When I chat with potential clients, every once in a while this question comes up.  I’m always up front about whether or not I’ve shot at a specific venue, but in the back of my mind I’m thinking “why does this even matter?”.  I know plenty of magazines and websites put this on their “must ask” list of questions for potential wedding photographers, but in all honesty, it’s a really ridiculous question to base your decision on.  Just because someone has shot at your venue doesn’t make them “better” than someone who hasn’t.  Here’s why…

Photography, quite literally, means “drawing with light” and professional photographers work extremely hard to understand light and its impact on their images.  A photographers’ style is largely dictated by the way they use light in their images.  The good thing is that light is available EVERYWHERE and a good photographer can adapt quickly to a new environment and find “good light” easily.  So whether or not a photographer has actually shot at your venue before doesn’t necessarily matter.  They are trained to look for good light and they will find it!  If they are consistently creating images that you love, that’s all that really matters.  They will find a way to create those same type of images, regardless of where they are shooting!

Most photographers I know (myself included) LOVE to travel and explore new places.  A change of scenery is refreshing and I find traveling to new places to be extremely inspiring.  Probably one of the best things about hiring a photographer who doesn’t shoot at your venue all of the time (or never before) is that they will approach things with a fresh set of eyes.  Many times, if someone shoots at the same venue time and time again, they may get themselves into a creative rut.  A fresh set of eyes means you’ll more than likely have images that don’t look like everyone else’s.  And that’s a good thing!

So to answer the question “what if my photographer hasn’t shot at my venue before?” I say “who cares?”  The more important things to ask are whether you like their style of photography, whether you like them as a person, whether they are available on your wedding date, and whether they fit into your price range.  If the answer is “yes!” to all of those things, then you’ve found yourself a wedding photographer!  Those are the most important questions to ask – not whether they have shot at your venue before.  Because that doesn’t really matter.  At all.  If your photographer is a true professional, they can adapt to shooting in new locations easily and they will most likely location scout before hand anyway.  So don’t worry about it!  It’s really not a big deal if they haven’t shot at your venue before.  In my humble opinion, that should not be a major deciding factor in who you choose as a wedding photographer.

NOTE: All of the images in this post are images that I shot in locations and venues that I had never previously shot in until that day.  Was I worried?  Not at all!  I knew that I could find beautiful light, no matter the location or venue… and I did!