FotoFlashlight

FotoFlashlight is a small photo studio in the Olten area run by Tina Kissling with her colleague Elly. The studio address is Juchstrasse 1 in 4656 Starrkirch, which the site describes as directly on the main road between Olten and Aarau. Tina is the wedding photographer, and her wedding page is headed "Hochzeitsfotograf Olten, in der Schweiz und International" (wedding photographer in Olten, in Switzerland and internationally). Besides weddings the studio photographs portraits, short shoots, business and personal-brand pictures, sport and a travel series called the Africa Collection, and sells vouchers and prints through a gallery shop.

Tina, Elly and the dance connection

The about page introduces the pair as a creative team from Olten that shares two passions, photography and dance, and says the combination helps them read body language and presence. Tina took a photography class as an elective in her youth and developed negatives in the darkroom before digital photography took over. She later completed a part-time CAS course in photography and has kept training in seminars and workshops in Switzerland and abroad. In autumn 2017 she founded the company to pursue photography more seriously.

Elly got her first camera, a small compact for children, for her sixth birthday, later inherited her mother's camera and started photographing friends. She came to the studio through dancing, learned by assisting Tina and now handles some projects on her own, as well as the studio's social media.

Dance runs through the wedding offer too. On the wedding page Tina writes that her earlier work as a dance teacher brought her into contact with many different people, so she knows how to guide couples toward good pictures without them looking posed. The offer page adds that she is still a dance teacher and runs a separate dance site, newartofdance.ch.

How she works at a wedding

The wedding page describes the method in a few lines. On the day she keeps discreetly in the background, and her way of recording the wedding is natural, timeless and unposed, with a constant eye on making real feelings visible. She says it makes no difference whether the ceremony is civil, in church or a free ceremony, and that she lets each couple's individuality shape the reportage. The aim, in her words, is that couples feel completely at ease so that they laugh and dance together, and that the unposed pictures come out of that.

Packages and prices

The offer page publishes six wedding packages, all delivered as an online gallery.

• Standesamt (registry office), CHF 880, 3 hours: ceremony and apéro, a bridal shoot, all photos by gallery. Only possible Monday to Friday.
• Verlobungs-Shooting (engagement shoot), CHF 325, 1 hour, outdoors or on location, suggested for save-the-date or invitation cards. It includes 8 finished photos, and each further photo costs CHF 20.
• After Wedding, CHF 595, 2 hours outdoors or on location, with trash-the-dress possible. It includes 12 edited photos, and each further photo costs CHF 20.
• Hochzeitsreportage 1, CHF 2480, 8 hours: a preliminary meeting, the last preparations, a first look, ceremony and apéro, the couple shoot, and all photos by gallery.
• Hochzeitsreportage 2, CHF 2980, 12 hours: everything in package 1 plus the dinner and an engagement shoot, which the page also suggests as a way to get to know each other and for invitation cards.
• Hochzeitsreportage 3, CHF 6550, 12 hours: everything in package 2 plus 2 preliminary meetings, design of invitation and thank-you cards, a second shooter, a 28 by 28 photo album, and a photo booth at the event for one day.

Extras

A second shooter costs from CHF 640 for 8 hours, when available, and the page recommends asking early. A wedding book starts at CHF 650, depending on the couple's wishes, in a 28 by 28 cm format with the cover agreed in discussion. Card design starts at CHF 180, with an exact quote after a conversation. The wedding dance package gives couples who book Tina as their photographer 5 private lessons for their first dance at CHF 80 per hour instead of CHF 120. The about page adds, for shoots in general, that a spontaneous extension is possible when the schedule allows, at CHF 30 per further 15 minutes started, that photos arrive as a gallery by email, and that outdoor shoots have their own prices in the outdoor section.

What couples say

The testimonials on the wedding page are signed with the place of each shoot, which shows where Tina has worked: Interlaken, the canton of Bern, Solothurn, Sparenmoos, Bürchen in Valais, Aarberg, Aarau, Schöftland, and two weddings in Germany. One couple she had never met hired her as a last-minute replacement and describe a shoot on land and on the water. Another couple, who knew her from their dance class, write that she choreographed two dances for them, did a couple shoot and photographed their wedding until late at night. One review of a German wedding mentions the story in their photo book and pictures in a castle courtyard. Another couple thank her for delivering the photos quickly.

Language, booking and what to ask

The whole site is in German, and it does not say whether Tina works in English, so a couple from abroad should ask before booking. The inquiry form asks for both partners' names, an email address, a phone number, the wedding date and details or the location, and invites couples to describe their plans, naming free ceremonies and destination weddings among the options. Direct contact is tina@fotoflashlight.ch or +41 (0) 78 840 29 82. Tina also runs a separate wedding site, hochzeitsfoto-kissling.ch, which the wedding page points to for more tips.

The site does not state a delivery time for wedding galleries, how many photos a full-day package yields, or travel costs for a wedding outside the Olten area, although the testimonials show she travels to the Bernese Oberland, Valais and Germany.

Who it suits

FotoFlashlight suits a couple who want clear prices, a photographer who stays in the background, and perhaps first-dance lessons from the same person. The weekday registry-office package is a reasonable fit for a small civil wedding, and package 3 combines cards, album, second shooter and a photo booth for couples who want one supplier to handle most of the paper and pictures. The caveats are the German-only site and the unanswered questions on delivery time and travel costs.