Risk Management:
A large degree of risk is inherent within the Wedding Photography function. In this section of our website we have outlined the key risks and more importantly, the processes, procedures and systems Clarte Photography put into place to prevent and mitigate adverse outcomes. Whilst risk can never be eliminated, Clarte Photography has invested heavily and have performed military level risk analysis in order to design and implement processes and systems to drastically reduce both the risk of occurrence of adverse events, as well as to drastically reduce the severity of adverse events should they occur.
Risk Management Processes and Systems
We manage risk through two ways:
1. Reducing the likelihood of a risk event occurring
2. Reducing the impact of a risk event, should it occur
Our processes and systems are cascaded throughout the entire Wedding Photography cycle, as diagrammatically shown below, which starts from pre Wedding preparation, through to photographic capture on the Wedding day itself, followed by processing of photographs during post production, and finally long term archive.
The Risk Management Cycle:
| Phase | What can go wrong | How we manage the risk |
|---|---|---|
| Preparation | Equipment unsuitability Photographer forgets to bring gear Deletion of previous wedding from memory card |
We invest in top of the line professional grade equipment with multiple redundancy Our photographers check off on a 38 point gear checklist prior to every Wedding We do not delete our memory cards until we have delivered the Wedding captured on that card |
| Capture | Memory Card Failure Camera Failure Photographer Incapacitated Photographer Obstructed Camera Theft |
All our cameras are dual memory card cameras (i.e. the camera writes identically to two memory cards simultaneously) Each of our photographers carries 2 cameras and a backup camera All weddings are serviced by two photographers who travel to the wedding in independent vehicles Our cameras are equipped with tracking devices but in any case do not leave our sides. The Assistant Photographer downloads all of the Primary Photographers photos to their computer prior to leaving the Wedding. |
| Processing | Data Loss Data Transfer Error Theft or Damage of Computer Equipment Accidental overwrite of data |
We maintain 3 backups of your Wedding photos (2 onsite and 1 offsite) We independently transfer photos from both memory cards on different card readers. We maintain offsite backups of your Wedding photos We never delete photos on our memory cards until client delivery has been fulfilled. Our archives are never deleted. |
| Archive | Client loses wedding photos |
We maintain electronic (cloud) storage of your wedding photos- which you will be able to access indefinitely We also maintain backups of your wedding photos that are also maintained indefinitely. |
Summary:
We aim to pioneer risk management in the Wedding Photography industry, and our transparency and articulation is designed to set a standard for our peers and industry to follow. We invite you to discuss with your Wedding Photographer what processes, procedures and systems they put in place to manage risk.