Is it wrong?

oh man I think I'd smile with a grin the entire time! I don't wish bad photos on them, but they kind of have it coming don't they?

+1 bring ur gear take a couple snaps! why nottt =)

Duncan Frenz wrote in post #8352275
Truth is, photography is quite subjective and while something may look absolutely horrid to you, the general public will be happy with the same image. The flip side is, you could do the wedding and have beautiful shots both technically, and aesthetically pleasing to other photographers, but would ask why the BG is blurry when isolating a subject using a wide aperture or similar remark. Let it go, it is their wedding and I would hope they get pleasing images to remember what one would hope to be a one time event.

Sorry but I am not buying it. You can;t tell me that ANY bride who looks through bridal magazines, attends bridal shows, and attends weddings, would not know at least the BASICS of decent wedding photography.

Most wedding photos look alot alike, we have noobs or GWC's shooting weddings and undercutting working pros. Brides KNOW what they want most of the time, they just are too cheap to pay for it unless they have no choice.

This website is chock full of photographers dealing with low or no paying clients, folks who want to get a refund for a percieved reduction in quality or just because they spent too much in other areas.

Remember this one truth, very few couples look at their album more than a few times after the wedding... IT is not the subjective nature of photography, it is just the lowering respect for photographers vs gear and then price.

Leave the gear at home, turn up, have a good time, and take out any lingering frustrations on the open bar!

Shoot the wedding like you normally would. Take the photos and put a big watermark smack dab in the center of all of them. Send some of those to your cousin and offer to sell them prints.

Or go with Sok's suggestion. Especially the open bar part.

How about getting a couple of family guests to buy you as the primary photographer(as their wedding gift to the couple) and have your MIL second. Do away with the hired second and the videographer and pare your price to the bone.

Not sure what your family relationships are like but if you come up with an inexpensive way to help them, you will be a hero as opposed to that jerk cousin.

BTW, what does your wife think of all this? It is her mother, right?

LBaldwin wrote in post #8364889
Sorry but I am not buying it. You can;t tell me that ANY bride who looks through bridal magazines, attends bridal shows, and attends weddings, would not know at least the BASICS of decent wedding photography.

Most wedding photos look alot alike, we have noobs or GWC's shooting weddings and undercutting working pros. Brides KNOW what they want most of the time, they just are too cheap to pay for it unless they have no choice.

This website is chock full of photographers dealing with low or no paying clients, folks who want to get a refund for a percieved reduction in quality or just because they spent too much in other areas.

Remember this one truth, very few couples look at their album more than a few times after the wedding... IT is not the subjective nature of photography, it is just the lowering respect for photographers vs gear and then price.

I agree and i also agree with what Duncan Frenz said...

If as a photographer you take photographs as your art then allot of the time the general public wont actually appreciate the image as it is intended... You'll get the nice picture but shame xyz is not in focus... or if she wan't crying...etc! thats life and you have to accept it... we don't all see things the same way.

If you take photographs to record an event or the people at an event 9 times out of 10 they just want to see nice photo's with everything/body sharp with no limbs cut-off or harsh shaddows, in my experience the only real time non arty people 'get' the shallow depth of field thing is when you take pictures of people with a longer lens and get ALL of them in focus but loose the background completely... after a wedding it is those that people buy... you very rarely sell more than one or two of the arty shots.

Wedding photography is so hard, what we as 'photographers' see as a good photograph your bride and groom may not! this is why i promote my photobooks as the images can be used (displayed) as i intended. If they are not having a book then i take extra traditional formals because i know that will be the type of photograph they want to see.

There arn't that many photographers out there that people book solely because of there style... and if they do then budget isn't going tobe that much of a problem, most newbe's fall foul of that and try to get that 'amazing' image when really they have been booked so everyones in the picture and looking at the camera, upright with no feet or heads missing.

Got to ask, for the main group shot with everyone in who's going tobe holding the camera... you, the MIL or someone else?

A last thought... the MIL has a Canon XT and a 1GB card, just think she maybe searching the net to find pointers... come accross this forum... and after reading this forum has then bought a few extra cards and hired a 17-55 f2.8 for the day...

...maybe she's a member on here already and reading this thread!... She might even be ME..!!! LMAO


Deepdown your not actually worried they may turnout superb are you?

take your cam and 2 lenses, one wide, one longish.

take your shots during the day, maybe 100-200 total, and if the pics turn out to be ****ty (i am 99% sure they will suck) you can swoop in and save the day (for the 800 bucks).

i would snap around for fun and sell them later on. not in a business kind of mind, but out of respect having your cousin and his new wife remember the day with good pictures, rather than something looking like it came from an iphone...

Don't mix money and blood.

Let this one sink - it's not worth salvaging.