Going into the wedding of Courtney the Brit and her uncanny alter ego known as Brad, I was SCARED TO DEATH. Scared to death that the things I knew how to do would malfunction. I thought I knew everything about it already. I mean, whats to it really? Have a good camera, have great lenses, know what you're doing, be there on time, don't forget the knowledge...etc. I started having nightmares about a month ago about what could go wrong. I was late!! I dropped the lenses and broke them!!! I slept in! I forgot this! I forgot that! The day finally came, and I was ready. I had batteries! I had a checklist! I had some freaking awesome rented lenses! I did not have several key things but more about that later. I got there on time (barely : ) My brother in law came to help me!!
And then.
I discovered.
How.
Inexperienced.
I. Am.
My next post will have some photos. But this one will cover what I did right, what I did wrong, and what I will do differently next time. Mark suggested I blog about it, and I am taking his advice so that next time I will remember what to do differently!
So.
What I did right.
I had a great camera, great lenses, my flash, sunscreen, bottled water, a typed out plan, my generous and kind and helpful brother in law, batteries, a diffusing screen, a reflector, a tripod, a remote shutter cord, a charged battery, jeans and tennis shoes for the shoot after I watched the wedding in a dress, a step stool...I had it all baby. This is the first thing really. Don't forget anything!
I concentrated on correct exposure and sharpness. You should have both of those. You can work on exposure in photoshop and try to cover up a lack of sharpness, but you should have these from the get go. For the most part I got correct exposure and mostly sharpness.
I had a step stool! I wanted to take most of the photos from slightly above, and I am short. I used that step stool all freaking day. I will from now on never ever do a wedding without a step stool.
I used an 85mm 1.8. It was rented, and brand new it costs 400 bucks. (The better one, the more covetable one is two thousand dollars. I want that one. I probably won't ever have it but I WANT it!)
Also done right, I rented the 1.8 versus the more covetable 1.2 because I read it focused faster. And it did! I love it. 1.8 means the hole the light comes into (also knows as the aperture) opens up REALLY BIG so the shutter speed (how fast the camera SNAPS the picture into existence) can be very very fast. Smaller number? Faster Lens. More expensive. : )
MARK! Thank the high heavens for Mark. The coolest and best and nicest brother in law in the world. He makes movies! Check this one out on Youtube : )
AND he does wedding videography!! Here is his wedding demo video!
MARK DODDY, AMAZING VIDEO MAN
OKAY. NOW THE OTHER PART.
WHAT MY INEXPERIENCE CAUSED ME TO DO WRONG. OR DIFFERENT FROM WHAT I SHOULD HAVE DONE. WHAT I DIDN'T KNOW. WHAT I WILL DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME. WHAT I WILL NOT LET DEPRESS ME INTO DEEP DEPTHS OF SELF DEFEATISM.
-Wedding Photography is a business. I know, I know, you're thinking Duh, right? Yes, getting people to hire you is a business. The business is taking the pictures. But what I did not know is that actually doing it on the actual day takes a certain work flow, finesse, experience, intuitiveness, resourcefulness, and efficiency that a normal day to day business like Staples or Jimmy's Chicken Hut uses. Different business, same techniques! Wow. Again, thanks to Mark who covered my ass, I discovered this in a slightly less embarrassing way than I might have. I am going to reference this discovery down below as ARTICLE DUH. (A).
-The Bride and Groom are stressed. Happy? Yes. Stressed? YES. You know those photos where the bride and groom are so blissed out that they look like they're chasing the dragon with some great black tar? (high.) That's because the photographer was the black tar.
Soothing.
They say Please and Thank you A LOT. AFTER EVERY CLICK. BEFORE EVERY CLICK. DURING THE CLICK.
They are calm, they are happy, they are soothing, they are fun at the same time that they are confident. They convince everyone that it is all going to be fine and we can all relax and have some good time fun now.
I am NOT GOOD at that. I am a stress bomb. I worry. I have nightmares. I bark orders when I am concentrating. I talk out loud while clicking away about whats going wrong and what I need to be doing and what the situation calls for and I look left to right and twitch and shift my weight and apologize.
Guss what Mark is?
Calm. Happy. Soothing. Confident.
He advised me on this front and I took a closer look at myself and blushed beautifully. Thanks to him, I adjusted myself accordingly, though I still have a long way to go on that front. Article Duh.
How to win friends and influence people.
Revised Edition for Photographers.
(That needs to be a thing.) By Dale Carnegie.
-I took too long. Most photographers have about an hour, I took two, and I still did not get enough of Brad and Courtney WHO ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE OF THE DAY. I was so worried about getting each photo right that I took 5 or 6 or 7 of each instead of one or two. Yeah, you should take two. Multiply that by 20......I lost the time I needed to craft Brad and Courtney into wedding photo legend. Don't worry guys, your babies first photos will win major awards I promise. Next time it will be like this.
"BRAD'S FAMILY. GET OVER THERE. PLEASE. GO FASTER! PLEASE. BRADS MOM, COULD YOU PLEASE MOVE A LITTLE CLOSER TO BRADS DAD? PLEASE? HOLD IT! PLEASE. THANK YOU! (snap!) THANK YOU! NEXT PEOPLE, MOVE IT MOVE IT MOVE IT!! PLEASE. THANK YOU!"
(above photo taking about 17 seconds. In a calm and soothing voice.)
-Sunscreen. Um, yeah. Did I forget it? Of course not! You think I'm an idiot?
Did I put it on? Of course not, you think I'm not an idiot?
We. All. Got. Fried. Even the tiny babies. Even the bride.
Here's the thing. If I had put it on, I think everyone else would have to. If I had drank water, I think everyone else would have accepted the water I'd packed. I did not realize this, but the photographer, for the brief photo taking time, is the Pied Piper of the reception hall. Or temple grounds. For this tiny moment of the day, you are actually in charge. Well, not always vocally, but by example. People are following your directions because they've hired you (or asked you to) to boss them around for an hour or two. The rest of the day you're there to watch and record them be them and do their magical thing on their magical day, but for this hour or two, you are the boss. So in a weird way, you gotta get people to the Greek. As in, take care of them. Make sure they look scrumptious. Make sure they're drinking water. Make sure they put on sunscreen. Make sure that weird cowlick is moved aside and their sunglasses are off (thank you Mark) and they're not squinting into the sun (again, thank you Mark...) and the bride's dress is arranged and that short person is not behind that tall person and making sure they know this day is going to be fantastic because it is fantastic and life is good and this joy is the best joy ever and you're going to get that captured for them and please drink this water and sit down for a rest for a moment because I really care about you. (Which you do : )
-Distortion. Wide Angle Lenses are distorted. Meaning, the view is curved and people on the edges are the photographic equivalent of a fun house mirror. And they're not that sharp either. That's a problem I have yet to figure out, (which I WILL) via using a different lens (you kinda have to use wide angle for big groups) or getting a better knowledge of wide angle or using them correctly. Or all of the above. This didn't cause a huge pothole in my smooth road, but it was a slight bump and I wish I'd known that. But, I can chalk it up to Article A.
Introducing one more Article.
Article YAHKYTF. (yaah-key-tif.) (b). YOU ALREADY HAD THAT KNOWLEDGE YOU TERRIBLE FOOL.
ARTICLE YAHKYTF EXAMPLES BELOW.
-Tripod. Nervous Nelly-er-Melly (me) makes the same freaking mistake over and over again.
USE YOUR DAMN TRIPOD MELANIE.
I did for some, but not for all. Candid shots? Handheld, whatever. But for formals and low light?
USE YOUR DAMN TRIPOD MELANIE.
-Two cameras, Mark had his 7d for me to use one of my other lenses on, and I did not use it enough!!! Switching between lenses is annoying and eats up time that it turns out YOU DO NOT HAVE. So, get an assistant to second you, and/or (preferably and) have your own two cameras hanging around your neck. Sorry Mark. Thank you so much for bringing it! (Also, I need to second more weddings. Operation find a wedding photog who will let me do that immediately.) This blog post is becoming quite militant!
-Anticipate. Anticipate that the B and G are going to get there or here SOONER than you think. Be there already. Be waiting for them in front of the temple or the cake or the doors or the car or whatever. Heaven knows they are not going to wait for you. They'll just be mad at you for not anticipating the photo you need to get. Except Brad and Courtney who are freakishly nice : )
Sigh. Are you thinking about how all of this makes me sound like a moron? Me too. Oh well : ) My first wedding? I can be excused.
My second wedding? Not so much. However, I am excited for my next one. I'm not going to start charging until I do a wedding for someone that I can look at the photos and say there. I've remembered what I need to remember, and I got it. So for now, its just experience. Though, before you yell at me that I cant half ass someones wedding just because I'm inexperienced, I know that already. My next wedding will be amazing because I'll know all of this now. I can be a little vain and say, I know I'm a good photographer. Once I get rolling I can get some steam behind me. And I got some great shots of this wedding. And I will never ever be able to repay Mark for helping me and saving me : ) I cant believe I didn't get a picture of him helping me. I have heard from lots of people that their photographer decided after their wedding that they didn't want to do this after all. I can see how this would be, it is A LOT of freaking WORK, its so hard, theres so much pressure, no room for mistakes......but....I LOVE IT. I love it so much that despite being sunburnt to hell and woe-ing the things I didn't know going in, having my entire body sore from climbing that cursed albeit wonderful stepladder up and down about 6000 times yesterday and knowing I have to return these fantastical lenses on Monday and having my entire day be not with my family and not having made any money and worrying and knowing I still have 194 hours of photo editing in front of me....IN SPITE of ALL THIS.....I love it. I cant wait for my next wedding!
I hope after reading this I still got a shot at someone asking me to do their pictures!!!
As a parting line, I leave y'all with this photographer. My favorite wedding photographer I've found so far. She is what I achieve to be.
(click on it)
See ya later with pics from C and B's wedding!
Ciao for now,
Melanie
