The Beginner Photography Podcast

Wedding Day BTS - Shoot a Wedding With Me

• Raymond Hatfield

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#471 In this episode of the Beginner Photography Podcast, I'll take you behind the scenes, sharing my personal pre-wedding rituals for energy and focus, overcoming equipment issues in challenging venues, and orchestrating the perfect shots despite unpredictable weather as we we dive into the dynamic and unpredictable nature of wedding photography. From capturing the dress and intimate moments during prep, to the emotional vows and lively group shots—I break down my strategies for creating those timeless wedding images. Embrace the tips, witness real-time problem-solving, and refine your skills to tell a wedding's story beautifully.

THE BIG IDEAS

  • Routine is Key: Your mental energy is precious - a consistent pre-wedding routine helps you focus and stay sharp for the big day.
  • Tackling Emergencies: Be adaptable; you can overcome unexpected challenges, like equipment malfunctions or weather changes, with calm problem-solving.
  • The Art of Detail: You'll learn the subtle art of photographing wedding details – rings, dresses, and flowers – that tell a richer story.
  • Capturing the Moment: Find strategies for photographing genuine moments, ensuring every emotion is beautifully immortalized in your pictures.


PHOTOGRAPHY ACTION PLAN

  • Prepare Your Gear: Check your camera, lenses, flashes, batteries, and memory cards the night before to ensure everything is in working order. Have backups ready. Pack your gear neatly, create a checklist, and mark items off as you pack to avoid forgetting essential equipment.
  • Plan Your Shots: Study and understand the wedding day timeline to know when key moments will occur and where you need to be for the best shots. Create a shot list with the couple beforehand, including must-have photos and desired poses, to work efficiently and not miss critical moments.
  • Master Lighting Techniques: Practice using your flash in different environments so you're prepared for varying lighting conditions on wedding days. Learn to bounce flash off ceilings or walls to create a more natural light look in your photos when direct flash is too harsh.
  • Capture the Details: Don't overlook photographing the small details like rings, floral arrangements, and place settings as they contribute to the story of the day. Be meticulous in arranging these elements and use macro lenses if necessary to capture intricate details and textures.
  • Direct with Confidence: Develop clear, concise directions to guide groups and individuals during posed shots – having a few go-to poses can help you start strong. Encourage natural interactions between subjects for more candid and relaxed photographs, such as asking them to talk about a memory or share a joke.

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Thanks for listening & keep shooting!

Speaker:

Hey, welcome to the Beginner Photography Podcast. I'm your host, Raymond Hatfield, and each week you're gonna learn tips and tricks from me and some of the world's best photographers on how you can use your camera to capture beautiful images. In today's rewind episode, I'm taking you with me to shoot a wedding. But first, the Beginner of Photography podcast is brought to you by Cloud Spot. Everything you need to build a thriving photography business, impress your clients, deliver a professional experience, and streamline your workflow all in one platform. So grab your free forever account today over@deliverphotos.com, and only upgrade when you and your business are ready. So, like I said, you are coming with me to a full wedding day. I mounted a GoPro to me, as well as recorded some audio on my Apple Watch to record some, behind the scenes so that I could talk you through what was going through my head and the decisions and honestly mistakes that I made as well. You're gonna discover the importance of preparation from equipment to, wedding timelines, ensuring that you stay, composed and ready to shoot the couple's special moments confidently. We're gonna talk about the gear that I used, how I set up portraits and posing. I'll walk you through how you know, to prepare for the day in the beginning so that you don't, screw up and maybe call the couple by the wrong name. That's terrible, trust me. And you're also gonna learn the questions to ask yourself at the end of the night to refine your skills so that next time you go to shoot a wedding, you're gonna be able to tell that story beautifully. So with that, this is a long one, so bug out. Let's go ahead and get on into today's episode. All right. it's wedding morning, so I'm on my way to a wedding right now, and I thought that I would, just kind of bring you along with me, kinda share some thoughts that I have throughout the day. and I don't know, just in the hopes that this might be helpful to some of you. So, I thought I'd start off with like, what happens before the wedding. So for me, I find that, on a day where I have to be, alert creatively, it helps for me to make almost no decisions before the wedding because then that can take away some of that, that brain juice, I guess. So one thing that I do every morning is that I have the exact same thing or I do the exact same routine. Right? I get up, I have coffee, I kind of chat with the family for a bit. I have the exact same breakfast every time. I make sure that all my batteries are packed and that they are put away. Everything that I have is working. and unfortunately this morning I discovered that, I always bring three flashes with me to a wedding. typically I, I used to, and if one fails, then I have a, a backup. And that's typically enough for me. But I found that two of my flashes are not operating properly. And that is, that's bad news. that's bad news for, Two reasons. One, I kind of have a look that I do, right? Like I said, I'm kind of a creature of, of routine, a creature of habit. So I like to put my flashes, when during the, the reception, I have one off camera, flash off by the band, and then I have one flash on camera, to illuminate the scene for a reception, how I like. So I'm hoping that they will start operating properly by the time I get there. I took out the batteries. I don't know, let them breathe or something. Sounds dumb, but I'm trying for anything right now. So there's that, obviously. And then the other reason why this is bad is because after, I don't know, two weeks of beautiful sun, perfect weather in the seventies, just, you know, like a, like a second summer, it's pouring down rain today and it is, projected to, and it looks like it is going to be raining from noon when I get to the wedding

