Dude, slow down! I'm having multiple eyegasms! wow brutha! You guys killed it! Erwin has some sick stuff too. Congrats, keep it rollin. too many good ones to comment on.
it's been crazy. 5 back to back events, 3 of them destinations. then we shot 4 weddings in 1 week! never again. but heck, it sure is fun! you just get in a creative high then your body brings you down with fatigue. it's been pure awesomeness, though.
date: sept 2008
location: san francisco, ca
event: engagement
special thanks to:
erwin wijanto - http://www.ewphoto.net/blog/ (main photog for this session)
i was wondering the same as Jeremy .... and share more about the headset communications... looked like you were on some sorta "mission impossible" type deal.
Geez, with you, Sam, and a couple other photogs around here, how are us newbies supposed to break into the market!
Fantastic as usual.
Question from me, Since we know you use the lightstick a lot, do have an assistant who's entire job consists of walking around with it while you're shooting?
jeremy wrote:
Tell me more about the 4 person shooting crew? 2 shooters +1 assistant each?
weeums wrote:
i was wondering the same as Jeremy .... and share more about the headset communications... looked like you were on some sorta "mission impossible" type deal.
- travis
ok... the story goes like this. the wedding for rancho capistrano - san juan capistrano, california requested 2 shooters for its saturday wedding which i offer as an extra charge. usually it's just me (main shooter) and monica (assistant) for destination weddings. so i flew in my good friend erwin from seattle after confirming that indeed she wanted a second shooter.
as you guys may know, southern california is full of great photographers. louis palos is also a great friend of mine as well as a great photographer himself. i found out that he had a wedding to shoot sunday. so we talked and agreed to shoot for each others wedding. he shoot with me on saturday and i'll shoot with him on sunday. totally worked out.
so here we are on saturdays wedding, me as the main photographer and 2 extra shooters that's more than capable of shooting their own weddings as well as a full time assistant (thanks monica!) who carries the lightstick around while we're shooting. it was heaven.
i told them to shoot anything that they wanted. anything... and i didn't reply on them shooting the must have shots. everything that they get is simply a great bonus. seriously... there's such a HUGE difference when someone is a main helping you out versus someone who is simply just starting out.
anyways, sunday comes along and erwin and i tags along louis' gig. now i'm the second shooter and we can shoot anything and everything that we want. all of us are sharing ideas... it was like an all day workshop. totally awesome for us and totally awesome for the clients because they get different angles and more random meaningful moments are captured. it was awesome <--- did i say that already?
so, that's basically it in a nutshell.
as far as the headsets...
my second shooter, monica and i have been using midland walkies for several months now and it has helped us out a lot in terms of shooting the ceremony and reception. it's all about getting organized on the fly.
i'll give you guys an example... the couple walked up to the unity candles during their outdoor ceremony to light them as one, and erwin got in my background so he can shoot it as well... he was shooting wide and i framed the shot at 200mm. my framing was perfect and as soon as he got in my frame, i simply told him to step back a little and crouch... he took a quick peek as to where i was and bammm! both he and i got a great shot and we both weren't in each other's frame instantly.
sometimes, when you're shooting, you get really into it and it becomes very difficult to focus on where everyone is at one time.
another great example is if i'm in the back to shoot a wide and suddenly something happens in the front, i simply say "i don't have a shot" and they know to "try" to cover what i'm missing. i totally recommend it.
the only bad this is once the party music starts to play, it's practically unusable.
Scott Mosher wrote:
Question from me, Since we know you use the lightstick a lot, do have an assistant who's entire job consists of walking around with it while you're shooting?
yes. but keep in mind that we only bring it out during:
-alone time with the bride and groom
-group shots of the bridal party
-first dance
more and more lately though, especially when the venue is outdoors, we're using a 2 light set-up to make dancing a lot more interesting. monica simply stands at the corner of the dance floor holding the stick while passing out business cards and i just shoot how i normally do. sometimes you get a nice flare, most of the time you get some nice side light on people... it just makes the images a lot more dramatic.
