So, before 2012 ended, I spent the last weekend of the year photographing a wedding and attending a wedding lunch the day after. Let's just say it wasn't pretty the following Monday. The commission was from an old client/friend of mine who provided me with an ample supply of jobs back when I was actively shooting. It wasn't until the day before that I realized that I was to shoot his own wedding (he would later tell me that he tried to get my on his ROM but I rejected him due to work).
Pleasant surprise but an added element of stress...the last "assignment" I had was my cousin's short ROM in September. The last wedding I took was my buddy's earlier in the year where I worked from 3pm to 2am, went over to his place and lasted till the dinner at night. So naturally I panicked a little, my equipment was wonky, I had to borrow a decent camera and lens from someone and I needed an assistant (just in case I screwed up, managed to find myself an awesome assistant).
When we arrived at the venue, I quickly realized that several pieces of my equipment were failing to work. Panic. Flash was not firing, lenses not focusing, batteries dying. Thankfully, everything was resolved after a quick prayer.
It has been awhile but my instincts remained sharp, my lighting under control (most of the time) but I really did struggle trying to get the consistency right. The lighting condition for the first part was horrendous, natural light mixed with 2 different tungstens and no walls to bounce off to kill the ambience. I made do with whatever I could. The pre-dinner reception had a low ceiling at parts, while the table was situated at a place with high-ceilings and awful amount of tungsen. Then the ballroom had a terrible yellowish-reddish tungsten that I could not balance at all, opted for a deep yellow gel on my flash and tried to achieve off-white balance.
Worst of all, when the couple was to walk in, I did not expect bright (daylight) white lights leading them in; totally screwing up my manual settings and white balance. Whoa. Had to make so many rapid decisions and trust the equipment, rapidly capturing moments that were otherwise lost.
But the thrill was there. Trying to overcome these difficulties, getting the exposure right, the focus tight, white balance near to perfect (while maintaining the ambience, the main guy at my buddy's wedding totally made the whole dinner look like a corporate event). I had fun. I enjoyed myself and think I did a decent job at covering the wedding. Could have been better but I am prone to perfectionism. Anyway, it wasn't a high budget job and I was actually honored when the client/friend introduced me to his friends and said I was his ever reliable friend. I was touched at how happy he and his wife looked (they enjoyed their wedding night tremendously, lots of smiles and laughs and hugs in the pictures).
And I am glad I got to share this special night with them. I hope they like the images (still think I could have done a better job if I didn't have to struggle with the lighting at times).
Wedding photography is a special branch within commercial photography, competition is higher, stakes are high, chance of failure equally high. One bad day (faulty CF card, wonky flash, broken lenses without backups) and you could possibly kiss your business goodbye. I have been watching with interest (as an outsider) over the past few years - the proliferation of many young aspiring wedding photographers. Some are good, some not so good. I wish them luck, clients can be so nasty to deal with and I'm glad I don't do this full time.
Although, this assignment did rekindle the familiar taste of blood and I want to go hunting again (preferably where I get to dictate the rates I want and interesting couples only). We will see. Rental is dirt cheap ($350++ for 2 cameras + 2 lenses + 1 flash).
I wonder where my style fits in: I definitely cannot do those lovey-dovey bokeh-maximus shots, I don't do nice abstract shots of objects (my definition of abstract = new series that I will be showing somewhere soon), I hate having to say 1-2-smile, I detest table shots, I suck at close-ups preferring wide-angles (photojournalism-style) but I can capture the life of the place, the happiness (occasionally sadness) as the groom walks the bride down the aisle, the friends' joy (and desire to get married too). Action-packed. Yep, that's it. But who wants an action-packed wedding photo album? I wonder.
(Oh yes, good friends, I may shoot your wedding FOC. Be nice and ask early but you need to get your own main guy.)