At a recent wedding, I was told by a bridesmaid/sister of the bride to “get out of the way” so other guests could get a picture. I kid you not, those were her exact words. Not only was this costing me precious time that I could have been spending on the bridal party pictures and romance shots, but the main problem with this for me (and the bride) was that I got pissed off! And I was on the verge of not caring anymore about her pictures. Also at this wedding, it was really the first time that guests were REALLY interfering in the professional photography. For example, I had people getting in the aisle right in front of me during the processional. One lady was even having trouble with her camera, and someone else stood up to help her with it in the aisle in the middle of the processional! You can’t go back and redo these pictures. And I’m pretty confident that her pictures didn’t turn out because the whole scene was extremely backlit. This exact scenario came up a few weeks ago also, where the frantic bride called me a week after the ceremony and said none of the guests ceremony pix turned out, because of the backlighting. Of course, my pictures look great, because I know what I’m doing.
What to do? It’s right in my agreement that I’m not responsible for people that don’t cooperate and other interference with the professional photography. But in this age of digital cameras, and Ashton Kutcher pushing amateur wedding photography in those Nikon commercials, I think it needs to be addressed. If you are paying a professional thousands of dollars to capture your wedding, and the pictures are going to be posted online and available for everyone to see and purchase, and you are getting a DVD with all the pictures and a reprint release, there is no need for all the amateur shutterbugs to interfere with the professional photographer. Maybe this girl’s family had no idea what she was paying me, or maybe they were totally unaware of the time constraints in getting the desired pictures/results. The photography timeline is carefully planned and even five minutes could mean that opportunities and special pictures are missed. Maybe an announcement should be made at the rehearsal dinner, that guests and family can leave the photography to the professionals and enjoy the wedding. Maybe even leave their cameras at home!
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