As a wedding photographer in New Mexico, I have had the opportunity to speak with brides from many different places. Most know what they want, but they don’t know what it takes to get great photos. Please note that I am trying to inform you about the skill and effort my wife & I will put into YOUR wedding day. Before you invest in us, please remember that we are investing in You!

I would like to take this time to help brides understand what goes into shooting a great wedding with stunning images and lifelong memories. So if that is what you want as a bride, then this page is for you!

Personal Investment

Many brides do not know what an elegant wedding photographer puts into themselves to make sure they deliver the best images possible. The style we desire to deliver requires MUCH time and study, as well as practice. Think about it, we must be the following “types” of photographers to capture your wedding:

• Portrait/Fashion – To capture you at your best and make it look like it came out of a magazine
• Journalist – To capture all the events of the day with quality like it came out of a National Geographic.
• Product Photographer – To capture all the small details of the day like they came out of a Macy’s catalog
• Architectural – To capture your venue and location like it came from a professional real estate listing

It takes time and effort to learn each of these styles, mix them with a good flow, as well as capturing all the emotion of a wedding. I have paid photographers to teach me these styles. I have also purchased hundreds of dollars in books and guides to teach me to capture your day better than any other photographer in Taos, NM. Please consider this when looking into Estevan Montoya Photography.

Time Investment

So, we meet online or in our studio, show our portfolio, take your pictures, and POOF, your images are magnificent! Not so! We shoot our digital images in different format that is the equivalent to a digital negative image from the film days (other Taos wedding photographers don’t & you get what you pay for). So how do your photos turn out so great?

• We go through each image and apply settings to make sure your images POP.
• We have to weed through them and check for blurry images.
• We also go through images and remove spots in the sky from dust in the camera (every professional photographer does this)
• We normally take 2-3 shots in each setting to make a color print, black & white print, and an extra just in case we messed up
• We spend hours processing your photos and have late nights (lots of coffee) to make sure you get your proofs in a timely manner

So the next time you see a truly professional wedding photographer, just remember the work isn’t done when you go on your honeymoon. In fact, the work has just begun.

Equipment Investment

There are many people out there that don’t charge that much for “professional” photography, and the reason could be that they have not invested much in equipment. When a photographer hasn’t invested much in equipment, they normally don’t appreciate the costs of “getting in”. What makes equipment so great?

• The Camera – We have 2 camera bodies that have great resolution to make sure your images capture detail
• The Lens -  We have a bag full of lenses to make sure we can get the moment from far or wide. We do not use the lenses that came with the camera. They are low quality, horrible in low light, and just don’t give a photo good flavor
• The Rest -  We have bags to make sure our equipment is safe. We have tons of memory cards. We have extra batteries. We have add-on parts like flashes to add to the mix. Tripods, reflectors, studio stands….just to name a few.

This kind of equipment is not cheap, but we take YOUR wedding photos seriously. So please remember these things when comparing prices with other Taos, NM Wedding Photographers.

Always remember…You Get What You Pay For.