We sat down with the man behind the lens of Michael Briggs Photography. This Yarra Valley-based wedding photographer would keep capturing weddings, even if he won the lotto – which to us means that his passion for wedding photography is ever-exploding. We also asked Micheal for his best wedding advice for couples looking for their wedding photographer.
Who is Michael Briggs Photography?
I’m a Yarra Valley wedding photographer from Victoria, Australia. I’m also a new dad, a husband, a small business owner, and trying to juggle all those things as best as I can.
How did you come to be a photographer?
I’ve played in bands kind of seriously and not so seriously since I was 12 years old. In my twenties, I was growing pretty tired of playing shitty pub gigs to five drunk people and I wanted to do something else creative, so I purchased an SLR camera and started photographing other bands and a bit of other stuff.
One day in 2011, a friend of a friend asked me to shoot their friend’s wedding, I fell in love straight away. It wasn’t until 2015 that I made this my full-time job, though. And that was when everything changed. Then, as they say, the rest is history.
Any advice for couples looking for a photographer?
It’s obviously a really easy thing to say as a wedding photographer myself – but, look beyond just the price. After your wedding is done and dusted, your photos are one of the only physical pieces of evidence remaining. Do you want to look back on your pictures with the biggest smile in the world, remembering your amazing day and sharing those photos with pride, with your loved ones for generations to come? Or do you never want to look at your wedding photos again because you hate your photos and wish you’d found the right photographer whose work connected with you first, not just their price?
Just ask yourself when searching – can you imagine yourself in the kinds of photos your photographer takes? Do you love the way they shoot & edit? Do they have dozens or hundreds of great reviews online from many past couples who were stoked with their work?
What makes you get up out of bed every day and do what you do?
I legitimately love my job. I’m not just saying that because it’s the cliche thing to say. It’s the best job in the world. I know, because I’ve worked a lot of shitty jobs in my life before this, haha. Even if I won tattslotto, I’d still shoot a handful of weddings a year. The fact that I currently get to do something that I really love, and support my little family doing so, is a pretty bloody amazing feeling.
Where is your favourite wedding destination, and why?
The Yarra Valley, where I live! Am I getting cliche enough now? Haha. But seriously, it’s the most beautiful place in the world, and the vast majority of my weddings are only 15 minutes from home, what’s not to love!?
Is there a wedding you’ve been a part of that you’ll never forget? Describe it to us.
The first thing that comes to mind is probably seeing my first dangerous all-in brawl during a wedding earlier this year. But that’s a story for over a couple of beers at the bar, not here.
What are your ‘words I live by’?
In the words of the great Bill S Preston Esquire and Ted Theodore Logan – “Be excellent to each other.”
