Uncle Bob – The Aspiring Photographer at your wedding
Hello everyone,
You’ve been preparing your wedding for months now, if not over the course of a year. Every last detail is attached to online shopping, a meeting with 2 or 3 photographers, hours of discussions on venue, cakes, decor, budget, budget, and budget!
Looking back at this season, I have some important advice from a Photographer’s point of view to my ” Soon To Be’s “ You’ve hired your official wedding photographer to capture the day. As a photographer, I am used to working with plenty of your friends and family who also want to capture the moment. It’s a fun experience to be the star of the show, with Paparazzi all around you for one day.
These days, everyone has a camera. A handful of these aspiring photographers excited to try out their new amateur/pro camera gear want to gain the experience to practice exactly what I do and love. I call them – Uncle Bob.
The day of the wedding is not the time for these shutter bugs – Uncle Bob, who gets up on the steps of the altar in the church side by side to your wedding photographer. Uncle Bob’s carefree trigger happy demeanor, will forget to look around his surroundings to notice that he is in the lines of the most important shot that the official photographer is trying to capture.
Uncle Bob’s in-experience is doing you more harm than good by ruining your shots or increasing the number of missed shots because he is competing directly with the official photographer for the money shot: That’s right! – YOU: The bride and groom. These moments fly by and within seconds the moment is lost and the photographer will lose crucial moments as a result of Uncle Bob’s ignorance. In addition, it is vital to respect the rules of the venue where you are getting married. Uncle Bob may not know these rules and will break them as a result. You don’t want Uncle Bob to embarrass you and all of your family.
It’s tough enough for the photographer to work in-synch with the Videographer to do our best to get out of each other’s shots. In general, the Photographer and Videographer have lengthy discussions about placement, where to stand, how we can work around and with each other prior to the wedding. There is planning involved here.
So, if Uncle Bob is looking to gain experience, YOUR WEDDING is not the free trial run. Leave it to your official Photographer to capture the moment. You do not want an irritated Photographer with Uncle Bob, more so, Uncle Bob in every background shot. It is my job to provide you with the most incredible photo journey of your wedding day that you and I have been working together and planning for months. Remember, this is what you invested in. There’s a reason why you did not hire Uncle Bob.
If you are looking for a second shooter, I can provide you this. I have a team of photographers who I sometimes hire to shoot with me at weddings. They are industry professionals whom I have interviewed and carefully hand selected that are very familiar with how I work. We work as a team, we are discreet and it’s a lot like a dance. We work together, respect one another and do not compete for shots. Uncle Bob is not on my team.
Please do yourselves a favour, don’t let Uncle Bob try to steal the show. Forewarn Uncle Bob who the official Photographer is.
Sincerely,
Your Professional Wedding Photographer,
Christina
