JUSTINELEMENT PRODUCTIONS BLOG

I hate being that guy, the one who plays devils advocate, who picks a fight seemingly because it’s what everyone doesn’t agree with. But with these articles that’s been circulating the internet, my patience wears thin.

For example, Lover.ly posted in their weddings 101 section the irritations of the uncle bobs at weddings who commit the ultimate sin of ruining wedding photos by doing things like: standing in the way, taking photos with their obnoxiously large phones and tablets, using flash (God forbid someone uses a flash to take a photo!), using a red focus beam, or just being in the background of a shot. The articles continue to praise unplugged weddings and stress how great it is to prohibit photography from your guests, so they can instead, “enjoy” the day.

I call shenanigans. I’m tired of seeing these types of articles that ostracize uncle bob for trying to take these photos. But now it’s to the point where taking photos at a wedding has become a shameful act of insult and the idea is the professional photographer is the ONLY one who should be taking photos. This sense of over entitlement is a stigma to our industry. Brides and grooms now believe that they have to have unplugged weddings in order for their photographer to take good photos and that their guests will enjoy more if they withhold from taking any.

Guess what, your guests love taking photos! Seriously, if your photographer can’t 1. side step a guest to avoid them in a shot, 2. use a FASTER shutter speed so they don’t catch other people’s flashes, 3. Take multiple photos in the rare case the flash IS captured (especially of the bride walking down the aisle or the family group shot), 4. Drop down low, out zoom, and out angle guests camera phones, or 5. use other people and their devices as creative foreground or even 6. just be a proactive shooter- you should NOT hire them. Over the years photographers have been more and more entitled to being “the only shooter” and slamming others for taking photos at weddings, when did we as a community become so high and mighty that we stink face every single person that tries to take a photo of a special moment.

In this shot, I used the bride’s aunt’s camera as the subject. I even had her stand there and hold the phone till I got the shot.

In this one, two uncles were holding their massive ipads up within 5 feet of the bride and groom, so I maneuvered around to cover them behind people and trees. These situations test our creativity.

You can see my goal is to take as many good photos as possible in case I catch someone’s flash or someone’s arm cuts in front of my shot. What’s the point of having a $3000 5FPS camera if you only take 5 photos of the bride walking down the aisle? You only need that “ONE” shot, in this case, I had four. You can also see through the order of photos, I zoom in and out multiple times and start out crouched and slowly rise to ensure different angles and avoiding any possible obstructions.

And in this shot, an uncle with an SLR crouched in the middle of the aisle. My first instinct was to run forward next to him and get my shot, not sigh in disbelief. By the end of the ceremony, any consequences of breaking rules are practically non existent.

I still don’t understand it today, when I see photographers get upset at guests for taking photos during the first dance that they could easily out maneuver. That could be your next client who you just gave a dirty look towards. Instead they stop, pout, and then make a big fuss to their assistant about how inconsiderate that person is. By the end of the tantrum, they could have dodged the guest, taken 20 more shots and never come back to that moment again. Shoot, when I step in front of a guest taking photos, I’m happily the one who apologizes for blocking their shot, a little mutual respect goes a long way.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s okay to walk into the aisle and block the photographer from getting key shots, but if your a decent photographer, you won’t let those incidents become problems. You don’t blame other people for your ill preparedness or lack of urgency. Move, reposition, find new angles, use these people as foregrounds, shoot faster, increase your shutterspeed to avoid flash, and for heavens sake, take more photos! After years of shooting these weddings, I’ve yet to come across any of the problems mentioned in these articles-because I don’t make them problems.

My take on it? Couples, plug in your weddings! Let your guests take their photos, create a hashtag and watch it fill up all night.