Wedding photographers in Phuket?

A friend of mine's getting married at the Old Phuket Resort in a month or so, and suspects the photographer included with their all inclusive package probably isn't going to be the best photographer around. Can anyone recommend anyone else in the area?

It would help if you gave a location.

OTH, just phucket - I'm probably not available anyway.

I had a friend come back from their Thailand wedding and he's asked me to photoshop all their images because they weren't happy with what the Thai photographer did. He should just fly you over

I know this doesn't answer your question so I appologize for the wasted post here but...
When I meet with couples that are considering a destination wedding I typically recommend they choose a photographer near their home. That way before and after the event they are able to sit down and discuss all of those details that we typically do.

Dude, from experience, the wedding photographers over there are terrible. Just terrible.

Here in the States, we have things called "Teddy Bear Portraits" for preschools. It's just a 17 year old kid that was hired off of Craigslist (or something similar) with the ad saying "need photographer -- will train" and all they do is show the kid how to operate a camera and briefly explain composition and the next day you have a preschool photographer.

Same goes for Thai wedding photographers. They are just aweful.

There's some girl out in Phuket to be wary of, however. I can't remember her name but she's becoming bigger. She has a ton of my images in her gallery -- pretty sure she's Kiwi but she might be from Oz.

But yeah, if your friend cares about the photos, hire someone western outside of Thailand

Bobby

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By the way, you've probably been before, but I love Karon beach -- that's where I always stay in Phuket

Be sure to hit up Freedom beach in Phuket. It's the best kept secret of the island, imo. Hire a longtail boat from the south end pier at Patong. Again, you might know this, but just in case

Bobby

_______________

San Diego Wedding Photographer (blog)
Twitter -- Facebook
the Raddest Photo Trip Ever!!!
Come on the next one Dec 6th-19th 2010!!!!!

Well that's not positive. Ah well i'll suggest he find a westerner when he gets over there.

I'm not going, but i'll tell him about this thread so he can get it from the horses mouths

Gotcha. Unfortunately, since wedding photography sucks so bad over there, the westerners that do it seem to be just as bad. If he doesn't have the budget for a talented photographer, find some aspiring kid with talent and just fly him/her over. Odds are it'll be better than what they'll find over there.

Now if they don't care that much then that's fine, as well

Bobby

_______________

San Diego Wedding Photographer (blog)
Twitter -- Facebook
the Raddest Photo Trip Ever!!!
Come on the next one Dec 6th-19th 2010!!!!!

I doubt my friend wants to fly me over, that'd cost many thousands of dollars, plus i'm busy in my off season job anyway - which incidentally earns WAY more than photography ever has.

Finding someone in Northern Australia might be an idea... still expensive though.

Yeah. I'd say if they aren't really into flying someone in, they probably don't care about wedding photography all that much -- and might be completely fine with what they get

Bobby

_______________

San Diego Wedding Photographer (blog)
Twitter -- Facebook
the Raddest Photo Trip Ever!!!
Come on the next one Dec 6th-19th 2010!!!!!

I think it's a recent thought, that the photographer included with their package might not be great. Flying someone in would cost many thousands of dollars, it's really a value decision.

Totally. Value and priority. Since they are friends of yours, clearly they have at least some idea of what talented wedding photography is -- so if even after that it isn't worth a few thousand dollars, then I'm sure they'll get what they TRULY want in the end -- to not pay that much.

Best of luck to them!

Bobby

_______________

San Diego Wedding Photographer (blog)
Twitter -- Facebook
the Raddest Photo Trip Ever!!!
Come on the next one Dec 6th-19th 2010!!!!!

I've done a quick google, there are some ok photographers there

This place are ok, but their images are all B&W. That makes me think they can't work in color.

This place look quite good, but they tilt almost everything. I really don't like that. Worth considering though, nice photos and you could ask them not to tilt. Edit - damn wrong link, can't find them again.

Edit - Gina Smith is a kiwi living in Phuket, but her images are only average. From what Bobby said below she's dishonest, and the images on her site are only average.

I looked at a bunch of others, but the standard overall is quite low. Many look like people who grabbed a cheap camera, read a book, and started doing it - and some skipped the book.

Gina Smith -- that's her name. She's the one who used a ton of my images in her gallery.

That's the problem with Thailand -- no piracy laws so people lie like crazy. Plus there's no meeting up and seeing prints in hand in higher resolution. I forgot the other INSANE thing over there (again, in my experiences) -- you know that video of the guy who falls in the water after being WAY too close to the couple? They tend to shoot like that... the entire time. It's like nothing I've ever seen before.

But yeah, that girl's a fraud. She might not have my images up anymore, but she had them up before she had many weddings -- built her clients off of my work. I should ask her for some royalties

I'm probably sounding WAY too negative -- but just speaking candidly

Bobby

_______________

San Diego Wedding Photographer (blog)
Twitter -- Facebook
the Raddest Photo Trip Ever!!!
Come on the next one Dec 6th-19th 2010!!!!!

Oh ok, i'll edit that before my friend sees it, so he doesn't bother with her.