We caught up with the brilliant and insightful William Bichara a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

William, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

I am an artist, the camera is my medium and photography is my tool.

As a professional wedding photographer, if asked what I do differently from the industry standards, my answer is “almost everything”. But before diving into what’s behind this bold claim, I’d like to start by clarifying that where I come from on this subject is not a place of rebellion or antipathy. I’m not intentional about not conforming to widely accepted ways of doing business. Neither do I mean it a as statement of exclusivity. I deeply respect that common practices adopted by the industry have long been refined and established by many talented and successful photography business owners before me. However, my approach on this topic is more of a personal life philosophy that extends to the way I do business. In a nutshell, I have a very entrenched vision of how human interactions in life should ideally be, and I apply them in the way I do business.

As in life, in business I mostly care to be true – true to myself and my creative instincts, true to the story I’m telling through my photography, be it that of a human subject, an event or an inanimate object, true to the art of photography, and true to what it takes to deliver on what’s promised to a client. It should come as no surprise that this philosophy does not always prioritize the bottom line.

In an ever-changing industry that keeps leaning more and more towards promoting the easy and the convenient, the challenge of reconciling art and truth in service with profitability is growing by the day. Fortunately, as a creative business owner who has come to the decision that the former is much more important than the latter, I am unburdened by the dichotomy.

My experience has taught me that staying true to my art and true in conducting business keeps both my clients and me happy. However, the qualification here is that these clients have to be like me, seeking the art and the truth in storytelling. These are the clients that are not in search for easy bundles of wedding services that offer all the convenience and none of the creativity and the personalized service. They are the sentimental brides and grooms who are in search of a wedding photographer to trust in capturing all the worthy moments of their wedding day truthfully and artfully. They are investing in a wedding ‘storybook’ to cherish for as long as they desire and they need to choose carefully.

To those clients, easy and convenient won’t cut if they are left with no finely captured memories to let them relive the precious and fleeting moments of their wedding day. As long as these discerning couples are out there, my business model thrives and my philosophy will remain untethered to common industry standards that can only bind me in a never ending chase of the next smart way of generating volumes and boosting the bottom line.

Looking back at the hundreds of wedding couples I have worked with, the lasting connections I have built with many of them and the multitude of heartwarming testimonials they have generously left me along the way, I am more convinced than ever that just like a wedding couple find each other, the right clients will find me if my brand and what I offer matches their vision.

William, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a wedding photographer, based in Dallas. I cover local and destination weddings along with all related services including creative photo sessions – couples, bridal and boudoir – as well as luxury wedding albums. In addition to weddings, I do Corporate and Personal Lifestyle photography and I also dabble in Product and Fine Art Photography. My photography style can be summed up in 3 ways – Storytelling, Photojournalistic, Dramatic.
I’m a Hall-of-Famer on The Knot and a winner of their Best of Weddings Award for 9 consecutive years including 2022. I have been featured on different platforms ranging from vendor websites and blogs to local magazines like Patron and D Magazine to name a few. Other renowned photography and/or wedding sites that I’ve been featured on include Vogue Italia, The knot, Maharani Weddings, The Desi Bride and WeddingWire. Yet, my biggest accolade is being blessed with many discerning and appreciative brides and grooms who, through their testimonials, are unfailingly happy to express their pleasure with my work in ways that exceed anything I can describe myself. Their feedback often points out their trust in my work, feeling at ease in my presence in the most personal moments of their wedding day, flexibility, product quality, and quick turnaround. However, the greatest common factor of all these testimonials is a humbling fascination with the elegant storytelling quality of their final wedding images.
The final thought that I always leave my potential clients with and would be happy to share here is a reminder that the wedding, as eventful and wonderful as it may be, will fly by in a day, but what remains is the memory in your hearts and the pictures in your wedding album. Your wedding photographer is your chosen guardian of these memories. So choose wisely.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

As a wedding photographer, my mission is to leave my wedding couples with beautifully captured and lasting memories of their big day, and as importantly, good memories of their experience with me. As an artist, my goal is to create meaningful art that outlasts me even if just to be appreciated by a few. As a person, I strive to leave a mark on the world, not for the sake of celebrity or fame, and even if it’s only the slightest of marks in my own small world – it’s my lasting tribute to the gift of photography that I was blessed with.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

By far, client referrals. Although I would never discount the power of advertising, social media, vendor networks and web optimization – and I personally do invest in all of these avenues – but combined, all these sources do not bring in nearly as much new business as client referrals do. I like to think that this organic growth is a testament to the success of my business philosophy that leans heavily on personalized customer service, relationship building, attention to what’s important to my clients and a policy of zero compromise on the quality of products and photography services that I deliver to them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.weddingsbybichara.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weddings_by_bichara/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WilliamBicharaPhotography
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-bichara-09579048/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/williambichara