When I Was a Wedding Photographer
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ก.ค. 2018
- Before I was making a living with landscape photography I was a wedding photographer and I thought it would be interesting to talk about this period in my life. Enjoy :)
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Part of the reason you're a good photographer is because you're also a good story teller...
Michael Kilby this is very true.
Sounds like you made the right choice. You have to focus where your passion lies.
For me, I love doing weddings. I think largely because there’s something you get with weddings that you don’t with most other photographic jobs, and that’s just how happy you make your clients. I absolutely love creating shots that mean so much to someone.
I love a lot of types of photography, but it’s that that I really love about shooting weddings.
"there's something you get from weddings"....yes stress!!
I did weddings for a few years after graduating, I felt it would be a form of photography that wouldn't cross contaminate my primary interests, topographic landscape. I did learn a lot of skills but never regretted stopping.
The final straw came after a few years gap, when I did a very cheap wedding for a work colleague and friend. I was using my usual Mamiya RB67 with a Metz CL-4 strapped to the side, when the flash bracket snapped, leaving my RB in pieces at my feet, just as the bride arrived with her father. Luckily I'd just started dabbling in digital and brought a Pentax K20 with a new 16-50 f/2.8 lens as back up but no flash, and had to complete the wedding using that instead. To add insult to injury, the couple were happy with the pictures (after hours of editing) but the bride wanted a hefty discount because I hadn't used any film. Never again.
I bought a studio in a small town in the Midwest, USA. I did weddings, school photography ( boring) and portraits. I was the equivalent “country doctor” photographer. In short, hundreds of weddings and thousands of schoolchildren later I wanted “out” news photographer seemed a better match. I quit.
Moved to the west coast in Oregon. And didn’t pick up a camera for years. No time. I was feeding a family, keeping a roof over their heads, no o time for me to do to anything.
Now retired. I have time.
as a photo editor i love ur thought as u said how happy u make ur client . hey bro i m working since last ten years but work for others . i have edited more than 400 weeding catalog .. but now i want to do my own work . but i have no idea how to make my self clients. would u help me plzzzzzzzzzz
almost 550 weddings deep in my career. My biggest obstacle when shooting a wedding after 13 years is not smashing my lens to slit both of my wrists. Im happy you are now doing a medium of photograph you love.
Totally relate to this video mate. I shot most of my weddings on film (35mm to start then progressed to 120 roll film, later on didital) the week leading up to every wedding I was on edge, constantly checking weather forecasts, checking my kit, batteries, venues, times etc etc, always always a bag of nerves. As the day arrived after I shot a couple of frames, I would just relax into it and enjoy the experience, then started the nervous wait for the films to be be processed and printed, scary days those were. Then the nerves kicked in when I handed the prints to the couple, then the weeks after a wedding dreading the phone ringing in case it was a complaint (I only ever had one complaint, not my fault though, it was an older couple who wanted the day shot solely in mono, I suggested to shoot colour then convert to mono but no they wanted mono end of, weeks after the bride hammered me for making her look haggered in the prints.....). Agreed that after shooting a few weddings you get into auto pilot, and the best wedding I ever shot bar none was the one I was most nervous about, it was a black couple in Leeds, everyone attending was colored I was the only white bloke at there surrounded by hundreds of elegant statuesque beautifully turned out people, I was bricking it for weeks leading up to the day, but it was hands down my fave wedding, the couple were amazing, the people attending were the best crowd ever. Part of my enjoyment Im sure was that I I felt I was way way out of my depth on this wedding, I was so scared of messing up the exposures, skin tones etc. When I got the prints back I was blown away, I'd nailed it thank buggering hell. Anyway to all those knockers who think wedding photographers charge like wounded bulls, I say they don't charge enough. It's a hard was to earn a crust. Great video mate enjoyed it.
