Unofficial Photographers.

[jesser]

Hi all,
As the modern technology advances, digital cameras are getting more and more cheaper and affortable and it is very common to see lottsa people holding one now everywhere they go. Normal friends gathering, parties, birthdays and weddings. And they will normally have their camera on hand and starts shooting on what come on their way.
I'm a part-time wedding photographer and recently I do encounter more and more of these unofficial photographers getting into way of the wedding photographer. Obstructing the angles, jumping into the frame of the wedding couple and some also do argue with the photographer of certain moment which they fails to capture. A few of my friends which are also doing wedding photography also do facing the same problems. One of them told me he had an arguement with one of the unofficial photograher when my friend accidentally knocked his D60 during the tea ceremony session. Cases like that really add pressure onto the job of the wedding photographers.
Well as for me, I think one must be considerate and automatic to gives way to the actual wedding photographer to do his/her job. Certain moments need to be capture and if missed, guess the couple will not be very happy as they pay for it. Unofficial photographers shoot for fun but the actual one shoot to deliver.
Wedding pro-photographer wish to comments on this?

 

[Fella]

I specifically told my friends during my ROM never to get into the way of my official photographer and always stay behind him.

 

[ckiang]

Though I have not come across problems, I forsee it will be more prolific in the near future. When I am the unofficial photographer, I always made sure I am not getting into his view, and go for different angles/subjects. The official guy should always have full leeway and it's his perogative to capture all the important moments. Or talk to the official photog on what you would like to cover and get to know what he want to do so that there's no conflicts. The wedding day itself is already quite stressing to the couples, and there's no need to add to that.

Regards
CK

 

[lualua]

I believe communications is the key here.

I make it a point to tell the unofficial photographer my rules before any of the shooting starts. No problems so far.

 

[sulhan]

Hiee.....


Such things gets worst when your flash E-TTL got fooled(screwed) by the instantanous flashes from other peoples camera.....(non-official photographer).....



regards,
me

 

[canturn]

Although the very first clauses on my terms of service with the couple is "Exclusive Photographer", I'm always very nice to the unofficial photographers, because afterall, they're your clients. Besides, it is not very professional to kick up a big fuss.

The last thing the couple would like to see is the photographer having a fight over these, and having experienced how being a groom feels, like, I can understand the kind of stress the couple goes through.

For me, the unofficial photographers are part of my photos and I include them into my photos

E.g.

With 2 photographers (the bride's uncle), one with Lecia R8 the other with Nikon FM2

Or with the video guy

Go talk to the unofficial photographers, hey, at the end of the day, we're out to cover the great moments, right?

If you don't agree with what I do, you can either tell the other photographers off, elbow them, or get a 14mm and get yourself in front of everone :devil:

 

[synapseman]

Sometimes cannot help it, lah. When guests just wanna take pics, too. As an official photographer, you can have greater freedom of movement than most of the other people have. So the challenge is to quickly take the "standard" shots, then go on to find unique perspectives that the others will most definitely fail to notice.

There was this one time I was made to think I would be the official photographer for somebody's 21st b'day. By the time I got there, there were like three other people going around with cameras liao. Seeing that since I was not paid, I decided to just shoot only a few shots (once again from angles nobody else thought of), and then keep my camera away for the rest of the evening.

 

[espn]

I agree actually but I can understand they want to capture the special moments also but then at least don't get in my way.

There were 2 cameras, 1 video cam and they took the best spot in the ROM room, quite pissed actually. Cos I missed most of the shots and I was the official photographer somemore.

The movement and affordability of dcams is luring a lot of people to own one and most take pictures for memories, but when they block it's bad cos my pictures get taken with them or I can't achieve the angle I need.

Even during group shots they also want to join in... I ended up snapping 3 shots of the same scene using 1 camera and the video cam as well. Lucky for me one camera's memory was full and I was evil not to loan my X-Drive to the person :devil:

I feel more like a camera operations man then photographer. Maybe I should flash off 16 shots at one time in the direction of the casual shooters to blind them :devil:

Oh well it's over, just hope such things don't happen again. Can't stop people from wanting to capture shots, it's a nice memory to hold. But .. but... sigh...

