"I want to inform you in person that we are married." "Ok.. then I'll see ya."
My brother called me at the 4th of March, 2007. His fiancee and him were married on previous day. I had little hang over but went out to see them. We met up at the station close to their house, and move to Japanese restaurant. As soon as we sat on the seat, my brother opened his mouse.
"Miki(my name), can you take our wedding photo? We didn't request the wedding photographer. Can you do that?" "OK..."
My first wedding photography experience had started.
photo taken by (C)mkyg
I went to preview of the chapel and the banquet hall after a week from that day, the 10th of March. I was very lucky be able to make an appointment, moreover, the guide was very professional. I've checked,
- Where and How much the lights come during the ceremony :imagined the time of the ceremony, considered the strength and angle of the lights. these were allowed me to adjust the brightness.
- How, When, and Where the people move : this helped me find the best shooting position(left/right/front/back with zoom/etc..), beforehand.
- The progression of the ceremony : I guess this was most important. I had known what is going on throughout the ceremony, able to make focus on the point quickly.
- The spot that would look most beautiful : this could be more important when you have weekend wedding. My brother's were on Fri, so was not too bad but finding place to take photo for keepsake should have done before the ceremony. Because on weekends, it's very crowded, we usually kicked out as soon as the ceremony finished although not always the ceremony held in a perfect place for photography. Take photo for keepsake right after the ceremony.
- The time table : the time when bride and groom appear in anteroom, when they go to rehearsal, and of course when the ceremony starts. Figuring out the wedding schedule helped me making shooting schedule.
- The changes of clothes : usually, more clothes more length of wedding. to estimate how much memory device I should prepare. In their case, about 4 hours started from the anteroom, the change of clothe was only once. I used about 3G memories and took about 550 photos.
- What they do in the banquet : it was not too hard in their case. the banquet hall had windows, the natural light came from outside add to artificial lights inside. No candle service, no Karaoke on stage.
And today, the 30th of March, was the wedding day. To be honest, I couldn't feel like I was attending a wedding. I felt exactly the same as on the street, taking photos of people. But I knew what will happen next and where I should be ;-) That's the only difference between street photograhy and wedding photography after all. Oh, yes, one more thing. There's commonly lots of white. Be aware for the reflections.
My first wedding photography experience had finished.
This is just a note for my next challenge ;-)
p.s. I haven't got permission to publish their photos with beautiful expressions yet.. if I got it, will add some more photos ;-)
photo taken by (C)mkyg
Happy Wedding! Kenji & Tomomi.
3 comments:
You're right saying that taking pictures at an event is not like attending the event. You feel like an external spectator, you're kinda disconnected from what's happening. Bu it's an interesting experience.
By the way, since they didn't want to have their faces shown, you could have put a black rectangle on their eyes ;-) (I know, I say stupid things sometimes...)
Wedding photography is so hard, but you made wonderful photos!
Thank you! Jean, Davide ;-)
I couldn't have done it without your encouragement and support.
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