A wedding

A friend of mine recently got married and I was a weirdo enough to take my camera to her wedding reception.

Were I to really want to get moving on a wedding business, this is probably one of the ways that I'd pick up some decent shots to start a wedding portfolio. There's nothing wrong with it other than that I probably piss the wedding photographer off to no end.

"Who's that guy with the same equipment as me, and why is he shooting more shots than I am?!"

Lucky for me, I wasn't hired by the bride so I got to drink and not worry about whether my photos turned out badly. Unlucky for me, I probably angered my girlfriend and others at the wedding by being too involved through my camera. However, on the angle of photo I did not force people to do anything. This is my way of shooting at an event. I am not there to influence the moments. I just take pictures of what is really happening.

There are times when it's OK to set up some images, especially at a wedding. If you're shooting for a newspaper on the other hand it is considered extremely taboo to pose people unless it is for a portrait which is obviously going to be posed.

This wedding was great, full of friends and family and lots of good moments going on all over. Since I wasn't the actual photographer I didn't fight to catch every moment. I had to have fun of course!



Now for the data:

I took basically all of these photos either with ambient light at f/2.8 and a low shutter speed of around 1/20th. Or I used an on camera flash that was bounced off of the ceiling. This camera flash was usually at a power of no greater than 1/8th and more than likely very dominately at 1/16th power. This lets the ambient light in to keep the candles and the dance floor lights in the shot while also giving enough light to get some good facial expressions and warmth in the guests.

The couple listening to a couple of toasts from close family members.






















Post flower toss. Of course I missed the moment on this one.





















The flower girls were super cute. They looked like little faeries with the wreaths on their heads.










































This last image was shot with ambient light only. I had to hold as still as I could and I still got a little blurring. This would have been a better shot if I had known that the DJ was going to start throwing spotlights on them at random.

Shooting weddings would be fun if I had a couple of friends to work with me and sort of spread the load out.

I would say unless you're shooting a wedding for a friend, don't try it alone unless you're really ready.

A NEW Direction!

Well, an idea has opened up in my mind lately and I am thinking about really trying to pursue it heavily.


I have always considered working as a wedding photographer for a living. It's a job that is always in demand and I fit many of the requirements of the career. Although it's not the easiest of areas to focus on in photography/photojournalism, it is an area that I would have personal control over in many ways and I would feel comfortable doing things that I want to do.


The tough part for me is getting started and working my way into the immense process of starting my own business. This is obviously no easy task and almost impossible to do alone.


I need to set some short term goals and really push to get this whole thing moving if I really want to make things work. Ugh, pressure.


These images are the types of shots that I would more likely be shooting at weddings. Candid, personal, documentary style images. I'm not one for the huge group shots of the entire family standing there. It's just not my style. I can however get the shots of people interacting. That's what I've done for a while at newspapers.

Both of these were shot with basic flash setups. The top one was more complex and was shot pretty recently this semester. The one just above is from a while back. Pretty much just window light.

I really hope that this will be a new kick to make me get moving. I love shooting stuff, but I have trouble getting going on things until life really picks up and I get results.