Well, I am being paid by the couple to do what I do, and part of that is covering the photoshoot. I have no contract with the photographer, so he has no authority to stop me from filming the photoshoot. That leaves him with taking the matter up with the couple. I suppose he could just refuse to shoot stills, but that's not going to get him any love from the couple.

I actually call photographers I haven't worked with before the wedding. This helps ease their mind on how I will work with them, and it lets them know that I'm a professional and I plan on doing my job.

In my humble opinion, any photographer that can't work with a videographer during the photoshoot is lacking in either experience, skill, professionalism ... or all of the above.

The surprising thing is that these photographers with the contracts have been around for over 20 years! They are doing extremely well, are always booked solid, their work and clients are considered "high end" in the industry. The other thing I won't complain about is that they send us lots of referrals. They tell their clients we're easy to work with (although we don't do photoshoots together.) Very interesting but paradoxical....

Hey David,

We actually send out a questionnaire to all of our couples, and one of the questions we ask is who is your photographer. We also get the contact info!

We then check out the photogs site, and see if they're any good! We also keep in mind that if the B&G are paying the photog then they must like something about him or her, even if we think they're no good!

We then shoot over an email to the photog and invite them to go out to get some coffee, and just shoot the breeze! Most of the time this works great for us! Sometimes the photogs have had a bunch of bad experiences with unexperienced videographers who have no clue!

If you can befriend the photog, all is gravy! There are some photogs who just are stubborn, and usually those photogs are the one's who are compensating for their suckiness [i know thats not a word] :)

my .02