David Maida catches up with award-winning Australian photographer Yervant Zanazanian.

When Yervant Zanazanian began studying at Melbourne’s Photographic College they told him not to bother if he just wanted to shoot weddings.

“They said you shouldn’t be here if you’re going to become a wedding photographer, you can go and just pick up your camera,” he says. “They thought the idea of a wedding photographer was just someone who took snapshots of people doing things at weddings.”

Yervant studied photography anyway and now charges up to AU$15,000 to “take snapshots of people doing things”

But Yervant studied photography anyway and now charges up to AU$15,000 to “take snapshots of people doing things”. But that price is just Yervant’s time for the day — no prints or albums. Wedding photography is the best kind of photography says Yervant. “The wedding is one of best the moments of people’s lives. So capturing it and recording it for them is, for me, the most exciting thing.”

Born in Ethiopia with an Armenian heritage, Yervant Zanazanian moved to Italy when his parents decided to leave Ethiopia for Australia. “Originally I didn’t want to come to Australia. I wanted to stay close to Ethiopia. Plus, Italy was very inspiring for me to go and study there, so I went to Italy,” says Yervant. But before the Zanazanians left Ethiopia, Yervant had already fallen in love with photography. His father was the official photographer for the Haile Sellassie royal family. “He used to do all the royal family photos. He had a big studio — the only studio in Ethiopia then.”

Yervant says his parents didn’t push him to become a photographer; they were hoping he’d become a doctor or a scientist. Yervant wasn’t interested. “I learnt photography from my father. I had all the freedom in the studio. I had my own lab, darkroom. I had all the latest, greatest equipment. So I had everything in my possession even when I was seven years old.”

That included receiving one of the first SLRs as soon as they were released. However, Yervant says he had a passion for photography that he believes his father lacked. “My father was a businessman,” says Yervant. “He made money. I was more passionate and into the art.” Yervant learned the technical skills from his father and taught himself the art. A lot about photography has to come from within the photographer, he says.

“When it comes to seeing the picture, seeing the subject, completing the picture, it has to come from your heart — from your inside. Photography is an art. You cannot be educated to become a Leonardo Da Vinci. You definitely need the eye.” This is certainly the case with Yervant’s wedding business. He goes to weddings to record the event the way he sees it. His perspective and style is reflected in every photo. When he first started out he displayed every style of wedding photograph in his studio, but not anymore. “It didn’t work because I was trying to be what I am not and in the delivery of the pictures it was not what they wanted. Now the displayed pictures are all my style the way I want to shoot. And if the bride loves my style, that’s why she books.”

Click through to the next page to read more about Yervant.

Preparing for your wedding can be quite enlightening as well as tiring. You will find out about the latest wedding programs as well as wedding decorations, and will also have to decide your wedding bands, etc from a huge range. You will have to pick your guests’ gifts from handbags to watches to gift vouchers, and you will be browsing through wholesale jewelry.

He brings out the best in the couple on the day without over-posing them. He sets them up in the correct lighting and environment to capture them in a natural way. But for Yervant, the wedding is still all about the bride. “My style brings the girls out. My pictures are more concentrated on the bride because I really believe that the wedding day is the girl’s day. In most cases, 80 per cent of the cases, the guy is the accessory that comes in and just says ‘yes’.” When brides want their special day to be something out of a fairy tale Yervant is all too happy to oblige.

He is picky about his photos. He wants them to be casual and laid back — yet encapsulate fashion and glamour.

“It’s the day that she wears that white dress so she wants to look like a princess. I make her look like a princess, a model, or whatever you call it. I bring out the best of them on the day.” He tries to be unobtrusive and only takes one camera to his weddings. “I let them have fun because when I go there I don’t take too much equipment or anything. I am interacting with them. It’s like a journalist asking questions and getting reaction. I don’t ask questions though, I interact visually. When they see my excitement they work well with me.”

Yervant says his style does not work well with every bride. Those who are more standoffish might do best to go with another photographer. “If she’s a bride that wants to be subtle and she wants to be photographed from a distance, then that bride is not going to work with me the same way I work with most of my brides.” Yervant prefers not to accept bookings from people who don’t suit his photographic style, although he targets the bride market with continual advertising and studio displays.

He is picky about his photos. He wants them to be casual and laid back — yet encapsulate fashion and glamour. But above all, the lighting has to be right.  “If I don’t have the right light I don’t shoot. I look for the light, then I place the couple there and that’s when I shoot. So, there’s a bit of structure.” Good photographers have a deep appreciation for light and shadow and Yervant is no exception.

