Meatball wedding shot

mysteryscribe · Jun 12, 2007

I have been tinkering with the scanner I have now. I'm trying to get ready for the new one. Anyway I came across this real world wedding. I thought I would give you a look at the down and dirty of wedding photography. They aren't all glamourous.

These people left right after the wedding for this country and western bar, which he had a piece of. The agreement was that I would shoot the families at the reception. I had never been inside this particular bar so It was catch as catch can. This isn't the worst of the shots, I thought I would spare you that igony. Most of the time in my business it was and I expect will be again a matter adapt and overcome the difficulties.

All of the people are there, they all have their heads and feet so I considered it a success. Before anyone comments on bouncing the light on a group this large I wouldn't try that with film even if the ceiling hadn't been black, it is a bar.

newrmdmike · Jun 13, 2007

. . . these weddings are why i have raised my prices.

newrmdmike · Jun 13, 2007

while good photographs can be had, its tough to please a bride who's looking at your portfolio and wedding magazines and yet still doesn't make the connection that her budget wedding isn't glamorous.

i wish i could shoot one of these weddings as straight photo-j, it would be a blast, and the bride would cry a different kind of tear than i normally want . . . but jeez would she see what her wedding really was.

oldnavy170 · Jun 13, 2007

I remember those dresses that the little girl is wearing. Except it would be the bridemaids wearing them with HUGE shoulder Poof to them!!!!

mysteryscribe · Jun 13, 2007

What seems to amaze people in the business is:

1) Somebody needs to do this kind of thing. They still get married and they still hire photographers... I only did a couple this bad in thirty years..

2) I love this kind of photography.... If there is anything I do well, its turning chicken crap into at least eatable chicken salad. It's why I'm probably always defending pictures shot as they happen, both mine and other people's.

If you have complete control in your studio, you should make acceptable images every time. If you are shooting in a dark bar with people pushing you from behind, or even outside by a stream with a too strong backlight, it's easier to understand a problem happening. Maybe that's why I am a little more gentle than some others with what I have to say. I have been down all those roads and even now I don't always get it right.

I'm looking forward to these kinds of weddings again. I have a family that is all grown up, a wife who doesn't need or want money from this endeavor, and who actually thinks I'm quite mad for doing it. I could easily ask a big buck, advertise it as Classical For the Growups and probably make just as much money as I plan to on just a couple of weddings. But for the first time in my life, I'm in it for the fun of it.

I plan to go back to Meatball weddings by choice, not because my business plan from before was to shoot everything. Which is my Son In Laws business plan and which he is doing very well at I might add. Shooting everything that comes along that is. Well within his pricing structure.

Anyway the point of posting the picture was that eveything isn't always going to be glamourous. Sometimes it's about beer not champaign and the best you can do is just acceptable. On those days acceptable is good enough. Not every image is going to hang in a museum. That's just my opinion not supported by any articles or schools. People who write photography book and teach lessons don't understand this side of photography. The art/science/craft of photography exists on many levels at the same time. To force all photographs into the same mold isn't my idea of photography. I seem to keep doing this and I keep promising myself I will never do it again. Sorry about the anti lecture lecture.

By the way this probably is an excuse for being lazy and stupid so I'll say it first and save anyone else the trouble.

The little girl's dress... I bet I have a thousand shots of grown women wearing those. I always wonder what the hell a woman does with them after the wedding.

Wolff · Jun 13, 2007

Well put, mysteryscribe. I think it's easy to forget (especially for people who love photography) that not every event is meant to produce magazine or portfolio quality images.

dgs · Jun 13, 2007

i wish i could shoot one of these weddings as straight photo-j, it would be a blast, and the bride would cry a different kind of tear than i normally want . . . but jeez would she see what her wedding really was.

When I read the original post I spent some time trying to figure out of Scribe was describing the photography or the people as "meatball". Finally came down (to me anyway) as Scribe talking about the photography. Not a pure play, but mostly.

Reading Mike there isn't a lot of question as to where the meatball lands.

It's interesting. Not long ago on this forum, different category, there was a thread with passioned internet voices quite upset because photographing animals in a zoo was demeaning to the animals.

I happen to admire Diane Arbus' work. But I get really impatient with a lot of folks when I hear them talk about her body of work and it becomes pretty obvious some folks can't see beyond the freak show. I believe Ms. Arbus' photos go far beyond that.

Scribe, I'm glad to hear you're doing what you're doing. And I'm happy to hear Mike has priced himself away from this market segment. These are people getting married. Regardless of their income or their social graces they are still people.

JimmyJaceyMom · Jun 13, 2007

newrmdmike said:
while good photographs can be had, its tough to please a bride who's looking at your portfolio and wedding magazines and yet still doesn't make the connection that her budget wedding isn't glamorous.

i wish i could shoot one of these weddings as straight photo-j, it would be a blast, and the bride would cry a different kind of tear than i normally want . . . but jeez would she see what her wedding really was.

I had a wedding like this - was my first (and last) one and it was scary LOL - but shooting almost p.j. style it had the opposite affect. Everyone that was at that wedding was like, wow. It looks nicer than it was. :lol:

I of course hated every image that was taken but they don't know much about what I did wrong so they liked them.
I guess people that have a low budget, non glamourous wedding are just happy to get married, which is really what matters I suppose. And that's why, even though I don't want to shoot another wedding again ever I am glad I did it for them. I'm not as good as you guys but they got more than the disposeable camera pictures they would have had to look back on their special day. Cause even without all that money poured in, it was still special to them. :wink:

mysteryscribe · Jun 13, 2007

I told this story about meatball photography on another thread but maybe if im going to use the term here I should do it again. It MOST definitely does not apply to the people. These people were a blast to work for, it applies to the backgrounds and the kind of photography I do at weddings. I'm the one guilty if you need to blame someone. I personally don't it's just a fact for me. I came to grips with what I am long ago.

