[Leica] A Leica-less Wedding - never again (long)

["Hugh Thompson" <painfree@istar.ca>]

Seeing Adrian Bradshaw's comments on N**** cameras prompted me to relate
what happened last Saturday at a wedding shoot.

Firstly, the decision was made for me to do the informal shooting at the
reception, reportage style, with the groom's FM2 and 24 lens.  As yet I do
not have a wide angle lens for my M.  Used my Vivitar 285 (what a workhorse
that flash is), however it turned out that I also had to shoot in the
church.  Through the lens at least, the wide angle is interesting for a
wedding, particularly when shooting from low down, almost on the floor, or
from above, as when the bride and groom were signing the register.

It will be very interesting to see the results, however, the FM2, wow, is it
noisy?  I was allowed to shoot during the service, flash and all, but every
time the shutter went "bang, slap" - needed ear plugs!  It reinforces my
decision to move to Leica - M.  Next time, Leica only.

The other half of this story is about how crazy we photographers are about
what we do.  The outside family shots were to be on the church steps,
thankfully the church is modern and there was protection from the rain - of
course it rains at weddings in April.  As the photographer, I was not
protected from the rain - there I was, Hassy and Metz under my umbrella,
standing on a small stepladder, with my backside getting thoroughly soaked,
shooting 30 poses, with a pose organiser who, being Chinese, did not want to
raise his voice and offend.  It was only when I roared my discontent with
getting soaked, that we made progress in moving the poses along.

Just thought I would share how I spent last Saturday, perhaps others have
similar experiences with Leica-less weddings, and have learned their lesson
as well.  As for me, I took half a day on Sunday, and trekked through the
forest shooting wild flowers, and the lovely greens of early spring with my
M3 - Hugh Thompson