This is what I was like with my motorsports photography and is what actually got me into doing it professionally, I started off with a Canon 1000D with kit lenses to a large selection of gear with a 1DX and two other cameras. But I had fallen into this rut like yourself where you go into auto pilot and just get the results people want, I wasn't enjoying it anymore and for the last year before throwing in the towel I was hoping for something to turn it around. But a few months later I had a accident and that changed it for the rest of my life, So I sold my Canon kit and went into Hasselblad and got into landscapes and I have found my love again for photography and creating.
I feel like the skills and knowledge I picked up over the 6 years of doing motorsports photography professionally taught me a lot but now I'm going down the landscape route as it makes me travel and see nice places that aren't just a race track. I look at things differently now as well and I have got a list of places I'd like to go to :)
Your video today was nice and its good to hear from you Thomas, I don't think of you as a famous photographer like I think most would. You're just a down to earth guy that goes out and takes photos and makes a documentary of the trip along the way, showing what is actually going into each photo and some inspiration as well. I know watching some of your videos it got me to go out and create something. Now if I travel 500km and only get 1 photo from that its a good trip.
Keep up the great work Thomas!
Canon 50mm 1.4... I chucked mine in the Atlantic Ocean. I hope it becomes a reef some day so finally with will be of some use.
It will become fisheye haha
Viktor Gnezdilov hahahahaha
plenty of plastic in the ocean already, huh!
Good thing you did..now it becomes "fisheye"...you can go take it back now...
I hope you didn't as that would not be very environmentally friendly.
Thanks Thomas...always good to hear "how they made it" stories, from where they were to where they are now. It gives confidence to those aspiring individuals...like me!
This was a fun little video, just shows your struggle and time spent in to this field. No one gets to top the very first day, there's often past full of failures and struggles. Thanks for sharing your story with us.
Interesting video. I think wedding photography can bring a lot of pressures like you spoke about - timings, getting the key shots, being creative yet technically correct, worrying about equipment failure even though you have backup gear, organising everyone etc. etc. I think for some it's a love it or hate it thing. I think the best part about it is making memories about the most important day in a lot of peoples lives. I think landscape photography is definitely more relaxed :)
Wayne Robertson Photography the pressure, the timing, the stress.... yeah... it sounds like a JOB... like a real job xD..... most photographers have not had a really stressful job before, so they die with a wedding photography job.... trust me.... I had a stressful job before, I worked in logistics (I was in charge of about 150 trucks for a concrete company) and now I’m a wedding photographer .... and I can tell you this much.... it’s like a walk in the park compare to logistics.... 😂😂.... so the photographers that complain about the “stress” of a wedding make me smile 😊
Pablo Rogat that’s a fair point, of course there are more stressful jobs than being a wedding photographer. But I think the point here is about photography, and out of all the photography jobs, wedding photography is probably the most “stressful”. For example, many photographers worry about equipment failure at a key point of the wedding and therefor missing a key shot the client requested. Your reputation depends on doing a good job and quite rightly clients want a good job done. Even the best photographers with plenty backup gear can encounter things that cause problems here and there. Landscape photography is more relaxing is what most find who do both, but wedding photography is a wonderful job to have making those memories.
Well, I can definitely say that wedding photography will certainly teach you a whole lot about PRESSURE, working quickly, and basically doing anything to get the shot, even if you're exhausted, flustered, distracted, ...sound at all like being an outdooor photographer? Indeed, a little bit.
So in that regard, I'm certainly grateful to have had the last 15 years to shoot weddings, 10+ of those years full-time. I wouldn't trade the experience for any day job.
With that said, I'm absolutely ready to move on to the next stage in my career / life, and get into outdoor photography more.
Now if only I could make time in between editing tens of thousands of wedding photos to actually edit a TH-cam video, or post consistently to social media, or host a nightscape workshop.... Haha not any time soon, unfortunately...
You have the best Photography TH-cam Channel period. Not only you are a very talented photographer but also a fantastic communicator and storyteller (the accent gives it an additional twist). The full package. A pleasure to watch (and learn).
Did you hire a photographer for your own wedding and if so, do you like the photographs on an artistic level now you're an accomplished photographer yourself?
Great question!
