the "guest"

[litwinphotography]

I have to say, it has been two days since I shot this wedding, but I'm STILL frustrated with the fact that this "guest" showed up at the wedding with enough gear to stock a photography army, then kneeled in the AISLE during the processionals, even after I asked him NOT to!!

I shoot from the end of the aisle and my husband or assistnat shoots from the back of the aisle, and in almost ALL of our aisle shots, this guest is in them!! GRRRRRRRR

I will be printing this shot here and keeping it in my consult office to show my clients WHY we have the policy we do in where we are the only photographers allowed to shoot the wedding. During the reception, he kept getting up and standing square in front of the podium to shoot the speeches!!! I know I had to remain professional, so I let it be, but in the future I don't think I will be so nice and passive with people like this because in the end, it is MY shots that the b&g are paying for and MY shots that are being ruined by this guest.

http://www.litwinphotography.com/IMG_5428.jpg

http://www.litwinphotography.com/IMG_7792.jpg

We obvioulsy got SOME shots where we could avoid this guest and his GIANT flash bracket, however, thse were shot strictly to make a point!

[LeesaB]

I had a guest "shadow" me on all of my shots..I thought, WHY am I even doing this..she is going to get every shot I get..I even asked her if she minded..and she responded...yes, I do, the brides mom asked me to do this...

They did at least order shots..but now we tell clients, no shadowing...period.

What an idiot...you should have stepped on him.

[litwinphotography]

We have a clause in our contract that states that we are the only photographer (professional or amateur) allowed to photograph the formal and posed shots. It dones't fly for the ceremony, but for EVERYTHING ELSE we enforce it by telling brides and grooms that if the interfering party does not cease, we will leave.

This is made known up front and has never been an issue! This was a different situation though because he whipped this stuff out in the church DURING the ceremony. I kindly asked him to stay out of the aisles, however, when the bride came down the aisle he was right back out there!

[Bob Charnier]

You should have walked up to him and fired a couple of flashes off in his eyes as he was kneeling down. That would have slowed him down for awhile........

[sblais]

This is why I hire this guy (http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/CMAG/956-067~Terminator-2-Posters.jpg) to take care of such guests ;)

Honestly, this is quite infuriating! He could at least have the common courtesy to ask you how you feel about him getting in the way and respect your concerns. It happened to a wedding I was invited to (as a guest, not a photog.). Aunt Jemima decided that her Rebel with kit lens and on-board flash were not going to miss any shot during the ceremony. She literally stuck out at 90 degrees from the pews when the B&G came down the aisle... :rolleyes:

But hey, common sense and respect are not values that parents teach their kids now a days... I guess we just have to get used to it :rolleyes:

[jt168]

I agree with you 100% this can be a big problem.

At the same time, I am currently being rejected from shooting a lot of weddings because of such clause. I am at the stage of trying to build my portfolio and willing to offer my service for free. But consistently after the bride/groom talk to their hired primary photographer, the response had always been "no", they would not allow a second photographer during the wedding.

I have shot 2 weddings so far as secondary photographer, and in both cases the primary photographers were cool about having me around. I always made sure I was not standing in front of the primary photographer, and always told the bride/groom/guests to pay no attention to me, let the primary photographer work. I would be in the background, getting whatever shots I can get.

I am shooting a few more weddings this summer in this fashion, and I will make sure I have a detailed discussion with the primary photographer during the day - understand the shots he is going for and style (flash / no flash, so I don't fire a flash when he was trying to avoid it) and making sure I stay out of his way.

I can see in situations like you described, it is absolutely frustrating to have guests jump in front of your shots. I certainly would not be shy to walk up the guest and have a heart to heart with him/her. When I start booking gigs, I will most likely also put in clauses to forbid 2nd photographer as well...

[liza]

I feel your frustration. The last wedding I shot was very small, but there were still two DSLR's other than mine snapping away. I noticed that one was set on P and the other on green box, though. :)

[forcebender]

Hey, what's wrong with being on the P box? Allows me to focus a lot more on composition. With that said, I do constantly fiddle with the exposure setting. I also have a second non-flash camera, where I do play a lot more with aperature.

As to the issue at hand, best way to handle this is just discuss it with the B&G before hand and let it be known that it is best that people stay out of your way regarding the wedding, and they won't be in the picture. You can do this very gently, but as long as you do it, you can say 'I warned you' if they ever complain.