until 8:

00 PM when the wedding is over. That is very bad because that limits, going outside. So that means that all the photos are gonna have to be done inside. And on top of that, the entire wedding is in one location. The getting ready, the ceremony and the, reception all in one I googled it 'cause I'd never been there before and it is a very old, very dark wooden, church. And that means I'm gonna have to rely pretty heavily on flash today. And if I only have one flash that's working, I'd be lying to you if I said that I wasn't nervous. But I am still gonna do the best that I can obviously, always keep an eye out for pockets of light. So if something bad were to happen to one of my flashes. Essentially what would happen is, the only other option is to crank up my ISO to, you know, a billion and be able to get a proper exposure. And I'm not scared of doing that. It is just simply that having the additional light is, it just better, it produces better light, and it looks of a higher, higher quality. So that's what I'm dealing with right now, I guess. So we'll see what happens when I get there. I guess I'll give you another check in when I arrive and, see if, any last minute thoughts come to me before I head in. But before I go, I thought that I'd also share, one thing that I do before every wedding, like I said, I'm kind of this creature of habit, so I always stop at a gas station right before a wedding, typically to, fill up my car. and on top of that, even though, the couple and I have had conversations about, being fed during the wedding, eating dinner with the guests, just so that I can, you know, be there in case something happens. Oftentimes, the couple will finish dinner before everybody else, so then they're gonna get up and then they're gonna start, talking with guests that have come and saying, you know, thank you for showing up. And then that's when I have to essentially get back to work. So I try to be there while everybody's eating dinner, but sometimes, as I said, it doesn't happen. So I always, stop at a gas station and get the exact same, like food items, snack items before every wedding. And that is two protein bars, some beef jerky, cashews, and Red Bull. Now, this is obviously not a sustainable diet, but I found that those are the things that can like, get me through if, say I show up and everything's kind of running behind and it's hectic and, by the time dinner comes, I'm still working and I have to work through that and I'm hungry. There's always some sort of moment, typically after the first stance or if there's time between, the getting ready and the ceremony, I'll head out to the car, maybe drink half a Red Bull, have a handful of cashews, a piece of beef jerky or two, and then I can get back in, not miss anything and then not be starving as well. 'cause one thing that I have found is that if you are really hungry, that is going to affect your creative performance. So even though like I said, it's not an ideal diet, don't show up to a wedding hungry and expect to be fed. 'cause even if you have those conversations, sometimes things happen. Alright. So luckily I made it, with some time to spare. I always try to do that. You never wanna show up, feel like you are behind the gun, and then have to kind of grab everything, scramble and run in there and whatnot. So I always try to show up early. Obviously I did again this time, and now what I do is I'm going to, I always send my couples a questionnaire a month before the wedding, basically just asking them to confirm any last minute details. Obviously the address, the time in which they want me to be there, any special events that they have planned, you know, if maybe it's a special, cake cutting or special exchange of something, whatever it is. Just so that, again, I'm prepared. So now is the time where I, I just kind of go over that questionnaire and, kind of get into that space mentally so that when I walk in, it's not like, okay, are you ready for the thing? And I'm like, oh, what? So, this is, I have found always to be, super helpful. So after that, I'll go in and, introduce myself to the bride and we'll go from there. So, I'm gonna read to you the the wedding day timeline in which the bride sent over to me. And remember, this is all in, it's all in one location. So the getting ready, the ceremony and the reception all in the exact same location. So typically when that happens, you can get through things pretty quickly, 'cause there's just less logistically that you have to deal with. So, I'm about to walk in at noon. It says, uh, noon Raymond arrives noon to one 30. Groom and groomsman pictures. That's a lot of time. Let's see, at one 30 pictures of bride and bridesmaids with their title robes on, the bride and the bridal party showed up at 9:00 AM So that means. I'm assuming that they've been in their robes since then. Uh, 1 45 pictures of mother and bride. A mother of bride zipping up the dress.

