Yesterday's Wedding

P

petemc

Suspended / Banned
Messages
9,504
Name
Pete
Edit My Images
No
Yesterday’s wedding was fantastic. Sure it had stressful moments, but in a comedic way so it was never “oh god kill me now” stress. I had loads of fun capturing little moments here and there during the day. I can’t wait to load them into Lightroom but I’ve got to clear at least 10gb to copy them over. 10! I can’t believe I shot that much, but then I was shooting non-stop for 14hrs. Sure I *could* have stopped but I don’t till I *can’t* shoot any more. Even though my feet were killing me I kept heading back to the dance floor to get more shots, not to dance because I don’t dance. I think I achieved everything I wanted to. I had a list of shots the bride and groom wanted, done. I had a mental list that I wanted, done. I got the group shot of 95% of people. I managed to organise people too. You just don’t have the time to be shy and if you see a shot looks off on the display you HAVE to reshoot it. You’ll never get another day to retry so you have to say “oh wait” and reshoot. I went to the shoot with a moto of sorts. “Shoot everything.” I can delete shots later but I can’t reshoot them later. So I shot everything without thinking about it. The bride and groom were brilliant so this is a little shout to them, congrats guys.
 
Sounds awesome, well done. Looking forward to the shots if you are allowed to share them. :)
 
Glad it went well Pete. Looking forward to seeing a few snaps. I think because you enjoy photography so much you will actually enjoy the weddings too.

I was second tog at a wedding yesterday and had the same problem that Matt & Sue had with their first wedding. So, I used the 70-200 to stay clear and capture the moments the main tog didn't. Still frustrating though.
 
I did have those problems with eye contact. I was surprised how well I dealt with it. I previously said I'd probably ban people while I got my shots done but that was never really going to be possible. What happened was that most of the family and friends got their shots done right after the wedding. This wasn't a really ideal photographic location because it was partly a school. So I waited till the evening after the meal. Then I grabbed smaller groups and got them outside by a lovely canal. Some people did turn up to grab some shots so I let them take theirs. They said I could go first, being polite n all, but I politely explained that with multiple cameras people don't know where to look so I let everyone else get their shots before me. I could then get the shots I wanted with everyone looking at me.

I'm not sure I'll do any more weddings though. This was 90% smooth with some worry placed on getting those groups shots in the evening, trying to organise people. Thankfully, because it was a family wedding I already knew the bride and her parents so they were really helpful. I'm not sure how helpeful everyone would be at another wedding. They really helped me out as I do more documentary work, stand back and let events unfold. I don't create the events.
 
Sounds like really really hard work to me. I'm sure you will provide them with some excellent photos, but it seems like a hard way to earn a living. i hop eyou get well paid for this.
 
Know what you mean about eye contact.

I was a bit surprised at the main tog yesterday....he did not even attempt to organise the groups really...just got everyone in a big group and said "If you cant see me then I cant see you" and then proceeded to take the photo.

I'm sure you'll get some enjoyment out of seeing the photos processed.
 
Cedarapple said:
Sounds like really really hard work to me. I'm sure you will provide them with some excellent photos, but it seems like a hard way to earn a living. i hop eyou get well paid for this.
Click to expand...

It really is hard work. You work for every penny you charge so I can see why photographers charge a lot.
 
Brains said:
I was a bit surprised at the main tog yesterday....he did not even attempt to organise the groups really...just got everyone in a big group and said "If you cant see me then I cant see you" and then proceeded to take the photo.
Click to expand...

For my *big* group shot, of about 100 people or so I got them all in one spot and used a 2 step ladder just to add that extra height element. Hopefully everyone should be visible. I did smaller groups in the evening with all the important people. Everyone should be well snapped :)
 
There' s been a trend in recent years for some couples to say they don't want the big group shot which can be a pain anyway with large groups, but I always tried to persuade them to have one taken. In 20 or 30 years time it's the group shot which is the only one people are really interested in.
 
Really? I only have my parents wedding photos to look at and for me its the bride and groom. I don't have that much experience with wedding photography, that was my 3rd and I wanted to push my limits and make it amazing. I was under self-imposed pressure. I had to take photos that would last a marriage. That was quiet a weight. In 50 years time someone would look at one of my photos and smile. I know, I'm probably very wrong over these things but its the romantic in me from seeing my parents photos on display every day.
 
