India is a country obsessed with mileage, and bargaining is practically our National Sport (anyone wants to start an online campaign for that?). I have a fixed rate list for my services and I never over-quote myself. When a prospective client tried to bargain and I told him this, he actually chastised me, “Come on, that’s not how it works here!” All things considered, the budget is usually one of the biggest limiting factors when it comes to hiring a candid wedding photographer over a traditional photographer, even today.

The biggest confusion most couples have about candid wedding photography is why it’s as costly here as it is abroad. Some of my NRI clients were surprised to hear that I charge as much as photographers do abroad! The simple, one-word answer to this is: Globalization. Really, there is no big difference between people living in, say, New York and Bombay. Real estate rents are comparable, standards of living are comparable, and even the price of electronics (cameras, lights, lenses, computers, about a million adaptors and cables of every kind, etc) are similar if not costlier in India! Professional candid wedding photography is still considered to be an “offbeat” career and the cost of doing business suffers because of that.

That being said, there are two excellent things that you can take away from this. The first is that Indian Candid Wedding Photographers are world class! And I’m not saying that just because I’m a candid wedding photographer myself (I’m completely impartial, I swear)!  Now foreigners (and not just NRIs) fly Indian photographers out to their native countries for their weddings, just because they fell in love with their photography. The candid photography industry is growing, and we can only expect to see bigger and better talents to emerge over the next few years.

The second thing is that Indian Wedding Photography is STILL worth its weight in gold! While foreign weddings tend to be one day, two event (wedding + reception) affairs, Indian weddings usually have multiple events spread out over two or maybe even three days! Considering that, you get a candid photographer for the same price, but for a longer duration, covering more events, and consequently more photos! Isn’t that great?

I’d like to leave you with the simple message I always leave you with. Stop worrying about all this, and simply hire Bangalore’s Best Candid Wedding Photographer! 😉