At 3:34 PM -0500 3/19/06, Ken Lin wrote:
> Then I hate to tell you this but 9 times out of 10 you have been asked to
take the photos as they know you have a camera and "Marco is a
good guy and
he won't charge us for this". They don't want to or can not pay a
photographer who does this for a living. God help you if you blow this-
friendship is "OVER"! If you insist on doing this
I no longer do weddings, at least not as the primary photographer, this is
after:
1. Had the misfortune of a borrowed Pentax 645 (that I've used a number of
times before) acting up on me which caused the flash to loose sync with the
shutter so all the shots came out underexposed, I had my EOS gear with me on
this trip for a friend but accidentally left them at the brides house that
morning, and no one had the time to go get them for me......, needless to
say the friendship was effectively lost for good
2. Realizing I just don't have the artistic eyes that some of the wedding
pros have, there is a huge difference between taking a few snaps with fancy
set of equipment vs. taking truly artistic photographs at a memorable and
emotional wedding occasion
Good luck Marco if you do decide to go through with this request from your
friends.
Ken
About 35-40 years ago I did quite a number of weddings, and managed
to get through them. After about 25 of them, I realized that I wasn't
having any fun and a few mothers of brides were the kind of people I
try very hard to avoid having dealings with otherwise. I think the
weddings might have brought out their demonic side. :-(
Since the early 70's I haven't shot any weddings as the only
photographer except my brother-in-law's, and that was doable as I
knew everyone involved very well, and I could tell them all off the
top to behave. This is important when taking pictures of friends and
family members, especially if you are doing it for free or very
little, because they tend to not take your instructions as seriously
as those coming from a stranger, especially one they have hired at a
couple of thousand dollars.
As others have said, the main skill you need is managing people, and
being a non or little paid friend make your instructions into
suggestions that can be ignored if convenient, so you have to make
sure that everyone understands at the outset that if they want the
pictures, they have to listen to you. And you have to know what to
tell them.
Better yet, have them get a professional to do the main shots they
want, and you can supplement that with your shots. Take lots and
lots, and remember you're not there for the food and drink and
dancing; you have to take pictures. As others have said, keep it
simple. Two cameras, two lenses and lots of cards. If you don't have
enough cards, get some more or have somebody else at the wedding
download the cards while you keep on shooting.
--
* Henning J. Wulff
/|\ Wulff Photography & Design
/###\ mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
|[ ]| http://www.archiphoto.com
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