In this case, I wonder if he was in the mindset of 'well, the pros are going to charge for the prints, so I'll just take the same picture and make it my gift and save them a ton of money.'

[picturecrazy]

I feel your pain. For the most part, people are respectful, but some people are just plain obnoxious. At my last one, a guest felt free to stand and walk around during the ceremony just as I was. He was in the front, he was standing behind the wedding party, he was in the aisles, he was everywhere. It was a decent challenge to keep him out of the shots. twice I stepped back and stepped on his feet because he was RIGHT behind me.

oh well, that's just the nature of the business. You put whatever restrictions in your contracts, tell the bride and groom, or whatever else you want but uncle bob is always gonna show up from time to time. Just roll with it. That's all you can do.

[picturecrazy]

Hey, what's wrong with being on the P box? Allows me to focus a lot more on composition.

Well, there's nothing WRONG with it... it just severly limits the creativity possible in light control. Photography is really nothing more than capturing light.

[Bob Charnier]

[quote=jt168;3398673]I agree with you 100% this can be a big problem.

At the same time, I am currently being rejected from shooting a lot of weddings because of such clause.

I have a clause in my contract, but am extremely careful in explaining it to the B&G. I tell them that they are paying me a lot of money to get professional photographs that I cannot do if Uncle Fred is going to jump in front of me every time I shoot. I do tell them that anyone is free to take pictures of the formal poses after I have taken my shots and I usually explain it to everyone before I begin shooting. I explain that I don't want everyone looking at different cameras when I am ready to shoot and that their flash can ruin a good picture. I seldom have a problem. I also tell the B&G that if someone continues to get in my shots that I am not responsible for the results.

[Hangerhead]

is it not possible to explain before hand that YOU, the PRO, will pose everyone for the shots you need.
then just allow 15 seconds for everyone else to try to imitate (it's a flattery if everyone else tries!!) what the professional has already done?

This way, no one is in your way, everyone thinks you've been really gracious and you, with all your expertise can show that it's down to the skill of the photographer MORE than it is the kit the amateurs are carrying...

[howzitboy]

i would have gotta so pissed but cant start anything during a wedding so Id probably move to opposite side and shoot closeups if i had to. then id try to stand in front of him everyshot I could.

[Kamra 1]

Bob Charnier has a good policy. That's the way I would do it. It does more harm than good to have a confrontation. As Bob stated, he has that clause in the contract and he warns the b&g at consultations. The only thing I would add is a private word with the b&g about the distraction. If it's not important to them you might have them initial a small note on your copy of the itinarary, which I always carried with me on weddings. This is just to protect you later.

[mizuno]

I think it was Joe Buissink who said that 'P' mode was for 'Professional'. :)

[SuzyView]

Sorry, but this is when I think the "Mother of the Bride" or the wedding planner needs to do something about it. If he doesn't respect you, he should at least respect the wishes of the wedding party and really, you are the pro getting paid.

I would never do this. I don't know why the guy did it, maybe to practice, but if he had pro gear, he should have acted like a pro. I can't say I would have been happy with it. I probably would have tried something nice to tell him off first, then I would have asked if he was fully insured for his gear and thrown it out the door. :);) Okay, I probably wouldn't because I'm nice, but it is so frustrating.

[david lee]

I think it was Joe Buissink who said that 'P' mode was for 'Professional'. :)

Yes you are right.. He said that after he had a heart attack due to the stress incured by doing weddings. Now he shoots on P setting

[achristian]

Love number 2. It is by far my favorite.

[jillybean]

I believe that we have all had something like this happen to us. My favorite was an uncle that continually got in my way, so after a while I just would step in front of him (yes intentionally) so my head was in his shot and FINALLY he backed off. Yes I had asked him very nicely to please give me room to work and not distract the b&g-but it didn't work.

[foghorn]

