At 15:04 8/20/02, Benson Russell implored:
Hello list members,
I've signed up recently and I've been watching the correspondence with
interest - you're an amazingly knowlegable bunch!
Welcome to this list. You'll find it an amazingly active list too. Not to
worry if you ever felt lonely, your mailbox will have plenty from now on. :-)
I've been asked to take wedding photos by some friends - an informal(ish)
do, this Saturday. I've got a collection of OM gear that I use
semi-professionally for magazine work - I'm a woodworker, and I write a
monthly article, with step-by-step photos, for a UK woodworking title.
[snip]
Hmmmm . . . interesting. You do have more than average experience with a
camera and are familiar with the OM. However, as you note, weddings are
quite different.
Recommendation #1:
Shave your head, buy some orange robes and run, don't walk, to the nearest
Tibetan monastary. Tell them you are but a lowly grasshopper with much to
learn from them. Then hide among the monks there until the wedding is over.
Recommendation #2:
If #1 doesn't work, commit yourself to the nearest looney bin. If they
don't believe you, tell them you volunteered to shoot a wedding for a
relative. Should get you admitted immediately.
More seriously:
Traditional weddings in the U.S. require two styles of shooting. The first
is formal portraiture called "altar returns" in which portraits and
portrait groupings of bride, groom, wedding party, families, etc. are done
after the wedding. Many have at least some of these done before the
wedding, and a few are now doing it all beforehand (in spite of the
tradition of groom not seeing bride before ceremony). Then there is the
pre-ceremony "getting ready" and other candids along with the reception
which requires shooting the "marquis events" such as cutting the cake,
throwing bouquet, first dance, and other candids of people enjoying
themselves. This is all a photojournalist or editorial type shooting . . .
to tell the story of the wedding with pictures. All this likely applies,
perhaps with some modification, in Europe.
If this is all being done indoors, your first biggest issue will be light
and being able to create enough of it. Your second biggest issue will be
not running out of film, or batteries! I recommend getting a few more
rolls of film. If you don't use them for the wedding, you can use them for
other things (photographing other family members, etc.) later.
Take **all** your equipment to the wedding! Plan to use the 50mm, but it's
most important to have both camera bodies and all your flash gear. No pro
wedding photog does a gig without some kind of backup for everything. May
not be identical to the primary gear, but it's equivalent and workable. I
recommend using the OM-4T as the primary body and keeping the OM2 as
backup, primarily because the OM-4T has a built-in shoe (versus OM-2 Shoe 3
that could crack on you at the worst possible time).
As you plan how you will shoot this affair, abide by the KISS
principle. Neophytes to wedding shoots make more mistakes because they're
trying to use too much equipment to do it, especially by continuously
switching lenses and camera bodies. If you really do want to change to a
different lens for something, keep it to a minimum and do it only when you
*know* you will have time beforehand to make the switch and afterward to
switch back.
Aside from this, see my wedding shoot survival guide:
http://johnlind.tripod.com/wedding/
You only have a few days. Do what you can do in the time you have left,
create a game plan for what you will shoot and walk yourself through it a
few times, and don't fret about what you cannot do between now and
then. Also have a talk with the bride and groom so you can establish a
common set of expectations about what you can and will do for them. Also
find out from them some details about the ceremony and any reception
afterward. This *is* important. My tutorial is geared for U.S.
traditional weddings. Tailor it as needed for Irish weddings in general,
and theirs in particular.
Last, but not least, if you do go through with this, you're no longer a
guest. Work it as if you had been hired for it and put yourself in that
mind set. From very personal experience, you cannot be both a guest and
the official photographer. Those try to end up being miserable guests and
usually botch at least some part of the photography.
Best Wishes,
-- John
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