Wedding Photography Directory FAQ
Quick FAQ Index:
Q. How do I qualify to join Wedding Photography Directory?
Please visit our "Join Wedding Photography Directory" page to obtain more details of the qualification process.
Q. How much does the WPD membership cost?
The Wedding Photography Directory Annual Membership is $360 (=$30 a month), with optional multi-year package discounts. By linking to the WPD website from your own web site, you could extend your membership by up to two full months annually. For more information on how to properly create a link to us, click here.
A portion of your membership fee will be contributed to the Wedding Photography Directory Charity Allocation Budget. As our website grows, and more photographer members join our directory, we will continuously strive to assist the non-profit organizations, and establish the WPD and its members as supporters for the arts community. The WPD currently donates to: NYFA (NY), The Dance Complex (MA), and Creative Commons (CA - Worldwide).
Q. Is there a way I can join the WPD for free?
Yes. We currently offer a Wedding Photography Directory Content Contributor Program. If you qualify, you may receive your membership for free for each year of your active Content Contributor status. As a Content Contributor, you also receive extra exposure for your online profile, and many other benefits.
Q. How are the candidates selected for the Top-Pick Wedding Photographers?
Most professional photographers are used to being ranked from various photography associations based purely on their skills. However, the WPD's focus is to provide results from brides and grooms' perspectives, where quality and price are equally important. We try our best to present our wedding photographers in the most accurate and informative way. We also encourage seasoned photographers to enhance and provide more information on their Bios to further illustrate their experience. After all, the consumers are the ones to make the purchasing decisions on which photographer is best suited for their expected experience, quality, and budget.
With this philosophy, WPD's Top-Pick Wedding Photographers are chosen base on the consumer perception of a photographer's overal value. Less than five photographers are chosen each quarter. The photographers are selected from consumer survey responses via WPD's Consumer Survey Campaigns. We also plan to release a public feedback system in 2007, which will further contribute to the quantity and accuracy of consumer feedbacks. The Top Pick Photographers selection is made on a quarterly basis, so you would have to be a member for more than three month to qualify for consideration. Top pick photographers receive a distinguished Top Pick Icon to their listings. They are also featured in our Top Pick Photographers page, which receives thousands of additional visiting page views each month.
Q. Are wedding photographers rated? How are the directory listings ordered?
Wedding Photography Directory does not rate its photographers. Our default photographer listings orders are sorted based on our Equal Opportunity Points System, which is designed to encourage photographers to present better portfolio, bios, and richer content. The order of your listing position and exposure is ultimately controled by you: if your online profile features great work and content, you will receive higher listing potision and exposure. For more information on this subject, please visit Directory Listing Order Explained page.
Q. Do you host any wedding photography contests? If so, how do I participate?
Wedding Photography Directory hosts two professional photography contests annually: Generatl Photography Contest (end-of-year), and Summer Creative Wedding Photography Contest. Please refer to our latest wedding photo contest page for more information.
Q. Is there going to be Premium Listings? Where as they get listed on top of the state listings page?
The WPD is currently considering the possibility of including Premium Listings in the future. We have the following early concepts available (may be changed without notice):
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Premium Listings will be not be available to all applicants. The applicant must present all 16 quality portfolio photos, a self portrait, and a Rich bio score in order to qualifty to apply for a Premium Listing.
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There will be no banner advertisements for Premium Listings.
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Premium Listings will be featured on the top of each state listings page, but are limited to five per state.
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Pricing for Premium Listings is yet to be determined.
Q. I'm located in one state, but I offer services to a few other states. How will this information be provided to the consumers? Do I actually get listed in other states too?
You're allowed to be listed under one state only, which is based on your studio's mailing address. However, there will be information provided in your portfolio to show "Other Servicing States". In addition, upon each state listings page, your will be listed as "Other Photographers Servicing This State" below the state's native photographers.
Q. Does the Wedding Photography Directory plan to list photographers and studios outside of the United States?
Yes, we plan to accept submissions from Canada and UK sometime in the near future.
Q. How will Wedding Photography Directory use my intellectual property (photos)?
WeddingPhotographyDirectory.com will not use your image in any form beyond displaying them as your work in our directory. Each image will include with a credit of your studio name on the lower left corner of your images displayed in your portfolio. Images usage other than directory portfolio listing will require your additional approval first. For more information about our directory policy on member image usage, please view our Wedding Photographer Privacy Policy Page.
Q. Is there a way WPD could implement copy right protection for my images? Could another photographer take my images and claim to be their work?
WPD copy right wedding photographers' images with the appropriate credits on the lower corner of every image. However, there are no technical ways to truly protect your images: A user can disable JavaScript to right click and save the images, use a screen capture utility to capture the screen, or simply press "Press Screen".
The only way to protect images is to embed a large watermark all over the image. However, this method completely obscures the photos, and eludes the true essence of the photographer's art, expression and talent. WPD's focus is to represent the photographers' work to the consumers, in the state of quality that the work are intended to be viewed. Our philosophy is to express the photographers' talents in the best way possible.
Any art thief could scan in a magazine page, take a snap shot of an digital image and claim the image to be his/her own. If all publications (traditional media, digital, or online) are COMPLETELY bound by the fear of copy protection limitations, we will never be able to fully enjoy reading the New York Times, viewing the historic moon landing footage, or studying a breath taking picture from National Geographic. It is a publication's responsibility to ensure the copy rights of its materials are properly displayed and carefully managed, while seeking the balance of not hindering its ability to fully present its content to the public.
Although our web site presents relatively good resolution photos for screen viewing, our photographer images do not exceed 550 x 550 pixels (72 dpi), which is insufficient to claim true ownership of photos. A photography professional has to own high-res originals or negatives (usually over 300 DPI, or over 3000 pixels) to claim ownership. An art thief might be able to fool a few consumers; however, they will not be able to elude the eyes of other professionals or publications by stealing photos from Wedding Photography Directory.
Q. Will the WPD display advertisement on its website? If I am a photographer member, will my contact information be exposed to third party advertising vendors?
The WPD generates its revenue from photographer annual membership fees, as our focus is to provide a high integrity wedding photography centric website. We do not intend to open our directory for banners and third party advertisements, or exposing our members' privacy to advertisers. Please refer to our online privacy policy statement. We only accept sponsorships for our directory online events, such as our wedding photography contest. The candidates for sponsorships are thoroughly reviewed; they are required to fit within the professional photography imaging industry, and graphic related media sector.
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