It's been a long day, a very long day, much longer than originally
anticipated, doing the "wedding wallow."
Started out like many other days. Nice blue sky, warm but not hot for
August. Starts out well, then the best laid plans of mice and men go
awry. A friend of mine owns a studio, and like most studio photographers
he shoots weddings also. Today though, he has three weddings booked. His
wife will cover one of them. The other two, about 50 miles east-north-east
of where I live, are too close in timing. He will have time to cover
pre-ceremony and altar returns at one, but cannot cover the reception. He
needs to cover the pre-ceremony and *all* the "formals" of the next wedding
*before* the ceremony begins.
Asks me if I'll cover the reception for the first wedding. No
problem. I've done things like this several times before both solo and
when double-coverage of two photographers is desired.
The Plan:
(a) Up at 6:30 AM. Down a couple large cups of java, consume a bread roll,
and make a full 1/2-gallon thermos of more java for later in the day.
(b) Leave at 7:45 AM and drive 60 miles south to a large camera store in
Indianapolis. Mission: get some odds and ends when they open at 9:00
AM. Need the stuff, but none of it is essential for the wedding.
(c) Leave the camera store no later than 9:45 AM. Drive 75 miles north to
a church about 50 miles east north-east of my home. Arrive there about
11:30 AM
(d) Play gaffer, grip and best boy helping set up lights and tearing them
down after the altar returns.
(e) Travel on to reception and shoot all the reception events.
(f) Drop film and a couple other things off with his wife at his home studio.
Everything goes fine until about 12:30 PM, and hour before the first
wedding is supposed to begin. We've got the groom's shots done (somehow,
if the men are timely in getting to the church, they're ready in
no-time). The bride isn't ready yet. Cannot do any pre-ceremony shots
with her yet. Finally that gets started about 15 minutes late. 1:00 PM,
and we have to dismantle the lights for the ceremony, but haven't gotten as
much done as we should have. It will have to wait until the altar
returns. 1:30 PM, and wedding si supposed to begin, but stragglers are
still floating in and minister, bride and groom decide to go into a holding
pattern for about 10 minutes. 1:45 PM, the processional is complete, but
wait, before the bride's father gives here away there are two soloists with
songs to sing. Hmmm, this wedding will be longer than normal. 2:15 PM,
and now they're having communion (done at some, but not most
weddings). Gonna be even longer.
My friend, now realizing there is a very real problem, comes up with a plan
"B". Instead of the plan A" which was simply picking up the reception,
I'll take half the lights to the next wedding and start shooting the
pre-ceremony formals there. He'll catch up with me, and I'll immediately
depart to the reception for the first wedding. Should be able to get there
within a few minutes of the bride and groom. OK, mentally shifting
gears. Wasn't configured to shoot formals; the M645 is sitting at home
along with a 5-pack of 220 Portra 160 for it. Also sitting at home are
lights, stands, umbrellas and flash meter. Not enough time for a 100-mile
round trip on state highways either. But, I have a second OM body and with
half his lighting I can configure it for using studio lights without
breaking down the other one from the flash bracket. Unfortunately, I
cannot get to the lights until about half the church has emptied out. To
speed up the altar returns, we left them on the stands, telescoped them and
folded the umbrellas up, then tucked them away along the faux buttresses on
the side aisles. He gives me a quick crib-sheet of the formal
set-ups. Each photog has their own style for this.
2:45 PM, and the wedding has finally cleared out enough I can get to the
lights. Two trips to the car later with lights, stands an umbrellas tucked
under my arm, and I'm off. 3:00 PM, and I arrive at church #2, quickly set
up the lights and start shooting the "getting ready" shots with the groom
and groomsmen. 3:20 PM, check on bride and her attendants; nope they're
not ready enough and won't let me in their room. I'm suspecting there's a
problem with her dress and some eleventh-hour alterations are being made
(based on overheard conversation just outside the door). Back to
groomsmen. Mind you, I've never met any of these people before, so I don't
even know which one is the best man yet. Find one of the best men (there's
two of them; their wedding, who am I to try to understand it all "on the
fly"). Ask him to round up all the groomsmen and herd them into the
sanctuary so at least we can start on the groomsmen formals. There's a lot
of them; it's like herding cats. 3:30 PM, start shooting the groom
portraits and groupings with his best men (bride and bridesmaids still not
ready). 3:45 PM and partway into groupings of groom with groomsmen, and my
friend shows up. Quickly get the rest of the lighting up and he takes over
shooting. I pack up the extra body and bolt for the door to get to the
reception (bride still wasn't ready when I left).
4:00 PM, I get to the reception from the first wedding about 5 minutes
after the bride and groom got there. OK, no entrance, but that's a tough
one to get anyway. Next surprise. It's at the National Guard Armory; on
the 2nd floor which resembles a large basketball court (indeed, it really
is used for that part-time.) Nice environment. NO AIR CONDITIONING! Yep,
just like a greenhouse. 20 foot vaulted ceiling with nothing but windows
on both the east and west long sides of the building, starting at about 10
feet up, and with no way to cover them. If 95 degrees inside this building
weren't enough, there's bright direct sun streaming through the west side,
complete with the thin, harsh shadows of all the square window frames. I'm
using a higher power Metz with an SCA-321 under TTL control with an
OM-4. It's so bright I have to stop down to f/16 to get the the shutter
speed down enough flash to fire (don't want pure ambient light; it's too
"weird" with the combo of gym lights and daylight).
Ditch the tie, unbutton collar, roll up sleeves, and fortunately, I also
have a golf towel. I tuck a corner under my belt in back so I can wipe the
sweat off every couple of minutes. Hard to see through a sweaty
viewfinder. It's so hot inside this building, the table candles are too
soft to use, and the cake was set up just after the bride and groom arrived
to keep it from "wilting." People are not going to hang around
long. Because of this, the bride and groom keep changing the sequence of
the "marquis" events, making it difficult to keep up with what's happening
next. I keep conferring with the "DJ" and make a couple of suggestions to her.
4:45 PM, things have settled down and I've managed to stand directly in
front of a giant floor fan for a minute or so during a few dead spots. The
lighting is driving me crazy though. If the daylight streaming in through
enormous windows isn't bad enough, the windows on the east side are also
huge hot spots. Oh, and the walls? They're glazed cinder block to about
five feet up with glazed tile up to the windows. Nice! Gotta keep from
shooting into that head on too. Only things worse to shoot into are
windows and mirrors. It was a nightmare looking for camera angles, and a
lot of it was settling for the lesser of several evils to include clutter
on and along the walls.
6:00 PM, I've burned two rolls of film for wedding #1 getting the major
reception activities, and another roll with the pre-wedding stuff at
wedding #2. Headed for home. 7:00 PM, the car is unloaded, it's Miller
Time at the F-Stop, and am I ever glad it's over. It was the most hectic
wedding shooting I've done. Unlike Ag Schnozz, who was able to wake up
from his recent nightmare, this one wasn't a dream.
Token OM Content:
Used the OM-4 with Winder 2 and a Metz flash head with bounce card for the
reception. Used the OM-1n for starting the formals at wedding #2. Unlike
cakes and candles, and this photographer they don't wilt, which I was
starting to do by the end.
Epilogue:
Got points for bringing home to the better half some lint-free gloves
specifically made for handling negatives. I had forgotten them on the last
trek to Indianapolis two weeks ago and still hadn't heard the end of it,
until I showed up with them tonight.
-- John
P.S.
Never been to the F-Stop? It's where all *real* photographers go to unwind
and tell their "war stories" after a hard day of shooting.
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|