I used to shoot weddings, gave it up. Always worried about things going wrong, Im not good with directing people after the wedding for photos, had a second photographer always. But the after wedding work was time consuming and I am happy to not do it anymore. Plenty of wedding photographers in my area so good luck to them
I realized a long time ago that it was too much responsibility for me to shoot weddings. Too much pressure to perform and make a day special to people. Plus, my one and only experience shooting a wedding when I was very young was somewhat traumatizing.
I was incredibly inexperienced, and didn't know what I was doing. I was pressured into it by my supervisor at the local paper I was working at as a photographer. His stepson and wife-to-be were looking for very inexpensive photos. Well, they got what they paid for.
It was a train wreck, cringeworthy on so many levels. I had no clue, and conducted myself as if I was on a news assignment, popping flash during the service, bouncing around the altar getting different angles. Mind you, I was used to taking photos of car crashes and police busts. It was horrible.. The bride and groom said nothing, casually asked me afterward where I was having my film processed, picked up the photos themselves without telling me, and never spoke to me again. I never received a penny, but I really didn't mind, as I was pretty sure I'd ruined their entire wedding and I didn't deserve to be paid for the trouble I'd caused them.
It's been almost 30 years since then, so I can laugh about it now. Honestly, it would be too much pressure for me to please my clients. And being an introvert, I prefer creating photos of inanimate objects to working with people.
Great story Tom, thanks for sharing. The pressures and anxieties associated with ensuring that on X day you really have to get it right was brilliantly described - well done! I speak for many I think when I say, thank goodness you moved onto the peace of landscape photography. It makes a lot more sense now when you say "I'm taking one shot today" - the opposite in many respects of a wedding where you are taking as many shots as possible!
Hah! I'm the most excited for this video.
My favourite wedding photographer and landscape photographer in the same place 🙂. You guys are great.
Yep same here.amazing these two fellas.
Taylor! My favorite wedding photographer youtuber commenting on my favorite landscape photographers youtube.
Thomas, a great video for someone who is starting out and very nervous but enjoying it!
Hey Tom, I really enjoy this format, telling us stories that happened off camera. Keep them up.
love the wedding back track, a bit of jazz
I can really relate to this. I’ve been doing wedding for 3 years and have decided to stop for exactly the same reasons. Recent wedding I knocked a picture of the wall in a church then walked into a video camera but luckily caught it. Last wedding my new 5D mk4 froze just as brides mom was about to get first look at her daughter so I know what you mean about anxiety etc!!
I’m now following my passion, nature, wildlife, landscapes and it’s basically thanks to your inspiring work and videos. Also getting into Vlogging so keep up the amazing work, and thanks so much...
Loved this video, I really enjoy hearing people’s professional journeys. We can all learn something from each other’s stories.
You've mentioned the exact feelings I'd gone through during my wedding photography stint. I do wildlife now and it's so much more peaceful!
🙌🏻
This was not what I was expecting at all but you had me hooked in less than a minute. You tell a good story, plain and simple. Great channel, thanks for sharing
This video was absolutely amazing!
Thomas, this was a fascinating video! More like this please. As for the anxiousness before work,,,,,,I get it, as an ER doc its VERY similar to what you described.....no way to live :)
Same here, an ER vet, so landscape photography is my escape from stress..
I did enjoy this! Thank you for the perspective, I can definitely relate to that sinking feeling and would probably have the same problems you did. It takes a special kind of person to work this way!
Did weddings my first 3 years in my career and was so happy to move on to a happier way of making a living with my camera. 35 years later in the school portrait and sports business I have decided to take on the Landscape challenge. So much to learn. Thanks for sharing
I absolutely loved watching this. It's great to hear where artists I respect come from and what's shaped them. Nicely done.
people keep telling me i need to make money from my photography & i should shoot weddings.... NO CHANCE... and going on what youve said Tom... Im right to say that...
Same for me here....Zero chance! I just hate weddings, not gonna shoot them :P :)
GilbertTV I'm sick of people saying that
Weddings and cats are the only things I won't shoot 🤣
I think the phone booth photo was neat. Thomas does great work, no matter the genre.
