I'm cheesed about this wedding photographer...

I went to a wedding over near Coeur d'Alene this weekend, and I saw something that really pissed me off.

A good friend of my fiance's was getting married, so naturally there was a photographer walking around. I was packing my D3100 with my 35mm 1.8 on it, snapping various shots of the location and other small stuff, just for fun (soon to be featured in my daily photo thread). I consider that setup to be pretty amateur, so much so that I am planning on a D610 in the very near future.

Anyways, after getting as into photography as I have, I've started to watch wedding photographers. I'm interested in seeing their style, how they pose people, how they handle themselves during the ceremony and the reception, etc. What I saw out of this photographer nearly made my head explode. To start with, she was walking around with a glass of champagne in her hand. That was bad enough, but she was doing so before the wedding had started. Then I started to size up her gear. I thought to myself, "that's kind of a small camera for a pro..." She was using a D60! 10.2 megapixels! Highest native ISO is 1600! To match the stunning power of this body, she had selected the infinitely sharp and incredibly fast 18-55mm. I then had the realization that I was better equipped to shoot this wedding than the photographer was. My suspicions were confirmed when she was shooting the ceremony. She turned the D60(!) vertically and I got a chance to see the mode dial. She was firmly affixed in auto mode. My brain had totally melted by this point. To round off this nice little debacle, I later found out that she had been paid $1700 to shoot this wedding.

Now, I know that all that matters is she gets the shots and the couple is happy. Yes. But certain things were happening in really dark rooms, where I was shooting at 1600 ISO, f/2.8, and 1/50 to get a clean shot. There is no way she got anything from those shots. Then she was drinking on the job. And the camera was in auto mode? That just seems unprofessional and incompetent to me.

How did the shots come out?

They're everywhere. A girl that used to work for me just posted some of her pro's shots on facebook, absolutely terrible! I don't have the heart to ask her what she paid, but the wedding was pricey. The public doesn't know any better. A while ago I walked past a couple in a park that had just gotten engaged. A girl was taking their picture and says to the couple "where do you want to sit", the guy says "you're the pro, you tell us". As I walked buy I noticed the point and shoot she was using as she shot into the sun. It's really very sad what's happening and it is degrading the entire field.

The unfortunate thing about inexpensive gear is that they are not shooting with a backup card. They may be good photographers, but no backup of such an important day is not a good idea. I could never take that risk!

Hopefully some of your shots will fill in the holes.

i wonder if any "Pro" has shown up to a wedding and started shooting with a iPhone yet? This is one reason I am not trying to shoot any paid jobs now. Someone gets a few "Likes" on Facebook / Instagram and they think they are pros. I shoot the D7100 with a D7000 as backup and I really don't consider that as pro equipment. Good enough for a casual job but not as a full blown wedding photographer.

I noticed an add on Craigslist in the photography section about a girl who claimed to be a pro photographer trying to sell her expertise. The images that she included where absolutely horrible. Shots done in the noon hour with no fill. Small apertures that exposed terrible backgrounds, ridiculous poses. This add was up for a few weeks when finally I couldn't take it anymore and decided to respond to her add. I wrote that I thought it was great that she had the ambition to jump in feet first and try and make it as a pro but what she really needed was allot of lessons. Tried to be as nice and professional as I could. A week later the add was gone.

I think this is the same for pretty much anything related to consumers. There is an old motto that is "you get what you pay for". So I can only hope that we will start to see a turn in the tides as consumers become educated about photographers and their product they produce. Well, lack of I should say.


i read 1-3 stories each week having to do with horrible photographers. The one that gets me is a photog that steals someone else's photos for their own resume to get customers.

All we can do is hone our craft and produce reults we promise and hope these fly by nighters will kill their crappy careers.

Don Kuykendall said:

i wonder if any "Pro" has shown up to a wedding and started shooting with a iPhone yet?

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Gerry Ghionis shot and won awards for a wedding he shot on an iphone.. but I understand what you are saying.

But I am also the believer of it's not the gear, its the way you use it - don't look at my gear list after reading that lol!!

kevy73 said:

Gerry Ghionis shot and won awards for a wedding he shot on an iphone.. but I understand what you are saying.

But I am also the believer of it's not the gear, its the way you use it - don't look at my gear list after reading that lol!!

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If I hired a "Pro" to shoot an event and he/she showed up with a phone to shoot it I would boot his/her ass to the curb after I took my money back out of their hide. I am sure thta Gerry Ghionis let the client know what he was doing in advance and was just doing it for the exposure he knew it would get.

oops.

I was in the same boat. Went to daughters best friends wedding. Basic hick type wedding. She didn't want me to shoot. She wanted me to relax. Before it started I ended up shooting some candid's of her hair being done. I only brought my basic lenses. The 610 made up for it. When the friend that was shooting the wedding got there, she had a bridge camera and already started drinking. She only took a few shots of the ceremony and none at the reception. She was too busy tapping the keg. I told the bride that I wouldn't have charged her if she had asked me. She got the pictures as a gift. By the end of the night both sides thanked me dearly for what I did.

Not sure how the shots came out. We shall see.

It's really disappointing to me to see this happen, and I see it all too often. The advent of the user-friendly and relatively inexpensive DSLR has been a boon to people looking to get into photography. More and more people are picking up cameras and getting shots that are much better than what they were once able to do with a point and shoot. However, I think this has led to some overconfidence. There is a major difference between a pro and an amateur with an entry level DSLR. Just because you think your shots look pretty good doesn't mean you're ready to charge a large amount of money for your work.

I would feel very comfortable going over and telling her "why are you using that POS gear? does the museum know youre borrowing it?" but thats only after knowing she got $1700. there are tons of people shooting peoples weddings who are broke with crap gear and no sense of responsibility at all. if she has experience and shes taking $1700, the issue I have is why isnt she using better gear. those who are new dont always know any better and arent usually making money.

dont you see the tons of "first time shooting a wedding need help asap" posts? thats the real crime IMO. I dont know how people have the nerve to take the responsibility of shooting a once in a lifetime event with no experience..

OTOH, P mode means nothing really. that doesnt tell much about the photog. id say hes lazy and lacks technical know how but not a critical thing. id just mock them about it.

everything is extremely fast paced and even if there seems to be a calm atmosphere there is this hidden pressure to perform. shooting under stress will show how good a photographer you are. see how badly you sweat bullets and how much confidence you really have when u stand in front of 10+ and arranging them when shooting family formal groups pics. most people are stressed that they ignore that completely and shoot.men who have their ties awkward, I re-tie them and arrange them nicely. come a bit closer, take a half a step back. turn your body a bit towards me and so forth. the shooting is nonsense. arranging them is the stressful part for most. not me. I shine with those. im in my zone.

rocketman122 said:

dont you see the tons of "first time shooting a wedding need help asap" posts? thats the real crime IMO. I dont know how people have the nerve to take the responsibility of shooting a once in a lifetime event with no experience..

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I WAS that woman... asking for advice... I only did my cousins wedding, and only because they couldnt afford a real photographer. To top it off I had a condescending press photog come to me before the ceremony started and he took one look at my Olympus and told me "dont worry luv, stick it in A for amateur and you'll be ok" Now having done that one wedding, I would HATE to do more... it was too much hard work for the amount of money I would expect to be paid.

edited to add..

the photos did come out ok. there were one or two "special" ones the bride and groom loved... and there were plenty of sales on photobox for me. But I did it as a wedding gift to them, and unless I was begged I wouldnt do it again

traceyjj said:

I WAS that woman... asking for advice... I only did my cousins wedding, and only because they couldnt afford a real photographer. To top it off I had a condescending press photog come to me before the ceremony started and he took one look at my Olympus and told me "dont worry luv, stick it in A for amateur and you'll be ok" Now having done that one wedding, I would HATE to do more... it was too much hard work for the amount of money I would expect to be paid.

edited to add..

the photos did come out ok. there were one or two "special" ones the bride and groom loved... and there were plenty of sales on photobox for me. But I did it as a wedding gift to them, and unless I was begged I wouldnt do it again

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I see no problem at all in shooting your first wedding with whatever kit you have, and no experience - If, like Tracey, you are clear on that to start with and the bride and groom understand.

I started a thread a few months back about a local events photographer who wanted assistants to go to the simpler, lower paying events such a school football and low league sporting events while she went to the higher paying things such as weddings. I thought about it, and contacted her to find out more, but then while waiting for a reply I looked at her website..... How she got paid for anything, I would never know!
I won't go into huge detail about her work, but lets just say that if you are going to photograph a football (Soccer) match, the shot should include the ball - Two people jumping doesn't really show the story.... And also, see if you can get the FOOTballer's FEET in the shot, rather than cutting them off at the knee!

Anyway, she replied and I politely declined.

It all boils down to what people are ready to pay. If the profession pays low, then it will be full of average or below average players.

It is same every where. During Y2K crisis, any one who could code a bit was taken at a top salary, once the crisis was over the market was full of software engineers who were practically worthless. They were willing to come at rock bottom pay, depressing the market. Gradually it dawned on to the recruiters that those who come for peanuts are monkeys, not worth recruiting. I think wedding photography is going through a similar phase. Soon the clients will realise that quality and reliability costs, and hope fully such "unprofessional" photographers will be sidelined.

That said, good equipment is nice to have, but not necessary. There is nothing wrong in shooting a wedding with say, D60, as long as you can wring the best out of it. I remember in film days the top ISO used was 400 and the photographers got excellent results. In fact mostly they used 100 or even 60, as 400 was too "grainy" for their liking. A Yashika TLR and a flash with external battery was all that majority of wedding photographers used in India. Even now I tend to use the D3300 at ISO 100 most of the time. In low light I have tried ISO 400 to 800, but only if I do not want to use the flash.

Here are shots with D40, they may not be wedding shots, but in good hands even this body works.
The Matter of Obsolescence

SteveH said:

I won't go into huge detail about her work, but lets just say that if you are going to photograph a football (Soccer) match, the shot should include the ball - Two people jumping doesn't really show the story....

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But they'd be just great for a Spot-the-Ball competition.

My son asked me to shoot his coming wedding as the primary photographer. Not because he can't afford it. But because he said he trusts me to do it right. I declined, but told him I would shoot as well. He's happy with that. I'm not ready for something like that. Plus, I don't want to ruin what's supposed to be a special time.