Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack Lusted  Firstly visit the church so you know what the lighting and layout is like. Also introduce your self to the minister - it's only polite and, moreover he/she will be able to explain how the service is to be conducted, what is appropriate or not, and so on. Remember, irrespective of your personal belief, for the minister that building is a sacred space and the wedding an act of worship, so treat both with due respect (as indeed the vast, vast majority do). |
Dear Jack,
Hear! Hear! I'd like to add further to this: at the last wedding we photographed (in a 600-year-old church in my native Cornwall), we explained to the vicar (the day before the service) that the last thing we wanted was to interrupt the service; that we would not be using flash; and that as old friends of the bride's parents (I've known her father 40+ years) we obviously wanted pictures that everyone was happy with.
We asked the vicar about a few specific pictures -- couple at the altar, taking the vows, signing the register -- and found that the she was more relaxed about shooting positions, and our moving about during the service -- than we were. This was, I think, simply because we asked respectfully and made it clear that this was her turf, not ours. Her wishes, and those of Tony and Louise (the couple) took precedence over ours.
Changing the subject somewhat, at the same wedding my wife Frances Schultz shot a 'bride dressing' sequence that was close to a reverse strip-tease (Louise started out in underwear and stockings) and made a small, personal album just for the groom. He loved it, and Louise has kindly let us use even these personal shots for publication; one of them appears in the (paid) module on rangefinder photography in The Photo School at
www.rogerandfrances.com. Frances used a Voigtlander Bessa-R2 with 50/1.5 Nokton. In the same module there's a wedding picture of one of my oldest friends at her second wedding (her first husband died) taken with a 50/1.2 Canon on an M-series Leica: it gives a wonderfully soft, romantic image at full bore.
Cheers,
R.