Psychology of wedding photography

cyngus

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who do so many photographers hate on wedding photography / photographers?

how many people here are wedding photographers?

this is a shot my partner got of my wedding
photomodelnetwork.com - Eric Chiarito

i was really pleased with the way the wedding photos came out in general.. and decided to open up my studio to accept wedding clients..

my psychology is this..
its real people.. real emotion.. beautiful scenery you generally dont have to setup a shot.. (too much) and the money is sometimes exceptionally good!

what has discouraged me a lot from shooting models is how fake it is.. yes the shot itself may be beautiful or print worthy but.. its still just a setup staged photo.

ive really come to love working with couples who have genuine emotion and feelings.. i find it often times shows up great on film even if the couple is camera shy and never taken professional photos before in their life.

its very rewarding to get a beautiful photo.. but to me its even more rewarding to get a beautiful photo of a couple who are genuinely in love. and not just pretending to be for the sake of the photo ..

questions, thoughts?

comments on the photo? :D
 
who do so many photographers hate on wedding photography / photographers?

I am assuming you meant "why" here and not "who".

What exactly do you mean by hate on?

I am no pro, and I dont know of this if it does happen.

Please explain...
 
It probably has to do with dealing with bridezillas and their mothers. You're also in charge of capturing the "most important day of their lives." If you screw up, you'll never hear the end of it. Which is why I like animals. Crappy shots all day? Who cares?
 
I don't think anyone hates wedding photographers, in general, do they? They've chosen a very difficult niche in the photography business. As someone said, bridezillas and their mothers can be a chore to deal with.

Weddings in general, I can see where many photographers don't like dealing with them. Many opportunities for cliche shots - and if you blow it, there's no going back for a second attempt.

Digital photography has made it a lot easier though- you can check your work as you go and make sure everything is working, exposure is right, flash is sync'd, etc. In the old days, you'd have a camera problem and you wouldn't find out for two days until the film came back from the lab. Then PANIC and an uncomfortable call to the customer.

Still, weddings have an almost unnatural stress added to them, at least to me.
 
well by "hate on" i mean.. in my experience if you say your a wedding photographer its generally assumed to be kinda i dont know.. lame? or.. rinky dink? ..

everyone wants to shoot like. celebs or high fashion etc etc.. seems like aspiring photogs think its so glamorous and exciting to say you shoot "fashion" rather than "weddings"

ive worked in the high fashion industry of photography for many years.. i'll tell yah.. id rather deal with a bridezilla than a psychotic art director.. a half dozen bitchy models and handful of slack off assistants and lazy stylists haha.. stress comes with any profession.. granted.. but i havent seen or had the similar knot in my stomach knowing if i loose a "shot" i'm not only fired.. but i might just get thrown out of the window for blowing a 50k shoot.

oh and like i said before.. real emotion real people etc etc.. more rewarding than just a paycheck..

belonghair i also agree.. this is why ive recently found a love for products and food :)
 
who do so many photographers hate on wedding photography / photographers?

how many people here are wedding photographers?

this is a shot my partner got of my wedding
photomodelnetwork.com - Eric Chiarito

i was really pleased with the way the wedding photos came out in general.. and decided to open up my studio to accept wedding clients..

my psychology is this..
its real people.. real emotion.. beautiful scenery you generally dont have to setup a shot.. (too much) and the money is sometimes exceptionally good!

what has discouraged me a lot from shooting models is how fake it is.. yes the shot itself may be beautiful or print worthy but.. its still just a setup staged photo.

ive really come to love working with couples who have genuine emotion and feelings.. i find it often times shows up great on film even if the couple is camera shy and never taken professional photos before in their life.

its very rewarding to get a beautiful photo.. but to me its even more rewarding to get a beautiful photo of a couple who are genuinely in love. and not just pretending to be for the sake of the photo ..

questions, thoughts?

comments on the photo? :D

Nice post & Photos Cyngus!

