Wedding Photographer didn't like me taking photos

Photogaz

Photogaz

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I went to my cousins Wedding in the states last week and I took my camera along with me. During the wedding ceremony I was taking photos and I never got in the way of the photographer merely standing away from them snapping away. The main photographer came over to me and said "Sir, please conduct yourself as a guest, not wishing to cause a fight I quietly calmed down until I spoke to my uncle.

My uncle got angry with the wedding photographers saying he's our Nephew and we want him to take photos. The photographer replied "Well we're the official photographers"

Has anyone had this? Why would they get funny? I'd understand if I was in their way but not once did I ever even remotely get in their way. Others were snapping photos too but I guess nobody had a 5D Mark III and 3 lenses on them.

Did they have a right to say anything? Maybe I'm thinking as a relative rather than their point of view.
 
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Maybe they hadn't paid him bar a deposit and thought you wouldn't charge for your photos or they had hired you. Or maybe he was being an arrogant "person" and thought that you might make his work less appreciated or something.

Laws in the states are similar to the uk regarding photography. I hope you kept shooting however.
 
When the bride and groom get there pictures back and one of them is looking at the official photogrpaher and the other one is looking at you... there not going to be best pleased with those pictures..

Its not a matter of being in his way..its a matter of spoiling his pictures....group shots he needs everyone looking at him.. but as your family some will be looking at you and this ruins the whole shot..

He has been hired to do the best job possible for the bride and groom.. you spoiling his pictures means yes.. he should say somehting to you..
 
It's also possible that one of the terms in his contract is that he has exclusivity of the ceremony.
 
KIPAX said:
When the bride and groom get there pictures back and one of them is looking at the official photogrpaher and the other one is looking at you... there not going to be best pleased with those pictures..

Its not a matter of being in his way..its a matter of spoiling his pictures....group shots he needs everyone looking at him.. but as your family some will be looking at you and this ruins the whole shot..

He has been hired to do the best job possible for the bride and groom.. you spoiling his pictures means yes.. he should say somehting to you..
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Agree absolutely, I generally dont mind guests taking photos despite an exclusivity clause in my contracts but there is a line and that line is crossed when the actions or conduct of the guest impacts or spoils the shots for the photographer. I also film a lot on DSLR nothing worse than a cracking shot of bridal entrance and you see in your line of view some numpty in the wrong place at the wrong time....I have even seen IPADs....if necessary I have a word to Bride and Groom
 
I'm afraid that I am in the "no sympathy" group here, sorry.

The official photographer was there trying to do his job and earn a crust. I'm no wedding photographer but I would imagine it is a hard enough job without "Uncle Bob" et all getting in the way. He has one shot (oops) at getting it right, if he misses the "bread and butter" shots because the B & G are distracted there is no re run.

Perhaps it would be prudent to ask the person paying for the photographer whether or not you could take some pics or better still, put your camera away and enjoy the festivities.

Andy
 
Was this guy asking everyone with phone cameras and compacts not to take pictures?
 
Laudrup said:
Was this guy asking everyone with phone cameras and compacts not to take pictures?
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People with phone and compacts arnt as noticable to the poeple having there picture taken.. they will always look at the bigger cameras... just how it is


Compacts and phones is an old and poor argument that doesn't hold water..

In my line of work I often have exclusive rights to photograph but dont stop anyone wiht compacts or phones..but anyone turns up with a dslr and a 70-200 are going to get stopped...
 
KIPAX said:
People with phone and compacts arnt as noticable to the poeple having there picture taken.. they will always look at the bigger cameras... just how it is


Compacts and phones is an old and poor argument that doesn't hold water..

In my line of work I often have exclusive rights to photograph but dont stop anyone wiht compacts or phones..but anyone turns up with a dslr and a 70-200 are going to get stopped...
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So the people won't be looking at the cluster of flashing phones and compacts or the pro who is positioned centrally and verbally directing them with the biggest camera in the room, but the guy lurking in the background with a DSLR?