2:

00 PM pictures of bridesmaids seeing bride and dress for the first time. Two 10 to three bride and bridesmaids photos. I'll be honest that's a lot of time. That is a ton of time that I don't think we're gonna need. I'm gonna have a ton of time just, standing around, uh, three 20 picture of father of bride seeing bride for the first time. Three 30 to four wedding ceremony, four family photos, bride and groom wedding party photos. Yeah. 'cause there's, there's also not a first look four 30, photos of bride and groom. So, I have an hour with the guys, an hour with the girls. And then only 30 minutes of photos with the couple. That's funny.

And then, from five to 8:

00 PM it is the reception. So that's kinda the breakdown of how this is gonna go, and I promise you there's going to be a ton of time in between there. And, I'm just gonna do my best to kinda walk around and try to find some creative patches of light, so that we can get some interesting portraits. 'cause if we're not gonna be able to go outside today, which right now it doesn't look like it's actively raining, but it is incredibly windy and kind of in like a, there's nowhere really, naturey to walk around in. that means that all my portraits are pretty much gonna be done inside. So it's gonna be keeping an eye out for locations like that. I will say right now, I, typically before every wedding, like right before I go in, I am very nervous. I got butterflies. fluttering about in my system. But right now I don't. And I don't know why. And I dunno if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I don't know if it means that, I'm totally prepared, which I do not feel that way. Or if it means that I am blissfully ignorant of what I'm about to walk into. And, yeah. We'll, I gotta say this is a very strange feeling. I've never felt this calm before, a wedding before. And, I guess we will see at the end of the day if this, is a premonition or if it was just, ignorance. All right, let's go inside. All right. So at this point, I walk in, I say hi to the bride, I say, Hey to the groom. I say, Hey to the planner. and then I just kinda get my lay of the land, 'cause I'm assuming that I'm gonna be shooting inside this church all day. and this is where that audio would go if I would've hit record rather than stop on my watch. So I apologize for that. So this clip starts when I walk into, the guy's dressing room where they, you know, are just putting on their cuff links. Before we go outside, grab some groomsmen photos. There's also a, a young kid in the room, so you're gonna hear some baby talking. And, I apologize for how much breathing there is and how disturbing it is to hear somebody breathing this much. So again, I apologize. These aren't the best mics in the world. And yeah, if you can put up with it, I think that you're gonna learn something and send your address they mailed because they were like, we got hundreds of 'em at our house and Yeah, they mailed it to me, bro. Sign it is sweet. Like six months later it is sick. How's it going? I'm Raymond. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Trey. Trey, what do you guys got left? You're ready to go. Yeah. Ready to go. I got to, huh? Do a little something. My, her. Okay. The cuff links. Yeah. Usually are there, let's see, you got holes. So they replace these buttons right there. So you just put 'em through the same hole and then they, uh, they come out the other end. Okay. So these mm-hmm. Unbutton the top four down. I dunno if this would be a Midwestern way. It wasn't open. Wild Sweating. I brought extra underwear for the Sarah. are we going out of this room soon or are we staying up for a minute? Uh, well, I guess it, uh, depends on. When you guys wanna get photos done, I know that it's scheduled like over the next hour, right? So we have quite a bit of time. are you looking to I'm looking to not sweat. I was thinking right, saying I need to go outside then, uh, I'm gonna head outside, try to find a spot. Okay. And then I'll come back in and grab you guys and we'll go from there. Sounds good. Thank you. Of course. Hey, we're getting ready to go outside. All right. Crazy windy. Let's see what we can find as far as a spot for some groomsmen photos. Another, we got construction over here, but I wanna see what's on the backside of this. Church, that's not bad. But then really looking up at everybody, aren't I? Okay. It's a contender. It's a contender. Probably just have everybody here. You know, the one good thing about, this weather is that there's no, uh, harsh sun. That is for sure. But it looks like we got a little park or trail over here. I'm gonna go check out what I'm looking for when looking for a spot for groomsmen. Photos is a decent background, like a clean background. That's really it. And then if the light lends itself to it, then wonderful. But we can kind of see through these trees here that we have, a house, but we do have some greenery right here. That's not bad. Just photograph 'em this way. Get the trail out of there. Probably have 'em stand in some of these leaves. Just, uh, stand right about here. I'll be right there in the background. One more time. Yeah, I mean, to me it says November. I think that'll work. So I think I'll do a group photo of all the guys up here in front of the church and then all the individual photos back down the trail. All right. So I go inside, I grab the guys, and then, we come back outside to take their photos. Now, when it comes time to, grab groomsmen photos, I find that guys are actually more camera aware or camera conscious than, women are. So I really try to start off being super