joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

Great shots 🏆💞💞🏆

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

🎯🎯🎯🎯

robertperry Loc: Sacramento, Ca.

Shapiro's knowledge and expertise far exceeds just about everyone on this forum. Telling others you know all about shutter speed, aperture and iso doesn't make you a wedding photographer. The amount of time you spend with consultations, researching the venue('s), some places require the photographer to carry liability insurance or they have photo restrictions. All this time far exceeds the 4,8,12 hrs. you spend behind the camera. Communication is the key to a successful photo shoot. High quality photos require you to know your equipment inside and out and be able to work at lightning speed. Family, relatives and others have important jobs/responsibilities to do (decorate, set up for the reception, etc.). Communication with everyone is vital. Photography takes time, no-one has time, everyone is frantically running around because they have jobs to do. Communication long before the wedding day is a must. There will be times you, the photographer, will need to fill the roll as a therapist and calm down the B/G and relatives that don't see eye to eye. It is your responsibility as the photographer to capture the best expressions. Occasionally things go smoothly (those were the weddings I bragged about). Most of the time, stress and time constraints cause problems for the wedding party. Out of the dozen weddings I did and a few years assisting, classroom and OJT, I chose to not do weddings. I assisted and often helped the official photographer get out of sticky situations. I often smiled at them and said now you know why I don't do this for a living. Wedding photography can be very lucrative business if you choose to pursue it. My biggest take away from this is "Communication". You, the B/G and all relatives need to be on the same page. Learn from the pros, get hired on as an assistant and absorb as much as possible. The occasional shoot my friend's wedding will almost always result in a horrifying experience. Lick your wounds and press on. That is what a professional does.

jlocke Loc: Austin, TX

Love the blue sneakers. Great shot!

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

You know these are now all over the world.

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

Reminds me of a joke:
A woman asks her husband "does this dress make me look fat". The husband says "no, your big butt makes you look fat". A funeral service for the husband is scheduled for next Wednesday.

issa2006.

Great information from Shapiro. I might do it for a friend and I tell them I will be doing only candid shots and there will not be a charge. Someone else can do the formal stuff.

steveo52 Loc: Rhode Island and Ocala Florida

So far as that mob related wedding "never say NO to a man named GINO!" :)

RodeoMan Loc: St Joseph, Missouri

How did you become a professional? Or were you born, so to speak, straight into the profession? You write, "Experience teaches the professionals how to handle all situations resulting in professional results" Were you an amateur before "experience" taught you? There was another response to OP by a long time photographer whose answer was a helpful sharing of how to handle difficult situations and, more importantly, was a demonstration of empathetic decency.

domcomm Loc: Denver, CO

I totally agree! Never again! I had nothing but trouble with weddings, no matter who, or how many people were there (whether 4 people or 7,000). I got ripped off more on weddings because of unhappy brides than any other kind of photography I did in the last 50 years.

Mister H Loc: Michigan

WoW, and I hate the situations at car shows. I still consider myself a novice (compared to everyone here), but fully understand based on you description and what I’m learning.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

We have another blog about t photographer that almost lost a finger being shot (with a rubber bullet) in a croud of protesters. For me the protest shotter is better than shooting a wedding.

Paul Diamond Loc: Atlanta, GA, USA

I raise my hand to confess - while still in college at RIT, I had decided that I did not want to earn a living as a career shooting the "3 B's" (babies, brides and bar mitzphahs). Since I married before my senior year of college, I needed to develop a mind set to both explore my 'photographic vision' as well as think realistically about how I might be able to earn a living from my chosen career direction.

Your experience as documented is part of the reason why I chose to believe in myself and 'gamble big' on the direction of my career. (No more about me.)

Post shoot, a beach wedding at the time of day (not of your choice) begins to force you to think about how to "save" the wedding (pictures). Maybe it is taking more pictures at the post wedding party when you can capture bride/groom and relatives indoors in a more successfully conducive setting for pictures that are both well done and 'easier' to shoot than outdoor beach shots. This is what I would be thinking and planning to do.

Steven Loc: So. Milwaukee, WI.

That type of stuff got me to put weddings in the circle file.

Dan' de Bourgogne

SU-PERB!
super fun the "blue sweet shoes"...they are not "omnipresent" but just enough visible!I like this picture.