Everyone has a DSLR or camera phone at weddings

I wanted to take a few minutes to write a post about what I have encountered over the past year in increasing numbers.  Don’t get me wrong, I am glad everyone is excited about capturing pictures of special moments in their lives.  It is a lot of fun to do and everyone wants to preserve special moments.  This blog is more for guests at weddings as well as information for any bride and groom.   DSLR’s are becoming very popular and are increasingly easy to use.  iPhones can take some pretty amazing images as well.  I debated whether or not to post some images of what I have encountered and how it affects the bride and grooms coverage for the day but there is no way to do it without calling attention to particular individuals and I do not feel comfortable doing this. I will have some examples for my potential clients that I will show them at initial consultations.

What has been happening is my crew and I will set up near the back of the isles during a ceremony so we do not obstruct guest’s views of the ceremony and during the procession I will usually be crouched down in front of the parents to capture everyone coming down the aisle. Guests have been stepping out or leaning out into the aisle to capture images of everyone including the bride coming down the aisle as well as ring exchanges and the first kiss.  When this happens, guess what?  That guest is in the image.  My clients have paid several thousand dollars for me to cover their wedding day and they definitely do not want a guest at the most inappropriate times to appear in their images.  Please be very aware that what you are doing is causing your good friend/family member to not have the beautiful image that they have hired me to capture.  I hate to say it, but this behavior is very selfish.   Please, unplug yourself from your phones during the ceremony.  Please turn off your cameras and set them in the floor in front of you during the ceremony.  Engage in your friends/family member’s special day.  Do not ruin it by being in all of their key photo opportunities that they have hired a professional to capture for them and paid a lot of money for.  I can’t edit you out.  There are no “do overs” with weddings.

Another problem is the formals.  We have a very limited time frame to do these.  When family members have pulled out their cameras to take images as well of the groupings, I end up with subjects looking in 5 different directions instead of towards my camera.  It is confusing and chaotic for the subjects.  The formals end up with at least one subject looking away from my camera.  All of my brides and grooms are going to have images from the wedding that will be available to everyone.  My clients receive a disc.  The guests can also order prints online.  They are available through my website under the client view tab. The password is always the grooms last name.

I felt the need to blog about this because it is happening too often now.  Please be considerate to the bride and groom, enjoy their very special day.  Stay out of the aisles during the ceremony. Don’t jump in front of the photographer during the cake cutting, toasts, first dance and garter/bouquet toss.  The hard truth is unless you are a professional, your images will not compare to what the hired photographer will capture.  If you are a professional attending a friend/family members wedding, leave your gear at home.  As a professional, you know  you do not like another professional showing up to your job and taking images that you were hired to capture.  Everyone please be respectful to the bride and groom.

Here is a great link to a post about “unplugged” weddings with some images of what I am describing.  http://offbeatbride.com/2011/06/unplugged-wedding