Mywed it's a great place where you can have all the full season of bookings only from here or zero bookings. All depends of your portfolio, if you update regularly photos and stories, and of course give the benefits to the community, there are high chance your rankings are going to increase as well your bookings.
I get bookings via Mywed. Not all of them send messages here, most of the times they send requests via my personal site or e-mail. But initially they found me here on Mywed.
My experience and honest opinion: until some years ago it was good, I had more bookings each year, then they merged the .ru website and the .com website together and the bookings dropped. Suddenly in every main city of Europe in the top positions there were listed photographers from the very eastern countries willing to go there to work for laughable rates compared to the average rates of those cities, not enough they also often advertise free services. Probably that's the main reason, or at least I have that impression because objectively that coincidence was very effective since that moment.
It takes some time, but if you have quality and don't give up, eventually you start having bookings. Probably get a message a week these days and book almost all of them.
Because you are listed in Funchal, and I see there are only locals, but especially in the first positions they are all charging decent rates, at least. But try to have a look in Vienna, Venice, Rome, Paris, London, Berlin, etc. and look carefully at the names listed there, and check how little rates they are charging many of them.
I get that. But I am lucky enough to be n. 1 in Portugal and thats probably one of the reasons why I still get a good average of bookings. From time to time we get a rush of eastern photographers popping in the portuguese list but as long as you are still n. 1 or in the top 10 you still get bookings, in spite of the lower prices.
Of course, being in top positions helps. But in my case I am still number 6 in Vienna, and compared to 2-3 years ago I receive much less requests, and mostly disappear after they get the offer, only few book. I can't get how certain people can travel until here from their countries for so cheap, how is that worth for them, if they also pay the taxes on it, etc. Luckily I have clients from other sources too.
What they usually do is to use those jobs to travel. If they get a wedding, even for a lower vaule, they have their vacacion paid. If they get a few photoshoots, the same.
Miguel I do not think that being the n ° 1 in your region is just luck, I see that you have spectacular photos with many recognitions "I congratulate you" for your achievements as a professional 👏😎, but I also see that you have very normal photos with the same amount of recognitions and awards, I never understood how MyWed is handled in this sense, it makes me uneasy and I always thought that there is no fairness in the awards, I feel that you have to be friends with someone inside. I see spectacular photos of many photographers without any award, and I can't explain that to myself ... Being the n ° 1 in your region, do you credit MyWed with your success? 🤔 Do you pay or is your membership free?Miguel no creo que ser el n°1 en su region sea solo suerte, veo que tienes fotos espectaculares con muchos reconocimientos "te felicito" por tus logros como profesional 👏😎, pero tambien veo que posees fotos muy normales con igual cantidad de reconocimientos y premios, nunca entendí como se maneja MyWed en este sentido, me da inquietud y siempre pensé que no hay imparcialidad en los reconocimientos, siento que hay que ser amigo de alguien dentro. Veo fotos espectaculares de muchos fotografos sin ningun premio, y eso no me lo explico... Tú siendo el n°1 en tu region, acreditas tú éxito a MyWed? 🤔 tu pagas o tu membresia es gratuita?
Gabriel, you have valid points. Showcasing the best works everyday should entice people to want to look at this website and support it. What we are seeing are too many images being featured that are weak and amateurish, but they are from pro members. By allowing anyone to be a member (and lets be honest there are some terrible fauxtographers here) the only ones who win in the end are the owners. As I had received only 2 inquiries in 6 years – it proved to me that this was not worth my money. BTW when I gave up my pro membership – I dropped 22 places overnight ;) I will say complimentary to the owners who built a successful website and made money off of it, however they are the only ones who are profiting from it.
Which of my photos are very normal but had recognitions and awards? Do you mean yellow stamps...those depend on the number of likes from other photographers, but they dont give you that much points.
Many votes from the "editors" make me think that there is favoritism ... because you are a photographer with spectacular captures and much deserved recognition, but an ordinary photo like this 👇 does it deserve to be "the best photos of the year"? 😮 "best of the week"? and even get the "editors' choice" stamp? . I do not mean to offend you, it is that things like these are the ones that from the beginning made me doubt belonging to this portal as a paid member, I thought that being here could only feed my ego through the "like" of a colleague ... and paying a membership for that is not worth it. Some of my doubts were: do you pay for your membership or is it free? Do you attribute your professional growth to MyWed? do you have friends in MyWed? thanks for answering.Muchos votos de los "editores" me hacen pensar que hay favoritismo... porque usted es un fotografo con capturas espectaculares y reconocimientos muy merecidos, pero una foto común y corriente como esta 👇 merece ser de "las mejores fotos del año"? 😮 "mejores de la semana"? y hasta obtener el sello "elección de los editores"? . No pretendo ofenderle, es que cosas como estas son las que desde un principio me hicieron dudar de pertenecer a este portal como un mimbro de pago, pensé que estar aquí solo me podría alimentar el ego atreves del "like" de un colega... y pagar una membresia para eso no vale la pena. Alguna de mis dudas eran: usted abona su membresia o es gratis? usted atribuye su crecimiento profesional a MyWed? tiene amigos dentro de MyWed? gracias por responder.