That doesn't make any sense. What makes more sense is he doesn't want the competition.
 
Laudrup said:
So the people won't be looking at the cluster of flashing phones and compacts or the pro who is positioned centrally and verbally directing them with the biggest camera in the room, but the guy lurking in the background with a DSLR?

That doesn't make any sense. What makes more sense is he doesn't want the competition.
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where did all these people with camera phones and compacts come from and when did we find out the OP was lurking in the background ? and its a bit dull now so everyones using flash... where you getting all this info from ? :)

from what i read he was to the side of the pro... worse positon ever.
 
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You were an Uncle Bob.

Uncle Bob's are fine if they keep out the way, do not distract people from the hired 'tographer, do not nick hired 'tog's pics (poses), do not make themselves look part of the hired 'tographers staff (i.e. the guests perception that they may be a 2nd 'tographer).
 
What makes more sense is he doesn't want the competition
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Why should he? Probably in his contract any hows
 
KIPAX said:
from what i read he was to the side of the pro... worse positon ever.
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He never said that, just that he was "standing away from them", and "never once got remotely in the way". :shrug: And he said "during the ceremony", not whilst the paid photographer was trying to take a group shot.

Saying stuff like, "Sir, please conduct yourself as a guest", is a bit odd. It's not up to the photographer to tell people how to behave.

Anyway, as said in every other thread like this, it's a public event to which you were invited (and in this case asked to take photos at) so you can pretty much do as you please. If you're not being obnoxious or stopping people doing their jobs, then carry on.
 
All the photographer has to do is ask whoever he is photographing, to look at him politely. As for other guests with cameras, as long as they don't get in the way and are not supposed to be in the shot then they should be allowed to snap away.
The photographer is there to serve his customers needs. Nothing else.
 
Interesting as my son got married last weekend and I'd helped to pick the photographer. Yes I took my camera but ensured I didn't get in his way and didn't take any images around the photographer, preferring to let him get on with his work. I did help with reflectors etc.
What was really interesting was how he handled the other guest with cameras, and attracted attention to him, being funny, at times shouting me,me,me. It was actually very interesting sitting back and watching how others with cameras steal the eyeline, especially parents, friends etc.
 
KIPAX said:
He has been hired to do the best job possible for the bride and groom.. you spoiling his pictures means yes.. he should say somehting to you..
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He is being paid to do as he is told. When the uncle told him to allow it, that should have been the end of it.

Steve.
 
I made a point in the original post to state how I was never in the way. I was at a completely different location. This was before the formal shots too.

There were so many others taking shots and were getting in the way and never did the photographer say anything to them.
 
This is the result of using an iPad or smartphone to take photos or video at a wedding. All of those guests along the aisle still think they did the bride and groom a huge favour by shooting their wedding. It never occurred to them that they may ruin the wedding pictures or film. Drop it and enjoy the moment. Let the professional photographers/videographers do their job!

Photo credit to IQ videography
 
You were there as an invited guest and relative, to have approached you in that way (assuming you were as discreet as you say) was both rude and inappropriate.
Hopefully your uncle told him in no uncertain terms that you were a guest and he was being paid to do a job, not upset the guests.
 
If you took your car to a garage to get a new alternator fitted, and you stood next to the mechanic, leaning over your engine to try and fix something else at the same time, would you be surprised if he tells you to go and sit in the waiting area and get a cup of coffee instead, or would you realise that you were getting in the way and preventing him from doing his job?



He may have acted a bit snooty, but he has a point. He was hired to do a job.

This is why I've never shot a wedding in my life.... I can't be doing with all this crap. It's bad enough having art directors over your shoulder on commercial jobs, and they understand your needs!!... dealing with the public must be hell.
 
