All right. Well, today we have Derrick Bryant on the show. Welcome, Derrick. Hey, man. Thanks for having me. Awesome. Yeah. So Derrick is a wedding photographer based in Raleigh, North Carolina. So Derrick, can you tell us a little bit about what you do? Yeah. I'm mainly a wedding photographer, but I shoot pretty much anything. I did a lot of food photography. I did a lot of portraits. And I started out just shooting as a hobbyist, the cliche with most photographers. We always started as a hobby. Then we kind of transitioned to paying clients. We realized that equipment costs a lot of money. So yeah, I kind of started it as a hobbyist. And I took a couple photography classes because I wanted to become a little bit more serious with it and learn how to use more high-end cameras, not just point and shoot. So I started doing that and just started doing personal projects. And it kind of started from there. I just started booking out models and just doing different things and just kind of fell in love with it. And with weddings, it's kind of an interesting transition to weddings. When I first started, of course, I didn't want to do weddings because you always hear all the bad stories about weddings. And I didn't want to experience those horror stories. But I had someone who actually really needed someone to shoot that wedding. And I agreed to do it. And I fell in love. It wasn't what I thought it was going to be. It was totally different. And when I kind of learned from weddings, today weddings incorporate all styles of photography now. You can think about it as photojournalism, telling a story, food photography, product photography. It's all in weddings. So when I think about it in that way, it's like, hey, you have to be skillful in all these different styles of photography to be a wedding photographer now. So it's not just photographing people. And that's, long story short, that's kind of my background, how I transitioned to weddings. Yeah. Yeah. And from what I looked at from your work and your portfolio, you're very skilled with lighting as well, whether it's outdoor lighting or just, I see you use a mix of both kind of artificial lighting and natural lighting. Right. Right. Yeah. I definitely love, I started out using light. I wasn't really a natural light photographer. I kind of transitioned, I kind of liked the way that light looks, because I wanted to kind of gear towards fashion photography. So I kind of liked that hard light at first, and I kind of transitioned to more of a softer light. Can we start photographing people in portraits? The light has to be a little bit softer. So then, with using a softer light, I was able to use that natural light and that artificial light together to kind of make it look like one light source. So yeah, I always started using artificial light. Gotcha. Yeah. No, I mean, it works out great for you. I know a lot of photographers who do only natural or very much on the artificial side too, but I think your work is a great mix. What's one of your favorite things about weddings compared to doing another type of photography? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Weddings, what I enjoy mostly about weddings, I enjoy meeting people. I'm a people person. I like meeting people. And when you shoot weddings, you meet people from all over the country. All day. And people have interesting stories. They like to tell you about their stories. Yeah, the bride and groom. And most of my clients become friends. And to see them transition from an engaged couple to having a family, it's actually pretty cool to be a part of that process. Sometimes I do family photos when they start having kids. So yeah, just meeting people and just having a good time. And most weddings I do, people have a good time. It's fun for me. So it's not just work. Yeah, no, absolutely. I totally agree. So I do a lot of videography when I'm in video. And it's, yeah, it's definitely like you said, meeting people all day. So you definitely kind of have to be a people person unless you're just a stereotypical like guy with a camera in the corner. You definitely have to be a people person. It's funny because starting out, I was a really big introvert growing up. So me just randomly talking to people was a scary thing. But as I grew and kind of learned that that is the main craft that you need to have to be able to talk to people and to relate to people. And you have to direct people all day long. So once I learned how to do that, WES became a breeze for me. Got you. And it looks like you do a lot of work in Georgia as well. I've done a couple of weddings in Georgia. I do a lot in the DMV. I probably do an average maybe three to four in the DMV market. So I'm really stressed between DMV and Georgia. Other than that, I do a couple of destination weddings, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Dominican Republic, things like that. But mostly I'm between North Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia. What's your favorite location you've ever shot at? Man, my favorite, I think Hangar Rock in the mountains. If you ever take time to look at Google Hangar Rock, it's a cliff on the mountains. And it's just a beautiful view. It's amazing. It's scary because there's nothing between you and the cliff. You're a couple of thousand feet out. But the view is just amazing. Wow. And is that in Carolina? Yeah, it's in North Carolina. Maybe about two hours from Raleigh. Got you. But that was by far one of the best places I ever flew to grab. It was just breathtaking. Awesome. Cool. Well, I know we're about at time here, but I guess just to wrap up, I always like to ask people what's maybe one word of advice for maybe a bride or a groom or a couple who's looking to plan a wedding or looking at different photographers and trying to pick one. Any advice on choosing the right photographer for you? Yeah. I definitely think that you should choose someone who matches your personality. You've got to think about this. You're with that person eight to 12 hours that day. I think that you need to find someone that you kind of get along with. If they were not shooting your wedding, would that be the type of person you would hang out with? That's the type of person you could sit down and have a coffee with. Because that, to me, is more important than anything else. A lot of photographers do great work. A lot of them, prices is right, but if that person is not a good fit for you, as far as personality-wise, then the experience of that day is going to not be as great as it, if you chose someone that was more like you. I'm a fun person. I joke around a lot. If you're serious and stern, we're not going to miss. You know what I'm saying? We're not going to miss. I know from your experience, I'm not the photographer for everyone and not everyone's my client. I always advise people do a consultation. If it's Zoom, if it's a phone call, just have a 10-minute conversation. Not just about photography, just in general. Just ask that person about their experience. Once you talk to that person, you will have a kind of idea if that person is a good fit for you. For sure. Absolutely. Love it. Awesome. Derrick Bryant, One Vision Photography. Thanks for being on the show. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Thank you so much.