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10/19/2006 01:23:10 PM · #51 |
Wow, that guy is touchy ain't he?
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10/19/2006 01:24:26 PM · #52 |
Originally posted by ddpNikon:
hrmm...you just accused me of being a camera imbecile. I know which end of a camera to look through, so I automatically think that I can shoot a wedding.
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not at all - i was trying to make a point by exaggerating abit. Have you seen some of the questions posed on wedding photog forums? Some of those posters are barely past the stage of knowing how to change lenses and get a paying gig shooting a wedding.
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10/19/2006 01:24:30 PM · #53 |
Please remember ddpNikon = deepee (recent name change).
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10/19/2006 01:24:37 PM · #54 |
Look... the point is: if your gonna go out and shoot someones wedding for free or cheap - And you have little to no experience doing it - The people who are gona pay in the long run are the bride and groom and professional photographers who actually make a living shooting weddings.
I'm a wedding photographer. i booked and shot about 40 weddings for 2006, and I'm booking for 2007 and 2008.
I have experience, I have backup EVERYTHING (3 cameras, 3 strobes, lots of glass, etc...) and I've had equiptment fail on location and if I didn't have backup i would have been SCREWED!
If a B&G want to pay $500-$1500 good for them. I won't take it personally. Maybe their broke. I just won't book a wedding at that price.
BUT - for every hack who know which end to point forward and decided they are gonna charge pennies per photo, it HURTS everyone else in my business. (and just for the record, there are a LOT of "professional" wedding photographers out there that ARE complete hacks)
The camera only takes the photo, it's the person behind the lens that makes it.
And you can be the best damn photog in the world.... but without experience shooting weddings, the chances of screwing up someone elses special day can be pretty high.
SO
If you REALLY want to take photos of a wedding, do yourself and everyone else involved a favor.... go on assignment with a WORKING wedding photographer and pick their brains and see how they do it, and take from them the lessons you want, and create your own style when you go out and shoot someones wedding day.
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10/19/2006 01:26:11 PM · #55 |
Originally posted by cryan:
Wow, that guy is touchy ain't he? |
yeah. He's local to me and had his moments. he's a good guymost of the time, and usually apologizes afterwards.
About a month ago he was selling out all his photography stuff. He's switched from canon to nikon once already, was p&s and wanted to go back...he's without direction.
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10/19/2006 01:29:38 PM · #56 |
He may be without direction but some of his work is really good. To bad, about the attitude in this thread though. I've conversed with him on another thread and he was very pleasant. Oh well.
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10/19/2006 01:34:34 PM · #57 |
Originally posted by nico_blue:
I have people tell me all the time that I should shoot weddings, my biggest problem is just the general lack of experience. I may help shoot my friends wedding in a few months but i already told her that I would not be comfortable as the lead photographer. Anyone know how you get started at wedding photography? |
Good Move, I have shot about 10 weddings and out of that 1 went bad. My Best Friend in college asked me to shoot his, and I agreed. I used by 35MM and backed up with a rented Hassleblad. I took the Hassy negs to a pro lab and the 35 to a local respected chain. The "respected chain" did not clean thier rollers and 10 rolls of VPS wrapped all of the 35 mm was lost. Since I am not a PRO the Hassy shots were only average and only of the posed alter. That was 15 years ago and to this day I am still devestaed. I still do a wedding or two but only after pushing the B&G to get a Professional, and only as a back up with the leads permission. In my view the same could happen to day with a bad Compact flash card so for me to consider doing a wedding and calling myself a pro, a large captial investment in equipment (tons of back up, double everything), a quality assistant, and much more training would get me back to the alter. |
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10/19/2006 01:45:13 PM · #58 |
I agree that assisting someone should be the first step BUT you can only do that for so long. When you are assisting or second shooting, you are being taught what the main photog likes, which may not be what YOU like. Also, as an assistant or second shooter, you don't really get much hands on experience when it comes to formals, that is a skill you must learn on your own by trial and error. You need to branch out on your own, shoot your own weddings and then and only THEN, will you be comfortable and confident in your skills as a wedding photographer. Be upfront with the clients about your level of experience but do not sell yourself short. Another thing you need to remember is that YOU need to believe you are good. In order to sell yourself to these people you need to really believe you are worth whatever it is you are asking for otherwise how are you going to convince them? For example, I just shot a wedding in Wisconsin last weekend where the bride and groom knew they were my 10th wedding but they liked my work so much that they paid me top dollar for the job. If the client likes you and wants to pay you then it's all good. You need to be able to back it up though
I do not claim to have years of experience as a wedding photographer but I do call myself a professional wedding photographer.
Just my two cents.
June
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10/19/2006 01:47:41 PM · #59 |
Originally posted by nico_blue:
I have people tell me all the time that I should shoot weddings, my biggest problem is just the general lack of experience. I may help shoot my friends wedding in a few months but i already told her that I would not be comfortable as the lead photographer. Anyone know how you get started at wedding photography? |
Find a photog that shoots weddings and assist. It may not pay well, or at all, or it may. Each photog has his out look and methodology - I assisted one that shot the whole deal with a canon 10D and 28-200 3.5-5.6 lens with a diffusion filter and about $10,000 worth of Lumedyne strobes (for a daytime ourtdoor wedding and reception!). It's her style, her look, and at $2000/hour it seems to be working! I had lots of time to ask quetions - my job was to stand beside her with a flash on a stick. Not real exciting, but educational - not so much how to take a picture, but where to be, what to shoot, how to work with the people. the stuff you'll take forever to figure out on your own.
The DVDs from photovisionvideo are extremely instructive -they follow photogs arond during a wedding and the photog explains what and why he's doing things. For example, in one they show Yervant setting up a shot and i've seen that shot from him in a book from 10 years ago - guess what? He got a shot he likes and he just copies it at every wedding! Creative? In some ways, yes.
I then asked everyone if they knew anyone getting married, and could I shoot some. Go look on craigslist or //www.freecycle.org if you want to shoot a wedding cheap or free, just offer.
The only way to get good is to do it over and over and over. Study what you did, what went well or could have gone better. Some folks don't like the stress and others thrive on it. I'm confident I can shoot a wedding at this point and now I want to get good at the artistic part, develop a style, etc.
What is your overall approach? Do you want to be a photographer that gets paid, or run a business that does photography? You have to be able to do both to some degree to be able to do both for very long. there are great artists starving and bad photographers getting rich.
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10/19/2006 01:50:45 PM · #60 |
Originally posted by cryan:
He may be without direction but some of his work is really good. To bad, about the attitude in this thread though. I've conversed with him on another thread and he was very pleasant. Oh well. |
A true artist then? And all that goes with that.
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