[Leica] Need Wedding Advice

[kleinp at BATTELLE.ORG (Klein, Peter A)]

I have shot several weddings of friends and relatives on just this
basis--as a present, but I do it my way.  

In one case, I was the only "real" photographer. Since it was not the
first wedding for either of the people getting married, they didn't care
about formal stuff, and my style suited the occasion fine.  In other
cases, a pro did all the setup shots, and I roamed around doing
reportage-style.  It was a good mix.  One wedding I shot all in B&W.
For others, I did the ceremony in B&W and then switched to color for the
reception.

In one case, the pro shot digital because that's what the couple asked
for: The cheapest package, basically "here's the JPEGs, you deal with
them."  His indoor shots were in very high-contrast conditions--an old
barn with both bright sunlight and deep shadow.  Even with fill flash,
it was a risky situation, because the couple didn't want to pay for
post-processing. So the files were not sufficiently edited to alleviate
the high-contrast issues.  So predictably, there were a lot of dark,
muddy faces in the pro's reception shots.  

My shots, on C-41 film, both BW and color, adjusted by me from
lab-scanned JPEGs, were fine.  I was in a weird position.  On one hand,
I was getting my ego stroked because the couple kept telling me my
pictures were better than the pro's.  But on the other hand, I felt I
needed to defend the pro, because I knew the lighting issues he faced,
and he couldn't spend several hours post-processing for free.

Better that than having a relative mad at *me* for life, though :-)  So
far I've enjoyed doing the weddings on my terms.  It's a *lot* of work
to do it right, though, so I wouldn't do it for anyone but a family
member or the best of friends.

--Peter

Nathan wrote:

> I think it depends on how the couple are approaching the wedding. I 
> would definitely not do a commercial transaction with a relative or 
> close friend, but if the couple have a relaxed attitude, then it can 
> work. I did shoot a wedding last Friday (PAWs coming later), and when 
> the couple asked me (and offered to pay), I said that I would do it as

> my present to them and that I would do it only my way--meaning
reportage 
> style, few or no posed pictures etc. They had looked at my web page, I

> showed them pictures I had shot at my cousin's wedding in 2002, and
they 
> were happy with that.