Four Cameras and a Wedding

It's a new year, which means it's definitely time for a new blog post. There is much, dear reader, upon which to catch you, but I'll start at the end and see how far back we go.

Last weekend I did my first "official" wedding shoot with a photo-fiend friend, for some friends of ours. I've taken photos at weddings before, but this time we (thankfully not just "I") were the official ones. No pressure... The whole affair was reasonably low-key (no church, no cake, no cars, tiny bridal party, maybe 50 guests) and our couple were somewhat relaxed about photos ("just shoot what you want", they said!), but we wanted to deliver a quality result nonetheless.

My natural style, at least for people shots, seems to gravitate towards the telephoto portrait, and because I had a second shooter with a preference for up-close and/or wide shots, I could relax, knowing he had the wide stuff covered. I think having a second (or third, even) shooter at this kind of event is a good plan - you can never cover everything by yourself and it's hard to ask people to go get married again because you missed a shot... ;)

Oh, and the light! The main event was outside in a lovely rose garden, with the couple in a gazebo. While I like to get outside for a good photowalk from time to time, I mostly find myself shooting events in the dark (in a theatre, say), so I'm used to pushing ISO 1600, f/2.8 or wider and 1/100th if I'm _really_ lucky. Shooting outside in the middle of the day meant I could dial all the way down to ISO 100, go f/8 for depth and still have the shutter at 1/200th. Unfortunately we forgot the sunscreen and paid for it in lobster faces, but... I really like ISO 100.

There was a little frustration trying to get group shots lined up and lit, giving the fairly harsh lighting conditions. People looking into the sun tend to squint (not pretty) and putting the sun behind them makes for fun with shadows, plus the fairly aggressive schedule meant we didn't have a lot of time to shuffle people around. I think the message here is to allow plenty of time for group shots. It likely means a lot of people standing around waiting for you, but if the happy couple want good group shots... (ours didn't seem too fussed, so we could concentrate on them, which I much prefer).

We moved on to a beachfront restaurant for dinner (heading into more familar lower-light territory), but with nothing formal on the agenda and no entertainment here it was just lots of people shots. After dinner we stole away to the beach with the bride, the groom and the setting sun, to have our wicked way with them. I stuck with the natural light but my friend went a light wild with flashes and umbrellas. I think we were both happy with what we got there. I can appreciate but don't really like the style of shot where the subjects look like they've been shot in a studio and pasted onto a beach background. I stuck with natural light, shot around the umbrellas and came up happy - sunset at the beach is just a little bit awesome.

Then it was on to what I'll call a chocolate cafe (even lower light) with a small band and a little singing from the bride. By which point we'd been going for nearly 12 hours and were ready for a break! And some serious chocolate!

Anyway, 1500 frames were shot and I now have something of an editing job. I wasn't completely happy with how things panned out, but it was certainly a great opportunity to get a low-stress run at a wedding shoot. I'm not sure I want to be a wedding photographer but I'm certainly happy to give it another shot, with lessons learnt from the day. It's a humbling experience to look over your shots at the end of the day and think about all the things you could have done better. Happily, I know I also got some shots that our newlyweds will love.

Oh, and the gear? I was spoilt by my wife back in July with a shiny new 7D. It's all kinds of awesome. I was also spoilt by another photographer friend with a very generous loan/deferred purchase of a 70-200mm f/2.8L. Together this is... heavy, not to mention intimidating. But it's wonderful to have pro-grade gear to work with when you're trying to do a job. I still love all my old film bodies, but the new rig opens up new possibilities, which I'll hopefully talk about more before the year is out!