relaxed and then slowly build up on, I guess, what I asked them to do. So I noticed that, they had some whiskey, so I recommended that they all start off with a drink, as that is a pretty easy ask. And then, I take, you know, a few photos and then I just walk around them grabbing some candid while everyone, just share stories and then they laugh or, and whatnot. It's those, photos of all the guys laughing, because of the stories that they're telling that I find to look truly authentic and in real, in that moment. If you ask guys to just laugh, it doesn't feel authentic. So that is what you're about to hear. Go David on this. Thank you. Thank you. Have you guys, uh, background bring the cups together right in the middle, all the glasses together. You guys going like alcoholics As much as perfect. You guys are good. Enjoy. You've already drank all their, oh, so I was in the bridal party. This is the last wedding I did. And she, uh, been married. I know the guy. Oh, I know, I know the guy. Yeah, I know the, I know know. She's a little loopy too. She's very, as we were like doing our, walking down as couples, she's sitting there just bawling, crying 'cause she doesn't wanna do it. And I'm like, look, you know, we're gonna walk away. Now's the time. And then music starts playing. People start walking down and she's crying and I'm like, link up with the girls. Just going. I go, but I'll tell you what, when the door's open time. No, she looked fine. Wow. She didn't have the, uh, the red crying eyes as she was walking down. She did not. She, man, that's crazy. Feels like she's done this a lot. Missing a couple cats. So Kristen was like, this is a beautiful scene. Like when the, when the trees are. You know, have lease on them, right? Yeah. So like, she's like, oh my gosh, you know, it's winter. You know, it's about to be winter time. I wonder if there's gonna be lease on trees. I said, don't worry. My parents still have tree or have leaf on their trees. We pull up last night, the lease, were gone. We pull up here yesterday, the leaf are gone. I was like, you, the cusp leaves are like, like three days later. Three days too shallow. We'll have to lay on the ground to make it simulate that there's so rain in the leaves. Just hang out like, all right, we doing this or no? Yeah. Go Now let's go. Now I will say it's not raining right now. Knock on wood. the wind is windfield great. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Lift up the uh, the arms a little bit. Get some airflow. You just see steam come out. The girls will have fun with their hair during pitchers. Absolutely. I know. I was looking around, I was like, what are we gonna do for that? Because obviously if it's raining outside, it's we're not coming outside. Right. Is what that's gonna be. Yeah. Everyone huddle underneath the arc. We'll make it happen. Come on. We're all family now. We can do it. We can do it. So I think let's go ahead and take the drinks and then we'll go over there. Okay. We'll do some walking shots and then we'll just take some, portraits of everybody and that works pretty much after that we're done. You know what I mean? Cool. So it's easy you guys, isn't it? It is. It is easy. We're like, you guys get there 11 o'clock and start getting ready. We're like, is it 1145? 1155? We're like, alright, we have to get up now. I'll have you guys, uh, come down here a bit. All right. we'll just do some walking shots here. Okay. Yeah. I think we'll, we'll keep the, we'll keep the glasses down low, like, as like, gentlemen. Of course. Yeah, of course. Peek you out always. let's see. All right, I'm gonna have you guys here, I'm gonna be over there and then we're just gonna walk that way towards me. Yep. Yep. So we're gonna have our drinks out. Peek out. Yeah. All right. So when you guys are walking, just nice and slow. All right. Gentlemen's, walkie. It's Sunday. We're just hanging out. All right. Yeah, you guys can look anywhere you want to. You guys can look at each other, look up at the sky, do whatever. Find a squirrel. Don't look down at the ground. That's very boring. Nobody likes photos of just the forehead, especially when you're going bald like me. Those are the worst. All right, uh, you guys just start walking my way. I'll have you guys look over at David. give him a cheers. Hey, there you go. We're all walking it like a sloth space. You guys can pick it up just a bit. More than that. Yeah. Everybody get in nice and close to David, like we're all cold, we're all gonna bundle up, right? Oh yeah. Just like that. Yeah. He's telling you guys something really important. We're gonna run. How can you not? Perfect. And that's it. I looked down. You guys did a great job. Walking. I looked down. Great job. We graduated the walking. Alright, so, we're just gonna do some portraits of everybody all right with David. So David, I'm gonna have you come over here. I'll have you stand right here in the leaves. There's plenty of leaves over here. Right? You'll be standing right here, and then we'll just kind of rotate between you guys. We'll have you come in, stand right next to David. We'll just get a quick portrait with you. Maybe we will put down the glasses for these ones. Yep. And let to you, Justin. Thank you so much. All right. And then I'm gonna be right here. If you guys just wanna face me in this direction, nice and close, I would say just put your hands in your pockets. Just nice and easy. All right. I like that a lot. Yeah. As more, uh, it's a little bit easier, right? Perfect. Just, uh, I'll have you guys go ahead and look at each other. Think about your past together and all the fun