In June 2014, Michael Bambino celebrated 16 years as one of Cincinnati’s favorite—and many brides might add, most fun—wedding photographers. His studio, michaelBAMBINO&co, shoots 150 weddings each year, and Bambino personally photographs 30 to 40 of them.
Known for an artistic, photojournalistic style, the studio captures those candid loving moments you’ll want to remember for decades to come. He gave us advice on choosing the right photographer and capturing the best images on your big day.
CW: How should a bride start her wedding photographer search?
MB: Look at websites and see who matches the style you’re looking for. Don’t worry about the words. Don’t worry about the logos. Just look at the style of the photography. Then make sure that you meet with two or three different people because that will give you a good feeling for what’s out there.
CW: What should I ask potential photographers?
MB: What is their background? What did they do before they started doing wedding photography? I think that would give you a little bit of a feel for the person. I think that’s very important. What does the photographer love most about wedding photography?
CW: How can brides put together a good timeline for photography?
MB: A professional photographer will give you a preliminary timeline. I don’t want you to stress about “Oh my god, what time should I do hair and makeup? Or what time do we need the limo?” You don’t want to have those worries. You don’t want your mom to have those worries.
CW: How can brides make photography less stressful?
MB: The more running around you do, the more aggravation it is going to cause. I promise you it will be the fastest day of your life. So slow it down. Bring the professional hair and makeup to you. The same with travel. If you can bring in a limo or driver, the stress will be so light on you compared to 10 bridesmaids trying to follow each other to the park.
CW: What big trends are you seeing in wedding photography?
MB: The boudoir sessions are huge right now. Basically, we come to the house a little bit earlier and we do photos of the bride—very, very sexy but clean and classy. One of our female photographers will come to the house and do some really great looks for the bride, so she doesn’t have to do a separate session.
CW: What’s your take on posing brides and grooms?
MB: I don’t like posing people because I think it looks very phony and then everybody starts looking the same. I like your individual pose. It’s got to be your style. If you keep it pretty simple, the photos are crazy dramatic because as a photographer you have so many angles to shoot from.
With me, I’ll kind of set you and then say, “OK, look at your flowers. OK, look at me. OK, look up in the sky. OK, look over here.” I’m kind of moving you around without moving you, and you wouldn’t believe how different the photos are. They are just gorgeous.
This article originally appeared in the Spring/Summer 2014 issue of Cincinnati Wedding magazine.
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