ChristoPhoto supply photography and photo documentary services for social events, weddings, public relations, companies, businesses, schools and federations and have many years of successful experience in this area. This means they've got some dynamite advice to follow when hiring a photographer.

What do you need to know from an organiser in order to provide a comprehensive quote?

In order to give a comprehensive quote to cover an event, we need to know the date and time of the event and the location. How long the organiser needs photography coverage and the time the organiser would like us to start. We would like to be informed as to want the organiser ultimately requires us to photograph, eg general photography of the event or a specific part of the event and if they would like a documentary style coverage or posed photographs or both. We would want to know when the organiser needs the edited & processed images made available.

What advice would you give to a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?

Check if the provider has experience in this particular field. Ask to see a portfolio and view the quality of the photographs checking for compositional and visual skills, that the photographs are to a professional standard. Make sure the customer understands the service they are going to receive from the provider, for the price they have agreed and what exactly the provider supplies for that price. Ask when the photographs will be ready for the customer to receive and the image files are at high-resolution (300dpi), copyright free.

Please tell us a little bit about how and why you started the business.

I decided to be a photographer when I was just 14 years of age. My dad bought me my first 35mm camera, an Olympus OM1, as he could see just how passionate I was. I have been taking and making photographs ever since. Having started my photography career, after I left school at 18, working as an assistant to a photography firm in London, I then moved on to become a freelance editorial photographer being commissioned by national newspapers and magazines. I began to build my reputation as a reliable photographer but I was constantly on the lookout for new styles of photography and which photographers were producing fresh images. I was asked to photograph London Fashion Week for the New York Times to cover the catwalks shows, parties & events with staff reporter Micheal Gross. This happened twice a year for a week around London. Micheal also wrote features for the NYT and he would ask me to do the photography, these commissions became a regular event; it was great to see my photographs published in the paper knowing it was available in America as well as the UK. It was soon after that I was asked to photograph a wedding for Jim White, now works on the Telegraph as a Sports Journalist. It was because I photographed in a documentary style which was a new way to photograph a wedding back then, which he and his wife to be, liked so much. To date, I have photographed 100s of weddings and still love doing so. I am constantly looking for new styles and weddings are everything I love photographing, fashion, parties & documentary. I live for photography.

Please tell us about a booking you've had through Add to Event, how did it go? Would you recommend us to others?

Being new to Add to Event we are still waiting to fulfil our first booking and are looking forward to it.