[RAART]

I got out of the wedding photography around 15 years ago... Prior this my only income was coming as a freelance weeding photographer. Recently I been asked to do a wedding as second photographer and I did it as really good friend was a main photographer and he asked me. Turned out that my pictures had totally different style of shooting then his and most of them were better than his even he used D800 and I used K-3. At the end we did not used any of my photos as most of them were using only natural/window light and were easily recognizable. My photos were delivered to wedding couple on DVD, which they printed later at additional charge to special album. Afterwards I realize that was a horrible mistake that I took plunge again into this. I do not want to compete or do this as I have a job and can do photography on one day only. As someone who was attending that weeding knows me too and he looked into that special printed album he called me two weeks ago and wants me to do his son wedding on the last weekend in January. I referred him to friend to who I worked with at wedding prior as he is doing weddings and do not work any other jobs and also he has contracts with album making companies as well as his own large photobooth. At the end someone else will do the weeding as they insisted that I am doing the weeding and last weekend they wanted me to do pre-weeding shots (I was even away on vacation and they asked me to come back earlier!). As they were thinking that this can be done right away it was not easy to explain that I need first to find location where we can do the shooting as it is very cold this time of the year and I need to get permit first for those locations and all complexity of the weeding shooting. I do not want to think even of the albums and PP job amount that needs to be done.

It is scary but if you don't do weddings as your main income I do strongly suggest that you just politely decline the offer or get the job as second photographer and let someone else take the pressure. This is my 2c on this one...

EDIT: I do have very good knowledge of the flash photography, going back to the film era, but for my style of shooting I always use soft boxes, grids, reflectors etc.

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Last edited by RAART; 01-19-2015 at 12:01 AM.

[zzeitg]

Wedding photography would be the kiss-of-death for me. If you do decide to do it make sure you have an assistant to watch your back... (X-Posted from an old thread) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqQVaW-BktE

Oh... this video is brutal! I'm getting goose pimples only from the idea that my gear would take such waterbath . No wedding shooting, for sure!

[Billk]

Wedding photography is seriously undervalued, both by most non-photographers and many photographers. You are totally doing the right thing to say that you don't have the right skills and experience to do it right.

[Pepe Guitarra]

Altough it is the most important day for a woman (yes, some men don't really care!), 35 years ago, it did not matter to my wife and I, we did not have money for the photographer or many other things and asked everyone to bring their own camera if they wanted pictures. We got two or there of the less worst and kept those in our album. That makes them precious.

[micromacro]

Wedding photography is seriously undervalued, both by most non-photographers and many photographers.

This. It's so true. That's why I told not to hire any photographer, but check portfolios first. It's amazing how many people think that anyone can shoot weddings.
It's not a studio shooting when it's possible to recreate conditions and start all over. It's one time event with the only one chance to picture.
Pro means first of all delivering consistently good result with minimum lost coverage. It's a huge responsibility, imo.

[zzeitg]

That´s exactly the point. The pairs which insist on perfect wedding need perfect photos. For me it would only bring stress and that's not what I would wish. I enjoy being in the position to have photography as a hobby and not having to earn money that way. So let's keep the fun and leave the hard work to the pros.

[BrianR]

I've had this request from a brother in-law. I had to say no thanks a few times, there was no way I'd be responsible for that. I took a few discrete candid shots on B&W film for fun, but mostly just enjoyed myself.

Best to stay completely out of it for your own sanity.

I "spy" on them constantly catching when they are relaxed and natural. I love doing that.

Me too. The subjects don't always appreciate the difference between casually nailing a few candid shots as the opportunities arise VS the hectic and stressful 'gotta nail shots of all these wedding participants inside of X hours'

[woodywesty]

The wedding isn't until August. I'll make some nice candid shots, but I don't want the pressure of being "THE PHOTOGRAPHER".

Many years ago.....(early 70's), I did three weddings for close friends who had no money. We were all young and poor. The pictures came out OK but it didn't make me a wedding photographer, it just made me a nervous wreck. Then I got married and had a great young photographer lined up to do our wedding but under pressure from the mother in law to be we used the wife to be's older brother who "knew lots" about photography. Long story short.... the film roll of 36 of the actual wedding wasn't installed properly in the camera so there were NO pictures of the wedding at all........ At least that's one worry you don't have to wrestle with... ;-) I thinks that K57XR's idea of having an assistant is a great idea!


Wishing you the best of luck in August....

[VoiceOfReason]

I got sucked into one. Never again.

[normhead]

When my daughter got married, I did the video... you watch these wedding guys at work, and they are master choreographers. They have an "in your face" kind of persistence setting up the images, that has to be done politely and courteously, it takes a certain personality type. I'm sure I could do it, but, it would be job. Now, on that day, do you want to be doing a job, or do you want to be enjoying the wedding? More power to those for whom this is their calling, it's just not for me.

