The Coffee House

[Braineack]

Looks good! Congrats on getting your first wedding successfully under your belt. And wow, they didn't make it easy on you with the mid day sun, bright red bridesmaid dresses, bright white bridal gown and yellow flowers! I really like the ones on the bridge of the bride alone and the bridal couple and you definitely captured the emotions of the day which is the most important thing.

right?!

Plus, they said they were going to get ready at the venue, I was hoping to arrive and get good getting ready shots, and the details like the jewelry, dress, etc. But they showed up late, already dressed (except the bride), already in makeup, and then forgot the rings so I couldn't even shoot those. Her room was a dark little room with no windows, so nothing special I could do there, and I wasn't quite comfortable enough right then to make stuff happen. The guys were clueless on how to dress so I had to spend a lot of time just pinning flowers and tying a few of their ties. Again, wish I could have done more there.

Then they sprung the portraits session on me at a local pond, not the venue. My assistant was stuck in traffic and I felt a bit overwhelmed so didn't get out any lighting, I really wish I had at least a speedlight on the camera for some fill -- and on the bridge I could have really used at least my shoot through umbrella which was in the car. She showed up maybe half way through.

This was a pretty low-budget wedding, and one comment I had from another photographer which really made me feel good was "you'd never know from the pictures". There were no DJ lights or any real decorations or cool details to get cool shot with. They actually cut the lights above the dance floor so it was pretty much just pitch black besides my flashes, which made it nearly impossible for my D610 to gain focus -- then I just would spray and pray most the time shooting with the camera well above my head.

One thing I think I realized is that I was trying to wait for moments, much like wildlife photography, when I should have injected myself a bit more and created shots -- at the reception I really felt like I was only taking dance shots, when I could have stolen the bride and groom for a few minutes and done a bit more outside on the golf course grounds, or get a few better shots with guests on the dance floor that had a little setup.

I felt comfortable with the bridge alone cause I'm used to single person portraits, the biggest issue I had with the groups was posing them. I tried to make sure the compositions made sense, and no one was lost. I had to get most of the guys to remove their cell phones from pockets and how to stand, but I still missed a few.

I'll bet you have happy customers. Your shots are as good or better than most of the wedding albums I've looked through in the past couple of years. Do you plan on doing more weddings?

I'd love to do more, actually. I'll already feel so much more at ease at the next one, I was decently happy with the lighting at the reception which I just winged based on wedding photographer's on YT and blogs. I had a speedlight on my camera which was synced to my YN622TX vis sync cable which controlled two remote speedlights on stands that I could turn on/off or change the power -- worked well. and I was lucky it was a low white ceiling so the main bounce flash looked good.

I was just really hoping more for more creative shots, but I also just struggled just knowing which lens to use when, and again, I think I have a better feel for it. Most the group shots I took with the 24-70 locked at 70mm, so I probably should have just gone with the 85mm.

Plus it's decent money and gives me something to do. I rented another D610 for the event, but I think I'll buy something new if I do another -- been looking at used D4's. I tried my best to get all the shots they wanted, and if anything they really got their monies worth (I got paid pennies with the amount of work that went into it all). Hopefully I get some new work out of this, if not weddings but even more portraits and engagement stuff from all the young couples viewing it all now. I don't really market, and ill probably still just stick to word-of-mouth, but I'll at least get my own presence website out there eventually to use as a portfolio.

 

[JonA_CT]

I'll bet you have happy customers. Your shots are as good or better than most of the wedding albums I've looked through in the past couple of years. Do you plan on doing more weddings?

I'd love to do more, actually. I'll already feel so much more at ease at the next one, I was decently happy with the lighting at the reception which I just winged based on wedding photographer's on YT and blogs. I had a speedlight on my camera which was synced to my YN622TX vis sync cable which controlled two remote speedlights on stands that I could turn on/off or change the power -- worked well. and I was lucky it was a low white ceiling so the main bounce flash looked good.

I was just really hoping more for more creative shots, but I also just struggled just knowing which lens to use when, and again, I think I have a better feel for it. Most the group shots I took with the 24-70 locked at 70mm, so I probably should have just gone with the 85mm.

Plus it's decent money and gives me something to do. I rented another D610 for the event, but I think I'll buy something new if I do another -- been looking at used D4's. I tried my best to get all the shots they wanted, and if anything they really got their monies worth (I got paid pennies with the amount of work that went into it all). Hopefully I get some new work out of this, if not weddings but even more portraits and engagement stuff from all the young couples viewing it all now. I don't really market, and ill probably still just stick to word-of-mouth, but I'll at least get my own presence website out there eventually to use as a portfolio.

It seems like you've got a good grasp on it, and now you can say you've done one, and have good portfolio fodder now.

I'm years behind you in progression, and I still have a lot of learning to do, but I've been thinking recently about my own end goals. I find portraits and shots of people more interesting than other types of photography, but after doing some work outside of my family for the first time, I'm not sure it's something I'll ever pursue seriously. For a lot of reasons, haha. I think a lot of it has to do with my responsibilities with two young kids at home, and a job that demands a lot of my time until it doesn't (you know...all summer, haha). It's hard to find time to leave to go take the photos, much less the post processing time.

So anyways, I have a lot of respect for the work that you've put into a second career, and I agree that having done a wedding now will get you much more business.

 

[SquarePeg43 4]

@Braineack just curious if you had any 2nd shooter gigs before this wedding?

 

[Braineack]

nope. I have a photographer friend who's local who does weddings and I've asked a few times -- he's always saying he hires them but he never reach out in last year. I would have liked to have done 2nd shooting before attempting, but I was asked by a friend if I could do this for cheap and said yes.

 

[waday]

The Coffee House was on the second page.

Come on now! We're better than that!

8:01 AM...

 

[JonA_CT]

The Coffee House was on the second page.

Come on now! We're better than that!

8:01 AM...

7:43an for me yesterday, haha.

In other news, I just filled my gas tank for the first time since school started. Made it 7 weeks on $30 if gas. Imagine if I had a hybrid!

 

[waday]

In other news, I just filled my gas tank for the first time since school started. Made it 7 weeks on $30 if gas. Imagine if I had a hybrid!

I pay that weekly

 

[JonA_CT]

In other news, I just filled my gas tank for the first time since school started. Made it 7 weeks on $30 if gas. Imagine if I had a hybrid!

I pay that weekly

My commute is less than 5 miles round trip. I used to drive about 60 miles per day. Then, I was filling up about every 4-5 days for $30.

 

[davidharmier60]

The one thing that makes Daves part time job worth something is it's only 5 miles away. In approximately 12.5 hours I wake up to do it again.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[tirediron]

In other news, I just filled my gas tank for the first time since school started. Made it 7 weeks on $30 if gas. Imagine if I had a hybrid!

I pay that weekly

My commute is less than 5 miles round trip. I used to drive about 60 miles per day. Then, I was filling up about every 4-5 days for $30.

Walk or cycle... driving that on a regular basis is hard on your car.

 

[JonA_CT]

In other news, I just filled my gas tank for the first time since school started. Made it 7 weeks on $30 if gas. Imagine if I had a hybrid!

I pay that weekly

My commute is less than 5 miles round trip. I used to drive about 60 miles per day. Then, I was filling up about every 4-5 days for $30.

Walk or cycle... driving that on a regular basis is hard on your car.

With an 8 week old and a 2 year old, that isn't currently an option. I need the flexibility of being able to getting home and to child care quickly. If we still live as close when they are older, I'll definitely ride a bike to work every day.

 

[JonA_CT]

Man, Amazon is so convenient. But I'm on to representative # 4 and day # 3 of trying to get them to refund an order that was never delivered. Their service is terrible.

 

[SquarePeg43 4]

Man, Amazon is so convenient. But I'm on to representative # 4 and day # 3 of trying to get them to refund an order that was never delivered. Their service is terrible.

Call your credit card company and dispute the charge.

 

[Frank F.]

my daughter found a "3d crystal jigsaw puzzle" at Oxfam. 44 parts, next to impossible to finish, but not on a crazy day like today:

 

[Frank F.]

Here's the pictures of the wedding I shot: A & M - Adriana and Matthew

learned a ton. could have done better. but ive seen much worse.

the guys on the bridge are cool