Weddings? who needs them?

The "you've got a good camera, you could take our wedding photos, it'll be good experience for you" means "you have an invite to the wedding but instead of enjoying yourself we'd like you to work all day for free and then spend hours/days afterwards making the images good for us" - happens all the time I'm sure!

Even worse is, "You take great pictures, we've bought this video camera, would you video our wedding?"

I started off saying "er, no", but then I had this great idea which worked out really well. I said that it would be great if the vid was passed around amongst all the guests for some random candid stuff. Some of the footage was quite good, and I didn't even have to edit it myself.

I got credit for the idea, and did about 2% of the work. Result!

That would truly be even worse. Sometimes it's good to say no....

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I often quote for a job and get the the go ahead only to get a phone call or more rudely a text saying that a friend of a relative or a lad down the street can do it a bit cheaper and they will use them instead.More times than not I get asked to go and put it right after the bodge job they turned out which usually costs more in the long run by the time they have replaced the ceiling that the water has brought down and I always have a good laugh.Now that is not to bad when it is only a bathroom suite or similar but on what is supposed to be a girls most important day to scrimp on the photographer who is going to record it is madness and I think you may have the last laugh here Ken and the worst part is that it cannot be fixed afterwards.I have seen the results of a "my mate has a camera wedding" and it was not good.There is no substitute for experience and expertise and the right tools for the job and these cost.

Interesting post, Stuey.

This isn't about money though that would still have to be paid. This is really about untenable working situation. You can't have two photographers trying to pose groups; you would never get through it all and I'm certainly not having files printed and the album designed by someone I don't know.

I started doing weddings, for a living, in 1976 and lost count of how many a long time ago. There were five photographers at the studio and occasionally we would shoot two each on busy Saturdays. The most complex one I remember was a double wedding with identical twin sisters, get your head around the logistics of that one! There were 150 guests and three of us.

For someone to suggest one photographer can cover 280 guests is just insane.

I'll keep you posted

After all - common courtesy is involved here.

Ken was asked to do it - and he agreed , and then the bride , on the 'advice' given by the banqueting manager of the hotel , starts to change what had been arranged by the photographer.

It's akin to the Chef being given instructions as to how to organise his kitchen and crew to do the catering by the photographer or the make up artist for the Bride.

Leave the pro to do his job - he knows what he's doing .

Would you ask an obstetrician to do neurosurgery ?

The opposite happened to me once.

I was asked to do a wedding for a family friend - and was happy to do so for a reasonable price but they finally decided to use a "pro" at significantly more for the ceremony and immediate small reception.

Was I put out? Not really ... and I was still asked to do the evening reception. The "pro" then took some of my images for use in the main albums.

I think you've done the right thing. Life's too short to battle the "know it all" mentality of these insecure suit types using any excuse to boost their self esteem by crowing fraudulent expertise.

Have you noticed, all the guests at a wedding who have taken a camera along tend to get at least one photo where 'That Hat' intrudes into the shot. Why don't you see it until after the click?

I can think of a few people that I'd send to a proctologist to get their heads examined…

I've done a few weddings, I suppose that makes me a pro

But I'd never dream of charging for one or muscle a pro out of a shoot.
All mine have been for close family who know I'm not a pro and are just happy to have some good quality snaps from someone who knows how to use a camera, I was asked a few month back if I wanted to shoot "a friend of a friend of a friends wedding" (and be paid) I said I would love to have done it....but I was busy that day

I do feel for wedding togs though, the digital age has made every tom dick and harry with a DSLR a budding wedding photographer, I went to a friends wedding several years back and one of the bridesmaids was doing the photography using a Canon 350D with a kit lens and the most unstable tripod I have ever seen. I got an email a couple of weeks later asking if I'd taken any good pics myself

I'm tempted to suggest the 'banquet' would therefore be so lavish (read 'expensive') that persuading the bride to drop a photographer would make up for the difference - but I won't as I don't know the facts...

I've shot one wedding for a mate as a favour for gratis (which I was happy to do) but otherwise have seen good and bad wedding pros.

On one occasion I was told by the 'pro' I wasn't allowed to take any photos of the happy couple drinking Champagne in the vintage car as he had 'exclusive rights' to that shot (I was tempted to point out that if he couldn't get a better shot with his 'blad than I could with my SFXn & 50/1.7 he was probably in the wrong business).

On another occasion I turned up to a mates wedding with my Bronica SQ-B, sending the official pro using 35mm gear, white. I've seen the official pro so engrossed with his 'complimentary' wedding lunch that he's forgotten he was there to photograph the event and one demanding a night's stay at the venue because he couldn't possibly be expected to drive home afterwards.

As already mentioned, the arrival of DSLRs seems to have made many 'photographers' think they can shoot weddings and hand out a CD at the end of the day. There are also loads of courses with fake weddings so 'togs can build up a 'portfolio' showing examples of their 'work'.

I was once lucky enough to attend a seminar given by a wedding pro, the hour of his time gave me the most inspiration I've experienced related to photography - but I still wouldn't want to do it as a day job.

It happened to me... twice. I politely declined, exlaining that the ability to take a few snaps on holiday, mainly of the landscape variety, did not qualify me for a wedding assignment.

I've a friend who is a professional photographer and who has more or less been driven out of business due to the decline in wedding business which was for years his main source of income.

The phenomenon of "Uncle George has a good camera, he's offered to do the photos" has, at least at the lower end of the market, affected the trade.

You live in Glasgow and you don't know what that means? Pull the other one. it's got bells on.