I'v never shot a wedding before. I've only been to one wedding, so I don't really know how weddings work, and etiquette and stuff. I don't know how I'd do, though. I'm not a very technical photographer. I get too experimental, and I'm not quick and precise.
Throw any photographer into 10 weddings, after those 10 they will be qualified from the university of photography life.
That pressure doesn't exist in any other form really, events maybe - obviously journalism (war/sports etc), but glad to hear that you've served your time as a wedding photographer!!
Thanks for your input. Seeing that someone had similar misshaps and understanding your personal struggle, reassured me a lot.
Videos like this are soo important!
Thank you for sharing!
Love the honesty in this video thanks Thomas.
I know the feeling. I was a wedding photographer and gave it all up and sold all my gear in 2010. I had nightmares for the preceding years where I was simply watching the wedding and not photographing it- I would wake up in a panic...oh boy.. yeah well- the advent of the great quality of the phones I started to fall back in love with photography but I missed having a camera in my hand. There is something about the process of using a camera that really adds to the love of photography for me. The sad part is I was and am a bit spoiled with L glass but since my full time job has nothing to do with photography I have taken advantage of used L glass and have been quite happy with myself for resisting the urge to buy new. Now I shoot purely for MY joy of photography.
I feel for you Thomas, had a similar history myself. Ended up packing it in. Thanks for sharing.
Well, I'm 100% delighted you've fond the passion for landscape photography not easy to quench. Fascinating journey. Thanks for sharing it.
I very much enjoy this kind of personal videos!
Similar story, thank you for sharing it Tom. Keep up the great work.
Thank you for your memories on the way to where you are.It fascinates me how folk's lives change.Your memories of weddings remeinds me of my learning to be the second person at my daughters wedding photography business. Thanks for sharing.
One of the best wedding photos ever! Quirky in a good way🤓
It is great to hear about the other side of you Thomas. Wonderful video that explains the photography journey.
I love your honesty.
Hi Thomas.
Been there got the tee shirt. Imaging doing a wedding on a Saturday on Film and waiting till Monday afternoon for the results.
I used to know one of the best wedding photographers period, he was very non technical but had a true artistic talent. Thanks for bringing back those nightmares (sorry meant memories)
Ron
The images all look amazing and this was a very well told story. Thanks so much for sharing!
I actually shot two weddings with a Rebel XT, which was new-ish then. Fortunately, the clients were happy with the photos. That's a miracle, because I didn't really know what the heck I was doing back then!
Used to get the same anxieties. Bad dreams about turning up with no film or no cameras (I know a photographer who went to a wedding sans film and had to drive back to the studio to get some), more bad dreams of arriving at the wrong venue or missing the vows. Anxieties on the morning about being delayed or just physically prevented from getting there. You would think it would get better after a 100 or so but it never did. The nerves only started to go once I’d taken my first few shots. I did forget to photograph the bride’s car once though :)
Awesome to hear your humility. We all come from small beginnings, but it shapes our futures.
Thanks for sharing this piece of your journey! The photos looked pretty nice to me!
Thanks so much !! Always great stories.
Great wee video Tom. Nice to hear about your experiences.
Excellent vid. Thomas thanks, I can imagine what it was like.
Hey Thomas, It's interesting to hear your experience as you grew as a photographer as it were. We've all had those moments in the early days (sometimes even today) when we dread a certain assignment and it helps to hear another voice who is going through the same... Thanks for posting! Ok, I'm rambling now... :)
Uuuuuuugggghhh! That was painful. It brought up all the feelings and reasons I no longer photograph weddings. Two years ago I started turning down wedding inquiries and it was the most liberating feeling. So happy now. Great video!
Really enjoyed your relaying your personal experience- great format
You can tell the pain was real when Thomas recalls those days and he looks like he is in going to the dentist. Lol. Thanks for sharing Thomas.
Thomas. You are an excellent story teller. Enjoy very much. Thanks.
