In the last three years I have photographed four weddings.  The first was with my brother who was shooting the wedding as a favor.  I offered to tag along and help produce photos.  The second wedding was for an old friend and I bartered a snow board for photos.  My third wedding was a small affair for a family friend.  Of these three weddings, I can’t say I “enjoyed” shooting them.  I photographed the events as a friend and for practice towards my overall goal of becoming a better photographer.  For those who may cringe at somebody hiring an amateur, I can say two things, the first is that a photographer was not even close to the budget of these weddings and the second is that two of the three ended in divorce.  In retrospect, they were perfect “practice” weddings.

The wedding I covered last weekend was different than any other I’ve ever covered.  Not different in that it was small, low budget and comprised of family friends, but different in that my attitude was different.  I truly had fun covering the wedding.  My experience has given me more self-confidence, my practice and education helped me compose and light photos, and my desire to become a photojournalist helped me put together a story of the wedding.  On top of all the above reasons, I realized that the unbreakable rules in photojournalism don’t apply.  Plastic bag in your frame? Move it.  Bride would look better with veil over her shoulder? Move it.  Need better lighting for the subjects?  Ask them to move.  Need a scene to be recreated? That’s okay as well.

As a result of this last wedding, I have learned much.  Most importantly, I have learned to have fun and relax because that is when the great photos are made.

Last night, I covered a wedding.  Tasha, the sister of my wife’s friends Jenny was married to Robert.  Robert is a Seaman in the Coast Guard, and Tasha is barely out of high school.  Needless to say, they couldn’t afford my rates if I had any; let alone any local photographers.  In the past, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but now as I try to build a photography career – money is always on my mind.  Despite my small reservations, Tasha’s father Dave is a pastor at a local church and also works as a carpet layer.  Dave installed the linoleum in our last house and has always been very kind to my wife and I.

Anyway, where I’m going with this, is that I shot the wedding for free.  What they got out of it is photos to remind them of a very happy day.  What I got out of it was a feeling that I was doing something good for somebody – and – practice.  The one super-positive thing about shooting a wedding for free is a near total lack of pressure.  Without the pressure I could relax and respond to the events around me.

I was also able to practice shooting with the combination of a DSLR and a rangefinder.  Namely, a Canon 30D and a Leica M6 consisted of my equipment last night.  I would first like to give major praise to my 30D at ISO 1600.  I almost never go above ISO 800 if I can help it, only one other time have I gone that high and I wasn’t totally impressed with the results (the last time I was at ISO 1600 was my ride-along with the Sheriff at night).  Maybe I’ve been looking at film for too long, but I really didn’t see any big problems with the photos I produced at such a high sensitivity level.  I wouldn’t have shot at 1600 if I didn’t have to, but as it was my shutter was already at 1/20th wide open at 2.8, and there’s another thing.  Thank goodness for Image Stabilization (or Vibration Reduction for Nikon shooters). 

Oh, did I mention that this wedding was mostly candle lit?  There is one light, a spot light really, in the ceiling above Robert’s head, ie the photo directly above.  The photo of Robert and Tasha together was shot hand held, with the single above light source and a piece of white foam core board used as a reflector.  I need to get a real reflector but the foam core is so cheap…

So, here’s the scoop.  My father is a partner in a local fiber-optic network/internet provider.  Years ago, he gave me permission to host my blog on a server of theirs.  I took the opportunity last year to host a new blog engine we were using at work, on his server for my blog.  I spent a few days theming, changing colors, modifying for easy picture uploads and a few other customizations.

Last week, my father called me and gave me notice that they were taking the server down the next day.  Needless to say I was stressed as I’m in the middle of school and have about a million other things going on.  Migrating blog engines was not a happy proposition.  Thankfully, I had already set up hosting for my Mom’s web site last month.  The hosting company, BlueHost, allows “unlimited” web sites under the same account.  I took their “unlimited” and have now added my Mom’s website to the hosting, my own, and possibly her blog as well.

Over the next few weeks, as I find time between school, family, and other obligations, I hope to bring changes to this site to make it more friendly and personal goal centric.  In other words, turn it back into the photographers blog that it was.  With the opportunity for a fresh start, I think I can do better this time.