Capturing the vows

Last winter when my sister in law was planning her wedding, she called me and asked if I could be her photographer. She explained that she thought I took good pictures and real photographers charged $$$. I told her that she would not get professional results, my equipment and skills were not in the same ballpark as the people that charge all the money. I think she was OK with that, after all, the wedding photos go in a scrapbook and only get pulled out once in a while. The real joy of having a family are the small spontaneous events you don't plan. I have taken a few nice pictures over the years but I wouldn't kid myself into thinking my work is on the same level it would be on if I had a better camera and a few photography classes.

My formula for good pictures is simple, take a bunch of pictures and fix up a few with post processing. I am learning how to work the software.

I read a few articles over the winter about wedding photography and showed up at the wedding with my camera, tripod and a rough plan, snap a few portraits, group photos and candid shots and fix them up at home. The experience turned out to be quite a bit of work. I had to keep an eye on the framing, light, make sure the subjects were facing the right direction and that their clothes were picture ready. Nervous bride, indifferent groom, hungover groomsmen, controlling parents, uncooperative kids, relatives jumping in front of my camera to get a picture (my picture). On top of that, my wife and kids were there so I still had to attend to my duties as a dad. I'm not complaining, I had a good time but I understand where that huge price tag comes from, a wedding photographer earns their fee.

Now the real work begins, I have to sift through a score of pictures and fix them up and make them interesting. This is the sort of tedious, detail oriented work I enjoy. If you are interested, you can watch my progress here.