times that you had, and then go in for a kiss for me. No, I'm just kidding. Alright, go ahead and look back at me. Perfect. Just like that. Alright. Thank you so much. Switch out. Hey look, that one you go. Perfect. Just like that. I'll have you guys separate. Just put your hands in your pockets so that the album looks right. There we go. Just like that. And then once again, just go ahead and look at each other. Stare into those beautiful eyes. Yeah, just like that. One more right back at me. Alright. Yeah. There you go. Just like that. Awesome. Thank you. We still recording you? I think so, sir. Sir, is it, is this more of a business relationship? Yes, sir. All right. That's the only reason why he was invited. Perfect. Go ahead and look at each other. Smile. Get a nice and close, and then one right here. That's perfect. Just like that. And then, we'll do one with just everybody One last time. We'll just stay right here. All right. I like this background. And then everybody, once again, just kind of relax, just hanging out. Put all your weight on one leg. Right? We're just, just hanging out. Yeah, just go ahead and look right at each other. Just hanging out with each other. Right. Just like that. Hey, look. I'm David. Hey, it's my wedding day. All right. I don't think I've ever seen a Fs at a wedding. It's gotta be the first, and then I'll just have everybody just looking right back at me right there. One, two. Got it. You guys nailed it, please. That's it. did you want a bridge further of yourself? I'd rather get the vehicle maybe staying. I'd rather get a vehicle. Are we gonna run across the hood? it is right next to the other car right there. I can like pull out in the grass or something. Ooh, get my keys. So there's plenty of apartment space right here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That works out. Perfect. Grab my keys. Huh? What? I'll do a burn. Like you can walk through the smoke. That one's being, I did that once. I had a, uh, there was a. Uh, the groom's brother or something worked at Dodge, so he had like one of the first Hellcats or something. Wow. So at the wedding, his thing was like, I want to be standing like with my bride in front of this Hellcat, just like, you know, doing a crazy burnout. Yeah. And it did not work. 'cause the, the wind was going like in the opposite direction. Direction. Yeah. And I was like, well, we tried, we tried. You need new tires. But we tried like he was going for it. Like it was a solid, like 40 seconds. And I was thinking to myself from the opposite way. Yeah. And I was thinking to myself, these are, we're just gonna hear like a blowout right now. Any second now. Luckily it did not happen. David, I think I'll have you standing right here, right at the front. I think, can we lean up against the car? Yeah, of course. Yeah. Okay. I'll have you lean up against it. Right. If. You wanna slide across a little white stick? Nah, slide. I weighed myself far when got this. Dude, you're good. Dude. Look, we're good. And then, everybody else we're, we're gonna come hang out here as well. Once again, just kinda like leaning on the car, right? Where's your side mirror? I coming in? They don't have, he lost it on the foot side. Him? He said he lost on the highway. Yeah. So let's see. Glasses or no glass? Yeah, I think we're gonna keep the glasses. I like it with this one. You know what, maybe, let's see, because now we're kind of blocking the car a bit. Space out a little bit. Yeah. Maybe Jesse, I'll have you come over here. Maybe I'll have you like right here in front as well. Just hanging out. All right. I think it works. I think it works. All right. So yeah, once again, very relaxed shot, very wide. I don't really see what's going on, just hanging out. All right. So Ivy two, I'll have you all just looking right at each other. Alright. We're gonna try something a little bit different. David, I'll have you come out this way with me more and more and more and more, more, right there. That's good. All right, Jesse, I'll have you kind of, step up to the side just a bit right there. In a little bit. You got it. And I'm gonna have you two, also take like a step that way. That's good. Yep. Just like that. You guys got it? You guys got it? Alright. David, I'm gonna have you kind of turn your body a little bit. That way. Yep. A little bit less. A little bit less. Yeah. Right there. That's good. All right. Holding onto your drink. You're enjoying it, right? Pick you out. Pick you out as always. Alright. And lemme see. Maybe even a little bit closer to me. Too much. No. I like that. Just right there. All right. So just standing nice and tall. You're just enjoying yourself. A nice, uh, nice cocktail, right? nice little drink. I'll have you go ahead and take a drink for me. There you go. Oh, he is got the pinky and everything out. That's the shot right there. Lemme try one more. Done this before. You do a lot of, uh, drinking before wedding days. Is that what you're saying? You got married quite a few times. 