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Pookeyhead said:
If you took your car to a garage to get a new alternator fitted, and you stood next to the mechanic, leaning over your engine to try and fix something else at the same time, would you be surprised if he tells you to go and sit in the waiting area and get a cup of coffee instead, or would you realise that you were getting in the way and preventing him from doing his job?
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Sorry David but that is not at all the same, there are H&S/Insurance issues in a garage that make it reasonable to request staying in a waiting area - the wedding is about the family and the guests not the photographer, who should get on with his job and work around minor irritations.
 
the guy is supposed to be a pro, he should be able to work around people with cameras. The OP stated he wasn't standing over his shoulder doing anything. The photographer should of stfu and got on with his job, he stood more of a chance of "missing the shot" by whining at guests rather than taking shots.

A lot of them really do think the day is all about them and not the bride / groom / family / guests. You're hired help, deal with it.
 
gramps said:
Sorry David but that is not at all the same, there are H&S/Insurance issues in a garage that make it reasonable to request staying in a waiting area - the wedding is about the family and the guests not the photographer, who should get on with his job and work around minor irritations.
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Maybe the analogy was flawed, but I'm sorry... if the client wants great shots of the father and bride walking down the aisle, for example, and all he gets is arms reaching out holding iPhones, then I fail to see why he shouldn't have explained this to the clients before hand, and imposed some rules.

How do you work around an irritation like that?

I don't shoot weddings, so maybe I'm talking crap here, but common sense would seem to dictate you can't hire someone to do a job, then criticise them when everything about that job makes it impossible to get what the client wants... nor when the photographer tries to claw back some control over the chaos.
 
Without being there its hard to speculate as to why the tog reacted that way but the fact is that he did. I assume the couple hired him and gave him the responsibility to capture the day as they loved his work so I tend to think I personally would have took it on the chin and put the camera away. Togs all work in different ways and in this case he could have simply been looking after his commercial interests but I think I would respect his wishes either way. This is not me saying people shouldn't take cameras to weddings but I believe the wishes of the guy who has been hired by the couple and given the big responsibility to get the shots should be allowed to do that in whatever way he sees appropriate. If you uncle wanted you to also take shots then I guess he should have raised it as part of the consultation with the tog and it probably would've avoided any embarrassing situation on the day.
 
I'm afraid that these days it's the nature of the beast. Cameras, big and small, ipad's and phone cameras are cheap and easily/readily available to the masses and they are going to use them whatever. It may be annoying to the official 'tog' but it's just 'one more thing' that they'll have to learn to live with.

On the rare occasion of a disaster concerning the official 'tog' the bride and groom will be thankful that some of their guests had the wedding covered. I shot at a friends wedding with a basic Panasonic bridge camera and after the officials card became corrupted/unusable my shots were the only ones of the ceremony available. The 'tog' never did get the shots off the card despite sending away to a data retrieval firm, though he did get some great group shots after the ceremony.
 
As a guest you should be able to take photos if you want. You are there to enjoy it and taking photos is part of that, that's why everybody else does it.

The size of your camera shouldn't make a difference. It's the bride and groom's day and for the family to enjoy. The photographer needs to do what he is paid for. You having a camera does not affect this, unless you are actually getting in his way, but you said you weren't, like most people with common sense wouldn't.

The photographer should never speak to a guest like that in my opinion. It's very disrespectful to the occasion.
 
I am not going to speculate on why the photographer thought you were in the way, as it is your opinion that you were not! I suspect that as a family member then there would be a risk of the guests' attention being drawn to you instead of the official.

Also, I'm not sure why the official photographer should have taken any notice of your uncle, he was there to photograph your cousin's wedding, not your uncle's, and his contract was with the BRIDE and groom, with the emphasis on bride.
 
guy was an ass TBH - its not just wedding photographers. I've had this a few times when I've been asked to shoot friends doing sports. They have no right to talk to you in the way that they did.

Photogaz said:
I went to my cousins Wedding in the states last week and I took my camera along with me. During the wedding ceremony I was taking photos and I never got in the way of the photographer merely standing away from them snapping away. The main photographer came over to me and said "Sir, please conduct yourself as a guest, not wishing to cause a fight I quietly calmed down until I spoke to my uncle.

