But I survived! There were no big meltdowns or gear failing on me, it didn't rain, the earth didn't open up and swallow me whole and all in all it was a fantastic experience; one that I enjoyed immensely.
But what is the point of second shooting for a more experienced photog if you don't learn anything? Well, there is no point. So here are five things that I took away from the day...
1. Breath and Remain Calm...
I don't know about you, but I've always been prone to shutting down and going all tunnel vision when I'm really under the pump. Maybe that was helpful 10,000 years ago wandering across the savannah, but trust me, when you're shooting a group of people it really isn't helpful!
Keep a level head and slow down. Even if you only take a couple of seconds, look through your shots and force yourself to just take it a bit easy.
2. Keep It Simple. Stupid.
When I decided to accept Belinda's extremely generous offer to second shoot with her, I immediately jumped on the net and poured through hundreds, if not thousands of wedding photographs from all over the world. Why? Well I don't really know. I didn't use a single 'idea' and through observing Belinda, everything seemed to develop organically, or was a child of Belinda's prior experiences (I recognised some of the poses from our own wedding!).
At the end of the day the bride and groom want a good record of their day and some nice, stylish, fun and flattering photos that they can hang on their wall and put into an album or book to look back on throughout the years and to one day show their grandkids. To this end I quickly realised that I had to trust my instincts, work from the basics and that the rest will come (especially true with a fun and outgoing bridal party!).
3. The Hands (and Bouquet) Matter!
Going through my photos from the day I was pretty happy with most of them. But one thing that I did notice (and which did not occur to me at the time) was that in a lot of shots that I wasn't overly happy with, a big part of the disappointment with the image stemmed from the way the bride/bridesmaids had their hands and bouquet.
Now this is not a criticism of them! After all it (a bouquet) is not something that you carry around with you every day! And hands' primary purpose are as tools, not to look good in a photo. This was something that I failed to recognise and treat at the time.
4. Never Drop Your Guard
I don't mean you should walk around, fists up ready to unleash a left jab or right hook on an unsuspecting flowergirl, but to always be prepared for that candid or moment of unguarded expression.
I know from my own wedding (photographed by Belinda), some of our favourite images are candids, capturing the true characters of our family and friends; the people dearest to us (except Lilly, she was but a tiny entity!). You don't want to miss these fleeting moments of subject gold as you fiddle around trying to turn on, check settings etc.
5. Have Fun!
I know this is an oft offered piece of advice, but I can't reiterate it strongly enough. The bride and groom are after a fun day, you (I'm sure) would prefer a fun day and everyone wants to see images from when fun was had.
Sure, there's some serious stuff up front (and we can't undervalue the seriousness of the commitment) but afterward it's essentially a party to celebrate a couple's love and the coming together of two families (and a whole lot of hangers-on ie friends!).
Looking back through the images in chronological order, there is a marked change and continued improvement in the quality of the image (not necessarily the technical quality) that coincides with when I started to relax and enjoy myself. Do this from the get-go and you're sure to come away with improved shots.
So there you go, five things from the first wedding ever shot in my capacity as a pro-photographer. But don't let the advice above be limited to weddings; truth is you could probably apply them all (well maybe not the bouquet advice) right across your photography experience.
What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear them...
As always, thank you for reading and don't forget to check out (and 'like'!) my Facebook page and have a browse through my galleries found through the menus above.
And one last thing: thank you to Sarah and Luke and the best of luck in your journey together.
- Will
No comments:
Post a Comment