Frequently Asked Questions

Hiring me means giving yourself the peace of mind that your wedding photography will be handled with class, professionalism, and kindness. Also, I’m a pretty great photographer with 26 years of experience handling stressful, once-in-a-lifetime situations, like weddings. I’m cool under pressure, my work is beautiful, I’m a nice person, I can probably sing a song for you during the reception, and I’m not too expensive. And I’m awesome.

At time of booking I require a 50% retainer to lock me down for your wedding date. For my own peace of mind, and for the need of anticipated flexibility per client’s needs, I do not overbook.

My 1:1 Relationship philosophy is my personal belief that I require an ample amount of time and creative space to focus upon each couple so that I may provide them with the absolute best service. This allows me the availability to address the needs of my clients, and to have the time required to create the highest qualities images, while also giving me space on my calendar to pursue commercial work.

The 1:1 Relationship is what I call the one-on-one bespoke service I provide each of my clients. I will sit with you, take the time and energy to be available for you, and I won’t cancel on you at the last minute if a sexier project comes along. It’s perplexing how many times I get calls from an exasperated bride upon the eve of her wedding day, bemoaning how the photographer she hired months ago suddenly cancelled on her to take on a better-paying gig. Several of the weddings I’ve photographed over the years were last-minute rescues where I saved the day because the couple’s previous photog was a jerk who bailed on them. I’m not a jerk. Hire me straight away.

My rates are extremely competitive, which I’ve worked out into packages which account for not just the time I took capturing the photos, but the gigantic amount of time I will later spend editing the photos and making them look their best, plus the wear and tear on my equipment. Feel free to contact me for a quote so we can discuss your needs and work out a custom package just for you.

My affordably-priced packages include the initial retouch to make sure your photos look amazing, a non-exclusive limited license release so you can order prints from anywhere, and online hosting of digital photos on a special password-protected area of this website customized just for you. I always deliver a very high quality JPEG perfect for printing or for social media. No watermarks — ever.

I sure do! You can find them right here.

This depends on the scope of your wedding and how many other projects I have going on at the same time. However, I believe you should have your photos quickly, so you may expect delivery of both wedding and engagement photos between 2 and 4 weeks after the event or session.

I am based in Sparta, Tennessee, but I consider the area between Sparta and Nashville to be “local.” That means I won’t charge extra for the drive, portal-to-portal within that area. Of course, I’m open to traveling almost anywhere in the world if that’s what the job requires. Destination wedding in Madrid next summer? Let’s go! Note: I charge an extra fee of $25-$50 for beach photography. This fee helps me maintain my equipment and supports future equipment replacement due to the harsh, camera-destroying environment of salty air, saltwater, course sand, and strong winds, that is common along coastal shores.

Absolutely. I generally prefer to drive considering all the photographic equipment I tend to bring with me tends to make flying expensive. Outside of the general area of Tennessee between Sparta and Nashville, my travel fee is an estimate figured at $0.50 per mile, plus a per diem for estimated meal costs, plus an estimated hotel cost for however long the stay needs to be considering my own health and safety as top priority. And that estimate for miles and meals is doubled because I also need to come back home. It really just depends on how far I need to travel away from Sparta and how long I need to be away.

Absolutely! I will charge a flat rate estimated in a similar way as my in-state travel, and book my own flight and accommodations, so you can focus on the other zillion aspects of your wedding planning. Those costs, of course, are added to your quote.

Nope! The images I create for your special day are your memories. I am the author, and you are granted a non-exclusive license to your finished images, which are delivered in high quality, full resolution, JPEG files, and you are free to share, print, archive, and use them in any personal way that you wish. However, you may not sell them or use them in any commercial way without my permission. Just ask; I’m super cool.

You can easily find them all right here. The content is password protected, so if you lose it, let me know.

Absolutely; though most of the time clients only want digital photos. I do have a partnership with a professional photography lab which handles all of my museum-quality paper and canvas print jobs. The process is expensive and time-consuming. For most of my customers, digital sharing on social media is preferred, but sometimes I’m asked to create one very nice print that will require a very long life hung on someone’s wall somewhere, and those prints are handled delicately, with precision and professionalism, by my preferred photography lab. I can also create lovely photo books, and print on tangible items like clothing and coffee mugs. Otherwise, digital proofs and digital deliverables is the future and what most of my clients want.

I believe black and white photography is timeless and beautiful. So, I occasionally deliver all my images in both color and black and white so you have the power to choose which version you prefer. It’s a special process that isn’t as easy as simply switching the color off/on. I actually photograph the event seeing the images in black and white, adding the color back at a later time. I’m just old school like that.

That’s a loaded question, and the short answer is “yes.” If you would like me to use my fancy expert Photoshop skills to digitally modify any of my photographs, there’s an extra charge over and above the scope of the wedding package quote. What that charge will be depends on what amount of digital surgery I need to perform. I’ll do this as a separate quote to keep things between us tidy.

I am both a photographer and videographer. I suppose I’m a wedding cinematographer, but I don’t agree with that nomenclature since I am an actual cinematographer. Regardless of the terminology, I can’t do both at the same time very well, so if you need both video and photos of your event, I will hire a trusted second photographer to handle the labor. I will, of course, set up my side of things, and will be supervising my workers. I will also be the one who personally edits the videos and photos. If you only need photos or only video, then it will almost certainly be me behind the camera, unless I can’t make it for some crazy reason (like me moving from Texas to Tennessee). But, the people I work with are professionals. And, the real magic happens during the editing process which I personally handle myself. That’s when I can take any normal-looking images and make them really pop! That’s the real Jason R. Johnston Photography magic that you’ve hired us for!

If you’re seriously interested, I get into all the gory (boring) detail about what gear I use on my equipment page.

Only if you’re very nice.