17th. Right? They're all painted shots. You wait 14 years. Perfect. All right. I'll have you put the drink down and just looking right at me. Just nice and strong. Glass up. Just a little bit higher. There you go. Right there. Now look back at the guys strong man. Right there. Yeah. What's up? Not back at me. That's it. That's the one. I love it. Perfect. Nice and easy. You wanna see it? Yeah, I do actually. that one turned out pretty good. It's dim right there. That's the Facebook profile, right? Cool. You probably just leave the car here. I was gonna say you want the girl set to do their tank? I can give you the key. Oh, actually that's not a bad idea. and like, but probably not. I think with the wind probably not times it now. 1240 or eight. So I, yeah, I gotta go in there. Okay. Get with them. Alright. Yeah, I would say if you just wanted to take the car back, that's good. Cool. You guys still got the drinks over there? The crown's over there? Alright. And then you guys are set. Alright, thanks man brother. Thank you. We have the schedule over. Alright. Now that I am done with the guys, I go inside to photograph the girls and I find that they are not ready for photos. So to maximize my time, I, walked around and I found a place to take a photo of the dress and had one of the bridesmaids, help me with that. So, when shooting the dress or jewelry, I always. Always have a member of the wedding party there with me. because if anything gets broken or lost, I'm not gonna be blamed for it. And it really helps to, also get to know a member of the bridal party a bit more, which helps them open up later. they're more willing to help you later if you need something. and here is a pro tip for you. Go by yourself. A nice wooden hanger. I cannot tell you how cheap it looks for a 3000, 4,000, $5,000 dress to be hanging from a cheap plastic hanger. I think you can get like four, like a four pack of these wooden hangers that look great, from Target or, wherever for like 10 bucks. They're probably cheaper on Amazon. so yeah, again, the plastic hangar, it just does not match the photo. And oh and second, go by yourself, a light duty. It's called a light duty, either three or four inch, spring clamp, light duty spring clamp. And, these are great to pull in the back of the dress. So when a wedding dress is hanging on a hanger, it's flat, it's laying flat, and it never looks flattering. It's very unflattering actually. So these spring clamps kinda hold together the back of the dress, and it gives the dress just a little bit more definition. and, you know, it's like. Two or three bucks for one of these clamps. And as you're gonna hear, you would not believe how much this, $2 clamp really makes you look like a true professional to the bridesmaids. Come in. Wait, wait, wait. There's a kid. Hold on. Oh, Beckham. Hello. Okay. Didn't wanna get him headed. Of course, of course. All right, I'm gonna scoot right over here. Nope, you stay here. Okay. Let's see. So we have this, so what should I do with this? Let this put on the strings. Yep. What looks best for you? What is, so this is a, is a strapless dress. Yeah. Okay. Yep. We'll do the strings here and then if you could hold. Is it this one here? Yes. So what I have is, oh, some clips. You, you're not, you know what's up. You wanna bring the back a little closer together. Got it. And then I'll give you the clip right here, and then you can just clip it. Dude, it's so strong, right? Wedding dresses are heavy. You'd be surprised. Okay. See, look at that now. Now it fits. Okay. Do you wanna own that window? I think so, yeah. Do you need me to move all our dresses? I can find a new spot. You know, I kinda like, I kinda like how it is right now. I like the, lived in look. Should we take our tags off the dresses? No, I don't think right now. Maybe, maybe that one just right there. But other than that I kind of like the shot just the way there it is. So this is where I take photos of the dress. I always make sure to grab a wide shot where I can see where it's hanging more of a environmental, photo. I, you know, both in landscape and in portrait, just so that there's some variety for the album. And then I come in close to capture just a lot of the detail shots. You know, five, 10 or so. There's lots of intricate, you know, designs within a wedding dress. And the more of those that you can photograph, uh, the better. Okay. And then she has another one. Show her other daughter. Oh, it's in here. You know what? Yeah, I think we'll just take just the dress photo by itself. Okay. everything else I'll get, obviously while everybody's wearing it. Okay. I think before she gets in the dress though, do you know if she has all of, Hey, I just changed her. All of the, um, the ring, all the details, all the, all the small stuff. Oh yeah. That you wanna take pictures of the rings and stuff? Mm-hmm. Okay. I do have the box, the camera real quick. I do have a box. You need my real ring too, in there with the band? Yep. Okay. I don't know which way you wanna put it in there with it, but, okay. That's perfect. Just like that. And then do you need, like, her flower, were you wanting to do like flower photos? Yeah. You know what? I think I'll, I'll just, just take these photos up a little bit. Okay. I might just do them right here. I can get in close enough. Maria's here. Okay. Here right now? Or she's been doing it? Hannah's started, Kegan's hair. Okay. And then all she has to do left on me is just my bottom lashes and then the airbrush. Okay. which we can even wait for that if he wants to go ahead and get the back of our robes. Robes. Okay. Okay. And then, she just needs to do all your crisis negative. Yeah. Should be past that morning, right? She's got like an hour. I just told she doesn do like the full thing with mine. Just 'cause of time. Yeah, well you'll get first. Alright. So the bridesmaid actually walks out while I was shooting the jewelry here. So, when I'm done I take it, I take the jewelry, I put it in my hands, and I walk down to the bride and I ask very directly, who should I give these two to? Hold on. Again, this is, you know, to make it clear that I no longer have the jewelry. the rings actually did get lost later, just for a moment. But