I love this!
Loved this!
Beautiful poignant!! You are a rare breed and definitely one of the type out there!! Can’t find any body else so inspirational.. thanks Thomas Heaton for helping us keep the fire burning.
Love this video. Thanks for sharing.
I can't imagine being a wedding photographer... ever! I'd be too intimidated, worrying that I'd miss a shot, or screw up my camera settings, or not be creative enough. For me it would be very stressful. I admire the fact that you tried it. BTW, I like the photograph of the bride in a phone booth with the groom running to meet her. I'll bet the couple laughed over that one for years afterward. IMO, that is being creative. lol!
Really interesting video, and insightful to learn how and why you made the transition from weddings to landscape. Thanks for sharing.
Love your honesty, Thomas. When I worked for myself I sometimes used to get that gut-wrenching feeling when I'd get a phone call too. lol
How dare you knock the 350D? I used to shoot all my fashion and glamour with one of those from 2007 to 2011, with that terrible kit lens, and i got away with it =D
I think with weddings, we all begin with them, its the gateway drug! My first wedding was accidental (right place, right time), second wedding a disaster as my dad insisted he come with me and load my 35mm film for me, i was 16 at the time in 1990! Oh, the film never got wound on the spoil properly! Things did get better, i was young and had an awful lot to learn, but i did weddings with a Practika camera, then later on a canon av-1, using nothing but the lenses they came with. Soon the enjoyment waned, and i was doing more and more product photography, which in itself is soul destroying. Thankfully by the mid 1990s my work in the underground rave scene in the uk was picking up, regular publishing in related magazines and reprints from those i met at previous events, though looking back on that period, i was so off my face on ecstasy at the time that its a wonder i could even use a camera, hence the images were not my best body of work, but by the millennium i stopped the partying and resumed weddings until 2003, nothing was more depressing than weddings for a multitude of reasons, so i quit and just took photos of my friends, which ended with me shooting the fash and glams, which also came to an end due to the monotony of superficial subject matter. Now i kinda photograph myself a lot, and my fish, friends, family... no one pays me anymore but my heart is in it again, and that is all that really matters, i have found my groove and very content to be there!
love the honesty.....
Super interesting to hear about your photography life before landscapes and TH-cam. I bet many people think you just got lucky with where you are at today, but it's obvious you have spent time "in the trenches" and worked super hard. Thanks for sharing...
This really resonates with me. I've done 20 or so weddings as a paid photographer and did my first wedding with just a Canon 30D, no back up camera. During my second or third wedding my camera froze whilst taking a candid photo of the grooms son in a pub for pre wedding drinks. Luckily I got it working but the next day I bought a Canon 50D which became my main camera. But the real point I want to make is that the problem with all indoor venues is...'there's no liiiight!;'
Don't think I could cope with doing a wedding and my hat goes off to you for doing it as long as you did.
Enjoyed your thoughts on wedding photography, exactly why I stick to landscapes.
Thank you for your story. That was pretty much the same with me at my time as a wedding photographer. Specially the thing whith the autopilot. At the beginning i leaned a lot but at the end i was not enjoying it to the end. The whole editing process with going through thousands of Pictures was not fun. Now i start a new business building camping kitchens in a box which i enjoy more. As a hobby i start diving more into landscape photography now. Thank you for being such an inspiration.
Excellent topic Thomas, I never could imagine you as a wedding photographer.
That was cool. Great insight. I've managed about 3000 weddings in the last 20 years so I've met many many wedding photographers. Some are still going but most of them have left the industry and moved on. As a photographer myself now the thought of the pressure of a wedding job just fills me with dread. I totally got this vid. Thanks Tom. Different but refreshing too. Keep 'em coming. :)
Hehe, I'm still in that wedding boat, and hearing you discuss and talking about this is like hearing me talking to my wife before every wedding job, the anxiety, good grief.
