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My First Wedding as *not* their photographer :)


joel aron

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As suggested from the Leica/Rangefinder forum, I'm posting a variation of my

post here..

 

My good friends Angie and Travis were kind to invite me and my wife to their

wedding as their guests. Not their photographer. They had hired one through the

family (phew... so I could drink and be happy) But I'm sure they knew that I

would arrive with an arsenal of photographic necklaces. I took with me the usual

wedding shotgun, the Hasselblad 500cm, and my sniper rifle, Canon 20d with it's

mounted bazooka 100-400L. But this time, for the first time at a wedding, I had

the latest addition of several months ago.. my new love, the M6, and the 35

Summicron f2 asph.

<br><br>

The plan going in, was shooting color w/ the 20D and Hasselblad, and for the M6,

it was 2 rolls of Delta 100, 2 rolls of Delta 400, and 2 rolls of my new

favorite combo.. Fuji Neopan 1600 pulled to 800. All Ilford developed in

straight Microdol-X, and the Fuji, I went for 1:1 Microdol-X

<br><br>

These are my picks for the M6 captures. The newlyweds are still on their

honeymoon, and I plan to have their site up shortly with a chronicle of all

images together. This is just the temp gallery to see how well they play online.

<br><br>

<a href="http://www.joelaron.com/wedding_bw">Link to Leica B&W Slideshow</a>

<br><br>

<a href="http://www.joelaron.com/wedding_temp">Link to Color Digital Slideshow</a>

 

<br><br>

I hope to shoot more weddings in the future, and also hope to get more 'fineart'

style images in the mix, but I guess that comes with being the primary 'paid'

wedding photographer! I'm learning, and hope to learn from any comments!

 

<br><br>

I tend to shoot more street, candid images, so it was interesting to see that

style adapted to a wedding. It was fun! ..and looking forward to my next wedding.

<br><br>

Hope you like them, and thanks for having a look.

<br><br>

cheers, -J

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Seems like you managed the camera well, but can you manage the people? A big part of shooting a wedding is the people/time management. It's easy to get shots when someone else is in charge of getting people to a location, setting up poses, checking group lists, etc.

 

It's almost about 50/50. 50% photo skills, 50% time/people skills. Next wedding try to pay attention to the time frames, I.E. how much time does the photographer spend with the bride and groom, wedding party, family, etc. Watch where they are and when. Try to figure out why. Try, as hard as you can, NOT to bring your camera. Take notes.

 

Weddings where they hire you to just sit in the background and have no input in the day are rare. Regardless of your style, you will be called upon to help manage with the timeframe throughout the day.

 

You're off to a much better start than most of the newcomers I see on this site.

 

Client here- have to go. Good job, good luck!

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Suppose I need to expand on that statement posted above about film. It is nice to look at B&W images in difficult lighting situations and still see all of the tiny details of the brides white dress. Film can be a joy to work with sometimes compared to digital even in RAW.
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I agree with Bob. I think you did very well! It just looks so much better than what I can achieve with digital.

 

Next weekend I'm doing a wedding for a friend of one of my photo mentors. I'll mix my 5D into it for the key moments, but....

 

Since she will be shooting as well, I'm emptying the fridge and will shoot primarily B+W with a 1V and 50mm. Shooting several rolls of Delta 3200 for this primarily indoor wedding and reception.

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Ha! yes Thomas.. all it took was a friend letting me use his Leica MP for a weekend, and I was hooked.

 

I sold a very rare motorcycle, a dirtbike, and telescope just to afford my Leica, two lenses, the Nikon 9000 scanner, and a new 24" iMac.

 

But the rangefinder.. does have a *very* steep learning curve that will have you flat on your face in some cases. It was a work out at a wedding, I tell ya. I highly suggest using one, but spend 50 rolls of film learning how to focus, and that DOF correct! ..I still feel like a new-be when it comes to it... but it's by my side wherever I go!

...drives my wife nuts...

 

Look at KEH.com or here in the Rangefinder forum for a used M6. Expect to pay $1k for the body, and at least that for the lens. But then you'll have the ultimate tool that you can hand down through your family like a nice watch! :)

 

cheers, and thanks for the comments! I appreciate them very much!

 

-j

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Hi Tommy,

 

The slideshow does not do audio, sadly, but the slideshow is from Adobe Lightroom (the best tool that I've found to catalog and quick edit all of my images). All of their default slideshows are editable! :)

 

thanks for the comments!

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