LESSONS LEARNED from the Pros - on their first wedding

[think27]

Just for fun and perhaps as a source of inspiration as well as a good

"lessons-learned" for newcomers....

 

Tell us about your first wedding.

 

How much prep did you have. Classes? College Course? Workshops?

Books? Mentor/assisting? Photo.net?

 

How many months/years did you research and get instruction of some

kind before you took your first wedding.

 

How much did you charge for your first wedding and how many years ago

was it?

 

Did you have everything you needed? Enough film... Backup

camera/flash/lenses. Enough info on how a wedding flows...

 

How were your nerves ;-)

 

How smooth or rough was the experience

 

What - if anything went wrong...

 

How were the results and what did the couple think?

 

What would you have done differently?

 

Did you continue on with wedding photography after that? (some don't ;-)

[wedding-photography-denver]

I forgot to load film into the primary camera for the ceremony. Circa '88. I know, I know, I should have been checking. This happened in the days when I used to tear off the end of the box and put it in the little window on the back of the camera (Yashica). Nerves I guess?

 

I think I would (and subsequently did) have placed the roll in the cam body first, then torn off the end. Just a matter of having a solid system really.

[mike_payne3]

I'll never forget. May niece asked me to shoot her wedding, no $$ since it was my first. I stood up in the balcony during the ceremony and blazed away...with flash! Afterwards, the minster decided to make an example out of me and asked the 100+ congregation to "Please remain seated while the 'Professional Photographer' takes his formal photographs". I was terrified. The entire Church was dead silent, and you could hear my shoes squeak as I, sweating profusely, approached the altar.

Honestly, my mind is blank on what all happened next, but the photos turned out ok for the first time.

 

I've been hooked ever since.

[lex_jenkins]

Mary, you sure you want to limit this survey to pros? I'm not sure how many folks whose livelihood depend on this want to publicly confess their sins of omission.

 

Those of us who just do this for fun and as gifts to family and friends, OTOH, have little to lose. I realized long ago that my dignity is worth slightly less than a cup of coffee. ;>

[fotografz]

My first was my sister's wedding decades ago. I had a Canon FTB, three lenses (no zooms)

and Vivitar flash. My brother-in-law also had a Canon manual camera. We both struggled

to grasp light balance with the flash so we could shoot a bridal portrait against stained

glass window.

 

No back-up camera or flash, no experience what-so-ever. No money what-so-ever. No

forum to ask help on. We had to figure it out ourselves. No LCD review to learn from ... so

we had to write down every combination we did and check against the film after

processing.

 

No nerves except when trying to exactly remember the manual formula to light balance

when it came to the Stained Glass shot. My sister was overjoyed by the results.

 

My second "first" was decades later when a bunch of very talented Art Directors asked me

to shoot their friends' wedding as a gift from all of them, which I promptly refused ... not

out of fear of not being a pro, but because I thought wedding photography was

hackneyed.

 

They persisted, and insisted I do it any way I wanted ... which I did. All B&W film with a

Leica M and a few shots with a Hasselblad 500 series camera.

 

Nerves? Yep, not because of the pace, or ever-changing scenario, nor the "got to get the

shot" sword of Damocles hanging over my head ... but because they were all great Art

Directors and knew photography ... so I was terrified of producing hackneyed work ...

(which remains my biggest "night terror" to this day).

 

Produced an all silver print album, and as a result booked 10 weddings that year because I

was "hooked".<div></div>

[scarolinael]

My first one was 7 years ago this coming June. I had a very good mentor she had shot professionaly for over 20 years, of course that didn't help my nerves going solo but she said I was ready. I was a bundle of raw nerves the day of, (my husband was my assistant and still is) he said I looked calm but inside was a differant story going on, at times I felt I was going to pass out I was so very nervous cause I knew there was no redoing that day. I had back up everything and my one goof for the day was doing the formals I wanted to use a star filter for a few shots the candles were gorgeous well in my state of nervousness I grabbed a warming filter by mistake, lucky for me after 2 or 3 shots I realized I couldn't see the little rays that are given off by the star filter and quickly changed it. No one but me knew I goofed and no one ever saw the pics I goofed on. The bride also held things up at one point the DJ didn't have the song she wanted to do her first dance with so she sent someone 25 miles to a store to buy a cd. Her mother wanted her to pick a differant one but she said no, so we waited, that was also rough on the nerves. After spending 12 hours with this girl (I am thinking she was a spoiled child) lol. Well we got through the night and after was all said and done the mother actually ordered another album for herself and $500.00 worth of enlargements, oh and the price I did for the first one was $800.00 and that included a 24 page album. The couple were very happy with the outcome I even got referals from them. Would I still shoot after this day??? YES I am still at it!