 

[MoriMori]

If an unofficial photog screws up the other guy's shots, its not fair to the couple who are PAYING the official guy.

 

[StreetShooter]

One of the unofficial photographers at my wedding provided some comic relief during the actual church wedding ceremony when he tried to climb over the altar rail to get a better view and got stuck (he's pretty overweight). He's now some big shot CEO at some hospital so I better not name him. :devil:

 

[Watcher]

For me, when ever I was the unofficial photographer, I would talk to the official one before the ceremony to prevent any kind of misunderstanding, as well as understand the ground rules. This is basic courtesy.

I guess Singaporeans have lesser and lesser "jia jiao" and becoming very rude and uncouth...

 

[Larry]

Originally posted by Watcher
For me, when ever I was the unofficial photographer, I would talk to the official one before the ceremony to prevent any kind of misunderstanding, as well as understand the ground rules. This is basic courtesy.

i agree, speaking as someone who's done both 'official' and 'backup' wedding photogy. it's always good to know what the do's and don'ts are. if i'm the official and i spot any potential 'unofficials', i usually go up to them and speak to them nicely. they're usually friends/relatives so they understand that my photos are more impt to the wedding couple, so no trouble so far.

mabbe my size also helps...

 

[ThePractise]

Originally posted by Larry

mabbe my size also helps...

2 methods to tell ppl who's the big size here, hehe

method 1:
1 x D1x
1 x F5
1 x AFS 28-70 with a big Nikon sticker on hood
1x AFS 80-200 with a big Nikon sticker on hood also
2 x SB 80 flash
1 x XL Nikon vest

method 2:
1 x eos 1Ds
1 x eos 1v
1x EF 24-70L with a big Canon sticker on hood
1 x EF 70-200L with a big Canon sticker on hood also
2 x 550ex flash
1 x XL Canon vest

 

[Pegasus]

Originally posted by Larry
i agree, speaking as someone who's done both 'official' and 'backup' wedding photogy. it's always good to know what the do's and don'ts are. if i'm the official and i spot any potential 'unofficials', i usually go up to them and speak to them nicely. they're usually friends/relatives so they understand that my photos are more impt to the wedding couple, so no trouble so far.

mabbe my size also helps...

Well said. Yeah, agreed on that. Most people are reasonable people. Wedding photographers start out from "unofficial" photographers too.

 

[sehsuan]

Originally posted by ThePractise
2 x 550ex flash

one on master, the other on slave? :dunno:

don't tell me use the other one to blind the unofficial photog

 

[StreetShooter]

I think one big problem with having more than one photographer, especially for those "after-the-service" posed group shots is that when everyone gets into the action, the people in the photo don't know who to look at. So when the picture comes back, you've got a bunch of people all looking in different directions. Rather horrible. Trust me, I know.

 

[lavenderlilz]

Originally posted by StreetShooter
I think one big problem with having more than one photographer, especially for those "after-the-service" posed group shots is that when everyone gets into the action, the people in the photo don't know who to look at. So when the picture comes back, you've got a bunch of people all looking in different directions. Rather horrible. Trust me, I know.

Totally agree! In fact actual day wedding photographers should "warn" their customers of this problem. then it would be up to the couple to tell their friends if they want their paid photographer to get it right.

 

[Gunjack]

Maybe should hire a official photographer assistant too to help the official photographer carry things and shoo off pesky irritants while helping to handle the group.

 

[lavenderlilz]

Originally posted by Gunjack
Maybe should hire a official photographer assistant too to help the official photographer carry things and shoo off pesky irritants while helping to handle the group.

if so, operating costs for the official photographer will increase & how many wedding couples are willing to pay for this?

 

[espn]

Originally posted by StreetShooter
I think one big problem with having more than one photographer, especially for those "after-the-service" posed group shots is that when everyone gets into the action, the people in the photo don't know who to look at. So when the picture comes back, you've got a bunch of people all looking in different directions. Rather horrible. Trust me, I know.

Agreed!!! Horrible... I look like I was taking voyueristic shots then group shots!

Btw me also same size as Larry, how come the unofficial ones no give way? :dunno: