"In the Digital Age, Wedding Film Photography Has a Resurgence" (NYT article)

[Sirius Glass]

I can either photograph a wedding or enjoy and participate in it but not both. I choose to do the latter.

 

[MattKing]

Weddings can be great opportunities for photographing the unexpected. On film, of course:

Preparing for the ceremony

• MattKing
• Aug 21, 2007
• 2

I attended a wedding this weekend, and of course brought a camera. It's a bit of a strain, when...

 

[Mike Té]

All the same, a nice appreciation of the survival of film photography.
If there was any mention of it, I missed it; no one said that they printed on silver.

 

[Chan Tran]

I can either photograph a wedding or enjoy and participate in it but not both. I choose to do the latter.

I found no need for photographs of a wedding.

 

[Cholentpot]

All the same, a nice appreciation of the survival of film photography.
If there was any mention of it, I missed it; no one said that they printed on silver.

Because printing is hard.

 

[halfaman]

Wedding photography with film is something like "old news" to me. It was one of the main business of Richard Photo Lab over decade ago (developing and scan) where they applied a very characteristics look to the Frontier scans. The typical set was Contax 645 with 80mm f/2 + Fuji 400H exposed to ISO 200 + Richard Photo Lab "magic". Hundreds of weddings that all look the same...

 

[bjorke]

I was just asked if I would shoot a wedding that I’ve been invited to. Oh heck no.

This is asked EVERY FREAKING TIME that we're invited to a wedding. Or any large family event or party.

Saying yes means:

• At the event, I can't drink, can't chat, can't have the food, can't be late, can't leave early, can't relax, and won't be in any of the wedding/party photos.
• I have just encouraged people to not pay photographers.

So I always say no.

But....

When it's my family or it's important to me I bring my own cameras and shoot what *I* want -- and tell the hosts well in advance that no, I will not be sharing any of these photos until well after they've let the hired pro do their own best work, make their book, and get paid.

At the event, if there are hired photographers present I let them know my position on this as early as possible -- they're doing their job, and I support them and have advocated for them already, won't hog a view position, etc.

Then I can carry on and not worry about standard lineups and setups or wrangling of cousins or dealing with the caterer blah blah blah and 3-6 months later I can share a clip on youtube of the kind of photos I like which are rarely provided by wedding pros: loose, personal, jokey, quiet, play with the dog, glass of wine, whatever, close-in and part of the action among friends & fam.

 

[faberryman]

This is asked EVERY FREAKING TIME that we're invited to a wedding. Or any large family event or party.

Saying yes means:

• At the event, I can't drink, can't chat, can't have the food, can't be late, can't leave early, can't relax, and won't be in any of the wedding/party photos.
• I have just encouraged people to not pay photographers.

So I always say no.

But....

When it's my family or it's important to me I bring my own cameras and shoot what *I* want -- and tell the hosts well in advance that no, I will not be sharing any of these photos until well after they've let the hired pro do their own best work, make their book, and get paid.

At the event, if there are hired photographers present I let them know my position on this as early as possible -- they're doing their job, and I support them and have advocated for them already, won't hog a view position, etc.

Then I can carry on and not worry about standard lineups and setups or wrangling of cousins or dealing with the caterer blah blah blah and 3-6 months later I can share a clip on youtube of the kind of photos I like which are rarely provided by wedding pros: loose, personal, jokey, quiet, play with the dog, glass of wine, whatever, close-in and part of the action among friends & fam.

Wow. Events and parties with paid photographers. The glitterati. Why would you tell the paid photographers that you advocated for them and won't block their view? Just quietly go about your business and don't block their view.

 

[faberryman]

I agree, but I prefer not to base my entire judgment about a photographer's character from a little snippet of interview in the Style section of the NYT, answering what was probably a pretty biased question to begin with.

I don't base my entire judgement about the photographer's character from a snippet of a interview in the Style section of the NYT. That's a strawman argument. I just said when photographers regurgitate the blog inspired nonsense of why they shoot digital, I can't take them seriously. They may be perfectly fine people in other respects.

 

[DREW WILEY]

The prevalence of Hassies among the wedding trade was due to the fact that squares still existed during that era willing to pay for that kind of thing, and who neatly fit into the square frame. They liked looking like the couple in American Gothic. Nowadays, people are willing to have their memories lost in amorphous cyber-space.

 

[bluechromis]

From what I can tell, couples are increasingly avoiding the use of professional wedding photographers altogether. For example, Vogue magazine encourages its reader to rely on friends phone pic's. If people wanting film photos encourages them to use a professional, maybe that's not all bad. These days customers typically expect elaborate video features of the wedding as well as stills. If shooting analog still shots avoids the need to make videos, maybe that is a relief for photographers. Unless they demand they also be filmed with a 16 mm analog movie camera.

 

[bjorke]

Wow. Events and parties with paid photographers. The glitterati. Why would you tell the paid photographers that you advocated for them and won't block their view? Just quietly go about your business and don't block their view.

Because sometimes I'm carrying two cameras, hanging with the host, and want those paid photographers to know I'm not there to snipe their post-event add-on fees.

(Based on experiences - sometimes the pro's can be a little snippy)

 

[DREW WILEY]

The definition of a "pro" seems to be a lot more plastic-stretchy than it once was, just like the definition of a website designer. What still applies is that you get what you pay for, which might amount to a huge disappointment on both sides of the equation.

 

[MattKing]

At one family wedding I attended the couple - my wife's cousin's daughter and her groom - hired a professional photographer and videographer who brought along a second shooter. They appeared to be doing nice work.
At the beginning I said hi to them and told them I was there as a family guest - don't hesitate to tell me if I accidently get in their way when I take a few photos for memory sake. I was using a Mamiya 645 Pro.
The bride chose her sister as one of her wedding party. The sisters looked wonderful, and they were clearly sisters!
During the reception everyone was mingling and chatting. I asked both of the sisters to come over to a location with a great background and great light, and had them stand back to back, with their heads turned slightly toward me - mostly in profile, but clearly smiling with joy. I snapped the first shot. I then had them keep standing mostly back to back, but turn their heads and look at me - heads nearly touching. I snapped the second shot.
The hired pros took one look at what I was doing and rushed over to take advantage of the setup. I wished them well and gave them the floor!
I liked my results better than theirs

 

[Sirius Glass]

Because sometimes I'm carrying two cameras, hanging with the host, and want those paid photographers to know I'm not there to snipe their post-event add-on fees.

(Based on experiences - sometimes the pro's can be a little snippy)

And I fully understand and agree.

 

[Alex Benjamin]

Thanks for sharing this insightful article about the resurgence of wedding film photography. It's intriguing to witness how couples are rediscovering the allure of film, embracing its limitations to capture the fleeting moments of their wedding day.

Welcome to Photrio, Buffeyer!

At one family wedding I attended the couple - my wife's cousin's daughter and her groom - hired a professional photographer and videographer who brought along a second shooter. They appeared to be doing nice work.
At the beginning I said hi to them and told them I was there as a family guest - don't hesitate to tell me if I accidently get in their way when I take a few photos for memory sake.

Had the same experience at my cousin's wedding last summer. First thing I did was to go say hi and chat with the pro photographer with my camera on hand, just so he knew I wasn't competition and wouldn't get in his way. He was actually quite happy to be able to talk about the business with someone who understands it, even if no in it. Pro wedding photography seems both an immensely stressful and extremely lonely activity. Funny thing to observe, actually, how guests ignore you as if you were vile peasantry until you pop up in their face with you camera, and all of a sudden it's all smiles and hugs and happiness and everybody collaborating with you to make that moment unique by making it similar to all similar unique wedding moments .