Here’s How This Wedding Photographer Reduced His Editing Time by 60%

Lewis Fackrell from Wales sorts and batch edits using Palette Gear’s tactile controls and saves time.

Tell us about yourself

I’m a wedding photographer from Cardiff in Wales (UK), I’d go as far as saying I’m obsessed. I’m a full time wedding attender — the people I meet, the stories I hear, and the views I witness, I wouldn’t want to change one bit!

Apart from that, I’m into road cycling, the obvious — photography of all kinds (with a phone mostly), hiking, and exploring.

Oh, and did I mention I was a Snow Stormtrooper in Star Wars Episode 7? That was an epic week!

I’ve been in a few other movies since but they aren’t worth the mention. As a film & TV background artist it’s an escape and great fun, I also get to watch other creatives do their thing — these guys are epic at lighting!

How did you establish yourself as a professional photographer?

Since buying my first camera 8 years ago, I developed a love for composition and freezing moments. I began my photography journey photographing vast landscapes around my home country Wales. I then developed a love for capturing people, which ultimately lead to a friend asking me to photograph their wedding; I thoroughly enjoyed it!

The penny dropped when people began asking to pay for the images I took and asking if I had my own website. That was it for me me, I immediately bought a domain, shot weddings for an entire year and used some of those images as a portfolio to launch my career as a wedding photographer. I also learned online about selling and presentation, etc., which definitely paid off!

What aspects of photography do you find the most challenging? The most rewarding?

Having my own business is absolutely brilliant. I’m not one for a groundhog day and so the balance I can set is fantastic, allowing me to do what I want with my life; the freedom is beautiful.

Shooting weddings was always the ultimate challenge, I love the pressure one may embrace but also the creativity it allows me to express.

I’m an emotional soul and forever enjoy learning about people, so it’s a perfect place for me to be!

The most challenging part of photography for me has got to be the challenge of loving my own work. I need to believe that it is good enough and I should stop trying to find the faults in my work; and instead treat faults as either creative differences or a subjective piece of art.

Most rewarding thing about photography is, without a doubt, the response I get after all the pressure of photographing a couple’s wedding, editing, and packaging the shots. The couple saying how in love they are with their images makes it all worth it. It’s what makes me put all my effort into each wedding.

What inspires you?

Maybe not as easy to answer. For me, my inspiration is to be reaching full potential and to succeed at something I enjoy. I want to be an inspiration to others and support them in their photography journey.

Ultimately I enjoy creating art and having people cry happy tears that I’ve captured their wedding so beautifully; the buzz from that alone, for me, is why I do this!

Before using Palette, how did you expect it to improve your workflow? How does this compare to your experience so far?

I expected a new desk toy that would probably be too confusing to use and end up gathering dust, reducing my workflow time by around 10% and that was it.

In comparison, my workflow has reduced by 60% of my time editing — that’s around 4 hours extra to do lots of star jumps or something. This is a total life saver as it means when I have 4 weddings to edit in 2 weeks I can fly though in 2 days and get on with other business and spend more time out cycling!

What style or technique would you like to explore further?

I’m quite old fashioned and so I would love to explore the idea of shooting a whole wedding on film or Polaroid. That would be pretty epic, maybe from a 2nd photographer’s point of view.

Otherwise, as I sometimes work on films and spend time at the sets, I’d like to next explore incorporating film into my packages too, and to create personal mini film projects.

Anything else you’d like to share?

Just be yourself, everyone else is taken! It’s a motto that’s carried me a few years and it speaks the truth; if I’ve found myself trying to be a little like someone else or emulate them, it’s come off un-natural and it’s obvious!

Trust your instinct and people will love you for who you are and not for what or who you’re not!

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See more of Lewis’ work on his website and follow him on Instagram or Facebook.

Try Palette Gear risk-free in your editing workflow. If Palette doesn't improve your wedding photography editing process, you can return it for a full refund within 30 days.