I have not been keeping up with the list - I know, tell you something new - but I actually had a good excuse the last few days. Just bear with me :-)
My next door neighbor's elder daughter got married on Saturday. She is like my little sister. My, how they all grow up... Anyway, I was the official photographer. All the festivities began on Thursday - now that is the way to celebrate. Thursday was a sunset cruise into the bay. I used the *ist D for about 200 shots on the boat. It was a nice way to meet some of the groom's family. It is good to know who these people are for when you are shooting at the reception. It was a wonderful time as I was getting some nice candids, especially as the sun was setting. I found I was rather stealthy as shots were taken and no one realized I was even around. I did have to prefocus some as I talked to people - who did not like their photo taken - and shot from the hip or the chest. Friday was the rehearsal. I shot a roll of 160 NC as a test with different settings to verify lighting and such. I was using the MZ-S. The rehearsal dinner was fantastic. Some more meeting of people and a plethora of candid shots. I was using the *ist D for these and ended up with another 200 shots. Saturday I took in the test roll to my developer. They came out great! Easily correctible with a negative, but I found MY setting as -1 with the flash. I believe in minimizing any corrections by the lab. It is not because I do not trust them, but rather I want it right straight from the camera. I should know what I am doing and not have to rely on others to correct my mistakes. The lab person told me I should have had them dressed up at the rehearsal as they were lovely exposures. She says it is a dream to work with my film. She was raving over the exposure, the sharpness, the color of the shots. Thank you Pentax :-) At 1:15 I made it to the church. The wedding was at 4. I shot mainly the film camera. I had the MZ-S as my main camera (film wind) with three LXen as backups. I did use an LX during the ceremony shooting Ilford Delta 3200 at ASA 1600. I was using the FA* 200/2.8 from the back of the church for these b&w shots. I would have loved to have had the *ist D alongside to compare. The test shots with the *ist D at 1600 were very nice. I ended up shooting just over 13 rolls, that included a few at the reception. The fun part was switching the AF400T between the *ist D and MZ-S. I shot digitally for a few of the 'silly' 'fun' shots and did film for the formals. I will leave out a few of the personal things that went on - being that I am so close to the family it was the most enjoyable wedding I have done. They do have one more daughter, so I may get to experience it again. The reception was another blast. It was held at the elementary school where she taught. It made for some interesting logistics. And to top it all off we had rain. I never gave it a second thought, especially when carting the LX. I ended up taking almost 400 shots on the *ist D. The saber arch was beautiful, and their dash in the rain to the Corvette was a nice ending. I ended up shotting until about 8:30 that night. Surprised myself that I was not really tired. You really do not want to know how many cameras, flashes, lenses, battery packs, batteries, and external meters I was carrying. I talked to the DJ about this when he was waiting for a replacement microphone to show up. I told him that there was no way I would go out without some backup... Sorry for the ramble, thought some might be interested. Dropping off the film after work, César Panama City, Florida
