DWF – Let’s start off with a little bio, tell us a little bit about yourself.
MICHAEL - I’m a photographer, a dad, and a husband. My wife Haley and I are a great team: we run our business and raise our son completely together. We have another baby on the way in early 2011 which is gong to change our life. I love technology and education, discovering new ways to improve our business and new opportunities.
DWF – How did you become a photographer?
MICHAEL- I come from a business family and I always dreamed of owning my own company; mixing creativity and commerce. It just took me a while to figure out what business to do.
I photographed a couple of friends’ weddings when I was younger, and after I met Haley we did video for a friend’s wedding because we were the only people know she knew with a good video camera. We’d both love photography, and Haley took some photos at that wedding. After that experience we looked into doing videography, but it wasn’t something that grabbed our passion. We both gravitated to photography. We had the opportunity to second shoot for a few weddings with a local photographer, which was a very educational experience, teaching us ways that we would choose to run our business.
At the time, I was finishing up my bachelor of commerce and Haley was in graduate school, getting her masters in Biochemistry. The thought of starting a business was scary but we just dove in. That was in early 2006. We were in the midst of planning our own wedding as well, so there was a lot going on.
After that, our business exploded. We hit the ground running, and we’ve never looked back. I quit my job a year after starting the business and Haley quit hers 4 years in. This weekend we’ll be shooting our 100th wedding, and we’ve had a lot of commercial and portrait work along the way.
DWF- If we needed a photographer today why would we book you? What makes you unique?
MICHAEL - We always tell our clients that personality is SO important. However, the most important thing is if our work speaks to you. If that answer is yes, then the next thing is if we’re going to have fun together. We have a way of putting our clients at ease and helping their day run smoothly. It’s feedback that we’ve had time and again. We’re both very laid back, and that translates into our work and how we interact with our clients. If my client trusts me, then I can pull the most emotional and dramatic images from them. We can’t compete on price, but we do compete on the client experience, and the quality of our products and images.
DWF- What is your favorite part of the wedding day? and why?
MICHAEL - It’s hard to pick a favorite part – I really like the ceremony because there’s raw emotion there to capture and I really enjoy the time I have alone with the couple – that’s when I get to be really creative.
DWF – Care to share your favorite photographs?
MICHAEL - This picture is the result of a total surprise. The couple had ordered confetti for the end of their first dance and had forgotten it.
DWF – How about some final words to live by?
MICHAEL - Haley wrote a great article about choosing a wedding photographer. Our biggest advice is to go for what you love, and figure out a way to make it work. It’s a cliché, but the pictures are what you’re going to have forever. If you are spending a lot of money on your dress, or centrepieces, you should make sure to choose a photographer who will do an incredible job of documenting everything. Choose a photographer who you identify with and you can have fun with.
Location – Edmonton, AB Canada
Business Name – Shandro Photo
Websites - www.shandrophoto.com
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2 Comments at "Featured Member Michael Shandro"
Congrats Michael – you are a very talented couple!
Love you guys
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