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Who loves shooting weddings?


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<p>I do, I do!</p>

<p>There's just something about it that reveals how very differently we humans are from person-to-person.. How we operate, how we respond to things.. I love it. It's the ultimate 'people watching.'</p>

<p>I'm going through the most recent wedding's images and they make me laugh, smile, shake my head, even get a little indignant... Weddings, ah weddings.</p>

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<p>I'm shooting an engagement party tomorrow, actually, and a wedding next weekend.</p>

<p>I love shooting weddings. I really believe that it's an honor and blessing to be invited to take part in such a big day for couples. Sure, weddings have big risks and headaches and PITA-people, but once I get into my groove at the wedding, I am so happy and relaxed.</p>

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<p>Besides having the technical skills, I think it is important to feel the fun and be enthusiastic on the job. One tends to be more creative when feeling happy around the people. A jovial spirit is contageous. It will add that extra something in the air, and translate into the results. The opposite dominates when that magic is missing. It is amazing how one's work reflects one's state of mind.</p>
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<p>I have found shooting weddings to be a very intense experience. I don't do it often, and only for good friends. Definitly a pressure situation. I do believe that evey photographer should shoot at least one wedding to see what its like, its good experience. I shoot B+W photojournalistic style.</p>
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<p>Have done it in the past. Great on the financial side but for the rest I positively hate it. The irony is that I'm rather good at it. After the first few word spread and I got more and more requests. Last one was some years ago and at least a bit interesting. Two women who married, 30 b&w MF FA prints, presented matted in a box. But it's definetely not my idea of fun.</p>

<p>When after 22 years together we decided to marry ourselves last year not one photo was made. That's how much I hate it. My wife is just the same although she still does floral arrangements on weddings on occasion (she's a master florist).</p>

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<p>I did weddings for about 25 years, just part time when the work came my way. After doing them for a while it became routine, more or less predictable work. Yes, work. It was a job that I had to do. And when the weddings were on a particularly hot and muggy day, I certainly did not enjoy doing them. I did like the money, but never really liked the work. That's why I stopped doing them some time ago. I've seen the same thing in many amateurs who have done weddings, after a while they get fed up and quit.</p>

<p> </p>

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<p>The trick to keep loving wedding shooting is to work smart not hard. As the bookings started coming in fast and furious - I started raising prices and doing timeframe packages which reduced the amount of hours I shot. So what I'd do is make high prices for 6 and 7 hours and where at 5 years I'd charge $2500 for 8 hours - 10 years in I'd charge $2800 for 4 hours, $3,100 for 5, $3600 for 6 and so on. That way I stayed fresh..as most people would sit around the 6 or 7 hour wedding which was pretty manageable. Maybe one per year would be 8 hours and some would be 4 or 5 hours... I'd tell couples "how many images do you really need of people dancing on the dance floor and we'd time the photo events to occur earlier. For instance many couples would enter the room and then do the first dance and dances with parents - cut the cake right after dinner and then I'd shoot 1/2 to 1 hour of dancing and I was done.</p>
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<p>I'm not a wedding pro and don't even play one on TV. But I've photographed weddings for family and friends (my first was at age 13 - I was petrified but did okay). I really enjoy the heck out of it. But it's always been for fun. There's no pressure because if I hadn't offered to take the photos as a gift, there wouldn't have been any photos. So there's no way for anyone to be disappointed.</p>

<p>Other types of events - fund raisers, social events, publicity photos, etc. - that I have done for pay... ehh, not so much fun. More of a pressure cooker. I may not have a shot list of all the essential people in advance. At a couple of events there were two or more other photographers under separate contracts and we had to dance around each other to get our shots without interfering with each other. More like a competitive press conference vibe than an enjoyable affair.</p>

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<p>I quit doing weddings when I heard myself tell the bride, " You weigh 400lbs if you weigh an ounce. NOTHING I did made you look fat."</p>

<p>I was trying to get the last payment out of her parents and she kept telling them not to pay because the pictures were horrible. After dropping that bomb her father quietly wrote the check for the final payment and asked if the albums could be messengered to his house. In my defense I'd been dancing around the issue for about an hour and a half trying to come up with a compromise that would allow everyone to feel like they walked away with something. She was just not having any of if.</p>

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<p>I have a tremendous amount of respect/ wonder for wedding photographers, but I heard someone once say "Everytime you shoot a wedding, you lose a little piece of your soul". Personally, I am just too much of a control freak to ever make a living at it.</p>
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<p>I have the utmost respect for wedding photographers and I work with one, but it's just not for me. I really love experimenting with the camera and most weddings are fairly scripted, even when you are being awesomely creative.</p>
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<p>I've only done a handful of weddings (4) but have thoroughly enjoyed all of them. I thrive on the pressure, as well as the emotions being played out around me. I figure, as long as I'm prepared for as much chaos as I can be prepared for, I'll be fine, and so far it's worked.</p>

<p>That being said, all the weddings have been for friends or friends of friends, so I've not yet run into any kind of horror story. I'm sure it'll happen eventually, as I plan to keep trying to gain experience... but I don't think it'll sour me on doing them.</p>

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<p>That's the key, if you don't Love photographing weddings you shouldn't try. People that do it for the money quickly burn out and hate them.<br>

When you love it plus get paid than you've got one of the best jobs in the world.<br>

You need to challenge yourself each time, You also require a personality that calms rather than raises the stress level for the bride and families.<br>

No matter what happens it's not a problem, we will make it work. That's one of the key's to successful wedding photography.</p>

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<p>I hate weddings, I prefer commercial and editorial work. I rather shoot a 187 or 914 T/A. I can do them, but I prefer dealing with commercial or editorial work. I enjoy photographing people but weddings just irritate me after a while. Maybe because I shoot them to help put myself through school. I remember my first wedding at 16, so maybe it is just PTSD.</p>
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<p>I wouldn't shoot a wedding with your camera! Ranks right up there with kids pictures.</p>

<p>It's not that I can't or haven't done them, but dealing with the bride and her parents is more then I'm willing to endure at this point in my life. The urge to kill gets too great.</p>

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