Always Bring A Backup: Wedding Photography 101
October 18th, 2007 by Al WorthamAs I committed last winter to be the photographer for my friend’s wedding this fall I was almost immediately regretting saying yes. First, although trained/schooled as a photographer, I’ve never shot or even assisted a photographer for a wedding. Nor have I ever had the desire to do so. Second, my friend’s are very simple folks that live in a mountain town two hours south of Lake Tahoe with a population of around 300. Third, I doubted that they could afford to pay a real wedding photographer and they expressed the fact that they didn’t want anything, “fancy”. Lastly, I’m a bit abnormal - a bit is being quite generous - but although there is a ton of money to be made and you are documenting this wonderful event of a bond between people in love, I don’t like wedding photography because of the pressure and the general guarantee of a normal human being turning into bridezilla on the “most important day of her life”. I spend my days playing poker and golf…not too normal.
Anyway, the day finally came and as I expected once me, my girlfriend and our mutual friend drove 5 hours to get there, Bridezilla greeted us with open arms. Forgive me, I’ll get back to the lesson at hand.
Most of my days are spent in relative calm regardless of the chaos around me but when it comes to my photography I’m a bit anal retentive. Hence, when I work I usually have a backup for my backup and my motto is the same as Christian Slater’s character Clarence in True Romance. It’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. Well, the mountain air amongst other things must have gotten to me before I left LA to go forth and be a wedding photography caped crusader. I borrowed a digital camera from a friend and fellow photographer because I haven’t caught up with technology…yes, I still shoot film.
Now, as aforementioned, my friend’s don’t have much in the way of discretionary income and developing a bunch of rolls of film can get a bit expensive. In addition, I felt that I would want to take a quick peek at what I’m shooting during the posed family photos. To make a long story longer, I borrowed the older digital version of Canon’s prosumer cameras, the 10D. I’ve used it in the past and when shooting RAW files it’s more than sufficient. As well as the fact that I needed to borrow one of my friend’s shorter zoom lenses (28 - 80mm) and the lens only works with the 10D. I only have long lenses (70 -200mm and up). There was a 5D available to borrow but that puts me back to having to rent a lens, etc. I wasn’t getting paid for this gig and really just wanted to enjoy the wedding and get hammered with all the locals at the wedding and reception. But alas I lost my mind and thought that shooting the wedding would be fun and a piece of cake.
So, I borrow the Canon 10D with one battery, a 28 - 80mm zoom lens, a TTL flash along with two 1GB flash cards and one 512K flash card. I’m stoked. I can shoot the wedding and pick off candids at the ceremony and the reception as a bonus. They only asked for some ceremony shots - the ceremony lasted less than 5 minutes which is extraordinary in itself but super awesome given the fact that I had just attended a Catholic wedding two weeks before…stand up, sit down, sing, stand up, sit down, have communion, stand up, sit down - and the obligatory posed shots with family members, etc.
Well, after waking up hungover from the after rehearsal dinner party at pretty much the only bar open past 8pm in this small old west town, I checked everything that I had set out and charged the night before. It all was working as we left in the crisp mid-afternoon air to witness my friend’s union.
Let me go back for a second. In the morning as we all stumbled awake it was gray and there were extremely light snow flurries. I’m loving this because overcast days provide the best lighting for photographs especially in the middle of the day when the sun is directly overhead. The clouds act as a giant soft box. The flip side of that would be shooting in harsh overhead sunlight in the middle of the day that creates awful racoon eye shadows. Well, of course, the overcast skies didn’t last long and it turned out to be a beautiful fall day with moderate temperatures and clear skies. A brides’ dream and my nightmare.
As we indulged in the hair of the dog and such in the morning prior to heading to the spa for the day’s event(s) - held on the grounds of the spa where she works, the backdrop is gorgeous with the mountains, waterfalls, cabins and a cute little wedding arch - I double checked the camera gear again and even put the battery on the charger once more to be sure that it was fully charged.
We were all standing outside waiting for the ceremony to kick off. I’m taking some test shots of my girlfriend to dial in the flash as a fill for the harsh eye shadows and was ready to go. Right at that moment, I turned to take a candid shot of my buddy standing with his mom about to walk down the aisle when it happened. As I pressed the trigger the camera ceased up. I look at the display screen to see the camera battery icon flashing saying it was dead. Almost simultaneously, the wedding planner - who I know as this cool local chic and awesome skier who hasn’t had a season pass for years because she hikes for her turns - look at me with her pretty smile and ask me if I’m ready. In a panic that was only noticeable to my girlfriend I calmly ask for 5 minutes. She says no problem and I proceed to faint right there. Okay, I wanted to but I didn’t. I saw one of the locals that I’m pretty good friends with a camera and promptly pull him aside and tell him that I’m having a minor issue with my camera and that I would like to borrow his just as a backup. He agrees and all was still in chaos. I had to use his camera which was a film camera and I kept taking the digital camera battery out and putting it back in the camera. I would get a few shots off then it would give me an error message. I continued to do this through the ceremony and the posed family shots and backing it up with my newly borrowed film camera.
Finally, the lesson. No matter how little or laid back the job, always be prepared and have a backup for your backup. I left LA with only what I borrowed from my friend. I even said to myself before I left that this is a bad idea and I don’t feel comfortable but I went unprepared anyway. I did bring a few rolls of film which in affect saved me even though I didn’t bring my film camera like an idiot/amateur. I have no idea what happened with that battery nor does my friend but the bottom line is that by not being prepared and having backups I jeopardized everything…a one time event. I still wasn’t sure if the film camera worked because it wasn’t mine nor had I done any tests with the film before I shot it. Not to mention that I brought 400 ISO film and used the 10D which was rated at 100 ISO as a reference for my exposure while totally under the gun. Again, no one knew any of this was going on except my girlfriend and still no one knows. I got the film developed and I’m pretty sure I saved myself. But don’t ever, ever, ever do anything relative to photography without being prepared which includes having a backup for your backup.
Whew…I need to go hit some golf balls and have a few cold beers.
About the Author: Al Wortham is a Photo Editor with ScanDigital. Al brings more than 10 years of professional photography experience to his roll at ScanDigital. He has worked for years as a freelance professional photographer shooting a wide variety of events from individual weddings to the MTV Video Music Awards. Al has also worked as a photographer’s assistant for photographers with Sports Illustrated, the Golf Channel and several major architectural firms. Al also worked as part of the world renowned team at A&I Photography Lab in Santa Monica, CA. Al has a degree in Finance from American University and a degree in Photography from Santa Monica College.