How can we save the date for the wedding and engage you as a wedding photographer?
Save the date by signing a contract by email and making a bank deposit.
How many photos will we get after the wedding?
Depending on how long I've been with you on the wedding day (I shoot all the time - the best photos often come in the moments when nothing seems to be happening, that's when people are most relaxed), after 7-12 — hour commitment you get between 600 and 1300 photos curated and edited. There is no limit, I am selecting all the photos that would be important to you.
When and how will we receive the wedding photos?
The deadline is 3 months after the wedding date, but you usually get them in the week after the wedding, depending on my schedule. The photos are in a beautiful online gallery where you can download, share and order albums and prints.
Can we order a wedding album?
Photographs on paper create a completely different feeling in the viewer. Yes, you can order a wedding album and prints in the gallery.
Do you edit the photos?
Yes, every photo goes through basic color corrections in Lightroom and then fine adjustments in Photoshop. My aim is for the people in the photos to look natural, but I always correct temporary imperfections such as pimples, wounds, stains on clothes. You can tell me in advance if you want the colors to be more natural or with a more film look. If you leave it to me - I will judge this according to the atmosphere of the wedding. All photos are processed in the same way, I put the same care into each one.
Can we get the raw files?
You receive a finished product, selected and processed photographs. If you still, for some reason, want the raw files, you can get them for an additional fee.
Can we see more photos from a wedding?
Yes, you can browse on the blog where there are weddings with more than 100 photos displayed. https://yanapeneva.com/blog/ I believe that if you like 100 photos from one wedding, that's enough to get an idea about the rest. If you still want to see more photos from any wedding, let me know which one and I will contact the newlyweds for permission.
What camera and lenses do you use?
Sony cameras - MIV, RIII
35 1.4 GM
50 1.2 GM
24-70 II GM
Do you use flash?
I prefer natural or available light because it best conveys the atmosphere of the place and the day, showing it as it was. I have a flash in my backpack, I rarely use it.
Do you shoot on film?
Yes, if I had the chance, I would shoot everything on medium format film. The feel it gives, the depth, the colors, are unmatched by digital vision. I have a Mamiya 7II and a Mamiya RZ67 Pro. In the packages there is an option for film photos. This means that from prep until the end of natural light, I will shoot some film alongside the digital. You will then receive the digitized scanned frames as well as the films themselves.
Do you do videography?
I do photography. I make short videos that you can choose as an additional option to the package, alongside the photos. This clip 2-3 minutes is all you get, there is no longer version. If you want complete video coverage of your wedding day, I can recommend videographers I've worked with and whose work I like.
Can you recommend a videographer for our wedding?
Yes, with the greatest joy I can send you links to the portfolios of videographers whose work I like. My request is that if you decide to have a videographer, choose one whose work you really like. Then, most likely, we will have similar vision and we will not hinder each other, but help each other. My experience shows that when newlyweds, or most often their parents, hire a videographer just because his fee is cheap, it makes the photographer's job extremely difficult. The points of view and the angles he uses are radically different. For example, it's possible that during the ceremony he'll be very close to you all the time, almost on top of you, which severely limits my points of view and means he'll be present in all the wider shots. It is also possible to use a yellow-green lamp which completely changes the look of the photos and they will not look like the others you see in my portfolio. And videographers who have similar pursuits in light, composition and emotion are easy to work with. Unlike the above example, they didn't go 'to work' because of the money, but they want to find inspiration and make something beautiful, to tell your story in the best possible way.
Do you take family/group photos?
Yes, of course, as long as you want me to. Usually after the ceremony, during the congratulations, or at another appropriate time of the day. If you want photos with all the guests in groups / families, it is easiest to do this during the greetings, when they pass by to greet you, you turn to me for a photo. But having such photos is far from mandatory, we often do them only with the immediate family, instead of with all the guests.
Can we take pictures with best men, bridesmaids, parents during the session?
This is your wedding day and your decision. We usually shoot with them in the first 5-10 minutes of the session, then continue with just the newlyweds.