My uncle got angry with the wedding photographers saying he's our Nephew and we want him to take photos. The photographer replied "Well we're the official photographers"

Has anyone had this? Why would they get funny? I'd understand if I was in their way but not once did I ever even remotely get in their way. Others were snapping photos too but I guess nobody had a 5D Mark III and 3 lenses on them.

Did they have a right to say anything? Maybe I'm thinking as a relative rather than their point of view.
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There needs to be a bit of give and take. Especially in the church environment, the official photographer has only a few seconds to get the crisp, sharp, well lit, shot with the bride and groom looking at the camera at the same time. It is exactly at that moment, it is dang frustrating if the bride or groom or bridesmaid attention is diverted.

However, It is at that moment I command the attention, as I immediatally afterwards tell the guests to pitch in and grab their photos

If you are seen to work well, and then seen to let the guests have a slot immediatally afterwards, manageing the behavior of the guests is easy, as in the next shot they invariably back off
 
I have sympathies with both parties I came out of the wedding photography game found the whole thing to stressful. I hope I never behaved like the guy you mentioned but hand on heart I probably did. I tried to keep in my mind on the day, as a photographer you are a necessary evil they don't really want you there but like the brides dress you have to be.

Don't get me wrong its a cracking job and there where times I loved it but leave home without some backup gear or forget to take a formal and things can soon go pear shaped fast. No excuse for being ratty with the guests though reputation killer that one is.
 
Interesting, I was asked to be an 'Uncle Bob' at my brother-in-laws wedding (he cleared it with the official photographer). It was immediately apparent that it made far more sense to be shooting at times when the pro wasn't, i.e. during shot set-up etc, and also from a completely different position.

My theory was that they will get an excellent professional shot at the right moment, so why bother 'copying' that, but by shooting well away from him at different times I caught lots of nice relaxed moments between the official shots. I would guess I was never within 30ft of the pro all day and always well behind or well off to the side of him.
 
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Part of me thinks the wedding photographer is a di*k, but the other part wonders why you felt the need to bring a 5dIII and three lenses to a wedding you were just a guest at.

I can understand why that irritated them. Big cameras steal attention. The guys there trying to justify his fee, and you've basically turned up with equipment equal to his.

You're just a guest, why would you bring £5000 worth of camera equipment with you?
 
My fav Uncle Bob so far brought his Hassleblad and digi back !!! :D

We had a good chat about photography at one point too

Back to the OP...

The Pro may well have thought you were a distraction and hence said something to you, but he didn't say it in a very positive way :(

I'd have made a joke about it, and asked why you'd brought so much gear - but I'd never be shirty with someone my client has asked to come to their Wedding, I'm there to record the fun of the day not start peeing people off :eek:

Dave
 
London Headshots said:
Part of me thinks the wedding photographer is a di*k, but the other part wonders why you felt the need to bring a 5dIII and three lenses to a wedding you were just a guest at.

I can understand why that irritated them. Big cameras steal attention. The guys there trying to justify his fee, and you've basically turned up with equipment equal to his.

You're just a guest, why would you bring £5000 worth of camera equipment with you?
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Maybe that's just the general gear he has? When I travel or generally go anywhere the gear I take totals around the 5 grand mark, sometimes it doesn't even leave the camera bag but I always have it with me. If I were going to a wedding or similar event and was taking a camera (for whatever reason) that would be what I took purely because it's just my default gear, nothing whatsoever to do with proving a point to others by having a big posh camera and if others took it that way the problem would be theirs, not mine.

I've shot a couple of weddings only for friends and family, I'm certainly not a wedding photographer by any stretch of the imagination but surely this just comes down to simple 2 way respect? You're there as a guest so you respect the fact the paid guy has a job to do and you stay out of his way (which by the sound of it is exactly what the OP did), and as the paid guy you accept that you're a hired part of someone else's special day and that day is special to more than just the bride and groom. It's special for the guests as well and if they want to record the day they should be left alone to do so.

