Quote:
Originally Posted by Roger Hicks  Dear Bob,
Interesting article, but I can't say I agree with a lot of it. Whenever I can't get out of shooting a wedding -- maybe half a dozen times in the last 35 years -- I make it abundantly clear that I shoot it my way (or, since I met Frances Schultz 26 years ago, that we shoot in our way) and that if they want it done their way (or indeed your way), they can damn' well hire a photographer.
I completely disagree with your views about professionalism: if they're friends, they know me, and they know full well that I don't do suits. Likewise I disagree about your choice of cameras and focal lengths (we use rangefinder and fast 35, 50 and 75 or 90mm), film (Delta 3200 works wonders for many shots), flash (can't abide the stuff), tripods (never use 'em any more) and the interminable shot list.
You also make a lot of cultural assumptions about what a wedding has to be like. Many are a good deal more bohemian than you suggest.
Film, initial machine processing (for XP2 and colour) and a few hand-coloured prints are part of the wedding gift (as is the shoot). Reprints are their problem. We commonly shoot 500-1000 images, almost all 35mm B+W plus a few MF group shots in colour.
Everyone so far has been delighted. I fear there will be one more (we're into friends' children now) but that should be the last. Your approach seems to me to add a lot of stress on all sides -- yours and the couple's -- and it's not really about photographing friends' weddings at all: it's about semi-pro wedding photography.
Sorry to be so negative, but I just thought that others who are asked to shoot friends' weddings might find it easier and more rewarding to adopt my more casual approach. As I say, if this doesn't suit the happy couple, they can go find someone else.
Cheers,
Roger |
I apologize that I have been absent from the board for so long. I just happened across the board again and have seen some very helpful input from other members.
Roger,
I primarily wrote this article as an introduction to wedding photography for photographers who have never shot a wedding before. Certainly any photographer who has developed their own style will bring that to the table as well.
I am not being presumptuous enough to suggest that my way is the only way to shoot a wedding; it is just a good starting point for someone who wants to know some basics.
This article was written when I moderated a photography forum. A common question that would pop up time to time from amateur photographers whould be (along the lines of) 'I am shooting a wedding for the first time; what do I do?'.
My intent was to create an introduction aimed at someone shooting a wedding for the first time, using what equipment they had available, plus offering some advice garnered from wedding photography that would not be covered in a simple equipment and poses checklist.
I can certainly recall my first time shooting a wedding as a photographer; as an amateur photographer. It turned out okay (you can breathe now), but there were mistakes that were made; primarily among those was the assumption that being a photographer made one a wedding photographer.
There are many good books and articles out there written by Monte, Bambi, and some guy named Roger Hicks
which provide instruction and advice well beyond what I have provided in my little article, but, what I found to be missing was a basic introdution aimed at the amateur to be able to use their own equipment to photograph a wedding.
I do hope I provided enough of a warning of the importance of getting a professional wedding photographer, if that option is available. Of course, not everybody can afford that. Often, in that situation, someone will ask a friend, especially if they are either a photographer or they have, what they consider, a decent camera. That friend now has a reference for shooting a wedding with what they can bring to the table (yep, ah like using that phrase
).
Negative? Not at all. I can, however, not recommend to someone considering shooting a wedding for the first time to 'do it their way'. Of course, as someone develops as a photographer, that is an option they can take, but, when someone is doing a one chance event like this for the first time, or even the first few times, they need to do it well, not screw up, and put 'their way' in the backseat.
I am tickled pink that you took the time to critique my article and and offer input. This is very valuable for future considerations and I thank you very much, as I do all of those who have provided input.
