Where Weddings Meet High Fashion: Doug Gordon

If you’ve attended a WPPI Convention and Trade Show in the past few years, you’ve probably witnessed Doug Gordon at work, conducting fast-paced lighting and posing demonstrations at a variety of manufacturers’ booths or on stage at one of his standing-room-only seminars. His charismatic style and enthusiasm make him a hard man to miss—and this year’s demonstrations promise to be his most adventurous ever.  “Anything you thought you could never do at a wedding, I’m going to do it,” he laughs. “Change the way you think and you can change your world forever. I live by that motto. I try to be very open-minded.”

While his vibrant personality goes a long way, what ultimately draws clients (and photography students) to Doug Gordon is the consistent quality of his images, something he has refined and changed over many years. Although he’s only 35 years old, Doug actually has over 19 years of shooting experience under his belt. He shot his first wedding just before his 16th birthday, taking a last-minute booking that wasn’t able to be handled at his parents’ photography studio (where he’d been helping his dad shoot weddings since the age of 11). A year later, his father brought him to a seminar with Monte Zucker, who took Doug under his wing for nearly a decade and helped to get him his first speaking engagement.

“Most people aren’t lucky enough to have a mentor. I was very lucky. I had three great ones: my mother, my father and, of course, Monte,” reflects Doug.

In 2001, Doug’s parents perceived that the industry was moving in a different direction and decided to move on, so Doug purchased their shares of the company and became the sole owner of the studio. “At that point, we were doing about 400 weddings per year and a couple of hundred portrait sessions. Although we were doing well, I was bored. I felt the need to really prove myself and make a splash; I wanted to push the envelope.” And push the envelope he did. With his open-minded approach and willingness to take chances, the studio really began to prosper. “Today, we’re doing about 900 weddings and close to 3000 portraits a year,” says Doug, reflecting on how the studio has changed since its early days. “We have 25 of the greatest full-time employees, three locations on Long Island, one in Orlando and a franchise in Texas,” he says. “Over the years I’ve tried to hire all my friends and family to come work with me. I have to be able to put total faith and trust in my employees, particularly since I spend so much time traveling for speaking engagements and shooting weddings. Hiring the people who are already closest to me is the best way to do that, I’ve always felt.”

In the 24-year history of the studio,  “People come and they stay,” he says. “I’m a firm believer that you have to treat people better than you’d want to be treated. That’s the secret. We believe everybody is equal in our studio. Whatever I would want, I try to go 10 times further with it for them. All their equipment is purchased and maintained by the studio, so they don’t have to worry about it. They get five weeks paid vacation, 401K retirement plans with company contributions, health and dental insurance, an annual and semi-annual bonus and, of course, raises,” he concludes.

“Although I do believe money is important to keep my co-workers motivated, I think it’s even more important to show my appreciation in other ways as well: We do a minimum of four to five company retreats a year. I was fortunate to do one of the greatest things in my life for our company’s 20th anniversary, taking our entire company and their families on an all-expenses-paid trip to Disney World. It was the greatest experience ever. I cannot wait for our 25th anniversary next year. We’re really trying to keep a good atmosphere and motivate people to be the best. I am so very lucky I have the best family (employees) in the world.”

This level of employee satisfaction is something that translates into superior customer service. “In an average year, we have to turn down close to 200 weddings—we don’t have enough people to do them,” Doug says. The studio’s reputation is so immaculate, in fact, that this high demand is achieved without doing any advertising whatsoever. “The best place to advertise is with people we already have,” Doug says. “Our clients do the work for us with their recommendations. We are truly about developing personal relationships with our clients.”

In addition to great service, Doug feels there are a few other things that facilitate the success of his business. One of these is how they deal with people. “Ninety-nine percent of being a wedding photographer is psychology—getting people to do things, convincing them that it’s going to work, and not having them fight you on it. There’s not too much I can’t get a bride to do. When I took over the studio, I envisioned really changing the way wedding photography was done. I wanted a more up-to-date look. And definitely, I wanted to capture the connections between people. I took on the challenge of wedding photography because I really enjoy working with people. In today’s wedding, clients want to see and feel the emotion. They want to remember the sensual, romantic, sexy side of the day.”

