What is a wedding uncle bob?
- Thread starter JasonB
- Start date
so there is 1 photographer from the bridal studio, 1 hired photographer and 1 supervisor. Sounds like it's going to be quite interesting to watch. Please tell us more after the wedding!
kei1309
Senior Member
i need to clarify with the bride :bsmilie:
i'm not a professional... hence i want to find ways to get out of it. before i get the royal screwing :bsmilie:
FYI, TFCD for wedding is not allowed here,
don't ever think about it,
one come I delete one,
two come I delete a pair,
many come I delete all of them as spam
Tell them every photographer got their own style. How they do their job is according to their style and by restricting them could cause the photos not up to satisfactory
avsquare
Senior Member
lol TFCD for wedding.. it's going to be opening a damn big can of worm :bsmilie:
and the war to be waged is fiercer than the usual N VS C war :bsmilie:
kei1309
Senior Member
Tell them every photographer got their own style. How they do their job is according to their style and by restricting them could cause the photos not up to satisfactory
read properly bro :bsmilie:
doing the job properly doesn't mean that i'm gonna force them to follow my style.
what i'll be doing is to ensure that they are at the right place at the right time, and to help them organize the tables for shoots.
also... i have to be in charge of the cake. that's more stressful IMO :bsmilie:
My wife and I had a good laugh at the video. Very entertaining, of course, at the expense of the official photog 
But I put this to the TS. People skills much?
It's a frieking wedding! Of course there will be guests of close relation to the couple who will be there with their 'nowadays very affordable' DSLRs, digicams, handphones etc! My cousin asked me to shoot at her wedding even though she already had an official photog. Honestly, the OP didn't amount to much, shooting just 'hand-shots' during the tea ceremony and missed out the facial expressions throughout cos he was too busy checking each shot he took. He also completely missed the father of the bride walking down cos he was busy positioning himself at the front, trying to find the best angle. Was my cousin glad I was there? Of course she was. The OP was technically good but emotionally bleh.....
So don't blame 'uncle bobs' for being there. Instead, learn to work with them or interact with them to create a harmonious and 'win-win' relationship. There's too much happening to waste time being frustrated.
But I put this to the TS. People skills much?
It's a frieking wedding! Of course there will be guests of close relation to the couple who will be there with their 'nowadays very affordable' DSLRs, digicams, handphones etc! My cousin asked me to shoot at her wedding even though she already had an official photog. Honestly, the OP didn't amount to much, shooting just 'hand-shots' during the tea ceremony and missed out the facial expressions throughout cos he was too busy checking each shot he took. He also completely missed the father of the bride walking down cos he was busy positioning himself at the front, trying to find the best angle. Was my cousin glad I was there? Of course she was. The OP was technically good but emotionally bleh.....
So don't blame 'uncle bobs' for being there. Instead, learn to work with them or interact with them to create a harmonious and 'win-win' relationship. There's too much happening to waste time being frustrated.
My wife and I had a good laugh at the video. Very entertaining, of course, at the expense of the official photog
But I put this to the TS. People skills much?
It's a frieking wedding! Of course there will be guests of close relation to the couple who will be there with their 'nowadays very affordable' DSLRs, digicams, handphones etc! My cousin asked me to shoot at her wedding even though she already had an official photog. Honestly, the OP didn't amount to much, shooting just 'hand-shots' during the tea ceremony and missed out the facial expressions throughout cos he was too busy checking each shot he took. He also completely missed the father of the bride walking down cos he was busy positioning himself at the front, trying to find the best angle. Was my cousin glad I was there? Of course she was. The OP was technically good but emotionally bleh.....
So don't blame 'uncle bobs' for being there. Instead, learn to work with them or interact with them to create a harmonious and 'win-win' relationship. There's too much happening to waste time being frustrated.
I can understand a certain group of brides do this - usually those who cannot afford or don't want to afford a proper wedding pro and went with the bridal studio assigned budget ones.
They never know who will turn up on their wedding day to shoot coz the bridal studios got a pool of low end shooters the bridal shops really can't commit either.
Thus these couples feel a need to get a friend or relative to shoot. Actually, this practice was actually passed around on bridal forum groups. The practice is stemmed from fear arising from all those horror stories about bridal studio AD photogrs.
But the real wedding specialists often have requirement for the couples not to ask friends or relatives to shoot - for good reasons discussed in the past 7 pages of this thread. Might be good to read before posting another similar response already discussed earlier in the thread.
You never know if your friend/relative hired a real pro, a bridal studio budget shooter, or any Tom dick and Harry off Clubsnap hobbyists.
So best not to shoot - you might be messing up the real work the couple hired for.
If the wedding couple asked you to shoot, think for a moment, are you Tom, Dick or Harry?
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I can understand a certain group of brides do this - usually those who cannot afford or don't want to afford a proper wedding pro and went with the bridal studio assigned budget ones.
They never know who will turn up on their wedding day to shoot coz the bridal studios got a pool of low end shooters the bridal shops really can't commit either.
Thus these couples feel a need to get a friend or relative to shoot. Actually, this practice was actually passed around on bridal forum groups. The practice is stemmed from fear arising from all those horror stories about bridal studio AD photogrs.
But the real wedding specialists often have requirement for the couples not to ask friends or relatives to shoot - for good reasons discussed in the past 7 pages of this thread. Might be good to read before posting another similar response already discussed earlier in the thread.
You never know if your friend/relative hired a real pro, a bridal studio budget shooter, or any Tom dick and Harry off Clubsnap hobbyists.
So best not to shoot - you might be messing up the real work the couple hired for.
If the wedding couple asked you to shoot, think for a moment, are you Tom, Dick or Harry?
Good point and yes, I did not read through all 7 pages
.But what if I feel that I'm neither Tom Dick or Harry? Uncle bobs exist because either they don't know how to co-exist with the OP or they don't care or they don't know it's affecting the OP. What if uncle bob was the proud father or of similar capacity?
All I'm saying is - it's unavoidable and I'm sure good communication skills between OP and said uncles can often minimise such frustration on both sides. Again, if this was already raised and discussed previously, apologies.
Good point and yes, I did not read through all 7 pages
But what if I feel that I'm neither Tom Dick or Harry? Uncle bobs exist because either they don't know how to co-exist with the OP or they don't care or they don't know it's affecting the OP. What if uncle bob was the proud father or of similar capacity?
All I'm saying is - it's unavoidable and I'm sure good communication skills between OP and said uncles can often minimise such frustration on both sides. Again, if this was already raised and discussed previously, apologies.
If any father of the bride or groom is taking pictures if their daughters and sons at the wedding; the photographer should respect that kinship between parents and their children. Because is at the most a few minutes and it's done. The fathers won't be photographing the whole freaking day.
Coz if he is, he becomes uncle bob indulging in his own hobby.
Seriously, which father will indulge in his photography hobby on his own children's wedding day?
He will be the proud happy father at the wedding holding responsibity of a father.
Similar capacity are the mothers. We don't worry about that either.
But we worry about uncles.
This is the Tom Dick and Harry situation I meant:
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/newb...ask-me-help-him-shoot-his-wedding-dinner.html
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/newb...ask-me-help-him-shoot-his-wedding-dinner.html
I think the pros here should just relax la.
No matter how people talk and warn about uncle bobs, there will always be uncles, nephews, cousins, brothers, sisters, friends who want to shoot in a wedding. All we can do as service providers is to manage, and not get too "hot" about it. After all, they are all relatives/friends of the bride and groom. No point getting all riled up, and in the end spoil the joyous occasion.
There are ways to manage them and the situation, no matter how stubborn they get. I strongly believe fostering a us vs them attitude here in the forum is not going to help the situation, but make more people emotional about it.
Also no point complaining about stealing poses, etc... Great photographers lead the way and create new poses. Poses are not that secret or magical anyway. Just read the scene, lighting and go with the flow and create. When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.
No matter how people talk and warn about uncle bobs, there will always be uncles, nephews, cousins, brothers, sisters, friends who want to shoot in a wedding. All we can do as service providers is to manage, and not get too "hot" about it. After all, they are all relatives/friends of the bride and groom. No point getting all riled up, and in the end spoil the joyous occasion.
There are ways to manage them and the situation, no matter how stubborn they get. I strongly believe fostering a us vs them attitude here in the forum is not going to help the situation, but make more people emotional about it.
Also no point complaining about stealing poses, etc... Great photographers lead the way and create new poses. Poses are not that secret or magical anyway. Just read the scene, lighting and go with the flow and create. When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.
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Well if you read the thread again and see, the pros are pretty relaxed. Its the uncle bobs that are getting riled and getting emo here.
The purpose of this thread is to rise awareness for newbie photographers and hopefully those who read and had good senses will understand. Those who not, will probably never and that is ok. We still get paid and its just another wedding out of many. The people who lost the most are the couple.
I agree no matter how we rise the awareness about uncle bobs, there will still be. But it doesn't mean we don't make efforts in attempts to improve the situation.
I agree with your points and what you are doing. Just hope you do not get too agitated in the process. Because from the way I see it, many people who are just chipping in their thoughts are already getting burnt or bruised by some over zealous pros here. The key is to educate. There is no prizes for winning any arguments here.
Thank you, all in the scheme of a bigger picture. If my tongue wasn't coated with spices and if my own conviction and passion in the topic is weak, this thread probably grew boring long ago. Now we are at post #138.
And even if the thread is to be closed now it is already worthy of requoting/relinking in future for similar queries, due to the consolidation of information and views.
Shizuma
Senior Member
actually as a hobbyist I think if we can't resist the temptation to bring DSLRs to weddings, we should leave the flashgun at home, and shoot from our seats (max displacement to lean out of our chairs only. no standing unless everyone standing...and definitely no hanging off the chandelier or climbing a tree ...
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