M6 weddings

[firkin@netconnect.com.au (Alastair Firkin)]

>>Firstly, it this a good idea (i.e. using an M6 to cover a wedding ceremony
and reception)?

If it is, what are the lenses that I should bring along?   I plan to use
Kodak EGP 400 film.D Khong

>I suggest shooting in BW, for a sharp grainy photojournalist style.  I
used to use Rodinal 1-100 and Tri-X.  I guess its still a good
combo.Stephen Gandy

Dan,

You sound a bit like me few weeks ago. I toyed with what and how to use for
days. For a bloke who is really a rank amateur I could not make up my mind
and so went with a Rollei 3003 and the M6. The previous wedding I'd done
had been a great success. I'd used my old Minoltas and the 2000 Blad. The
winning shots were the black and white ones. Yes at first the couple bought
the colour shots but now 5 years down the track, its my candid b/w shots
which really make their album. However, I could not keep to b/w alone and
so for my recent folly into weddings, I used the Rollei and kept swapping
the backs around. It was fast and I ended up 75% colour 25% b/w at the
church. I used some of the HC110 soups published on this group and came
back with the most fantastic b/w negs I've ever made. Sadly, I cannot do
full justice to these shots till I get the darkroom up and running, but the
scanner did a good job of proofing the shots for the couple.
I agree about not using the flash at the church, but sometimes it is not
possible (I was carrying a flash and TMax 3200 just in case the place was
dim), but at the reception, flash is almost always needed for at least some
of the shots. Bounce if you can, but, the M6 may be a bit cumbersome for
someone not well trained in flash exposure under pressure. It was for me. I
used the M6 at the reception with the 35mm and a small flash underexposed
by 1.5 stops on Agfa portrait. No bounce, but no errors and the colour
saturation was great. The Leica is great in a crowd. I was also asked to do
some of the garden portraits. For this I used the Blad. Here I was out of
my depth. I needed to be more demanding of the couple rather than try to
just capture the moment as a photojournalist. [Do not be afraid to make the
couple wait and set up for multiple shots. They will want all of them in
the end, so "crack the whip".] Also my lack of training in fill in flash
meant that the images are going to take an eternity of darkroom dodging and
burning to recover. How I wished for some "automation" for the flash fill
in, or a couple of days of practise and a polaroid back ;-) gone on a bit,
but for those of us not used to pressure, the wedding can be a real test of
mettle. Fantastic when it works though!



Alastair Firkin

http://users.netconnect.com.au/~firkin/AGFhmpg.html