The pandemic has not been kind to the wedding industry. Businesses were hit hard. Dorothy (she/her) sat down with Joel Mailo (he/him) of Sydney photography studio Ava Me Photography,  to talk about his career as a wedding photographer, his reflections during the pandemic, and his secret to building good rapport with clients.

Joel is a seasoned wedding photographer at Ava Me Photography for seven years now. His interest in photography began when his first child, Ava, was born. On Facebook, people complimented pictures of his daughter. From then on, he started learning how to work the camera, eventually finding his niche in wedding photography.   

In this chat we discuss:

• Joel’s start in wedding photography
• Building and managing client relationships
• How to capture candid moments
• Wedding day tips for photographers
• Business reflections during COVID-19
• Advice for wedding vendors & businesses

Joel’s photos always turn out amazing because he’s able to build strong bonds with  couples. How does he do it? He shares, “During my meetings, there's no pressure tactics or anything. It's just this nice casual chat about their wedding day. And that's how we start.

Besides continuing the conversation, you're always trying to touch base with clients. And if they do touch base with you, just to give them as much information as possible. Then there's other things such as pre-wedding shoots that you do. And they're probably the most important ones, because the pre-wedding should really help couples see how you work, get to know you a bit more, and just see that dynamic of a couple photographer and how it's going to work on their wedding day.”

Links Mentioned & Find Joel: 

Ava Me Photography on Polka Dot Wedding

Ava Me Photography Website

Ava Me Photography Facebook

Ava Me Photography Instagram

Ava Me Photography Vimeo

Studio Ninja

Find Dorothy & the Polka Dot Wedding team:

On Instagram: @polkadotwedding

On the website: polkadotwedding.com

For full transcript and show notes visit: polkadotwedding.com/podcast

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The Polka Dot Wedding team is honoured to conduct our work on the land of the BoonWurrung, WoiWorung, Eora and Kuring-gai people. We honour the traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders custodians of the land and pay our respects to Elders past & present.