I was involved with my photographic instructor from 1969-70... During that time she was trying to let me down easy. I was not ever going to be a great photographer. She wasn't a great painter either but for her to tell me I had no real artistic talent at anything artistic was difficult for her. Suddenly the term meatball photography came about as her way of explaining how she saw my work. It was after she or one of her friends saw the movie mash I guess. It's the only place I ever heard the term.

If you saw the movie then it doesn't need any more explaination. If you didn't then I'm not sure I can explain it. But according to Barbara I have no finess. Note my banana picture as opposed to digital diva's crack in the mirror. There is nothing subtle about my images.

So when I do a wedding I'm there to capture the image with as much techincal know how and as much as my limited talent will allow. If there is a candle holder in the background then there is a candle holder in the picture. The power, or emotion, or just the documentary effect of the scene, is my interest not some subtlety. I try to do a more than adaquate job, but if worse comes to worse I will settle for adaquate....

Hey, I'm old enough to get away with it. But then I always got away with it and earned an adaquate living even.

And Kathi, sometimes you do a thing just because it needs to be done. Thanks to the man who reminded me of that just now, I realize that everything worth doing isn't often rewarded by the big bucks, sometimes not any bucks at all, but it doesn't deminish the need to be done. I know that sounds hokey and it should.

mysteryscribe · Jun 13, 2007

I did not deliver this one. I had a shot in which she wasn't winking at me... Actually I think she just blinks one eye longer than the other.

Yes professional critics I know the back ground is far too busy but talk to the pastor about that. I shoots like they lays...

newrmdmike · Jun 13, 2007

i have no problem shooting a tasteless wedding, if the people realize its tasteless. in fact i've been to some really fun tasteless weddings

I DID ONE IN HUNTSVILLE TEXAS FOR 400 . . . and they loved what they got, blue jeans on the groom and all.

but i've done them for 1,200 and had them upset it didn't look like a Hollywood wedding. (its appearance was about the same as the one in huntsville, but the people were much crabbier)

i moved my prices up because i was getting people expecting their wedding to look like a $40,000 wedding in the pictures. . . when they got married at boys countries church (not dogging their church)

theres a difference between people expecting to get what was there and people expecting your photographic abilities to somehow make their big day seem much much bigger.

and i'm not saying small weddings and weddings on the cheap aren't special . . . but i've had clients be dissapointed that their wedding photos weren't like the ones in my portfolio (which is a problem on their end not mine, i performed the same)

i've shot beside bambi cantrell and jerry ghionis and got comprable images under the circumstances (not saying i'm as good as them, bc i'm not) and that to an extent goes to show what charging 10,000+ for a wedding will allow you.

newrmdmike · Jun 13, 2007

(oh, and i raised prices for different clientelle, not for the money)

newrmdmike · Jun 13, 2007

and scribe, man i used to have SUCH a hard time looking at some of your "meatball" (please don't think i'm mean) pictures, and the more experience i gain or the older i get (or whatever it is) the more i can appreciate de-glamourized photography.

when i look at my parents wedding album (hideous from a photogs standpoint) i love the cheese factor. i love looking at these kind of photos that people are bold enough to put on their walls. YOU CAN'T BEAT IT, and in 20 years i wonder if any of the hip shots i take at weddings now will be on peoples walls, or if they opt to put up the cheesy photos.

and ps, i havn't found anything out about the queens cobras.

mysteryscribe · Jun 13, 2007

Damn shame they were the only soldiers from Thailand that went to Vietnam in the sixties. I hope they didn't get anahilated there. Thanks for looking.

As for what I shoot, I know better and chose to shoot like I do. Believe it or not there is a difference lol.

Hell if it had been me, I would have raised the prices for the money. I have no illusions, it's seldom about the principle for me, it's usually about the money.

You want to know when My prices came down? When I decided I was tired of houses and the like. I made good money shooting real estate because it lends itself to meatball photography. At least the type I was doing. But it kept me on the road all week all over hell and GA.

Wife 5 and I had a long talk. "So what was it about studio photography you hated last time. (she wasn't around the first time I ran a real studio). I had to leave the town my studio was in because of wife 4.

"The people and the bitching."

"Why did they *****?" she asked.

"Probably because they expected a great artist and got me." I laughed at that point.

"So what would change that?" At that point she was trying to talk me out of going back to studio or photo service work. Her thought was that nothing had changed.

"Well I could run a budget shop, ala walmart? You know give them a good product at a reasonable price."

"So what about the unreasonable expectations?"

"Well I could make an honest sample book, but it would mean less sales and probably less profit."

"Huh?" she asked.

"Well like most people I have always had my best shots in the sample book. Then when a customer didn't get every one of his hundred shots perfect, they weren't happy. Especially when they sat with the album in one hand and the checkbook in the other."

"So you are saying you didn't show a typical wedding just bits and pieces from several?"

"Yes that is true, but I would do that again. I just wouldn't pick the best of the best. I could just make a book and call it the good the bad and the ugly. I would also show them all the proofs that were not bought by the previous customers. Let them know that not all shots were going to be exactly the same quality. That I could only document what was there that day. And I would guarentee that there shots would be as good as the samples they saw."

"This would solve your problem?" she asked.

"I don't know but we could try."

I ran a ragtag studio for over 15years on that principle and with those perimeters. I think in 15 years I had two unhappy customers. Those were both about a single image they thought would look different from the proof somehow.