All language subtitles for 1. My History

Hi, I'm Gerard Guionis.

Welcome to Wedding Photography.

I am so excited to share all that

I know.

In fact, I've actually been a professional photographer

now for over 26 years.

I'm approaching my 27th year as of 2020.

It's going to be a fun ride, guys.

I was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia.

I actually of Greek descent.

I consider myself Greek.

I speak Greek as well.

And I live here most of the time

here in Las Vegas, USA.

I have a lot of experience.

I'm looking forward to sharing that with you.

In fact, I want to give you a

bit of an idea as to how I

started and perhaps what qualifies me to be

in front of your favorite device right now.

So I was given my first camera at

the age of 15 by my brother Nick.

I became obsessed, perhaps just like you.

It was a bug.

I literally had to photograph anything and everything.

For some reason, this trigger was just flicked

in my brain.

I'm like, I just need to play.

I need to press that shutter as often

as possible.

I would go and photograph the tennis.

I'd photograph industrial scapes.

I would photograph streetscapes.

I would photograph portraits.

In fact, I'd go to dinner with my

friends and I would have the camera in

my bag, would order our meal.

And I'd say to my friend, hey, because

we're here, we've got about 10 minutes.

Can I just go outside and photograph you

or photograph you right at this booth, at

this restaurant?

So I was the guy that everyone got

sick of, perhaps just like you at home

right now.

But that's just the cool thing.

For some reason, once you are obsessed with

something, I believe that it's almost more important.

I mean, most of us follow our passion

first.

Hey, that sounds like fun.

I believe you should follow what you're good

at.

And certainly the passion will turn into what

you're good at.

But this is what it's all about.

If you're good at photography or you have

an eye, I believe you're not born with

knowing lighting or posing or anything like that.

You're born with the eye for composition.

There's a good start.

Once you have that eye, that just somehow

you have that timing of when to press

that shutter, you know how to compose, then

you know you're onto something.

Can it be taught?

Of course it can.

But there's nothing quite like having that fierce

obsession with loving what you do.

So what I did was I did it

as a hobby, photography, all throughout high school.

And of course, I did my English and

maths through high school, but I did arts

and graphics and anything that I could volunteer

for as a photographer in high school, I

did.

Then after high school, I worked at a

couple of camera stores.

I just wanted to basically be around the

industry until I worked out what I was

going to do.

And I applied for many different courses in

photography.

In fact, I got rejected from a pretty

easy college to get into, but probably known

as a really good one to get into.

But they rejected me like I didn't have

enough experience.

I'm like, well, that's why I'm here.

I want experience.

So there was a four year photography course.

And during that first year of my photography

course, they didn't teach me anything.

They taught me how to process a film

and be in the darkroom and print my

own prints.

And of course, it's now arguably not relevant,

certainly experience that I can take into the

digital darkroom.

But they didn't teach me about lighting, didn't

teach me about posing, communication skills, anything like

that.

I lost patience.

I quit after a year.

Then as I was still on the side

selling cameras and working a few camera stores,

I wanted to work with someone established.

So I knocked on the door of a

prominent studio and I said, I want to

carry your bags.

I want to learn wedding photography from you.

I would love to work for you.

But hey, don't have to pay me anything.

Give me the privilege of holding your bag.

So I held the bags of an experienced

photographer for about a year and a half.

And it was the best learning experience I

could possibly have.

Now, in today's age, I think many of

us want to become our own boss and

become a professional photographer straight away.

Let's say you do assist a friend who's

a photographer.

You want to pick up the camera and

start shooting.

I believe the best way that you can

learn is just watch.

No different than watching a painter.

Like, how do they mix the paints?

How do we get that color palette?

How do we put those brush strokes on

the canvas?

So I was forced to carry bags and

lights of an experienced photographer.

And I would learn that how, in fact,

his name was Peter, how Peter would interact

with people, how he would diagnose a scene,

how he would light people, how he would

approach different subjects and challenging subjects, all the

storytelling things.

And of course, back then, we would photograph

with medium format cameras.

For those of you don't know what that

means, it's basically a big camera and on

film.

And you would photograph 10 shots per roll

of film.

In fact, there were three actions that it

would take to take one photograph.

You'd click the shutter, you'd cock the mirror,

and you'd wind the film.

So having come from that background and to

today's age, I really appreciate the digital technology

and how fast and easy and fun and

efficient it has become.

But I learned what it was like to

be on the job.

And I became obsessed with that process.

And I enjoyed the freedom of not carrying

the camera.

And at one point after about a year,

a year and a half of assisting, Peter

basically said to me, Jerry, why don't you

photograph the groom's coverage?

So arguably, he would photograph the bride's, I'd

photograph the groom's.

And I'd cut my teeth on something that

was a little bit easier, photograph the groom.

Traditionally, a bit more creative with the parents

and with the groomsmen, I could handle that.

Then as I did that well, I did

a bride's coverage.

As I did that well, I do a

ceremony, then a reception, then night shots, and

all these different things.

And then all of a sudden, I got

my first wedding.

And that was about, like I said, about

a year and a half to two years

into my training.

And we called it a little Aussie wedding,

right?

A little Aussie wedding basically connotates that it's

a very relaxed, very easygoing, nothing fancy backyard

wedding.

So I didn't have the ridiculous pressure of

a big Greek or Macedonian or Jewish wedding.

As I did that very well, then I

would get, again, different cultures and then bigger

weddings.

And here's the thing.

I think many of us, what we do

is we start in this industry, not having

any kind of tutelage like you've got right

now.