Likewise, says Doug, high fashion has claimed a place in wedding photography. “Over the years, I have really started to shoot more of a fashionable look. If I can make the bride feel sexy, it really shows in the final product. I see a real transition in weddings today. A lot of brides now would like to see images of themselves as though they were on America’s Next Top Model. Any time I anticipate a change in the industry, I say to myself, ‘If I don’t try, I will never know.’ You can’t ask for permission to do something, because there is always a chance someone will say no.”

Doug is able to balance this with a systematic approach to his work. “I am the furthest thing from a photojournalist that you’re ever going to see,” he says. “I’m someone who believes in creating the moment and that good posing brings the image to life. I like to guide my clients with prompting. It has to be about creating the moment, because when a client comes in and looks at my past work, they love it and they want exactly that. Of course, as a photojournalist I couldn’t really guarantee them the same results. I don’t know what’s going to happen at their wedding—and when they come to look at their pictures I can’t say to them, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry. Your wedding was lousy, and that’s why your pictures don’t look like the ones you loved in the sample album.’ Imagine what their reaction would be! So I really try to make the magic, make the moment and create situations, rather
than waiting for them to happen.”

No matter how adverse the situation, no matter the time he’s given, Doug is able to get the images the couple wants because of how methodically and fluidly he approaches the shoot. “A wedding is supposed to be a fairy-tale,” adds Doug. “But anyone who’s ever photographed one knows it’s the farthest thing from it. There are so many variables—Mom is frazzled, Dad is stressed out, the neighbor’s in the way, the cake’s not right, the couple is paying attention to everything except what they should be—each other. That’s why I try to create the romance.” Having a solid system in place lets him guarantee his clients a consistent look and image quality at every wedding. “Posing truly has become a lost art. Everyone thinks they can pick up a digital camera and be a wedding photographer. Knowing how to manipulate the body to create a flattering moment is what separates me from other photographers,” he says.

Involved in wedding photography from such a young age, Doug also freely admits he’s kind of a sappy guy, which makes him perfectly suited for idealizing people, places and relationships. “One of the things that I really try to do, and I think it’s the most important thing I can ever do as a photographer, is look at my subjects and I try to find something to make me fall in love with them—something beautiful that I can emphasize. I’m not there to show them as they are. I’m there to show them as they want to be. I’m there to make them look better than they ever have in their entire lives. The biggest thing I have learned as a photographer is the importance of family relationships. I really came to understand that after having my own children. Not every day is perfect, but that’s not how you want to remember it. My job is not to show the world as it is, my job is to the show the world as my client would want it to be.”

Wedding photography is now more exciting to Doug Gordon than ever. “I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface. For me it has always been about following your passion and your dreams,” he says. Still, Doug claims he’s in the process of “slowing down,” which, for him, means that this year he’ll shoot 60–70 weddings and do another 30–40 speaking engagements internationally, as well as continuing to serve as the head photography consultant for Carnival Cruise Line.

Additionally, he continues to add to his much sought after line of teaching materials. At this year’s WPPI Convention and Trade Show, he’ll add 10 new products to his ever-evolving line. “When I first started 10 years ago, I was showing my version of what I call flow posing, doing 10 poses in five minutes. I now can do over 60 in that same time,” he says. One new addition to his teaching materials will be a selection of business-building tools. “The fact is, there aren’t many studios that have had the good fortune to have this level of success on the business front, so this year we’re releasing a business plan. This is something my company uses for guiding everything from phone contacts to contracts—you name it, it’s going to be in there,” he says.

You can catch up with Doug at his website: www.douggordonworkshops.com.

Michelle Perkins is a photographer, writer and designer from Buffalo, NY. Her latest book, 500 Poses for Photographing Women: A Visual Sourcebook for Portrait Photographers, will be published by Amherst Media in February 2009.