This year I am working for an agency so to speak as a 2nd. Last weekend I had my first 'Uncle Bob'. Some friend or relative had a nice Nikon D200 with a superzoom Sigma 18-200. A perplexing mix to me.
No problems at first, but he was constantly in front of me and the main photog after the first few minutes. This was a Chinese style wedding with two huge tea parties at two different houses as part of the pre-ceremony. It was cramped, and finding the right angles to compose was one of the biggest challenges I had yet. The B&G stand in front of two chairs. Family and Friends give them gifts as the B&G serve them tea. Everyone was huddled like sardines in a can. Picture a pro sports team in the locker room after a championship game. That kind of jubilation and pandemonium at once. And I still had to deal with this guy always in the way.
At one point he put his SB flash on remote, set it on a tripod in the corner of a room, and had it fire towards the ceiling. I have tons of shots of weird lighting that was not an enhancement. The main didn't even see it, and he asked if my flash was misfiring.
During the pre and post ceremony formals. He was always following us around. The main got to instruct the poses of course, and he had the prime angles, while I was left with capturing details, close ups and alt. angles. Almost all them had his stinking shadow in it. Arrgh!!!!
The ceremony was short because everything else is so long. Yep, he was in the aisle.
The main instructed to me get the entrance of the B&G parties, again, he snuck in a couple of frames. One of them would have been my favorites of that day.
By the time the reception came about he started to taper off. I think he got tired after a long day. That's one of the many reasons why pros are worth it. We are used to working all day and night.
The main and I aren't worried about who got the better shots. He is a very seasoned photog running a successful business. If Uncle Bob was a pro, he would have been more considerate. The only thing I had to worry about was him getting in the way. The main is the one to worry about the print sales. And he seemed to brush it off.
He made me feel better when he talked about a wedding he did with another 'Unlce Bob'.
He had a Nikon D2 series body, and a SB-800 flash. All his shots were almost whited out, and he couldn't figure out why. They guy had no idea on how to handle his camera.

And for the record. I use the P in the box mode once in a while. I tend to think of the M, A, and Tv modes as my presets. M is my flash preset, A is for outdoors. Tv is w/o flash on always at 1/125. The safety minimum for stopping most small movements with people. Even if its underexposed, it can make great dramatic lighting. P is another mode for let it figure out flash and exposure.

[cwphoto]

Weddings are full of such challenges, learn from it and move on - no point confronting things on the day IMO, just makes things worse.

[jennifer9215]

I had this happen to me during my second wedding. It was an old lady. I wanted to push her (is this mean ? ) I ended up standing right in front of her and didn't feel bad at all!

[Az2Africa]

I had a similar case. I finally set my 2nd 580EX on slave mode and had my assistant shadow "Uncle Bob" for a while and every time I took a real shot, he got a face full of direct flash. After a while I think he was seeing too many spots to shoot!!

[italianfemmy]

I don't mean to hijack this thread but since a few people have mentioned about shooting in P mode, I had a question. Is there any way to change your exposure comp. in M? Because according to my *manual*, there isn't. I am just wondering, if I am in a dark room with low low light and can't use flash and everyone says the pics are too noisy and too dark because the exposure was off.. how can you change that without using a mode other than M? :-)

[cwphoto]

I don't mean to hijack this thread but since a few people have mentioned about shooting in P mode, I had a question. Is there any way to change your exposure comp. in M? Because according to my *manual*, there isn't. I am just wondering, if I am in a dark room with low low light and can't use flash and everyone says the pics are too noisy and too dark because the exposure was off.. how can you change that without using a mode other than M? :-)

In M you don't have exposure compensation because you are setting the exposure yourself...:confused:

[mizuno]

ie. the exposure compensation is your brain. :)

[italianfemmy]

Well... everyone has such a different opinion. If my aperature at it's lowest end(2.8) and my ISO is at it's highest (1600) and my shutter speed is so slow that if I move it will be so out of focus it's not even funny and they still come out underexposed and noisy, then I need to use P is what I was told so that I can bump the exposure up. Oy!

And to the OP: That really sucks that someone got in your shots like that. At the last wedding I attended, someone was doing that and the pro politely asked that the guest please move behind him if he insisted on being in the aisle and the guest did just that. :-). Instead of being confrontational, the pro simply asked something like.." I don't mind you shooting in the aisle but would you mind doing so behind me so you're not in the shots the b&g paid for? "

[cwphoto]

Well... everyone has such a different opinion. If my aperature at it's lowest end(2.8) and my ISO is at it's highest (1600) and my shutter speed is so slow that if I move it will be so out of focus it's not even funny and they still come out underexposed and noisy, then I need to use P is what I was told so that I can bump the exposure up. Oy!


Sure everyone has an opinion, but only one is right and you got told wrong. I suggest doing a photography course so that you can better grasp the fundamentals - evening college would be a good place to start.

[nicolerork]

I don't mind guests with point and shoot cameras, but I DO mind guests with point and shoot cameras firing off with flashes during an indoor ceremony. Luckily I shoot enough that I don't have to worry about the pictures they ruins with their flash, but still...