I have nothing against wedding Photographers...but everything against the Bride...at least most of the ones I came across are very bossy even when your doing everything right...maybe cause of the stress of the wedding.:grumpy:
 
yah.. stress from a wedding changes people.. for sure!.. me and my wife and attest to that haha. leading up to the big day.. the last few mins before walking down the aisle we were both making sure everything was setup and perfect.. ugh what a headache.. god bless wedding planners.. they have nerves of steel i tell yah..
 
wedding photographer here...
it is fast paced, challenging, and always fun!
 
"What has discouraged me a lot from shooting models is how fake it is.. yes the shot itself may be beautiful or print worthy but.. its still just a setup staged photo. Ive really come to love working with couples who have genuine emotion and feelings.."

IMO, the best part about wedding photography is that it can be shot in a photo-journalistic way. A wedding is such an emotional event for so many people who attend, and it's amazing to capture that for them forever. Maybe shooting a wedding though is an easier way to capture that emotion, which is why people may "hate on wedding photographers." Maybe most of them think that the emotion they capture on film is countless one-in-a-million shots, when in actuality their grandmother who is just learning to use a point-and-shoot could capture something similar.

Just read this great article in the WSJ about the photographer (who actually photographed my own wedding) that really understands the psyche behind excellent child portraiture (Read it here). Now here's a guy who totally owns the fact that he captures weddings. He's a well rounded photographer as well as one of the most acclaimed NYC wedding photographers out there!
 
Professional (expert, not just paid) wedding photographers have a lot of skill and technical knowledge.

Unfortunately a lot of today's paid wedding shooters are fauxtographers having little photographic skill or technical knowldge.
 
I hate to say it, but I agree with KmH.

I don't think people 'hate on' wedding photographers. I think people 'hate on' the Mom who just bought a DSLR and is now throwing up an add on Craigslist for a $200 wedding.

If you say you are a fashion photographer for such and such, people know you know your stuff(or at least know people). It's not something you can just decide to do overnight. Wedding photography, on the low end, is something somebody can decide to do overnight.

So, I think it's just a matter of perspective. If I tell you I am a Craigslist handyman, you don't have any idea what to expect(might be brilliant or I might just be trying to steal your TV). If I tell you I ran Nuclear Reactors for the Navy, you have a lot more to go on. The term 'wedding photographer' has become watered down.

In my opinion, any bad rap that wedding photographers get isn't because of the ones who really know their craft, but because of the ones who just bought a camera and think they can do the same job.
 
I think you may have missed some of the points in the discussions. I have never seen anyone "hating" on wedding photographers.

Where the negativitiy comes in is here:
Joe Newby goes to Best-Buy Monday morning and buys himself a new super whiz-bang DSLR. Tuesday he reads the manual, and Wednsday Morning JOE NEWBY Professional Wedding Photography is on <Craig's List Facebook whatever.>

At least once a month there is this post:
I have had my DSLR for almost a month now. How much do I charge for taking portriats?

I think most of the poeple here, who are serious posters, are protecting the institution. It takes skills, and years of knowledge to do it right. In wedding photography, more than almost any other genre, there are NO SECOND CANCES. Once the moment is gone, it's gone forever.

So, when Joe Newby is shooting in a really dark church, and the bride's white dress is totally blownout from over exposure, he doesn't know why. He tries for hours to fix it in PHOTOFIXIT and the results aren't all that great.

Truth be told, that does affect all of us in the end.
 
Between Bestbuy, Facebook, and Craigslist everyone is a wedding photographer now.
 
I think the opposite, to be a good wedding photographer I would give that person the most respect. I think that fashion, portrait stuff is the door opening level. It may not be the way it really is, but what is worse screwing up a shoot you can restage or retake or screwing up someones most important day of their life. Unfortunately from a lot of the photos I've seen people do that on a daily basis, but everyone has their own expectations I guess. Good luck with the wedding photography stuff, I think it's probably one of the best markets which is probably why people jump into it.
 

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