And like, well, I know, well, how hard

is it?

Just tell the story, photograph what's going on.

But we've all been there before.

If you're a wedding photographer, if you're in

this industry, there's no second chances.

You have to get it right.

And part of my expression here, but my

ex-boss told me, a shit shot's better

than no shot.

Like you just have to get the shot.

Even if it's bad, it's still okay.

So what I want to share with you

in this bundle, in this course, in the

art and craft of wedding photography, is understanding

what will make you successful, what will give

you longevity, and really what it's all about.

And to be honest, the best way of

learning is repetition, experience and practice.

So what happened was that I finally, after

a year and a half, worked with the

studio for about three and a half years,

and I understood what it was like to

actually photograph and work with a client before

and after and sell and do these things

and had a photograph to sell.

So I really learned.

And the cool thing was that I learned

on someone else's dime.

If I screwed up, that's okay.

When I say, as in, it's okay for

me personally, not okay for the business.

But and not that I screwed up, it's

purely that I could play with technique and

understand what I would do.

And all the while building this experience.

And in fact, I didn't really have the

desire to start my own business, but it

just happened organically and evolved.

So after three and a half years of

working for the studio, I started my own

business.

And that was in 97.

Now, back then there was a recession.

Unfortunately, it's a bit of a hard story

to tell.

But just a quick little cliff notes here

is that I actually, our family lost our

family home.

And it was a very tough time, we

didn't have any money.

My, my brothers opened up a chicken shop,

like a charcoal chicken to go food store

in the northern suburbs of Melbourne.

And they had this big sort of building.

And it was on the corner and they

had a separate door and a window on

the back of this building.

So I thought to myself, guys, can I

just build a wall here in your storeroom

and then occupy this space and it was

no bigger than a medium sized bedroom.

And then back then in 97, I shot

25 weddings my first year, and then I

shot 50 weddings, then I shot 100 weddings.

And then it was just this repetition, I

was just doing so many weddings, that it

became easy.

When I say easy, it was challenging.

And as every wedding is challenging.

But this repetition experience and practice that I

did, it was it became second nature.

But to become second nature, you just have

to do it over and over again.

The famous line of being able to, to,

to practice, before you master anything, you have

to spend 10,000 hours doing it.

And I certainly had had done that.

So then, in about 2000 2001, we reinvented

the business.

And I noticed a air above the building

that I was at.

So to this day, the charcoal chicken store,

and I asked the overall landlord, I said,

May I build a second level above the

above the studio in the chicken shop, and

I'll be happy to rent it off you

took me a year to convince him a

year to build.

And then there I was with this big

studio.

And the the studio that I had that

the glorified bedroom was now just the lobby

area, the foyer of the actual studio.

And I built a very large, a very

large, in fact, one of Australia's largest and

most respected studios at the time.

And at one point, we had 15 employees,

we did 300 plus weddings, and we did

countless portraits.

And then, so we did that for a

long time.

In 2007, I sold that business to my

brother, Nick is also a photographer.

And I started a studio in Melbourne's docklands.

So on the basically on a pier, right

on the fringe of the city.

And then I catered to more of a

boutique sort of clientele.

And that being said, when I say boutique

clientele, let's put it bluntly someone who's willing

to pay more for my services.

So now at one point, also in about

the year 2000, I developed a love for

teaching as I'm doing with you right now,

perhaps introducing what I'm about to teach you.

And that is just the desire to bring

out the best in people.

Because after all, I felt to myself like,

what do I do as a photographer who

specializes in wedding portraits and fashion as a

wedding photographer, really, I'm a storyteller, I tell

stories for a living.

But ultimately, part of that story is bringing

out the best in people.

So I realize that my purpose, my why

is I love to bring out the best

in people in the mortalized moments for families

and create a legacy for families.

That's what I truly love.

Perhaps you are watching right now.

And you share a similar philosophy, maybe you're

stuck at the art and the craft and

said, Jerry, I'm with you.

I love it.

But I'm stuck.

I'm here to actually help you out with

those issues and those problems and those challenges

you have, because we all had them.

Certainly, I'm not I don't want to say

the word shortcut.

I just want to say that there's many

things that I've learned that are successful and

many things that I did that are not

so successful that I believe that I can

share with you so you don't have to

make the same mistakes.

And arguably, if you share similar philosophies, then

we can actually grow together.

So with the teaching aspect of it, and

I've been teaching now for over 20 years

and also teaching online for a very long

time, I have actually been exposed to so

many photographers all around the world, different cultures,

ethnicities, male, female, different age groups, you name

it, like working from a studio, working from

home, high end weddings, low end, whatever you

want to call it, I've been exposed to

it.

So coming from a large volume studio myself,

and then shooting to a more boutique clientele

in Melbourne, now having an international clientele, I

in fact, don't do the pretty weddings or

don't do the high end weddings.

I've actually photographed normal people just like you

and me.

And why is that a benefit to you

to understand this?

Because we will have the same challenges.

I've just learned how to get more money

from normal people, because I actually increase the

value with what I do from the art

and the craft.

But more importantly, we talk about the meaning

and the importance of what we do.

So having the experience of actually owning a

large studio and the smaller one, having the

experience of shooting well over 1000 weddings of

different ethnicities and all these different things that

we're talking about, I know I can help

you because I've taught tens of thousands of

people all over the world, not only in

person, but also online.

What I'm here to do right now, guys,

is give you all my gems, all the

street smart of wedding photography in one neat

little curated package that you can follow along

and let's grow together.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai