redmonkee
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...OMG 
Wow what can I say except it was probably the most nerve wracking and high pressured thing i've ever done, seriously!!! WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY IS HARD. PERIOD!
To give you a bit of background. I usually shoot sports however when a friend of a friend of mine asked me to shoot her wedding as she and her bride both lacked the money to pay a professional I agreed, but on the stipulation that I were to taker no payment for the job and that they would just buy any prints they liked from my site.
Now by not taking any money I thought this would lower the pressure on my shoulders and enable me to enjoy the big day. Well come the night before the wedding was pooping bricks so to speak
and on Friday morning on the day of the wedding I was all up for running away and hiding, but as this wouldn't have been the most professional of approaches I got my camera bag together (and my nerves) bit the bullet and set off to the wedding venue.
The wedding was due to take place at 1pm so I arrived at 10.30 am to scout the venue, and also to do the small details shots of the tables, cake, venue etc. To anyone shooting their first wedding I would strongly advise doing this as my nerves soon settled down as I got lost in the photography.
Time soon flew by and before I knew it the guests were soon arriving and my nerves started creeping back inside my belly again
I initially found it hard to approach people I didn't know to take their photo, so I took the option of using the 70-200 to grab some candids. This enabled me to slowly get more comfortable, and also get some great candids.
12.45 came and the first bride arrived. I got some quick shots of her getting out of the car and posing with her Grandad, then waited for the second Bride to arrive.
On to the ceremony and by this point I cannot believe how much I was sweating due to the pressure, and although there was a fair bit of light coming in I was glad i took the option of using a speedlite. In my panic I'd switched to AV mode (I had planned to use Manual) the exposures came out ok, maybe a little dark but i've been able to bump up the exposures in LR as I shot RAW (something every newbie should do
)
I shot with two cameras, with 70-200 on one and 35 1.4 on the other. There were times when the 35 wasn't wide enough (on a 1D3) and I wished I'd had my 17-40 on but the pace of the day meant I failed to switch lenses when I would have liked. (in hindsight i'd have rented a 16-35 2.8)
With the ceremony over I was ready for a drink and putting the camera down as the pressure i'd put myself under had been immense, then it dawned on me that was only the beginning of the day and there was still so much more to photograph, and that point was when I realised just how hard this Wedding Photography larky is and why the Pro's charge what they do.
As for the day on the whole though, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Yes it was hard, exhausting, mentally draining, but the thrill you get of getting a good shot is awesome.
Maybe had I second shot for a Pro I'd have been more prepared, but by jumping i with both feet like I did I have to say I learned so much. At times you have to really think on your feet, as things do go wrong and best laid plans do change but when this happened I figured it best not to let people know this was happening and also just to go with it.
An example being when I took the Brides away from the main party to shoot some poses and a hoard of uncles followed me shooting over my shoulder. I just went with it and happened to get some of my best shots when they brides were looking at the other cameras.
Also I'd planned to do the formals at a certain time but when the Brides started calling various members over for their groups I just went with it as both of them were enjoying the moment and after all it was their day, not mine
Sorry for the long post, but I hope it'll be some help to anyone thinking of taking on a first wedding with no previous experience.
Wow what can I say except it was probably the most nerve wracking and high pressured thing i've ever done, seriously!!! WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY IS HARD. PERIOD!
To give you a bit of background. I usually shoot sports however when a friend of a friend of mine asked me to shoot her wedding as she and her bride both lacked the money to pay a professional I agreed, but on the stipulation that I were to taker no payment for the job and that they would just buy any prints they liked from my site.
Now by not taking any money I thought this would lower the pressure on my shoulders and enable me to enjoy the big day. Well come the night before the wedding was pooping bricks so to speak
and on Friday morning on the day of the wedding I was all up for running away and hiding, but as this wouldn't have been the most professional of approaches I got my camera bag together (and my nerves) bit the bullet and set off to the wedding venue.The wedding was due to take place at 1pm so I arrived at 10.30 am to scout the venue, and also to do the small details shots of the tables, cake, venue etc. To anyone shooting their first wedding I would strongly advise doing this as my nerves soon settled down as I got lost in the photography.
Time soon flew by and before I knew it the guests were soon arriving and my nerves started creeping back inside my belly again
I initially found it hard to approach people I didn't know to take their photo, so I took the option of using the 70-200 to grab some candids. This enabled me to slowly get more comfortable, and also get some great candids.12.45 came and the first bride arrived. I got some quick shots of her getting out of the car and posing with her Grandad, then waited for the second Bride to arrive.
On to the ceremony and by this point I cannot believe how much I was sweating due to the pressure, and although there was a fair bit of light coming in I was glad i took the option of using a speedlite. In my panic I'd switched to AV mode (I had planned to use Manual) the exposures came out ok, maybe a little dark but i've been able to bump up the exposures in LR as I shot RAW (something every newbie should do
)I shot with two cameras, with 70-200 on one and 35 1.4 on the other. There were times when the 35 wasn't wide enough (on a 1D3) and I wished I'd had my 17-40 on but the pace of the day meant I failed to switch lenses when I would have liked. (in hindsight i'd have rented a 16-35 2.8)
With the ceremony over I was ready for a drink and putting the camera down as the pressure i'd put myself under had been immense, then it dawned on me that was only the beginning of the day and there was still so much more to photograph, and that point was when I realised just how hard this Wedding Photography larky is and why the Pro's charge what they do.
As for the day on the whole though, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Yes it was hard, exhausting, mentally draining, but the thrill you get of getting a good shot is awesome.
Maybe had I second shot for a Pro I'd have been more prepared, but by jumping i with both feet like I did I have to say I learned so much. At times you have to really think on your feet, as things do go wrong and best laid plans do change but when this happened I figured it best not to let people know this was happening and also just to go with it.
An example being when I took the Brides away from the main party to shoot some poses and a hoard of uncles followed me shooting over my shoulder. I just went with it and happened to get some of my best shots when they brides were looking at the other cameras.
Also I'd planned to do the formals at a certain time but when the Brides started calling various members over for their groups I just went with it as both of them were enjoying the moment and after all it was their day, not mine
Sorry for the long post, but I hope it'll be some help to anyone thinking of taking on a first wedding with no previous experience.
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