If a guest is genuinely getting in the way of the pro guy then I don't see anything at all wrong with politely mentioning there are certain shots he needs to get without having any distractions, but to just randomly have a go at a guest who isn't in any way causing a problem is just plain disrespectful and arrogant.
 
Photogaz said:
I went to my cousins Wedding in the states last week and I took my camera along with me. During the wedding ceremony I was taking photos and I never got in the way of the photographer merely standing away from them snapping away. The main photographer came over to me and said "Sir, please conduct yourself as a guest, not wishing to cause a fight I quietly calmed down until I spoke to my uncle.

My uncle got angry with the wedding photographers saying he's our Nephew and we want him to take photos. The photographer replied "Well we're the official photographers"

Has anyone had this? Why would they get funny? I'd understand if I was in their way but not once did I ever even remotely get in their way. Others were snapping photos too but I guess nobody had a 5D Mark III and 3 lenses on them.

Did they have a right to say anything? Maybe I'm thinking as a relative rather than their point of view.
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George Eastman invented the little box camera with a roll of film so the general public can take their own memorable photos of any views they like, while the professional photographers still use larger cameras with photographic plates to take proper photos of specific subjects.

About a hundred of years later...

While the professional wedding photograher is there to take proper and serious photos of the wedding event, blur the background, focus on the couple's eyes, correct use of shutter speed, best view and best framing, then print those photos into very good guality wedding album, the point being to make sure the happy couple should have something to remember the day by....

The guests are enlist to use their own compact cameras, budget SLRs, high end SLRs, film or digital cameras, mobile phones with built-in cameras, iPads and iPods, and so on, to take their own memorable photos of any views, as far as I can tell, the official photographer have no right to tell them they can't take photos.

First of all, the official photographer will make the photos for the happy couple and their families, so where are the photos for the guests? The guests are enlist to have to take their own photos so they can remember their friends getting married. I've been to friends weddings but their official photographers did not give me any photos, so I had to take my own, and I am sure every other guests did the same thing. Unless the couple and their families are rich enough to pay for all the photos to be printed and all the printed sets to be given to evey guests, in the majority of the cases, the guests have to make do with their own photos.

Beside, the official photographer is paid to take photos of the happy couple and their families, and just a few group photos of all the guests together if they can, which brings to the next point...

Secondary, and most important of all, we all must remember that while the wedding day is a day for the happy couple to have got married, weddings can sometimes be the day where two more people started a new road to a relationship.

Image a man, who is a friend of the groom, saw a lady who happens to be a friend of the bride, so he walked over to her and says "Hi. I'm John." and she smiles at him and replied "Hiya, I'm Jane." While the official wedding photographer is busy taking photos of the newly wedded couple, you could be taking snaps of anyone, and you could've been taking snaps of John and Jane having an ice-breaking chat with each other. For all you know, in a few days time they started going out on a date, then they're dating, then they started a relationship, and if they looked at your photos, and saw that lucky photo of that moment they met for the first time, they may ask you for a copy.

At weddings you have an official photographer and you have guests with various different cameras (your DSLR with a handful of lenses included), taking photos, and it had been like that for years and years and years.

By the way, do photojournalist tells the general public to stop using their mobile phones to take news worthy photos that keeps ending up in newspapers? No? So I don't see any reasons why the offcial photographer can't tell you off.

After all, you did respect their job and their work, and you did your best to stay out of their way, and they should respect you for this.
 
London Headshots said:
Part of me thinks the wedding photographer is a di*k, but the other part wonders why you felt the need to bring a 5dIII and three lenses to a wedding you were just a guest at.

I can understand why that irritated them. Big cameras steal attention. The guys there trying to justify his fee, and you've basically turned up with equipment equal to his.

You're just a guest, why would you bring £5000 worth of camera equipment with you?
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A camera is a camera.

There are no rules that says who should have what camera.

Nobody can tell someone: "A professional photographer must have a Canon this or Nikon that, and you, sir, must have a 'Hello Kitty' compact camera!"

Maybe it is the OP's only camera?
 
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