“Lighting — seeing the light — not even many professionals can see the light. You can see the light, but seeing the right light is the problem.” But photographers can be taught to see the light he says. It is part of the education process of becoming a good photographer. “You will learn to see the light if you work with the right people. Subtleties, how the light is reflecting, how the light is coming on the subject.” Even when taking casual photos around the house, Yervant is obsessive about getting the right light.

“When I’m going to do a candid shot of the girls getting ready, before they start to get ready, I set them up in the right position. I say, ‘Girls, sit down here, take this position’, so I can control the lighting. If I let them do what they do where they are, then I’m not going to get the correct lighting and then I’m going to have horrible pictures.” Yervant has become more than a professional photographer, he has become his own brand. The Zanazanian surname was dropped to simplify things when he first started business in Melbourne.

He began shooting professionally 20 years ago, going into business with several partners. But 10 years ago he left the partnership to launch his own business. He has trained the photographers who work for him to shoot in his style. Customers at Yervant Photography can request Yervant or one of the other photographers, who have been with him for 12 years. “The quality is equally the same. We produce the same type of work. I have trained the other photographers and they shoot like me.” But Yervant photographers don’t just shoot like him; they must create that ever-important interaction with the subject.

“It’s the interaction of how you talk to the people, how you treat them, how you present yourself on the day — all these things make an important effect on the picture.” Freelancers are not used at Yervant Photography. If a member of staff is going to be away on holiday then the wedding is not booked. But perhaps the lynchpin of the studio is Yervant’s wife of 25 years, Annie. Unlike his father, Yervant did not have the business skills to run his own studio.

“I am a photographer and I used to give away everything. Customers want something, I give it to them. ‘You can have this, you can have that’, you know.” Annie became Yervant’s business manager. Using her marketing background, she quickly put an end to the endless free giveaways. “The minute she joined my company she made the changes. She controlled my business. She manages my business to make money. I don’t talk money. I used to do everything — accounting, everything — and that was the biggest mistake I could do.”

Another of Yervant’s loves is computer software. When he’s not shooting weddings he’s writing software to design wedding albums.

Another of Yervant’s loves is computer software. When he’s not shooting weddings he’s writing software to design wedding albums. “It’s very popular software around the world. I’ve developed the software and sell the software. It’s called Page Gallery. Yervant’s Page Gallery. It’s very popular.” Yervant has watched photography evolve since he had his first SLR in Ethiopia. Back then he developed all his own pictures himself. Unfortunately, he was lax about wearing protective equipment when handling the chemicals.

“I started to become sick because I never used gloves. I never used masks. I never had perfectly air-conditioned darkrooms. It started to affect my health. Yervant was having headaches and was afraid he might have to change his profession. “I was looking for an alternative way of producing photographs. At the same time digital was introduced, so I jumped quickly on it because I didn’t want to change my job.”

The copyright issues associated with copying digital photos are of no concern to Yervant. He says a lot of other photographers say he should enforce his copyright. But he welcomes people copying his photos. “I’m happy about that because obviously many people are liking what I’m doing, you know? It’s a compliment for me.” Yervant says customers will see those copies and want Yervant Photography to take photos at their wedding. But digital photography has also changed the way Yervant takes photos, particularly the way he uses a flash.

“I used to use a big flashlight while using film, but with the digital camera I avoid flashlights because the flashlight doesn’t like digital. I feel digital is like the movies. I think digital captures the light better than film. The flashlight gives that artificial feel to the picture.” He says digital can capture the perfect light even if it is a low light. But if the light is too low, Yervant will go with a tungsten video light on top of his camera. Digital also gives the customers the ability to do their own printing. However, Yervant is against giving clients the original RAW files, as opposed to the final Photoshopped TIFFs.

“The customer is going to print what they see with a RAW file and they’re going to get horrible pictures and that reflects on the quality of the photographer. I perfect my pictures in Photoshop.” This finishing process is extremely important and Yervant says it needs to be done by the photographer. “A cook doesn’t give you food without cooking it the way he wants it, so I am not going to just give clients the raw materials and say, ‘You can cook it yourself.’”

Yervant insists on finishing his photos and says the ‘shoot and burn’ philosophy is not the way to go. “I just love what I’m doing, and my excitement and enjoyment always shows in my work,” he says. “But I want to give some priority to my children. I’ve got two little boys. I have a very young family and I travel a lot, so I need to dedicate my time to them now.”
See: www.yervant.com

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