RE: My first wedding shoot.
-Original Message- From: frank theriault [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Hi, Shrek, You know, when I fantasize about being a professional photog, then realize that no one wants to buy fuzzy bw photos of people they don't know, I think that I could be a wedding photographer. You know, like to make some money so's I could finance the photography I really like. Then I recall reading a few of tan's and tv's posts (and now yours) of the horrors of the game. And, these don't seem to be isolated things. It seems that every wedding has it's share of incidents that are uncomfortable and sometimes downright hazardous. Anytime you put 100 or 200 people together, put them on a schedule, and add some emotion, you're going to get the possibility that something screws up. While I have my share of silly stories, I'm generally surprised at how well these things go and how nice people are to me. They almost always check with me on how things get scheduled, I usually get a steak and 20 minutes to eat it, and I mostly shoot what I want to shoot. If you think about it, a wedding is actually one of the most interesting things you can shoot if you like to shoot people. Everyone looks good, they're on their best behavior, they're participating in religious and cultural ceremonies, they're dancing and getting drunk, and they don't mind getting photographed. Imagine the possibilities! Imagine you could go and shoot one and not have to worry about getting wedding shots. Other than for about 30 or 40 minutes out of 8 hours, that's what I do. Frank, I think you would be a fine wedding photographer, you just need to tell people you do frank photography, not wedding photography. tv
Re: My first wedding shoot.
That's what I'm doing next weekend in Guadalajara at my friends wedding. They have the wedding photog for the formals, then I'm being turned loose with BW to shoot whatever the hell I want toshould be fun. Norm (who says Tequila and BW don't mix?) tom wrote: Imagine the possibilities! Imagine you could go and shoot one and not have to worry about getting wedding shots.
Re: My first wedding shoot.
- Original Message - From: tom [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anytime you put 100 or 200 people together, put them on a schedule, and add some emotion, you're going to get the possibility that something screws up. Heh. I've done two weddings in my life. One of them was up on the west coast of Norway, with narrow, bendy roads and nice landscape. What more, the wedding participants weren't the only one to have a schedule that day. Most notably, ferries have schedules that people tend to be late for. Such as the car I crashed with on my way from the church to the reception... sigh So, not being able to replace my car every second wedding, I decided to quit the sooner the better. Gimme sunrise at 5 o'clock any day. It's a lot safer than wedding photography. Cheers, Jostein
Re: My first wedding shoot.
I'm assuming this is Guadalajara, Mexico. A Mexican wedding has some interesting customs. One is where the groomsmen undress the groom down to his shirt and unmentionables. Then the cloths are handed to his new bride so she can dress him. Someone hands her a hat and a belt. Someone else hands him a baby and a broom. A song is played where she whips him across the dance floor while he sweeps and carries the baby. Interesting, no? Watch out for those crazy Mariachis! Guadalajara gave the world tequila and mariachis. Drunk friends or family are known to take the microphone and sing. Beware. During my grandmothers time, wedding out in small villages lasted 3 days! In fact, on the third day, the bride and groom were long gone, but the party continued! Saludos, Alejandro That's what I'm doing next weekend in Guadalajara at my friends wedding. They have the wedding photog for the formals, then I'm being turned loose with BW to shoot whatever the hell I want toshould be fun. Norm (who says Tequila and BW don't mix?) tom wrote:
Re: My first wedding shoot.
It is Mexico and from what you've said, this should be good (along with the embarrassing photo ops)! Norm [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm assuming this is Guadalajara, Mexico. A Mexican wedding has some interesting customs. One is where the groomsmen undress the groom down to his shirt and unmentionables. Then the cloths are handed to his new bride so she can dress him. Someone hands her a hat and a belt. Someone else hands him a baby and a broom. A song is played where she whips him across the dance floor while he sweeps and carries the baby. Interesting, no? Watch out for those crazy Mariachis! Guadalajara gave the world tequila and mariachis. Drunk friends or family are known to take the microphone and sing. Beware. During my grandmothers time, wedding out in small villages lasted 3 days! In fact, on the third day, the bride and groom were long gone, but the party continued!
RE: My first wedding shoot.
On Fri, 23 Jul 2004, tom wrote: If you think about it, a wedding is actually one of the most interesting things you can shoot if you like to shoot people. Everyone looks good, they're on their best behavior, they're participating in religious and cultural ceremonies, they're dancing and getting drunk, and they don't mind getting photographed. Imagine the possibilities! I am not a colleague of yours Tom, but on the 2 occasions that I had a camera with me and covered weddings I felt just that. Probably because if all film got destroyed and/or if all piccies were as shite as they were, your colleague would come to the rescue of the couple. I really like shooting informally at weddings, but it helps that I know at least half of the people. Kostas
Re: My first wedding shoot.
