The nerve...

[Rob_the_waste]

I just shot my first wedding yesterday. I was a bundle of nerves, not because I was afraid of anything beside me

failing, but I was so serious about trying to do a good job of it. I planned for lots of backup. The main

camera was a Konica Minolta Digicam (sorry, but I did shoot over 500 pics with it). The backups were as follows:

 

Hanimex 35 SL (rebranded Chinon CS)

Yashica 35

Fed 5C

Hiyoca

Yashica A

Praktica Super TL.

 

There were also three flash units, a Vivitar 1900, 2800, and 285.

 

As it turned out, I only used five of the cameras, The Fed and Yashica 35 not getting out for exercise. So far

the biggest surprise was the Hiyoca. For my first wedding, I used a camera that hardly anyone has heard of for

candids with a no name shutter and a 2.8/45mm fixed lens called a Kendor. It has a yellowish tinge to it so I

suspect it may have some lanthanum in the glass (a good thing). The one young fella also ribbed me about putting

a sock over the flash (it was a Bounce sheet folded over three times that I stole from the laundry room at home,

and fastened with a couple of rubber bands).

The dim lights in the salon played havoc with the autofocus of the digicam, and the manual focus of the SLR

wasn't much better. Also, the Hiyoca doesn't have a meter, so everything I did with it was Sunny 16. I haven't

gotten the film out for the Yashica A yet, but up until now the Hiyoca won hands down. Bright, colourful, and

consistent sharp prints.

I'm going to have lots of pictures to hand over to the bride and groom (I shot off over 600). I'll need some PS

time to do some tweaking, but it was a generally positive experience. I've already been booked to do a second in

a couple of weeks. If I start feeling more comfortable with it, I may try to do it regularly. It was fun, I

nearly got the bride and groom busted getting that special shot in a restricted area. The mother-in-law got a

laugh out of me rolling up my pants and getting into the fountain for the water shots. I guess it's like

wildlife, if you want the shot, you've got to get dirty. ;-)

[Rob_the_waste]

No Pic???<div></div>

[richterjw]

I am glad to hear you had a good experience. I wish you the best of luck. After five or six weddings for friends, I quickly decided that it was not something I enjoyed and should use my creative energies elsewhere. Best, JR

[richard_moore5]

Good for you! And good luck also for the future. I don't do weddings any more... the last time shot my nerves to hell with a large number of guests, a technically demanding situation with midday sun, lots of light and shade and a plethora of big hats... this was before the days of digital so I wasn't sure how things would turn out. And I was providing the live music as well. In the end it turned out OK and the bride and groom were happy but I promised myself not to do a wedding again (except as an ordinary guest).

[patrick j dempsey]

I've been experimenting with pretty good luck using bounce flash in auto mode to light indoor scenes when shooting with classics without any automation or meter. Sometimes the Thyristor control on the flash gets confused, but no more often than an autoexposure camera gets fooled in difficult lighting.

[Rob_the_waste]

The weather yesterday was all over the map. The weather forecasts called for t-storms. It was overcast, then a bright haze, then overcast again, then it rained on the way to the chapel, then the rain stopped just after the ceremony, then it finally cleared later on, and the sunset was great. The one part I messed up with the SLR was forgetting to turn up the power on the Vivitar 285, and I ended up shooting a few stops short (nerves). The shots still came out, but I've got to see if I can get them reprinted. My nerves got better as the day went on. The heat in the Chapel was intense (I think someone forgot that winter was over, but at least the lenses didn't fog up). A lot of the lighting was tricky. I'm scared that I may have missed a guest or two that arrived later at the house. It was strictly family and close friends at the ceremony and photo shoot in the garden which made it easier to keep organized. Overall it wasn't as uptight as I was. I hope the bride and groom be happy with the results.