How much time should we plan for the photo session of the two of us, the portrait session on the wedding day?
It is more important not how much time we will have, but what part of the day it will be. The best photos are taken during sunset. Then the sun is low, the light is soft and pleasant, coming from an appropriate angle. The same is true if it is cloudy. In 15 minutes in good light, we can do more than in two hours at noon outdoors. You can spend 20 – 40 – 40 minutes, according to your desire. This is a time when you will be away from your guests. If you want a long session where we have time to do more artistic things, relax and take your time, without the pressure of more things coming up in the evening, I recommend the session on a separate day.
What is a session on separate day?
The so-called post-wedding session or after the wedding shoot takes place in the days after the wedding. We go to some beautiful or favorite place of yours, we shoot for about an hour or two. You are in the dress and suit from the wedding. The pre-wedding session is in the days before the wedding. It reflects part of your everyday life – a walk, a coffee, a nice time together, in everyday clothes.
What location should we choose for the session on the wedding day?
I recommend the location of the wedding itself and the surroundings. When there is good light wherever we are, beautiful things can happen.
We don't feel comfortable in front of a camera, can you help us?
Yes. During most of the day, I shoot documentary-reportage, this means that I do not interfere in the course of events, I try to be inconspicuous, to blend in with the people and the atmosphere. During the portrait session, I give you directions on what to do, but with the idea of everything looking natural, I don't make you do things that you wouldn't do if no one was photographing you. My efforts are in the direction of relaxing, being yourself, feeling comfortable.
What to do if the weather is bad / raining?
Enjoy the moment and don't let things you can't change affect you. Come out and dance in the rain! An approaching storm also always brings great light and colors for photos. This is your day, it's one time only, it won't happen again, take whatever it has to offer and turn it to your advantage. The more unforeseen circumstances, the more unforgettable emotions.
Do you help with the wedding planning process?
Yes, whenever you need advice or a recommendation, I'm here. I have been to quite a few weddings (over 300) and I believe that with the experience I have, I can be of help to you. First of all, it's your day and it's important that it happens the way you want and imagine it.
Is it possible not to show the photos from our wedding on the Internet?
Yes, it is possible, but whenever I do something nice, I am glad to be able to show it. This is the way for future newlyweds to get to know my work, and you yourself have found out about me precisely from the photos of other people that I have photographed. I want to tell stories that inspire, that make the world a more beautiful place. And this is my way. You are always the first to see the pictures and always everything I show is after your approval.
Do you shoot with a second photographer / assistant?
There is such an option in the package that you can choose. There are advantages and disadvantages. When I'm alone, I'm more inconspicuous, it's easier for me to blend into the event and for the guests to think of me as a camera-loving guest who really, really likes to take pictures and doesn't stop all the time (it's happened) and keep loose all the time. When there are two of us, the second photographer covers the groom's preparations if you are preparing away from each other and focuses on the guests. I think that every single person you invited is important to you, and I try to have them in the photos, even a few individual portraits of everybody. I focus on you and those closest to you, but I try to include all the other guests as well. If your wedding is big, over 150 guests, it's easier with two photographers. I always shoot as if I am alone and try to cover everything that happens, if there is a second photographer / assistant, I complete the story with his shots.
Is the deposit refundable?
The deposit is to save the date and is not refundable if the event is cancelled. When changing the date, it can be used as a deposit for the new date, if it is available. In case of force majeure and impossibility to hold the event, the deposit can be used as a voucher for a photo session valid for up to one year from the originally scheduled date of the event.
Do you discount the price?
For each wedding, I prepare an individual offer, depending on the location and the duration. For example, a wedding on a Tuesday in February with ten guests is different from a wedding on a Saturday in August with eighty guests. Travel costs are calculated in the quote you receive.
Do you travel to different places in Bulgaria and abroad for weddings?
Yes, most of the weddings I photograph are in various locations. I enjoy visiting new and different places that I haven't been to before, it's inspiring.
Would you like to have food during the wedding?
