----- Original Message ----- From: "Cotty" Subject: Re: Asked to do a wedding.
> Better to read about their experiences in books. The best PJs are > basically 'people-people' - they are better with human interaction than > they are technically with a camera. This is much the same for the wedding game as well. Cameras have gotten to the point that most of the required technical knowledge is built in. Being able to handle people is more important in weddings than being able to handle a camera. It is a stressful day for all involved, and the photographer will generally find him or herself at or near the center of it. People deal with stress in different ways, so it can be difficult to read them. Generally, the bride and her mother will have the most on their plates, and often need very careful handling. A bride who has suffered a meltdown isn't a good candidate for nice portraiture, and a bride's motherzilla can make everyone's life a misery. The guy who mentored me into the wedding game pretty much walked in and took charge of everything. He was of the opinion that since he had been to several hundred more weddings than anyone else present, he was best equipped to make sure everything ran smoothly. Consequently, he was often taking on more than a normal photographer would. However, his weddings always ran on plan and on time. One of the problem with weddings is that things take longer than time is alloted for. A bad day would start with the bride locked in the bathroom trying to fix what the hairdresser had taken too long to mess up, causing me to have too little time for prebridals before the ceremony. The ceremony would start late and take longer than it was scheduled to take, which would cut into the time allotted for location shooting, and if it was a late ceremony might even cause the light to be gone. Figure out how much time you need to do what you want to do, tell the clients you need half again more time than that to do it, and count on being given half the time you need. The people involved aren't professionals, and may well be floating through the day in a bit of a daze, so they might not be giving the photographer the cooperation he needs to do what is required. It's a fine line to walk sometimes as a photographer. You have to be aware that this is "their special day" and that you are just along to record events, but at the same time, you have to make sure the events happen so that you can record them. John gave some very good advice regarding reading a few books on the subject of wedding photography. I'd go a step or two further, I'd be picking up some bridal magazines as well, to make sure I was on top of current trends in weddings, and would also be looking at fashion magazines to get some ideas regarding how photos are being posed at the moment. The modern bride may be wearing her grandmother's dress, but she's not going to appreciate getting her grandmothers photographs in an album. Books give good basic knowledge, magazines give current trends to add on top of what you have learned from the books. It's also not a bad idea to hang out at the occassional outdoor wedding shoot. Where I live, studio weddings are almost a thing of the past. Everyone wants their weddings shot on location. Find out where your clients want to shoot, and go and see what others are doing at those places. The best wedding photographers are the invisible ones. If you put on a dog and pony show at the ceremony, no one will be happy with you, no matter how good the pictures are. Stay out of the way, if the church says no flash, respect that, even if others don't. If you are planning on taking up weddings as a money earner, remember that you are working for the bride and groom, but you are working with the caterer and the minister. If you are lucky, you won't work for the bride and groom again. If you do things right, the minister will welcome you back into his house next time. William Robb -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
