When you have a sentence like,
"For the wedding we hired photagrapher James Murphy."
would you put a comma after photographer or not?
yes. I think you should make it "For the wedding we hired a photographer, James Murphy"
To determine whether a comma should be placed after the word "photographer" in the given sentence, we need to consider whether the phrase "James Murphy" is essential or non-essential information.
If "James Murphy" is essential information needed to identify which photographer was hired for the wedding, then no comma should be used. In this case, "photographer" and "James Murphy" are closely linked and should not be separated by a comma:
"For the wedding we hired photographer James Murphy."
However, if "James Murphy" is non-essential information, meaning that it provides additional details but is not necessary for identifying the photographer, then a comma should be used to set it off as an extra piece of information:
"For the wedding we hired photographer, James Murphy."
So, the presence or absence of the comma would depend on whether "James Murphy" is essential or non-essential to the sentence.