Is work ever suppose to be easy? I don't think so. I guess having a dream job is like waiting for the right person to come along into your life. You may have a vision of what you want to achieve when you first meet them and how you would spend your lives together. Whatever happens it is always going to feel like hard work,even at the best of times.
Nothing is perfect of course and just as I was observing Stuart on my second Wedding shoot, it came to me that there is a lot more to the job than you think. Obviously that was bound to happen, but not in the way that it struck me today.
He wanted to make my experiences in Photography more interesting, than just watching and taking the odd photo or two. He started feeding me all these tips and techniques and the realization hit me, that Photography is not just point and shot, its composing a piece of art that gets treasured for lifetime. It sounds as if I had known nothing about Photography but sometimes the things you thought you did know, are not quite what they seem.
Todays Wedding was at the 16 century Abbey in Great Missenden - somewhere in South East England. It was odd day that started mid-afternoon with the ceremony beginning at 4.30, complete with photo shoots that ended at 6.
Now, when I think of a Wedding, it usually begins, say around 12 or 1 and continues for the rest of the day and night. Well today I appreciated the uniqueness and the bride and groom were very friendly.
Everything was all in one place which was nice. There was a mini chapel in the building, where Emma (bride) would walk down some stairs and then down the isle. I was in charge of getting a few shots, here and there, though I'm not sure how they turned out. It felt a bit alien using Stuarts cameras. Although they are Canons' like mine, they have different buttons and settings and its just to confusing for me. As we didn't have much time to prep, it was pretty much;here is the camera, use the flash when she walks down the stairs, then off in the ceremony and off you go.
Err, right, okay, sure I'll just do it. Also what was odd, was when I looked through the lense everything was blurry. "Oh my God, what have done?!", I panicked in my head and I couldn't ask Stuart anything because he had another camera with him standing on the other side of the room - the ceremony had started. I came to realize, however in the middle of the Wedding that once a photo had been taken it was then preview itself back, all in crisp condition. My worry was over.
After some readings and the " I do's", we took the bride and groom around the grounds for their special photo shoot. It was nice to know this time what was going on (from the first wedding) and predicting the poses Stuart asked them to do. Again I had to lay out the train of the brides dress and hold up the metallic disk of torture. Okay, not really torture, that just sounded like a dramatic word to use. The reflector is light and easy to use, as long you can get the light right - often Stuart directs me.
Next we took some group photos and Stuart did his wide angle technique with his piece of string. I think I mentioned this before, but it is a really genius idea.
It had been a cloudy day and then sun began to shine through by the time the photos had been taken ( bit of a shame really). Then it was time for me to go home.
So it was only a couple of hours but least I got some more experience in behind the scenes at weddings and the main important thing the photography, but what did I learn.
I learned today:
- When working with wedding photography there are three main modes.
*church mode: uses ISO 600, that gives a good balance of aperture and depth of field.
*central mode: uses ISO 200
*outdoor mode: uses ISO 800
- When using a subject outside (ie. tree) make sure the light is even on both sides, as one side will be darker than the other.
- Plan your composition.
-You don't always have to point and shoot.
- Change angle and position( you can move around)
- When taking candid group photos, either take a wide scene of everyone or
focus on a small group of two or three.
So yeah, they were the main things. Hope these tips have been useful for any photographers out there.