That's what I'm doing next weekend in Guadalajara at my friends wedding. They have the wedding photog for the formals, then I'm being turned loose with BW to shoot whatever the hell I want toshould be fun. Norm (who says Tequila and BW don't mix?) Just remember Norm; One tequila two tequila three tequila floor VBG Butch
RE: My first wedding shoot.
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!). H, 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 --
Re: My first wedding shoot.
How about the drunken best man jumping on the hood of your car as you are leaving and tearing off your windshield wipers when you hit the brakes and dump him in the street? That was the one where I decided there was no way I was going to do this again, and hit the bar at the reception myself. Since they never did pay me, I am glad to say that I probably drank up $100 of their booze all by myself. It was the same wedding that made me decide never to work for a friend again. Say when was that? About 1980, I think. Anyone who can do weddings, week after week, is a lot stabler person than I am. -- Tanya Mayer Photography wrote: 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!). H, 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 -- -- graywolf http://graywolfphoto.com/graywolf.html
Re: My first wedding shoot
Thanks for those insights Tan, they just strengthen my resolve not to venture down the photographic paths of matrimony ever again. My photos were just your basic wedding photos, the bride groom, the bridesmaids, the in-laws and the out-laws. I've uploaded a few to photo.net. http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder.tcl?folder_id=415635 The chapel was quite dark so I used 400ISO film, a vivitar 3500 flash, and my super-takumar 105mm F2.8 on my MZ-7. For the outdoor shoots I used 100ISO film, and my FA 28-90 zoom, which worked great for the family groupings, as well as allowing me moderate closeups. I didn't have to cover the reception so I have no auto/drunk encounters to report. Fred.
RE: My first wedding shoot.
Memories; Like the time I'm assisting. We had already done the Bride's pictures, a lovely woman about 5'6. We then started to do the groom and best man 6' and maybe 5'. About 5 minutes into the shoot the shorter man taps Bill the photographer on the shoulder and informs us that he, not the 6' man, is the groom. Or the time we're doing outside bridal portraits. The photographer lifts up the train to put air underneath (to make the gown look good) and all she has underneath is a pair of thigh highs and a very skimpy thong. I'm doing a wedding for a friend next month. Her grand nephew is getting married. Other then low key close friends affairs I won't touch weddings anymore. Butch
Re: My first wedding shoot.
From: Fred Widall [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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. Thanks for the appreciation. I am an advance amateur who has been doing wedding for over ten years. I really enjoy the effort in capturing the essence of a wedding. Ji A. -- Fred Widall, Email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] URL: http://www.ist.uwaterloo.ca/~fwwidall --
RE: My first wedding shoot.
--- Tanya Mayer Photography [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: 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. yadda yadda yadda snip snip snip Hey, tan, Are ya taking a creative writing course or something? You seem more prolix that usual, even for you... vbg cheers, frank = The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true. -J. Robert Oppenheimer __ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca
RE: My first wedding shoot.
Ha! So, do you mean that in a chatty, effusive kind of way, or in a flowery, euphemistic kind a way? lol. Either way, I'm guilty of both, and if you think that it is out of the ordinairy for me, then you obviously haven't read the copy on my website. I am so ditching most of that crappity crap! BTW, no creative writing course, but I HAVE been writing again lately (which I haven't done in a long time), so maybe that explains it. So, no matter which way you put it, even if you say prolix to diffuse it a little, basically you are saying that I waffle on, ramble, digress, am repetitious, long-winded, probably rhetorical, protracted, most of my sentences run on, and well, I already admitted to being verbose? Hmmm, so tell me something that I didn't already know... hehe. Oh, and nowhere in the above did I admit to having to look up the word prolix in the dictionary, did I? No, ok, good, cause I didn't need to, honest... ;-) tan. (whose mother used to call her Motor Mouth and Jabber Jaws for a reason, I never *did* figure out what that reason was though! hehe.) -Original Message- From: frank theriault [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, 23 July 2004 3:12 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: My first wedding shoot. --- Tanya Mayer Photography [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: 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. yadda yadda yadda snip snip snip Hey, tan, Are ya taking a creative writing course or something? You seem more prolix that usual, even for you... vbg cheers, frank = The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true. -J. Robert Oppenheimer __ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca
