Last Wedding of the Year

[HankCastello]

We shot our last wedding of the year this weekend.  It seems that the later in the year, the tougher the wedding is.  This time the church insisted that we remain in the far back corners where we would be unseen by guests.  It looked to be just barely doable at the rehearsal, but on the wedding day, four large candellabras and two very large floral arrangements totally blocked any view of the couple.  

I explained to the coordinator that one of the floral arrangements would have to be moved two feet rearward and the other one foot back.   She flatly refused.  I then talked to the mother of the bride (who was really running things) and told her they could either move the flower vases or there would be no need for us to remove the lens caps from our two manned cameras.  (We also had three unmanned cameras).  She then negotiated with the coordinator and they finally decided to move the vases but to move both equally, which meant that my view of the bride would be blocked, but I would be able to see the groom and Jean could see both.  Sheeze - they're paying us "big bucks" and want to put obstacles in our path!

I miked the minister, groom and fob.  There were two vocalists singing at different times, one at a podium and the other planned to be four feet behind the podium (thus hidden from most guests and my static camera).  No way, Jose!  It took a bit of doing, but I got things arranged so that both would sing at the podium.  That way, the static cam I would setup could get both and both could be covered with a single mic.  Trouble was, the second singer was not at the rehearsal and didn't show on wedding day until things had just gotten underway.  I crossed my fingers that she'd know where to stand.  This static camera was fitted with a Beachtek adapter that took the singers' mic on one channel and two xlr cables were connected together to enable another mic to reach the piano for the other channel.  These two mics were Shure XLR microphones.

I had my standard "camera #3" at the rear of the church, shooting wide and setup a third static camera in the front, off to the side, shooting guests and fitted with a shotgun mic for reaction audio.  This gave a total of six audio feeds, not counting the on-camera mic for camera #3.

Everything turned out OK at the ceremony and we got great coverage at the reception, where I was able to setup our Pro-Am camera jib in its eight-foot configuration, in a partially walled off area about seven feet by five.  I kept our gear here too, so everything was out of sight - just the last few feet of the jib with the camera peeking over the wall.  It was just opposite the dance floor - perfect position!

The DJ claimed not to have any available "outs", so I draped a lav over one of his loud speakers, ran it through a wireless and connected the receiver to our Marantz 660 digital recorder.

Unfortunately, we seem to have serious problems with photographers about twice a year and this was our second time (in a row, no less!) this year.  This guy continually walked in front of our cameras even when he had to go out of his way to do so.  (Photographers sometimes figure they will sell more photos if the video doesn't turn out well).  

Finally, I stopped the guy and, very politely and with a smile, asked him to be more careful about getting in front of our cameras.  That only got me a flippant "F-you" as he turned to take a photo.  A short while later I was doing a fast pan and he was right behind me. The motion caused my elbow to sort of bump his camera into his face.  By the look on his face, it must've hurt a bit.  Taking advantage of the situation, I smiled and said, "Now please stay out of our shots."  Thankfully, we didn't have any more trouble out of him.

We'd been careful not to mess up any of his shots (and continued doing so), so I don't get it with these photogs.

We feel that both videographers and photographers are working for the same client and that we should cooperate to give her the best service we can.  Unfortunately, many photogs don't see things that way.

By the way, after the party, and after I'd packed our gear up, I offered to help the DJ with his stuff.  That's when he asked me about the photographer.  He said he'd noticed the guy constantly getting in front of our cameras, seemingly on purpose since he actually walked out of his way several times to do so.  It's gotta be pretty bad when the DJ notices!

But it's impossible for even the most aggravating photographer to put much of a dent in your coverage when you have two manned cameras (one on tripod and one handheld) and a third camera with wide angle lens on a camera jib.

Meanwhile, if you happen to notice a wedding videographer with a black eye, don't give him my address!   :lol:

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, etc.!

[Fitzufilms]

There must be something in the "film" out there.  I have never had a problem (that couldn't be helped anyway) with the photographers out here. Of course you have taken at least 100 times more weddings than I have.

In fact, almost 100% of my weddings come from referals from photographers.  At the end of a wedding with a photographer I have never worked with, we sit and exchange info.  There is a big need for videographers in our area so they are always looking for good ones that are easy to work with. (1 out of 2 aint bad)  I usually get at least 1 referal after that.

Didn't mean to get sidetracked from your post, I have just never experienced the problems some of you guys have.  I'm sure I will though.

[HankCastello]

Only about twelve percent of our weddings are outside Oklahoma and all the biggest photog problems we've had have been in Oklahoma / Kansas.  Never anywhere else.  Oh sure, they'll get in front of you from time to time - every single wedding.  You can expect that.  But to purposely and repeatedly do it isn't acceptable.

We are very careful to not interfere with photographers and we always extend every courtesy to them.  Jean and I use communication headsets, so we sometimes know of things before the photographer does.  When this happens, I usually will fill him in (unless he's been a jerk) so he knows what's going on.

The photographers we've had the biggest trouble with have mostly been very experienced, hard-nosed guys.  That's not to say all the most experienced photographers are a problem - not at all.  Out of thirty-plus weddings a year, we've been experiencing big problems about twice a year.  We frequently have some sort of problem with photographers, but we usually let it pass with a smile.  But when they flagrantly and repeatedly try to interfere with our work, that is unacceptable.