[karenco]

When I shot my first wedding for pay, I was technically proficient (been photographing since I was old enough to hold a camera), knew darkroom work, knew exposure, etc. I'd had some landscape work published in a local magazine and done a bit of shooting for the tiny local paper where I lived. I'd been assisting a local wedding photog for about 6 months. I'd been a member of the very old AOL Kodak photography forum for about a year.

 

I was paid $25 an hour and the studio provided film. I provided my own equipment. I shot medium format (a twin lens reflex camera) and backed up with my 35mm Nikon. I had 2 flashes, 2 brackets, and a decent number of lenses for the 35mm. The TLR didn't have interchangeable lenses, so that solved that problem! :) I didn't have to worry about "enough" film because the studio provided it - a propack of 220. That was all I was allowed to shoot at a gig.

 

I was nervous as hell - managed to hold it in until the ceremony when I was up the balcony. Then I had a bit of a breakdown and dropped 2 rolls of film. Luckily I'd already sealed them. :)

 

Everything went great on the day, the couple raved about me. They were so happy and the bride's dad gave me a bottle of champagne as a tip as I left the reception.

 

A week later the bottom fell out. I had forgotten to check my X-sync and so all of the inside images were gone. The flash and the camera didn't sync and there was nothing from those images. The couple got about a rolls worth of photos that we'd done outside at the church and a couple outside the reception venue. The rest were simply black.

 

The couple was angry. The bride cried. I had to sit there with them and my boss and listen to them tell me how I'd ruined their wedding. I felt about 1/2" tall. I manged to hold it in until they left and then I just cried and cried and cried. My boss was understanding but firm. I wound up paying him back for the cost of the couples' package ($850, which, at the time, was nearly my whole month's pay from my day job).

 

Yeah, I continued in wedding photography. :) Obviously. But even today thinking about it makes me cringe and want to cry for that poor couple. And I didn't just walk into it cold. I knew my equipment. I knew weddings. I'd been working with a photographer for 6 months. I'd photographed for friends. I was the official family camera-bug. I'd been shooting and developing film since I was 7 or 8. And I F*d it up royally for this couple.

 

It taught me a huge lesson - never make assumptions about your gear. Always check your settings ... fanatically. And I do to this day.

 

Karen

[laurenm]

Great question Mary! Tempted to answer but I'm not a pro. I think it will be inspirational and educational for us to hear from the pros (and generous of you all to share) who have that "first time" way behind them.

I look forward to more reading!

[wedding-photography-denver]

Karen S.

 

I think I know exactly how you felt. I died and the ground swallowed me. Thankfully I had not had the same experience as you and they consoled me!! Lucky me. They did get lots of shots otherwise so all was not lost. Your story makes me want to just cry, NOW.

 

You are obviously well past this as your work shows. :)

 

Best, D.

[conraderb]

FTR - I'm a semi-pro perhaps going pro next year.

 

First wedding was no problem. second wedding - on request on my clients (who were my college friends), I bought a medium format camera (a yashicamat 124g).

 

I had a home-made softbox with a cardboard board, some alumnimum foil, some waxed paper. in the softbox was a vivitar 285 with an optical slave.

 

the softbox/flash was mounted on a stand called "Bride's 12-year-old Cousin". Believe it or not, this stand would adjust to VERBAL commands. I didnt' have to twist a thing.

 

on my right side there was a sunpak 333 with an optical slave on a real stand.

 

on camera, I had another vivitar that was pointed to the one on teh softbox, so that it would trigger the softbox, adn the softbox would trigger the fill in sunpak 333.

 

of course the formals went perfectly! beautiful portrait lighting!

 

of course, except for the ones where I shot with the flash mode on m instead of X!

