lodging.

Schedule is subject to change

Interested in this workshop? Drop us an email or apply online!

Friday, September 24th

• 10:00am: Meet at (location to be determined)
• 10:30am Classroom I: Business Talk
  • We will be exploring the realtities of becoming self employed including taxes, advertising expenses, time commitment, finances, and competition.
• 11:30am Classroom II: Equipment
  • This session looks at the equipment needs of the wedding photographer. In edition to cameras, we will disucss lighting, lenses, computers, and digital storage media. You will also learn about different means of financing your equipment.
• 12:15pm Working Lunch Break
  • A catered lunch will double as a time for questions and answers with photographers working in the business.
• 1:00 Classroom III: Pricing, Creativity, and Finding a Niche
  • One of the most common questions emerging wedding photographers ask is, “How do I know what to charge?” This session will focus on creativity and pricing which go hand in hand.
• 2:00 Image critique. Bring up to 10 printed images, or an album for review
• 2:30 Break
• 3:30 Field session
  • During the field session you will be able to work with professional models and photographers. You will also have access to professional lighting. This is a great portfolio building session

Altitude Gallery is offering the Fall Landscape Photography Workshop on Saturday. Sign up for both for only $249.

Schedule is subject to change without notice due to a variety of factors such as weather.

People walk in to my shop in Breckenridge every day and remind me how lucky I am to be able to live the dream and turn my passion in to my profession, and they are absolutely correct. In reality, I don’t need any reminder as to how lucky I am. Photography has brought me into the lives of countless people, through portrait and wedding photography, and has enabled me to travel to far corners of the world and experience things that would have been impossible if it wasn’t for me being a professional photographer.

Out of the last year, I’ve spent over four months travelling in order to photograph.  I spent a month of that time in Tibet, where I was able to stay in guest houses sipping yak butter tea while watching the sun rise on Mount Everest.  I spent two weeks on a road trip to California with my wife, during which time, I alternated between days of photography and rock climbing.  For nearly two months I explored New England during the peak of the fall colors. I have photographed 2 weddings in Nepal, one in Washington D.C., another on the beach in Southern California, not to mention countless weddings across Colorado.  This to me is what living the dream is all about.

Sometimes, I need to remind myself of how this is all possible.  Part of that is realizing that photography is only a small part of the equation.  There are many things that most people don’t know about that are required in order for me to be a successful photographer.  So much time is spent on budgeting, it borders on ridiculous.  For instance, when I traveled to Asia this past year, I incurred a lot of expenses.  I had to weigh the option of having a magazine pick up the tab, or paying for the trip myself and having more freedom to photograph what I want.  Then there is the question of whether or not I could pay for the expense with income earned from the project.  This is an exceedingly impossible task due to all the variables involved.

Also, there is this illusion that photographers are self employed.  People say that it must be great to make my own hours.  A lot of time it is, but I also work pretty hard.  It isn’t unusual for me to work 20 hours each day when on a project or photographing a wedding.  With wedding photography there are no second chances, do overs, sick days, or good enoughs.  It has to be perfect the very first time.  With each wedding, I photograph, hours of time is devoted to planning every detail ahead of time, because I know expectations are nothing less than perfection.

That all being said, I do love my job.  I am getting to live my dream, but sometimes I need to remind myself of all the work that goes in to it, because the last thing I want is to become complacent.

Andrea and David asked me to be part of their small intimate wedding at the Lodge at Breckenridge.  They were a great fun couple to work with and the winter weather really cooperated for us making for some relatively warm temperatures and some great views of the mountains.

I am now able to create slideshows with a limited selection of music for every wedding and portrait session I photograph at no extra cost. Take a look at these samples from some recent sessions.

Hideki and Tomoko’s Wedding

Asher’s Three Month Photos

West Family Portrait Session

Less than a month after travelling to D.C. to photograph a wedding, I was invited to photograph another wedding in Laguna Beach, California.  Pete and MJ had planned one of the coolest weddings I have ever attended.  It was a wedding on the beach right before sunset followed by a small reception on the rooftop bar at The Hotel, La Casa Del Camino.  This was my fifth destination wedding of 2009, but it was my first on a beach.

The only thing I didn’t like about this wedding was returning to all the snow in Colorado after spending the weekend on the beach.