if I had not made it clear that, I was giving them to someone specific, it would, you know, be plausible to think that I may have misplaced them. So anyway, Keep that in mind always. either keep somebody next to you while you're photographing, the dress and the jewelry, or be very direct in saying, who do you want me to, to give these to? So next, the bride walks back in to get into her dress and this is where you take photos of the bride getting in a dress. And after listening to the clip, it was just a bride and her mother talking, the whole time. So, you hear a few shutter clicks. So, I decided not to include it in here 'cause it's just kind of a personal conversation. So, I don't really give much direction at all when the bride is getting in her dress. I just find a spot that looks good before she gets in the dress, and then I ask the bride to, stand there. as I take photos, I typically, get the wide, a medium closeup of the bride looking at herself in the mirror, and then, wide and closeups of mom zipping up the dress or lacing up the dress, whatever it is. And then the mom and the bride sharing a moment, hugging, and that's really about it. that's the moment there. one thing to note though is that not all brides exude like excitement when putting on the dress. Maybe they have a lot in their mind or what have you. So, if that happens, you can try a shot where maybe you are behind the bride and if she's looking in the mirror, put your focus point on the back of the dress so that her face is not the main focus of the photo. and then, when. it's laced up and zipped up or whatever. Then you ask the mom of the bride to, you know, look at each other, look at the dress, have them hug, and there will be a smile in there, I promise. And when that moment happens, just make sure that you are, zoomed in, you're nice and tight, for that shot. So, now it is a time for the ceremony to start. Now, at the beginning of the ceremony, I always start up front where the mother of the bride will be because that gives me a good shot of people coming down the aisle. So we have the groom and the efficient walking down the aisle, followed by grandparents. There were, three sets of parents, so they all came down. That took a while. And, when this is happening, I keep my camera in continuous auto-focus mode so that it tracks the people. Walking, keeping them in focus. Yeah, you just gotta make sure that your shutter speed is quick enough to also freeze the people walking. You know, typically, you know, 1, 1 20 fifth of a second should be fine. But to air on the side of caution, it probably would be better to be shooting it, you know, one 250th of a second. And then at this point the bridal party starts to come on down and then here come the ring bearers, followed by the bride and her dad. Right now I am focused on the groom to get his reaction, as the doors open up for the bride to come on down. I typically find that, getting photos right as the door's open don't really look too good, or when the bride and the father are at the end of the aisle, it doesn't look super good. So, that way I grab a photo of. The groom and, his reaction. And then by that point, then the bride and her father are about halfway down the aisle. And then that's where I start to take photos. At this point, I also have, two cameras on me, one with a 70 to 200 to get that reach. And then the other one with a 35 millimeter lens. Four, when they get close and, uh, you know, I can't back up enough. Our guest and family, we are gathered together. The time of God. Join David and person. Marriage. Marriage is a sacred, joyous covenant. Who gives this woman to be married to this man, mother. Right now I'm still up at the front of the pew so that I can capture the, uh. Uh, the transition from, uh, from father to, uh, groom to be as the bride walks up on the stage, once the couple gets up on the stage and, the ceremony I guess officially starts and he says, you may be seated. That's when I kind of take a few steps and, uh, start to, only hang out on the sides of the stage or the, the back of the church. You must give the same sacrificial love to each other and above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Up here as an outer arm before I head to the back of the church and get kind of a wide shot, I make sure that, while I'm still, you know, facing the groom essentially, that I can get a photo of his reaction. Either you know, him looking at his wife or him looking at the officiant, but some sort of emotion. I want to get that. And then after I do get that, then I head to the back of the church, right past the, uh, the last aisle. Go back to that 35 millimeter lens and get a nice wide shot of the ceremony. Motive will exist and you'll be giving in order to get your relationship will become a 50 50 deal making relationship. And all of those other qualities will not be developed, right? You must love each other in the same way, with an agape love, with an unconditional love. Now that I capture the back of the church, I move off to the right side so that I can photograph towards the bride and get, again, her reaction, some sort of emotion going on in her face, either looking at her groom to be, having some sort of reaction. I also then take, individual photos of each of the bridal party as well. So in this case, all the bridesmaids, since they're on, this side, this is a great, 'cause again, then they can get that emotion as well. I can get a photo of, maybe a tear coming out or them paying attention or them excited, you know, what have you. because they are part of the wedding as well. It's not just about the bride and the groom, but the people who they surround themselves with. So getting a photo of the entire bridal party, and individual photos of each of them, as well as the bride and groom is also very important. Kristin, there will be many times that you'll have to love David. This way you get that day because you understand. I, I and David have decided to write their own vows to each other. And so we're gonna start with David. Okay. Since the couple are writing their own vows, it's really important to, get that one shot from the center. typically, in the guy's vows there's gonna be something funny. so it's always good to get a shot of, you know, people laughing and everybody up at the, at the altar. also laughing as well, getting that emotion. 