Ah.. but you're looking at it though a togs eyes. ;)

The great unwashed just go straight for the group shot - always fascinating after a few years - who's still alive, who's still married, who ran off with the baby sitter ... yadda yadda. :)
 
Really glad it went well for you Pete.:)

Agree with the comments on group shots, it's well worth doing imo, even if it can be tricky to organise sometimes. The B&G will appreciate it more and more as the years go by.

I look back at our group shot with very fond memories of all the friends and family that attended our wedding. It was in Cuba in 2005, and we were very lucky to have about 50 odd people fly over with us the two week party...erm...sorry, wedding!:woot::D

Looking forward to seeing your photos of the day!
 
Glad it went well for you, Pete.

I agree about the group shots....I'm doing the genealogy thing at the moment and group shots of weddings are great for helping identify family members long gone.

As for guests taking wedding pics.....the photographer at my wedding lost the film, apparently it never reached the lab. Photographer said he would re-shoot if we could get everyone back together again, but that was impossible. So I only have a few shots that friends took. As we were looking at the photographer....none of them have us looking at the camera. I'm sure if you are the main wedding tog, having the guests taking pics could be annoying, but if it wasn't for those shots...I'd have nothing.
 
photostar_1 said:
I'm sure if you are the main wedding tog, having the guests taking pics could be annoying, but if it wasn't for those shots...I'd have nothing.
Click to expand...

Almost everyone there had a digital compact. I'm fairly sure any shots I missed will have been captured by everyone else. Theres a classic shot where I stopped right in front of someones camera as it went off. :D
 
i think group shots are very important at a wedding and at least one or two should be taken at every wedding by the tog.

i hope they are not too sad that you didnt get one shot with everybody in cause lets face it if they didnt want them there they wouldnt be there
 
I'm sure they'll be happy enough. There were some people who didn't want to be in the shot and 2 people I know who were resting their feet at the time aren't exactly the most popular of relatives.

One of the highlights was meeting an uncle of mine who was always very annoying when I was a kid. I remember hiding away because when he arrived he used to do that uncle cheek grab move. Very annoying. He came up to me at the wedding with a £5 disposable camera. He said "You know, you won't see any difference in quality from this camera and yours." I had to laugh. I said you would, and he didn't believe me. The last time we met I was a shy kid, pre-photography. He wasn't expecting me to whip out a book full of HDR images. He was speechless, and it was so satisfying. In that one moment I had completely got him back for everything as a kid. He suggested I get them in stores in town, I said I already have. I loved that :D
 
petemc said:
He said "You know, you won't see any difference in quality from this camera and yours." I had to laugh. I said you would, and he didn't believe me. The last time we met I was a shy kid, pre-photography. He wasn't expecting me to whip out a book full of HDR images. He was speechless, and it was so satisfying. In that one moment I had completely got him back for everything as a kid. He suggested I get them in stores in town, I said I already have. I loved that :D
Click to expand...

One of those *Priceless* moments. :D
 
Really pleased it all went well for you pete - not though I thought for a second that it wouldn't!
 
Pete, you started a thread about the 70-200mm and 100-400 problem. What did you use. how did you get on with your choice, any regrets etc?
 
Ah yes. Well I figured that whatever I took I would probably want something else. I took a 30D + 430ex + 24-70 and used that for all my shots, apart from the large group shot which was the 10-20. A 70-200 f/2.8 would have been handy for the speeches as I did feel in the way. Aside from that I never really needed more and I took over 1,400 shots.
 
1400 shots :eek:

Your going to have a mare getting that lot trimmed down for an album.


Glad it all went well for you :thumbs:, where's some of the sample shots?
 
digitalfailure said:
1400 shots :eek:

Your going to have a mare getting that lot trimmed down for an album.


Glad it all went well for you :thumbs:, where's some of the sample shots?
Click to expand...


Either that or its going to be a 'T-H-I-C-K' album.

Glad it all went ok for you, but never doubted you for a moment :thumbs:
 
I thought Barry and I were bad taking over 600 shots between us yesterday, mind you we were only there for four hours plus a couple taken in the evening as we were invited back to the reception! I do love to have a dance!
 
On weddings I've done the shot count had been around the 300-400 level and that was hard enough to cut down to album of around 50 images.......with 1400 to process and cut down it'll be winter before you feel sunlight on your face again.
 
already been ruthless with ours, got the NEFs down to 250, it is a toughy though, the weather and light was excellent yesterday so most of the shots were spot on but duplicated so it was the smiles that won them their place in the semi finals....still got to get the number down to about half that though and that is going to be tricky! :thinking:
Were you really there for 14 hours Pete? You must be pooped! :gag:
 
digitalfailure said:
1400 shots :eek:

Your going to have a mare getting that lot trimmed down for an album.