What my cousin, a very successful wedding photographer in the Seattle area said was, he enjoyed weddings, getting dressed up etc. so much, he found it enjoyable. That's the kind of person you need to be.

[timmijo]

I have toyed with the idea of coming along as a "second shooter" but even that is a position of responsibility that I am not qualified to take on. Consequently, although photography is my passion, to be true to what makes me happy, I have decided to keep photography as a dedicated hobby and let the pros handle important events such as weddings. If I take a camera along to a wedding, it would only be for pure fun, yet it would probably be even better to not take the camera at all so that I can enjoy myself without pressure.

[jpzk]

Wedding photography would be the kiss-of-death for me. If you do decide to do it make sure you have an assistant to watch your back... (X-Posted from an old thread) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqQVaW-BktE

Woah !!!

That was quite a spill !!

I wonder if the photog was a pro ?

JP

[Canada_Rockies]

I did a few weddings when I was younger and even more foolish than I am now. That is about the most high stress photography I have ever done. Portraits can be redone if you blow it, but a wedding is !NOW! with no chance of retakes. My worst oops was forgetting to set the flash sync on the shutter and blowing all the dressing shots. All of them. Perfect composition. 2/3 of the image was black.

I still get high blood pressure thinking of that. NO is the correct answer.

[RAART]

I just want add this to this forum... Pro is a Pro whatever life throws at you and your camera you should be able to get it done.
The other things to consider is your technical knowledge of your equipment and what can be done, how can be done and what cannot be done with it. For weddings you have to push your clients as well as yourself and be ready to dictate rules and what you need to be done. You have to explain to wedding couple that they have to follow whatever you asked them and to do without hesitation and most of the time they wont even like it but they have to do it. Are you ready to do this? Ask yourself first this then continue. The pressure will be on your clients as well on you and the expectations will be high. No place for errors and you have to trust your equipment 100% knowing their limitations. TBH Pentax is great camera and you can use it for weddings for sure but if you really need to do it daily than you should look at something else as Pentax has inconsistent TTL flash metering, even Olympus is much better there. Low light capability is good but FF sensors are better and as you will shoot mostly in dim lighted situations then you draw your own conclusions.
To summarize this...
First you have to be self confident, ruthless but gentle, a dictator type with a smile and military precision and with the nerves thick as thickest rope you encountered.
You need a FF (APS-C sensor is fine now but still...) with excellent AF low light capability and a good set of fast lenses with excellent AF performance. You will need at least 5 flashes and plenty of rechargeable batteries and power packs and I will say same amount of light stands (mixed height 2x 7ft and 3x 12ft or all 12ft), 2 bodies and maybe a back up one in the car, just in case and not to forget radio triggers (Pentax do not shine there as well). I do not want to talk about other small things here like SD cards are missing... :-) This is the basic stuff.
If you have those attributes and at least all of the equipment I mentioned here with exceptions of FF camera then you can do this and call yourself a freelance wedding photographer after you images are delivered and you have keep rate of at least 92%.

I encountered many excellent photographer there and many if them are very talented young people with excellent tech skills and amazing PP skills (I am not good in PP) but do you think they can do the wedding? No and they know it and looking for something where they can excel with their creativity. Therefore are you ready for it? ;-)

[Pepe Guitarra]

Four years ago, I contracted with a professional photographer for my son's wedding (the price was $1,500, which is not much, really). He sent one guy to my home to shot my son and his buddies while dressing, one other guy to the hotel where the bride and bride maids were, and he drove to the place where the weeding was going to be (a cliff overlooking the ocean in Orange County, CA). He brought a van with ladders, flashes, strong lights that he place up there, etc. He did most of the shooting of the couple and the family, and he was a nazi, telling us what to do. We did not really enjoy the appetizers, they were gone by the time we were done with the photos. Also, everyone had camera or cell phone and tried to take shots. He had to stop them and basically let them shoot for 30 seconds every pose, and then, he shot, if someone violated the deal, he gave it to them (some shots were unusable because the couple were looking at the other side when they should have been looking at the camera.) I left my camera at home, and only brought a small shureshot to videotape the 10 minute pastor speech. After the march, wedding, etc., then the dance started, all three guys were shooting friends dancing, uncle getting drunk, etc. But he kept and followed the bride at all times. That is the job of the photographer, the only one he has to satisfy is the bride. He took a shot of the whole group in attendance at the beginning of the ceremony, it had it print in his van and at the middle of the dinner, every participant received a thank you card from the couple with a photo of the whole group. Three or four weeks later, he provided a cd with 1400 shots, all post processed (my choice), and put the best photos on his website for those who wanted to purchase them. It is a lot of work with little money, really.!!