Fred, fred, fred... Finally somebody understands the series of events that us wedding photographers are so adept at handling.
I feel for you, in such a heartfelt way, my poor little friend, to have gone so blindly into territory that is so treacherous, so hostile, that I often refer to it as "The Abyss". Such an occasion has been known to render many a hard-core, tough skinned photo journalist useless, and it has been said that many a new wedding photographer has been found hiding under the cake table sweating, shaking, and rocking back and forth, and mindlessly chanting "nooo, not the garter, anything but the garter, i promise to be a good boy!" Yes, the landscape photographer may be a tough character, choosing to brave early mornings, and sleeping on cliff faces in freezing temperatures for his art, but have him face a psycho Bridezilla when she discovers that the colour of the grooms mother's outfit clashes with her bouquet, and that, worse still the DJ forgot to bring "Up Where We Belong", and see just how he handles THAT!! BTW, tv and Bruce have been shooting weddings for longer than me, and believe me, they have the crazy stories to go with their experiences! As for me, well, I'm such a girl, so I LOVE all things to do with weddings, all the pretty flowers, dresses, makeup, and cakes, but nothing gives me a rush more than being right in the thick of the action when the bride accidentally says her ex boyfriend's name instead of the groom's during her vows! Boy, was that one day I'll never forget! hehe... Or what about the day that the hairdresser ran so late that I actually had to do the bride's makeup as she was sitting under the hairdryer and then driver her home, dress her and drive her to the garden ceremony myself as the bridal party etc had already left thinking that she was already there! That poor bride cried all the way up the aisle (luckily I used waterproof mascara!), and got married an hour and a half late, just as it began to rain! (It had been perfect weather an hour and a half before when they were *supposed* to be married!). Hmmmm, or what about the period that I went through last year, when I managed to book six weddings in a row where the groom had either no front teeth or badly rotten teeth! Or.... no, I won't go on... lol. As for shooting for other people - tv has taught me alot about this. My new philosophy is that I will shoot what I want when I want to, and if they don't like it, then they can hire someone else. After all, the entire reason that they are hiring me is for *my* particular style, and if they want someone that they can push around and who they can demand to take cheesy shots complete with the bouquet sitting on the bride's 18ft train, or with them kissing over champagne glasses at sunset, then they'd better hire someone else, cause they won't be getting that from me! Now, if I can just adopt tv's approach to *charging* them for my time... BTW, lets see some pics!! ;-) tan. -----Original Message----- From: Fred Widall [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, 23 July 2004 9:22 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: My first wedding shoot. Last weekend I did my first (and last) wedding shoot. A co-worker wanted me to be the official photographer for her wedding, and I foolishly agreed. I won't bore you with all the trials and tribulations of the late arrivals, the lost family members, and thunderstorm dodging. Let's just say it was an experience, but not one I wish to repeat. The photographs came out fine and I'm sure the bride will be happy with them when she returns from her honeymoon. The experience has given me a greater appreciation of professional wedding photographers (Hi Tan) and their level of dedication. They earn every penny !!! For myself, on a per-hour basis I would have made more flipping burgers at McDonalds, with a lot less stress ! This was the zenith and nadir of my pro career. Its back to shooting what I like, when I like, for the pure pleasure of it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Fred Widall, Email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] URL: http://www.ist.uwaterloo.ca/~fwwidall ----------------------------------------------------------------------