Glad it all went well for you :thumbs:, where's some of the sample shots?
Click to expand...

I'll try and get some sample shots but I haven't yet discussed it with the people there about publishing them on my site. Even if I get 10% good shots that still 140. So far I'm half way through and I've got about 270 great shots. I took today off to try and fix the media centre PC instead. I'm looking, potentially, at 500 solid shots. That could take some time for the B&G to narrow down for an album. I'll be giving out dvd slideshows too because theres no way 1 album could fully capture the event.

digitalfailure said:
with 1400 to process and cut down it'll be winter before you feel sunlight on your face again.
Click to expand...

Thats the beauty of Lightroom. I'm half way through now. I loaded them in, select all, set to B&W preset, and then its a case of finding shots I liked and maybe converting some back to colour.

Marianne said:
Were you really there for 14 hours Pete? You must be pooped! :gag:
Click to expand...

I was :) By choice too. I got there for about 10am and I left at about 12:40am. By around 9ish I had been told I could stand down by the B&G and their parents, but thats not in my nature. I keep shooting till I have no space left. I wanted to fully document the day. I wouldn't have had it any other way. There's some lovely moments captured from before the wedding, like the bride stealing some raspberries before she had to leave for the service. Thats what makes it for me. Not the posed shots outside the church, those little moments that no-one else may have seen. When people sit down and watch the dvd they'll see the whole day. They'll see the bridesmaids getting their hair done at the hairdressers. The little moments around the house before hand. The service, afterwards, the evening, the works.
 
doesnt every wedding tog do that though week after week from bride getting ready to party time.
you speak like you are the first person to do it
 
I take my hat off to you Pete! Mind you, I covered the girls getting ready in the house so there were plenty of candids to be had of the family getting ready too. I agree that the candids are the best fun but we also enjoy getting the groups together although doing it all on your own would be daunting for me. Barry has done loads of weddings on his own in the past so he's quite happy organising the masses. I take candids while he's doing his stuff. Again, its a case of each to his own, we are happy with what we do and I can tell you are happy with what you do too! I hope you get permission to post some of these shots Pete, I love to see how you interpret photos :)
 
matchbox said:
you speak like you are the first person to do it
Click to expand...

I don't at all. I was inspired by other wedding photographers and in any book you buy you will see similar shots. I'm not sure that many would do 14hrs though :) I was there till the end of the party too.
 
but weren't you there as a guest anyway Pete? Surely you wouldn't have been there that long had it not been family? Mind you, we were invited back to the evening reception at our wedding shoot yesterday, as guests. We took one camera and got the couple doing their 'first dance' and then we partied!! Great fun!
 
I'm not sure that many would do 14hrs though :) I was there till the end of the party too.[/QUOTE]


but you were a guest as well
 
Wow, 1,400 photos? Did you have time to eat or anything? :D That's got to be a photo every 30-40 seconds!
 
matchbox said:
but you were a guest as well
Click to expand...

I was there as a guest and if I wasn't doing the shoot I'd have probably gone to the service and then the meal. I'm not a family party person. I don't do small talk, I don't dance at partys. I hadn't really said anything more than "Hi" to a lot of these people in over 10 years. I was first and foremost a photographer. *That* is what kept me shooting for 14 hours, not the family aspect. The fact that it was family just made me relax a bit more because I knew a few people. For me, it wasn't a "family" do where I knew everyone there and we all chatted about the good old days. My parents weren't even there because of some who attended. So yes I was a guest, but it wasn't until about 11pm that I got a coke and sat down with my cousin for a quick chat before heading back to the dance floor for more shots. The most I had to eat that day was a couple of chips 12 hours after my breakfast.

Marianne said:
but weren't you there as a guest anyway Pete? Surely you wouldn't have been there that long had it not been family?
Click to expand...

Had it been anyone else, then I don't know if I would have spent that long there. Yes I would have got the before shots, service shots, reception shots and I would have been looking forward to Xpm when my job was done.

It was a great day and I did really enjoy myself. Honestly, it was the best family do I'd ever been at but I think thats because I was doing a job I love. If I was just there to chat small talk I'm not sure I'd have had as much fun.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top