phil hawkins
Offline
Upload & Sell: On
|
 Re: Amateur Etiquette | |
I\'m the guy who coined the \"Idiots with Rebels and D60s\". What this is referring to is people who literally walk right behind the pro and shoot over his shoulder. At the very least it\'s distracting to hear someone else\'s camera going off in your ear when you\'re trying to concentrate, and it\'s also rude to think you can go right up behind someone and shoot what they are being paid to shoot. They are the ones there making a living by arranging everyone, balancing the group, requesting cooperation, balancing the background, and people come up and shoot away.
here\'s the deal; Wedding photographers make money by charging the B&G to show up and shoot the wedding. Various price levels can contain package amenities such as an album, maybe an 11x14 portrait, mother-in-law album, etc. Above the agreed-to items, they must pay for additional prints. If an amateur brings a Rebel or D60, which takes very good pictures, and then decides to start giving them away, he\'s taken money away from the pro. He\'s \"stolen\" his or her setup, then gives away the results. Try bringing an ice chest into the multi-plex movie theater next time you go and see what happens. They are there to make money. I am considering putting a clause in my contract that attendees may not bring cameras to the wedding.
Shooting a wedding is
a) Hard work; it takes intense concentration, a constant awareness of what\'s coming next, how it needs to be shot, and when. In a big wedding you will run all over the place, an average of two miles, changing CF cards, lenses, retrieving cords, etc.
b) An awesome responsibility; You only get one opportunity to get a shot of a one-time only event. For better or worse, the actions of these two people and the associated hangers-on will never happen again. Ever. So you HAVE to be good at what you do so you can make sure you get the shot. There will always be another football game, or sunset, or children playing in the yard, but this wedding and it\'s parts is literally, a once-in-a-lifetime-event.
c) Very, very hard on equipment. Banging around, the heat, and back east and in the midwest you have humidity and the threat of sudden rain. If you shoot a wedding on the beach the sand and salt will eat your equipment like acid. Setting up and using strobes wears on your flash heads, bulbs, etc. Wind can and does knock over softboxes, little kids running around tripping on power cords, Great Aunt Martha unplugging your strobe so she can use the AC plug... and not to mention shooting 1,500 shots the toll on your shutter...
d) Very demanding work even after the wedding with post, delivery of proofs, etc.
A wedding photographer earns every cent he or she receives.
DO NOT, that means DO NOT shoot over the pros shoulder on formals... or anything else you see him shooting. I shot the cutting of the cake and it was like shooting jubee shots after a football game. I am the pro and could not get a position without pushing amateurs out of the way.
I had to WAIT to get my shots done while a guy with a Rebel took his own setups of the B&G and parents on their way to my location for the same thing. Pissed me off!
Seriously, I am thinking about banning all other cameras at my weddings. They want pictures? I am the official wedding photographer and you can buy them from me. Otherwise, you do without.
I will give you Kudos for having the courtesy to ask the question. Please spread the word.
|
