Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Hendrickson.
Michael, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’ve always liked taking photos, from documenting my life to whatever adventures I embarked on. Someday my memories will be faded and blurry but the photos will always be sharp and honest.
I’ve always been the person behind the camera in my family. This of course cost my family a few cameras in my teenage years. Sometimes the cameras were dropped, misplaced or simply overused. I was always had it in my mind that I would want to be able to show my future children what my life was like growing up which was why I originally started taking photos. My parents didn’t have many photos of themselves in their teenage years which was disappointing to me. Previously before the internet was around the only documentation that we had of family was holidays, school pictures, vacations and reunions. Beyond those events most people would look at you and wonder why you had a camera.
I went to a community college in Worcester directly after high school and tinkered with what I would want to do for the rest of my life. In high school I took drafting for four years so naturally I enrolled into the mechanical engineering program. I was terrible in school, no focus and every semester I would eventually stop going or just plain drop out. I found hiking in the north east to be far more rewarding or visiting Europe more enjoyable. Just to mention I did take fifty five rolls of film during a trip from Germany into Paris and onwards to the Netherlands. One positive aspect of attending college was a few marketing classes and also a photography course which really cemented my ever growing hobby.
Beyond destroying cameras in my teenage years and floundering in college the biggest milestone for me was buying my first DSLR back in 2006. Even without a DSLR my work friends knew that I was into photography. I was asked to shoot a wedding which I quickly declined. I didn’t know that much about wedding photography and I most definitely did not have the proper gear. Four days later my bravery or spontaneity kicked-in albeit impulsivity and I visited a store and picked up a Nikon D80, a very impressive camera at the time. I told my friend that I would be happy to attempt to shoot his wedding.
My first proper professional digital camera emboldened me to venture off the path most taken, stay out later, explore more. I was able to share more than amateur photos from a low megapixel camera on my MySpace. People took notice and started to ask if I would shoot their wedding or headshot. I said yes to every opportunity that came my way. At the time I was a waiter at a chain restaurant and could easily take work off when needed to accommodate my new hobby.
Before my first agreed upon wedding, I had other inquires to shoot weddings and had booked seven in my first year.
I remember sitting in my apartment at the time with two other roommates and on a small white board next to my computer I had all my upcoming shoots listed, each one crossed out once completed. I wanted that list to me much longer so to artificially inflate it sometimes I would drag my feet on admitting completion.
My first wedding was a bit scary and the rule of thumb that I operated by was to capture everything, something I still do today. I had attended weddings but never been behind the scenes of one. It was a lot of work and I didn’t even know how to properly use my flash yet. At one point my focus wouldn’t work due to myself not knowing my camera as well as I should have. I manually focused for an hour and after resetting my cameras settings I was able to continue on without anyone knowing the wiser.
Year after year I improved. I became faster shooting in manual mode and was able to understand light more. I also started reading a lot of business and marketing books as well as any book on photography or wedding photography.
Even now I’m still working on improving myself. The only difference between now and then is instead of books and magazines its podcasts and videos while I edit photos or work on contracts and proposals.
I’m not going to lie and say that after two years of shooting weddings I jumped right into it as a full-time job. It’s scary leaving any job, the security, familiarity of showing up and doing a random job you tolerate. This was a pipe dream of a job, something I never thought I would actually reach. The road between my first DSLR there has been many little life moments that have pushed me forward. One is “advice” from a number of people that I wouldn’t make it and then I need to buckle down and get a real job. I’ve run a photo studio with a friend in Worcester called “Worcester Photo Studios”. I’ve helped run a series of large group photo shoots called “The Great Model Shoot” which we ran at LensProToGo in Concord. I’ve also had many of my photos appear in magazines, social, newspapers, billboards, print advertisements, marketing plans and tv. It’s fun little accolades that always feel amazing but keep you wanting for more.
In all actuality I thought I would be a part time waiter and occasional photographer for the rest of my life. I only made the jump a little over a year ago. I was very content working for a local restaurant group in Worcester, I liked everyone there and the owners and management treated me like a human and not just a throw-away employee. More importantly they understood that my career path was not serving people food, but taking their photos. I always said in my head that if my job ever gets in the way of photography then I have to leave that job, eventually that happened.
How I got here today was due to hard work, people who believed in me, luck and lots of hustling. No matter what passion I had I would envision myself putting the same amount of hard work, focus and amount of interest into it. If I made candles you can be sure that you would see me posting on Facebook about candles day and night or seeing me at a local shop trying to have them sell my candles there.
Has it been a smooth road?
The biggest obstacle in my wedding photography career was my full-time job. I had this wonderful job on the weekends where I would photographer two people on the happiest day of their lives. In fact, I got to be their cheerleader in addition to taking their photos. Compliments and guidance during someone’s wedding day makes it a bit nicer all around. During the week and most weekends, I was very obedient to management of whatever place I worked at with the sole condition of needing certain days off.