Don't worry. I don't feel offended that easy :)In any case that is far from being a "normal" photo. The expression of the groom, his shadow on the wall, the expression of his friends and the face of disaproval from the woman in front. If you have tried a photo like this before you must know how hard it is to get all the check marks. It's not the structure of the photo, it's the structure, the colours, the exposure and all of those matching elements in people's faces that make a good group photo.I am interested in knowing what other photos would be "normal" from your point of view. Obvisouly, photography is a matter of personal taste and I imagine it would be hard to please everyone.Regarding your questions: No, i don't have any friends working for MyWed or any of the editors. I do pay for membership, but in 2018 and 2021 I had free membership as a reward for having won Photo of The Year at the MyWed Awards.Yes I attribute part of my professional growth to MyWed because i am firm believer that competititon makes us better if we are humble enough to go back to the photos we thought were great but didn't get a recognition and try to improve them. Also, I always used my position in MyWed for promotion with potencial clients, which for me it's the biggest value i get from the platform.The truth is MyWed brings me much more bussiness than the requests made through the platfofrm, which nonetheless, are usually more than enough to cover the membership.
Well I understand, thanks for your answers, those were some of my doubts, these portals usually have good photographers for free, because they know that they do not need them to be successful. But the portal if it does good that good photographers are present, because they give them level. Regarding the photos, as you It says everything is a matter of taste, it is something personal, but formerly it caught my attention because the "editors" chose ordinary photos many times, and photographers with large photos were ignored ... you is an example of all this, it has excellent photos without acknowledgments and more common photos (no offense) with acknowledgments ... if you want examples of what I say I will show you (in my opinion), but it is not my intention to do a portfolio review , You he is an excellent photographer.Bien comprendo, gracias por sus respuestas, esas eran algunas de mis dudas, estos portales suelen tener a buenos fotografos gratis, porque saben que no necesitan de ellos para tener éxito. Pero al portal si le hace bien que los fotografos buenos estén presentes, porque les dan nivel. Con respecto a las fotos, como ud. dice todo es cuestion de gustos, es algo personal, pero antiguamente me llamo la atencion porque los "editores" elegían fotos ordinarias muchas veces, y fotografos con grandes fotos eran ignorados... ud. es un ejemplo de todo ello, tiene fotos excelentes sin reconocimientos y fotos (sin ofender) mas comunes con reconocimientos... si quiere ejemplos de lo que digo le mostrare (a mi parecer), pero no es mi intención hacerle una revision de porfolio, ud. es un excelente fotografo.
Yay, I got my first bookings for a destination wedding and a couple shooting lately. Also, I get more and more website visits by mywed. With Fearless Photographers definitely one of the best sources to actually get clients.
Yo lo he usado por 11 meses y nunca he tenido una solicitud, hubo un tiempo que pague la versión pro, pero aun no entiendo como funciona este algoritmo de búsquedas y pues por eso le he perdido el hilo y de hecho hace mucho que no había revisado por aquí.
I´ve been here for 6 years already and never got a single wedding. i´m the 2nd place in my city, my hour price is average and my job is a good quality one -you can have a look at my profile-. So, I don´t understand what excatly I´m paying for.
After being a Mywed Pro member for more then 2 years i occasionally do have a booking from clients who have found me here on Mywed. However i did not receive any banners nor recognition from Mywed. I guess that's how the system works, good and known photographers gets lots of recognition and exposure and are more often awarded with great and sometimes not so great photos. Good photographers who are lesser known struggle to get any exposure or awards. At least this platform is not a 'pay more, get more awards' business model which is still better then what some other platforms do...
I think english speaking community is less active than community in Russia What is obvious as it’s a Russian platform, that exists lots of years already
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I recently not always asking how the couple found me
maybe this would help
Probably get a message a week these days and book almost all of them.
I can't get how certain people can travel until here from their countries for so cheap, how is that worth for them, if they also pay the taxes on it, etc.
Luckily I have clients from other sources too.
hope you won't be angry for that :)
By allowing anyone to be a member (and lets be honest there are some terrible fauxtographers here) the only ones who win in the end are the owners. As I had received only 2 inquiries in 6 years – it proved to me that this was not worth my money. BTW when I gave up my pro membership – I dropped 22 places overnight ;) I will say complimentary to the owners who built a successful website and made money off of it, however they are the only ones who are profiting from it.
Hopefully more inquiries and bookings will come from here!
Would be better to be booked more frequently, as well as get some comments or likes 🙂
What is obvious as it’s a Russian platform, that exists lots of years already