Friendly Pros

Back from my wife's best friend's wedding in New Jersey.

Of coruse, I brought the camera and all of the associated gear. Saw the bride had 2 pros around, so figured I'd just stay out of their way, and get what shots I can.

Ran into one of them outside while carrying my 70-200, and the 18-55 attached. Had a short chat. They were using 20D's+Bracket+Remote and shoe strobes, lens was an EF-S(!!) 17-85 IS, Explained they liked the range, and lens speed wasn't much of a factor since they used flash, and I suppose the 20D has the right price and the features they needed.

The other and I chatted about their brackets, and the lighting system during a lull in the wedding activities. I figured I'd be sort of chased off by the pros because I was carrying around so much gear (Had my siggie flash, the 18-55 and the 70-200, which was put away when things moved inside, as well as a whole pack of stuff in the car.) I think they liked having an enthusiast amateur around, got a lot of good lighting tips and a pointer on flash brackets. One of them actually handed me his camera w/bracket, showed me some of the customizations they had to make things easier for what they did. I'm curious to see the pics they got.

I wasn't the only one there with a Rebel XT, there was one other guy, had a Tamron 18-200 no flash, but used the internal pop-up a lot. I asked about his lens, because I thought it may have been the same one I was considering (17-50 2.8 ), but it wasn't.

I got plenty of good shots, as well as some pics of the historical village where the wedding was located.

That's cool you had a good, fun experience. For the most part, in my experience, most other fellow photographers are nice, and happy to talk to others.

My pro contacts have been good. One even hired me for an afternoon to help set up lights. On the other hand, I heard a horror story about a photographer from my wife's hometown. I wasn't there, but she attended a wedding about 15 years ago. The photographer was shooting stills and one of the guests brought a camcorder and was taping general "stuff" at the reception. The photographer threw a temper tantrum, claiming nobody could shoot even video but her. (How could she shoot both video and film at the same time?) I suppose it was something she put in her wedding contracts.

Doug

Good to hear ya got some good tips & the pros didn't shoo you away. Just wondering what town was it in, I was born & raised in Jersey and just curious, thanks in advance.

I had a similar experience with a pro at my brother's wedding in Boston last September. I agree that most professional photographers are happy to talk about their work with amateurs as long as you respect the fact that they are there to do a job and stay out of the way.

The friend lives in Randolph, the wedding was at Waterloo Village. (Near Hackettstown, I believe)

Its just weird getting noticed by and actually talking to the photographers at the wedding. With my DiMage, I was invisible to them (which was good, I didn't feel the obligation to stand back nearly as much) But I stuck out a bit this time, with the canon gear & flash I thought I might be spotted, because its a bit hard to ignore someone who's gear is conspicuous. (A camera with a shoe flash sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the sea of credit-card sized P&S cameras... )

I have no idea why I figured they'd spot me and immediately assume I would be a nuisance. So it was a pleasant surprise. I suppose if I wanted to blend in more I could have left the flash at home, and only had the 18-55 on, but whats the fun in that?