But sometimes I would get a call for a photography job where they would need me that night or in two days where I had to get that shift off asap. Most of the past ten years has been a low frequency of anxiety in getting my shifts covered from those twenty year old’s who were hung over or decided to go to the beach. There was lots of bargaining and also being the one to bring in pizza and snacks regularly to keep myself in good favor with everyone for when I needed a favor.
Everyone has advice for you when it comes to any profession. One piece of advice that was hammered into me when I started was sell prints, not your photography. Looking back now I know those people who were offering me the advice hadn’t actually any experience with this at all. So back in the film days you would take photos and sell the prints, an 8×10 or maybe some wallet sized prints. You would charge a small sitting fee of $50 and the rest would be whatever they wanted to purchase. I tried following that method and it just didn’t feel right to me. I knew that people could look anywhere from the internet to stores that did prints and do it themselves for a quarter of the cost. I felt like a snake oil salesmen. So, I went with my gut and started selling my photography with prints included. So if I did a shoot I would edit a good deal of the photos and then give you those photos to do whatever you would like with them. I could charge what I wanted and didn’t feel the need push anything on anyone. This is actually what I still do today, weddings and portraits alike. I charge a fee, give them the photos and if they’re happy they’ll send their friends and family to me. A referral is always going to be worth more to me than an extra hundred dollars.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Unitymike.com Wedding Photography story. Tell us more about the business.
I’m a wedding photographer shooting around three dozen weddings a year. Besides New England I travel wherever I can to shoot weddings, this past December I shot a wedding in Hawaii and New York City and the previous month had shoots in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
You can find my website www.unitymike.com being updated regularly throughout the wedding season with new engagement shoots and weddings.
I shoot a mixture of candid and formal in regards to weddings. Our parents’ generation typically had a few formal photos and some photos from guest’s cameras. Now it’s a bit more than that. The whole entire wedding day is candid photos besides following the ceremony. This is when I line you up and we take the formal photos of you and your bridal party, your family; from brothers and sisters to grandparents and parents. After that it’s onto the photos that you’ll be hanging on your wall. We usually have a half hour to create a magical, once in a lifetime moment that will get captured and hung on your wall and passed down to your children and their children someday.
When I take someone’s wedding photos I’m creating a family heirloom. It feels good to help record a bit of a family’s history. I’m very happy with what I’ve chosen as my trade,
I try and make myself affordable to everyone. How I design a package for someone is simple, we start at the top. We take my single package and we start cutting out anything that you’re not interested in. I also take into account how many guests, location and what you’re really interested in. If you’re not interested in wedding albums then that’s money off the top, don’t want a photo booth then we take that off too. You’re both getting ready in the same place and wedding and reception are there too, sounds like I’ll have an easier day; so, let’s take a little bit off the top there too. At the end of the day I’m looking for a referral not an extra few hundred.
When I first started out I read lots of books on business and photography. One of those books I read had a few chapters on selling a product or selling yourself. What I’m doing is selling myself along with the product. When I shoot a wedding you’re not hiring me just because I can take great pictures, you’re hiring me because of that and you like my enthusiasm. Imagine you’re going to get your shoe repaired and the man repairing your shoe is energetic, personable and does a good job. Now imagine the same level of service minus being energetic and personable. You’re going to want to see that happy cobbler next time instead, the one who seems to really love his job.
One of the best parts about my job is knowing what’s going to happen on the wedding day. I see things happening way before you do, I’ve done this dance many times. This means that I have the unique opportunity of offering advice or a little guidance when it comes to wedding day questions, I’m with the bride and groom all day anyways. It feels great when I can calm down a nervous bride or tell a groom that he only needs to button the top button on his tux.
By the time someone’s wedding day comes around we’ve already met at my office, talked on the phone, exchanged e-mails, shot an engagement session and become Facebook friends. So, when you see me on your wedding day it’s like having a friend come and take photos. I’ve found being approachable, available and informal leads to a much better experience with a bride and groom. On your wedding day I’m there rooting for you because the more fun you have, the bigger the smiles, the better the photos comes out.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Wedding photography has already taken a huge turn in the past decade or so with the introduction of digital photography. The whole pricing methods have moved from sell by prints to selling an entire session in digital format.
There’s always going to be IPS or in-person-sales. This is where you take photos and then meet with the clients and see what their needs or wants are. This goes with selling albums, canvases and prints and more.
With the internet you can find cheap 8×10 prints or twenty-dollar canvases. So, I think a growing number of photographers are going to be faced with the question of “why am I paying this much for an 8×10 when I can find them on this website for only XX.XX”.
I don’t want to think negatively and say that the industry will be diluted with photographers who are just looking for money and anyone who has a camera can be a photographer. I think it’s always going to remain a bit of the same, the photographers who do great work are still going to get work. The photographers who put out subpar work will get hired by the people that are okay paying for subpar work. I’ve been shooting weddings for over a decade now and I’ve moved past the scare of new photographers long ago.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.unitymike.com
- Phone: 508-471-0069
- Email: mikey@unitymike.com
- Instagram: @unitymike
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unitymikephoto/
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