Four reasons to hire a local photographer
We receive plenty of requests to take engagement or wedding photographs at Spirit Island, and most people are surprised to discover that it requires an hours drive from Jasper and a 2-3 hour boat excursion to get there.
Have you ever traveled somewhere new with a specific spot in mind that you want to check out, only to discover that it is exceedingly difficult to figure out how to actually get there? Sometimes between asking directions, taking the wrong turn, or running out of time we end up missing the very things we came for.
Having a destination wedding can sometimes feel a bit like that. There is a lot of planning, coordinating, and figuring out that goes into ensuring that everything runs smoothly. For example, do all my guests know that it is a 20 minute drive from the hotel to the ceremony site? Does everyone know how to get there? There are lots of chances for people and things to get mixed up, and we certainly see it here every once in awhile.
Grandpa and the boys hanging out at the airfield, waiting. I would guess that somewhere around one in three weddings we photograph at the Athabasca Day Use Area, somebody is late because they didn’t realize it was a 15-20 minute drive from town, and there isn’t reliable cell service.
Now imagine you are a wedding photographer. Documenting such a special occasion as a wedding - a once-in-a-lifetime event - requires you to be present and in the flow, ready to capture the moments unfolding all around without any worry or uncertainty on the mind. When photographing in an unfamiliar place, it can be really challenging to pivot plans when the original timeline doesn’t play out. In Jasper, there are beautiful scenes all around, but sometimes the big question is: how do I get there? and how long does it take? It is not uncommon for someone who doesn’t know the area to get a little overwhelmed, and end up with lackluster images that don’t do justice to this beautiful place.
We believe that our work should speak to who our clients are, and where they have chosen to be married, and our ability to do that is absolutely enhanced by our experience living and working here in Jasper.
There aren’t very many photographers that wouldn't want to photograph in Jasper, if given the opportunity, but as local photographers in a destination location, here are some of our favourite reasons to hire a local wedding photographer:
1) Local photographers know the best places to go for each time of year. They know how to get around, and what the light is like in different spots.
That’s one reason why we strongly believe in hiring a local photographer. Local photographers don’t just know all the good spots, they know which ones are best at what time of year, what places are easiest to get to from each venue or location, how long it takes, what time the light disappears at each spot, and all the other details that someone who doesn’t know the area is just hoping will fall into place. For locals it’s not hope and luck that make things fall into place; it’s experience and expertise.
2) Locals have a unique knowledge of the location (Jasper National Park, in our case), and a love for it that makes them familiar with using the landscape to compliment their images.
We have photographed hundreds of weddings in Jasper, and we’ve learned from each one. We’ve seen countless plans go astray, and been able to provide assistance through our local expertise to ensure that the client still gets what they need. We help clients pivot as quickly as the weather here in the mountains does.
2) Local photographers work within a network of other local vendors, each with plenty of homegrown experience.
Another major reason why we believe in hiring a local photographer is that we haven’t just photographed these hundreds of Jasper weddings alone; we’ve done so with the same group of local wedding and event vendors who have operated here just as long as we have (some of them even longer). The Jasper wedding industry is something like a big happy family in a lot of ways. We are all friends and collaborators who have worked together countless times over, like a well oiled machine as the saying goes. We believe in each others work and we regularly help each other to achieve our shared goal of giving our clients the best memories of being married in Jasper possible.
3) “Shopping Local” supports local economies, family businesses, and community members.
Over the last few years we have seen the ‘Shop Local’ mentality spreading all over. It is a great concept, because it shows value for the places we visit and inhabit, it educates on the benefits of small community economies, and recognizes the shared values of communities and families the world over. We have come to see over the years of photographing weddings that a great many of our clients have a history of visiting Jasper, and have created countless great memories here. Hiring local, in our eyes, is one way of giving back to the community that makes visiting Jasper so special.
Jordan and Brett from Jasper Event Management with the lovely couple; Sara and Bryan.
4) Locals don’t charge extra fees; like travel, accommodation, additional business license…
Local expertise, vendor networks and feeling good about where we spend our money are some great benefits of hiring local, but there are plenty of practical reasons as well. Locals don’t charge travel fees, and anyone who has ever booked a hotel room in Jasper knows that travel fees to the Rocky Mountain Parks pile up fast. A photographer from outside of Jasper might require two nights of hotel stays plus food and travel (not to mention the park pass), tacking on quite an extra bill. Not only that, but many photographers who aren’t local are not aware that they are legally required to purchase a business license for Jasper Municipality, as well as Jasper National Park. In addition, a National Park business license has very specific requirements for business insurance policies that may be time consuming or costly for a non-local business to arrange in time for an event.