Melanie, the Wedding Photographer??

Well, it’s over. I have now completed my 2nd wedding photography stint. I survived!

The first wedding (2 years ago), I enjoyed the experience but really struggled due to the poor lighting conditions at the church. I had never realized how very dark most churches are. And I don’t have the extra lighting equipment--such as the flash umbrella, etc.--and so some of the pictures needed some serious correcting after the fact, and I didn’t have a lot of experience with making adjustments to my photos. But when it was all said and done, the bride and groom were pleased with the majority of the shots, and over all I was happy the way things turned out.

This 2nd wedding (held last Saturday) went pretty well. There were hiccups to get through along the way--like not getting to take ANY shots before the wedding due to the wedding party’s late arrival at the location, the wedding starting 30 minutes late, etc. But I had my good friend Becky along to assist me, and she helped keep me sane! [Thank you, Becky!]

I took over 400 wedding photos, and there are some really great shots in the mix. I still have some correcting to do on some of the photos, but it was a good experience altogether. It was nice shooting an outdoor wedding for a change and thankfully the weather cooperated all day. It was lovely.

All in all, I enjoy taking wedding photos. I just need to get more experience posing people and working with different light conditions. Right now, I’m just into taking the photos. I'm snap-happy and due to nerves or shortness of time, I don't always see the guy walking in the distance of my shot or the hair out of place on the bride or the fact that 2 of my bridesmaids blinked. I'm more concerned with taking the shot and not having a camera malfunction. I’m also not making any manual adjustments due to poor lighting, back-lit scenarios, etc. I don’t know enough about the nitty gritty stuff at all. I feel like I need to know more and take a class or something. I feel uneducated about things like aperture, lighting, etc.

Part of me wonders whether or not I should continue taking on future photography opportunities...I know that I need more experience, more equipment, etc. to do this type of work on a regular basis, but there is another aspect to all of this that makes me wonder, too. Am I making it any less fun by taking photos for a price? I mean once it moves out of the realm of an expensive hobby, will I still love it?? Do I want this to turn into another job?

Guess I've got a lot to ponder for now...