 

for those of you who don't know what that means, M mode is for flashCUBES, which require a bit of warm up time before they discharge light.

 

to compensate, the camera sends the 'flash' signal just a hair before the shutter opens, so that the bulbs send out their light right when the shutter trips.

 

with electronic flash, however, this is what happened:

 

I push the shutter.

 

Camera triggers flash and the flash setup beautifully illuminates all of the faces and curves of the subjects.

 

Shutter OPENS.

 

A very small bit of ambient light hits the film.

 

Shutter CLOSES.

 

(did you notice the lack of flash during the shutter exposure?)

 

I realized my mistake on the way home and was sick to my stomach for 12 hours.

 

Check your settings ALL THE TIME. of course, had this been digital, I would have noticed, but still...

[ben_rubinstein___mancheste]

I had been managing a photo lab for two years while teaching myself photography helped by the many pros whose work I processed and whose advise I took advantage of. I also had free processing which would be an equivelent to the digital ages faster learning curve.

 

I moved back to the UK and worked for the top pro in my market here in town for a year and a half. During that time I was asked as a favour by my, (now this is where it gets complicated) brother in laws wife's sister to shoot the photos at their daughters wedding. The grooms family were not interested particularly in a photographer and the brides family are as poor as synagogue mice! I refused for two weeks before they pursuaded me to do it. I shot the wedding for cost and to my amazement it turned out really well. I had backup for everything and shot 7 rolls of NPH. The portraits were a mix of what I knew from my work, stuff I'd seen in the lab and stuff I'd seen recently in a friends album! My wife helped me which was great and as the family had expected nothing more than sharp snapshots they were delighted. I did her younger brother a couple of months back.

 

Unfortunatly I got cocky as a result of that experience, the next wedding I grimace to remember though when shooting her sisters wedding two weeks ago the previous groom came up to me to tell me how much he still treasures each and every photo! I would hate for anyone to see them now. Infact when I handed them this album I apologised for the difference in quality of work, i.e how bad the last set are in comparison but they just laughed.

 

My boss sent me out to shoot a couple of portrait jobs for him, I screwed up one, again through cockiness and he was asked to go and shoot it again, but he didn't shout or scream, he explained what I'd done wrong and taught me some very basic principles that I've never forgotten but hadn't imbibed yet from my time working for him.

 

I started getting more jobs and getting more confident. I developed a signature style that has made me rather popular among the brides here. I also developed a reputation for patience which has stood me in good stead with the parents. I changed over to digital after a while having flirted with med format and am now on par with the other photographers working this market, including my old boss both in price, bookings and I would like to say, quality of work. My old boss who is a PJ by profession is desperately trying to get out of wedding work which he finds monotonous to the point of utter boredom (you should hear what he has to say on the subject of so called PJ wedding photography - I think most real PJ's would agree!) and would like to empty his workload on to me except that I'm often too busy.

 

One thing that he told me, and I've always kept that in mind when shooting a wedding. Get one picture of the bride that she likes, get one picture of the couple that they like and if you've screwed up the rest of the wedding then at least there is something they love that they can frame and put on the wall. At least you have a picture which the bride feels makes her beautiful.

 

Not that I can screw up the rest of the wedding either, but the most important pictures, the must have or die pictures are the bride and the bride and groom. So I make sure I take a good and varied selection so that they have plenty to choose from, that there won't be a case of them saying 'the pictures were nice but I didn't find one of me/us that I really liked'. I hear that statement all too often and I think that my concentration on achieving that, my dedication to that principle is why the brides love me eventhough their mothers may muse that they wanted more table shots! For a 200 proof album there is a larger concentration of shots of the couple in the album than any other photographer working this market, to hell with static table shots at the expense of bridal portraits.

 

It's all a matter of focus.

[ben_rubinstein___mancheste]

I forgot to add, my wedding album is rarely looked at by me these days, I liked it till I realised how bad it was when I started shooting! But there are two photos of us on the side, one a B&W conversion and one a colour portrait. I'm happy enough despite the rest of the album (one bridal portrait - just one!) because those are the ones I see and am happy with every day. Of course if I could lose 90 pounds to get back to looking like that again I wouldn't complain!

[picturesque]

First wedding was when I was home from my first year in college. No classes or courses beyond what I picked up myself since I hadn't started photography education yet. Some mentoring from a local studio owner. Don't remember if I studied beforehand. Probably did, but probably just from reading, since there was no internet. Got $200 for the whole thing--it was maybe 1973?. I used a Pentax Spotmatic with 28mm, 50mm and 105mm primes. Had back up and everything. Kind of knew how weddings went from going to some. Very nervous, but it went well. Nothing went wrong and the couple was happy. Can't think of anything I would have done differently. I continued with weddings, but not full bore until much, much later.

[djphoto]

I shot my first wedding in 1971 with a Rolleicord TLR and M-3 flashbulbs. Used three whole rolls of 120 film. The photos turned out fine, but I had not yet learned to ask the right questions before the wedding, so I arrived to find that the bride's parents were divorced, both had remarried, and they all hated each other. I had to shoot every formal involving the brides's parents twice. (And all this while changing flashbulbs after every shot!)

[todd frederick]

I was teaching adult education classes in general photography in the 1970s, and one of my students asked if I would photograph his small home wedding for a hundred bucks. I never did one so I thought it would be good practice.

 

I knew how to use cameras and take portraits and such, but I did not know anything about the dynamics of a wedding: the schedule flow, must-take photos, the psychology involved with human interactions, "crowd control," and such.

 

I think that is more much important than the mechanics of picture-taking.

[libbie_mistretta]

Wow - this has been an excellent read. Thanks, everybody! Great idea, Mary!

[kari douma]

My first wedding was for cost. It was my sisters. I used my Pentax ZX30, and my Nikon N90s. I shot the whole wedding on "P". I used a backdrop and "Hot Lights". The wedding was July 5, and it was about 110 degrees in the room where we did the backdrop pics. You can imagine the groom and groomsmen in their tuxes!

 

I did't have great exposures, and I didn't know ANYTHING about balancing light. I used Fuji NPS 160 for the ENTIRE wedding. Formals, Ceremony, and Reception. This made sense to me since I didn't know that I wanted higher ISO for more natural light.

 

I shot the entire thing with a full power flash, (except the hotlight pictures) with no difussion at all. Overall the wedding turned out mediocure, but she was happy with them. It started me on the way to my new love....

 

I did get one of my favorite images from that wedding, and it is on my website. But, I look at it technically and compositionally, and I think the reason I like it so much is because it is my sister and my dad!<div></div>

[Jerry_]

1971....pre-Photo Net.

[uk]

After graduation, I couldn't afford a photographer, but I had access to a Rolleiflex TLR at

work. I asked a friend who had no experience to shoot the wedding using it, in the hope

that a well exposed MF negative would a good basis for a hand enlargement in the future.

 

30 years later, those negatives still defy Photoshop.

[medina photography cherry]

I booked my firts wedding for Dec 6, 2003. I put an ad in the paper, this couple responded. I took a couple of wedding photography books from the library to show them the kinds of images I wanted to shoot (I had no portfolio to show them)They booked me for $600.00. It was for 8 hours and 1 album. The night before their date it snowed 2 feet. I got to the church early, the minister was cursing that no one helped him shovel. The couple wanted to do outdoor pictures, which I encouraged them to do indoor. I brought a couple of studio lights with me with umbrellas. The church was so dirty and dingy, I had to PS the stains off the walls in each image. The reception was at an elks lodge. It was another dirty dingy location and everyone in the place smoked so it quickly filled with smoke and you can see in all my dance shots nothing but smoke- disgusting! The album was a nightmare to put together, but I got it done and presented it to the groom. He smiled at SOME of the pictures but never said thank you, never heard from the bride. The shots I wanted to get, I never got. I felt the pressure to shoot the wedding so much that I never allowed myself to get creative. I hated the images and swore off Wedding Photography altogether. The following April I got a call from a couple who got my number from a guy who I went to church with. I told them to find someone else because I wasn't doing it anymore. They pleaded with me that they needed my help, etc. I agreed to do it for $200 and give them a CD with the images. I did the wedding in May 2004. It was an outdoor wedding and smokeless reception. The images turned out rather nice and it got me back on track for doing weddings.

