Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel and Xiwei Ying.
Hi Rachel and Xiwei, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Our story starts with our own wedding. We made the mistake of hiring a “friend with a camera” to take our wedding photos and, as a result, received very poor quality photos that were delivered on a single disk that was lost shortly after the wedding. He had no backup and so we have no photos of our own wedding, and even if we hadn’t lost the disk, the photos he had delivered were barely usable. Years later, when my cousin was getting married, she asked if we could come and take some photos of her wedding. We’d recently gotten into photography as a hobby and she was having second thoughts about her professional photographer. We were hesitant to be the “friend with a camera,” and so we were determined not to get in the professional’s way and only took photos at the reception, but it turned out her instincts about the pro were correct, and she was very unhappy with what was delivered. She said our amateur reception photos saved the day. At that point, we decided that maybe we could do some good by contributing our photography efforts to weddings. We realized it could be so hard to know how to make the right choice when choosing a wedding photographer. We connected with a local photographer in Tampa who we helped second shoot a few weddings to help us get familiar with the workflow of a wedding and what was required. Once we felt comfortable enough to branch out on our own, we started Ying Photography.
Our two missions are these: making sure that every one of our couples gets beautiful photos, of quality just like the ones on our website, at every wedding we work and: that their precious memories are backed up in multiple ways so that they won’t ever have to face the disappointment we faced. We understand, in hindsight, the importance of wedding photography, and it brings us a lot of joy to give this to these couples starting their new married life together.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
One of the biggest obstacles we’ve faced is in educating couples. Couples are faced with the challenge that, generally speaking, if you are planning your wedding, it’s your first time planning a wedding. It’s hard to convey to someone the importance of things that you would only understand in the hindsight of a wedding. We want our couples to make decisions with confidence, knowing that they won’t regret their choices. There are a lot of fly-by-night wedding “professionals” out there who prey on uneducated couples, offering deals that seem too good to be true because, generally, they are. One of our biggest challenges is getting couples to understand the value of hiring a professional you can trust instead of the best bargain you can find.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We specialize in wedding photography. We have focused on that being our primary photography pursuit. We are known for creating vibrant, editorial style photos. We want every wedding to have stunning photos that could be on the cover of a magazine. We are proud of the fact that we are overachievers. We give our very best at every wedding and fully commit to whatever it takes to make the photos fabulous. We treat every client like they are both our close friend and a VIP. Our style sets us apart from other photographers. We are not afraid of off-camera flash and vibrant colors. We like to stand out. Our images are a bold statement, and that makes us unique.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
We are definitely risk-takers. After the next exciting wedding photos, we are always willing to get into precarious places to get the shot. Whether we are balancing on a chair, lying in a muddy ditch, flying a drone over open water, or standing waist-deep in the ocean waves with thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment held up over our heads, we do what it takes to make the shot amazing.
Pricing:
- wedding packages start @$2000
Contact Info:
- Email: we.are@ying-photography.com
- Website: http://www.ying-photography.com
- Instagram: @yingphotog
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yingphotog
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