Also, laughed really hard at the reminder of not buying that lens again.. :)
The first thought that popped in my mind when I saw them was ,"He doesn't edit photos like that, its not his style." And then I saw more and I was so amazed. I still cant believe you took those photos Thomas! They were really really beautiful. :)
Great stories and insights into your background. Thanks very much
so interesting to see where you came from. and showing the shots!
Excellent vid! Take us down the memory of how and when you first got your hands on a camera. Who introduced you to it? Also, do you have a bucket list and do you take your family out on these trips? Thanks for all your vids-you inspire me so much!
Cheers for the video Thomas, a nice insight and something different. I shoot weddings on the side and I agree with all your points, the anxiousness and lack of passion for the genre is what I relate to. I haven't gotten to the point where I'm on autopilot mode but I'm getting there and when I do I'm going to call it quits.
I've been shooting weddings since 2007 and I'm retiring from them in May 2020, I can't wait to not be anxious before every wedding, my first wedding I had a Canon 20D and a 350D, things are so much easier now ;)
This is so funny. I shot my very first wedding last Friday. I was nervous and excited. Although maybe I did not shoot the most creative images, I was still very happy with the result. And then TH-cam suggested this video. Go figure! Thank you for your open and honest story! It is appreciated! Best from the Netherlands!
Appreciate your sharing this - I have the same anxiety "problems" and have assumed that I wouldn't like shooting wedding for the same reasons you mention. This is probably why I love shooting interiors so much. Cheers -
You were very good at it buddy, thanks for sharing it with us.
Great explanation about the past, like his honesty.
Great, honest insight there. Most learning experiences in life are tough/unenjoyable. I guess its only when you reflect that you see the benefit.
What a very interesting video.....thanks for this.
Very interesting. Thank you. One of the features of a *good* vlog, I'm coming to learn, is the gradual revelation of someone's story, or better, back story. So even though it's your approach to landscape that brought me here, it's also your human response to circumstance, to life, that keeps me coming back. (That, and some of those very spare, minimal Iceland photos recently ... )
Tomas, you are a fantastic storyteller. I really enjoyed this video.
Interesting stories of your professional beginnings Thomas. Came out some cool shots from that experience. But, the tranquility and peace of landscape and nature is the best option.
Thanks for sharing. I can relate.
A friend of mine wanted to be a wedding photographer. He cribbed some photos from the Internet and presented them in a portfolio as his own work. Fortunately, he was a good photographer with at least a semi-trained eye (he had been to film school) and was able to do the work. I was his wingman/safety net on his first wedding (I was not a pro, but had shot a handful of weddings for relatives). After that, his business took off and with his creativity and technical ability was able to make a portfolio of his own work!
It's very interesting to have another point of view about wedding photography !
Many people say that's easy but, it prooves that even a great photographer may not be at ease with this "job".
Thank you for your video !
I had a similar experience as a wedding photographer. price too low at the beginning; anxious before a wedding; played too save but not creative enough during the wedding day; gears failed during the wedding day; got tired at the weekend, and have no family or personal time... Finally, I stopped booking by the excuse to be two boys mum. I still love taking photos, but doing more the photography I love to do now.
I completely relate to your experience Thomas and this is exactly the same reason I turned more into Landscape and nature photography :)
Thank`s, Thomas.. you are good photographer, wedding photos, too..
fine to heard you path to landscape photographer..
I inspired you vid`s, because it give me good feelings, and we see many beautiful landscape places, when you hiking and etc..
greetings from Finland.. 👍🇫🇮
Did weddings 35 years ago. 12 images on a roll, anxious times. Did so many late pregnancy weddings, not a goid look with a white wedding dress. Much happy with landscapes.
Really enjoyed this! Have though about getting into weddings myself, but have shyed away for these very reasons.
Thomas, I can relate to your video. Did weddings for 20 years and your story about the phone call on a weekend , thinking I forgot about the booking rang home with me, stomach knots.
Enjoyed it very much!
Very good video Thomas, thanks for sharing your story!
Very interesting and very candid. If something is not your passion, you cannot possibly give it your all.
Thank you for sharing your experience ... very, very interesting video...it makes me see thinks also different then before