Yes thank you. Of course, this is not mandatory, it is your decision, but I usually spend 6-12 hours with you, during which I do not have a break for lunch or dinner. It is extremely nice to have dinner for me. So that I can be fit and have energy all the time. I'm a vegetarian, fish and dairy yes, meat no.
Do you choose the couples you photograph?
They choose me. I believe, and my experience shows that the people who liked the photography I do are people with whom we have something in common and would like each other. I don't do interviews, on the contrary, if people have trusted me to cover this important day, in return I want to do my best to preserve it for them in photos.
How long have you been doing photography?
since 2010, I have been photographing weddings since 2011.
What is your style and approach?
Documentary, narrative, honest. Every time I pick up the camera, a different story unfolds before me. I'm interested in people, their relationships, love and intimacy, the really important things in someone's life. By engaging me as your wedding photographer, you allow me close to you, to your love, to the most important moments of your life. And it is my responsibility not just to take photographs, but to gather in them the particles of truth, to reveal the emotions, relationships, excitement and joys. My focus is on relationships, the beautiful moments that happen between each other that show the true emotions. The incredible miracle of the touching of hands, the reflection in the eyes of the other - the same that is in us.
Tell us a little more about yourself.
I was born in the summer of 1985 in Varna. At the moment I live next to a small village, 50 km from Varna, with 22 inhabitants, forest and sea nearby with my son. I love photography because it gives me the opportunity to show the world through my eyes, my world, as I have seen it; to keep a part of what is irretrievably gone, to make a small time machine with each photo. I like to read books, lots of them. And to travel. Not to travel as a tourist, but to understand how they live and what is the understanding of the world of local people. I had the good fortune to teach a wedding photography workshop in Japan, where for two weeks I lived alongside Japanese people, as Japanese people do. To photograph sessions and teach a workshop in Norway, thanks to a wonderful family whose wedding I photographed in Bulgaria. To travel around southern Switzerland, to photograph a wedding of wonderful people in a flower greenhouse. To photograph a wedding in an old sawmill in the Austrian Alps. To spend a month in India and shoot a wedding there. And I believe there is much more to come. I'm curious, very curious. I do not have a competitive spirit and I do not often participate in competitions, although I have several national and international recognitions - I have given lectures at numerous conferences in Bulgaria and abroad, I have been nominated for a new talent at one of the largest conferences in Europe, I have given interviews in various media, I have been a jury member of a major international wedding photography competition. But the greatest satisfaction and drive to keep going comes from the feedback I get from the people I meet and photograph. I always carry a camera with me, I take pictures every day, everything that happens, everywhere I go. I photograph anything that catches my attention, be it beautiful light, an interesting person, my friends, mostly my son.
Do you have another job?
No! The photography itself on the wedding day is only a small part of what is happening. During the active season, I photograph weddings and family photo sessions. During the inactive season, I take family photo shoots, do photography trainings - workshops, participate in conferences, and I myself train and try to develop continuously. And I travel.
And briefly about what concerns you might have about the wedding photographer you hire to cover your wedding day:
Will the photographer show up on time or at all? - Yes, I will even be there earlier, and if there are unforeseen circumstances, there are planned options.
Will the photographer make an effort at my wedding or will it just be a job? – I am a curious person, and every wedding is a different world. All I can promise is that I will try and do my best to reflect you and your day.
Will the photographer be rude or impolite during my wedding? - Absolutely not. The people I photograph must feel good in my presence. I'm smiling, I'm dressed appropriately for the occasion, I'm trying my best not to contrast with the event, but to be part of it, to merge with it, so I can feel it and document it.
I don't want my day to turn into a film set. - It will never happen. The only time I will step in and give guidance when needed is during the portrait session.
Will I have enough time to spend with the guests and have nice photos? – The more you communicate with everyone, the more emotions there are, the better photos you will have.
Thank you for taking the time to read this entire text if you have made it this far. For further questions, to find out if I am available on your date and to save it, to receive an offer, you can fill out the contact form.