[Leica] Doing your Kid's Wedding

[mvolo at acpub.duke.edu (Michael Volow)]

It's not tacky,and there is nothing wrong with carrying a small camera for
occasional neat candid.

Having said that, you might enjoy it more, or in different way, if you do it
directly with your eyes and ears, without a camera between you and your
loved ones and friends. I would suggest that one should hire a wedding
photographer and/or videographer whose work you admire and trust, and let
them do the recording. After all, even if one were a doctor one would not
take out his own appendix, etc. When I have photographed dance showcases I
enjoyed watching the dancing less, than when I put down the camera and
savored the experience.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Rabiner" <mark@rabinergroup.com>
To: "Leica Users Group" <lug@leica-users.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2005 6:41 PM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Doing your Kid's Wedding


> On 4/26/05 2:02 PM, "jon.stanton@comcast.net" <jon.stanton@comcast.net>
> typed:
>
> > Frank,
> >> From first hand experience...My daughter was married just a year ago. I
> >> thought I might be able to do some shooting "fawgittaboutit" You will
be way
> >> to busy coordinating traffic, shaking hands following your wife orders
etc.
> >> We had 2 wedding photographers...one was the official guy that did all
the
> >> formal stuff...poses etal. He shot with a Hassy, charged by the hour
and gave
> >> us all the negatives. The other photographer was a close friend who is
a
> >> working pro....shoots models. He took about 6 rolls of 35mm shooting
through
> >> a small Contax...His shots with about 3 exceptions were all great...the
3?
> >> Simply out of focus.  He managed to be a fly on the wall catching
dozens of
> >> great scenes....Just a wonderful eye...The shots I was able to get off?
> >> Outside of church, church courtyard...no opportunity for anything else.
Enjoy
> >> the moment of your child's wedding...
> >
> > _______________________________________________
>
>
> In the couple of hundred weddings I'd shot from the mid 70s through the
mid
> 90's I've almost never seen a father of the bride or groom without a
camera.
>
> At one hand I've felt that people in tuxes don't fit in with cameras in
> their hands or people (girls for the most part) in those polyester
> bridesmaid dresses. Certainly not the bride and groom themselves.
>
> But on the other hand it's unreasonable to expect the father of the
> bride/groom who is a hard core camera bug to not take pictures at his own
> kids wedding. I'm sure I would have.
>
> But I'd not think of such photography as "filling a gap the professional
> photographer is not going to get".
> If you think you are on assignment. Forget it.
>
> Get a photographer who you know is going to do the whole job.
> Looking at his work should be enough to tell you.
> And talk to someone whose been at a wedding he/she's done to make sure
they
> don't stop the bride and groom as the go down the aisle and have a mini
> photo shoot and so on during the wedding. Systematically ruining the whole
> event. You'd probably not want that.
>
> But again as obnoxious as a wedding photographer may end up being he'd
have
> to equal the obnoxiousness of the swarms of people with flashing sure
shots
> in the wedding and reception itself.
> And we all think "NOT OUR FAMILY!!!" would do that but they will.
> And I don't think there are any "class" boundaries on that issue.
>
> You can be old money or work at a gas station (or both!!!) and camera
mania
> at weddings is going to be there.
>
> The Great Gas Bee.
>
> (I just made that up!!)
>
>
> Mark Rabiner
> Photography
> Portland Oregon
> http://rabinergroup.com/
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>