Rob

[medina photography cherry]

sorry for the long paragrah. I did not realize I wrote that much.

[steve_levine]

Lets see, my camera did all of the work for me, I got home early, made thousand$, and I was hoisted aboard the bridal party's shoulders while everyone sang "...for he's a jolly good fellow".

 

 

The real story is that it was 100 degrees f. The party was in a backyard tent. Everyone including myself, was drenched in sweat. The guests all got drunk, and my pictures probably looked like I was too!

 

 

All I could think of was "getting out of there".

 

It took me at least a few dozen "shoots", to find my way and to gain control.

 

 

My mentor had brainwashed me about checking camera settings, and watching my subject's eyes, before each frame. So technically my work was fine. But artistically, I just wasn't "getting it". My work style lacked "flow".

 

There are many skill levels that need attaining, and there there is a balance of these skills that needs to be perfected. This is "the" hard part to learn.

 

 

You can read a million books on "sailing", but none replaces the feel of the water hitting your face as you are "out there".

[bill_clark___minnetonka_mi]

Long time ago.....1969 was my first solo wedding. I was a senior in undergraduate studies and a professor who mentored me asked me to be the photographer for his sisters wedding.

 

One camera, I believe I used my Minolta SRT 101, one lens the one that came with it, a 50mm and I took two maybe three rolls of 36 exposure Ektachrome X slide film. I used the Minolta because my other camera at the time was a 4x5 Graflex. Can you imagine I did sports photography with a Graflex camera!

 

Those were the days.....but soon these will be the good old days.

 

Thanks for asking Mary!

[verdellnazgul]

A friend of mine recommended me to a friend of hers. "He takes pictures" is pretty much what she told her and that's pretty much what I did. Flowers, dogs, bugs, kids, and a few bike races all just for the heck of it. My qualifying credentials were "Hey, my dad was a photographer in the Navy." No idea what to charge. The only wedding I'd even been to in my life was my own. I call local photographers and tell them "I'm getting married...what do you charge?" just to get an idea what to ask for. I talk with the parents and charge $700 including an album. Brides father talks me down to $300 with no album, just give them the negs and I buy the film. He was in a wheel chair and his wife kept poor mouthing. No idea what it's going to cost me. This is 1992ish. I take a tripod, a flash, about 15 rolls of assorted film (mostly chrome and some tri x as "hey, that's what Dad shot!) and a body as that's all I have. While taking shots at the altar I tilt the camera verticle on the tripod and it falls off and lands on the flash and breaks it off at the wheel lock. There's only about 3 darn lights in the entire church and it is DARK in there. The rest of the shoot will be outside at night at a plantation about 45 minutes away. My whole head gets hot. I've never thrown up or fainted in my whole life but I swear I had to re-chew my lunch to keep it down right there. I am cooked! I pick up the camera and excuse myself. "Back in a minute!" I say and walk calmly out, greatly belying my unbelievable inner turmoil.

 

I run the 4 redlights between there and the camera shop. I'd have been thrown in jail just for the speed I coaxed out of my old ragged out BMW. I sprint in to the shop just before closing time. I yell for one of the guys I know for help. He looks at me and knows what's up. He takes the flash and goes in the back. I get another guy to ring up a new $350 speedlight and am ready to hand him a credit card in case the other dude can't fix mine. He comes out with it repaired in about 5 minutes! Holy cow! I sprint out the door yelling I'll straighten out the repair fee later. Run the same 4 lights back to the church. Sprint to the door. Take a few breaths. Open door and walk down the isle. Was gone about 25 minutes. Apologize a lot. Finish out the day. Stare longingly at alcohol at reception. I never drink.

 

Tell my friend about it later. She says "only 300 bucks? That guy is one of the top defense lawyers in the state!!!"

 

Pictures came out fine. I thought about trying mind altering drugs for a long time after.

 

Steve

[verdellnazgul]

Thanks for the topic Mary. I meant to say that long after the beginning the experiences keep happening. This past week I had a laptop, D1x, etc set up in the sound room overlooking the sanctuary. Bride and father head down the isle and I head around the corner to go up. The door is locked. I had it propped open but the sound guy shut it on his way up. He could not hear me beating on the door but several folks in the back of the church could!