'cause remember it's, it's that moment that matters. It's not that we're just all here together at the same time. It's that there's a moment happening. So when everybody laughs, that's the moment. So you wait, you put yourself in the right position. There it is, there's the laugh. You get the shot and then, you move on. This is where I move on to the left side of the church again so that I can photograph him more straight on. As well as getting the reactions from and individual, photos of all of the groomsmen too. I promise to always stay loyal to, I promise to respect and understand you each day of my life. Watch to grow into. Now that it's time for her vows, once again, I go to the right side of the church, to photograph her more directly. now that I think about it, it might be kind of difficult to figure out like, how do you know, you know, when these things are happening and how do you not get in people's way? And those are, are great questions to be thinking of. So before every wedding I make sure that I can meet with the efficient, like the day of, obviously right before the, right before the ceremony, not, before the, the wedding day. and I, you know, introduce myself and we talk and I try to get a layout of how, the ceremony will flow, kind of what, how long it might be, what are the main points. and then I ask for like, what happens right before you say, you know, you may kiss the bride or whatever. and then typically I find that, you know, if I'm off to the left or to the right, then. If I hear this thing happening, like, oh, I'm gonna say something about, you know, whatever, then I know to get back to the back of the church, right down the center to get that first kiss. 'cause you don't wanna be off to the side, but happened to me once. and it's just not the best photo. you'd much rather be in the center of the aisle. And then as far as like, not disturbing anybody, like I said, at the beginning of the ceremony, I'll be up at the front, like where the mother of the bride will be so that I can photograph people coming down the aisle. But aside from that, I'm either off to the side or in the back of the church. I never walk in front, I never walk behind the couple, even if it's an outdoor wedding, because I believe that, the couple invited everybody here today to witness, their ceremony. And for me to get in the way to be a nuisance during something like that to, to take away attention from the couple is not something that I want to do. So I just make sure to, either staff to the sides, or in the back of the church. Now, at this point, I have pretty much got everything that I need. I got photos of the, the bridal party, you know, individual shots I got, you know. Side photos of the bribe, the groom, the efficient, I got photos of the end of the aisle. I got photos of the vows. I got photos of them exchanging the rings. At this point, I got everything that I need to tell the story of the ceremony. So I just head to the back of the church and kind of camp out there. Right? I have the camera ready just in case anything happens. And as you can hear, I still take a few photos. but essentially now it's just waiting for the kiss to come. And then when that happens, then I am all good to go. I don't feel like there's any need to take additional photos when, when you know that you got it. And marriage is one of the strongest ways that we show that. Well, as a minister of the Church of Christ and by the authority which the state has invested in me, I now pronounce you David and Kristen, husband and wife, and the name of the father, son, and Holy Spirit. So this is where I'm in the center of the aisle. I am, all the way at the back. I'm zoomed in all the way with my, 70 to 200. The focus is ready. It's on, you know, fast, fast mode to take photos, fast mode. technically it's continuous high on Fuji. Take a bunch of photos as they kiss. Try to do a landscape, try to do a portrait, and then, I put that camera down, grab the other camera with a 35 millimeter lens on as they start walking towards me, as they start walking towards me. you know, take a few photos. Typically, this is when they're gonna look in the audience and say, Hey, we did it. You know, things like that. They might fist pump and then as they're about halfway down the aisle, I will look at them, and say, you know, going in for a kiss as you just heard. Then they go in for a kiss, I got it, and then they walk right past me and then the ceremony's over, and now I just photograph the people walking down the aisle to get those photos. And that's it. That was the ceremony. All right, now that the ceremony is over, it is time to head outside for our bridal portraits, this is where we grab photos of the whole bridal party. I already photographed the guys, so, I also need to grab individual photos of the girls and then couple portraits as well. and I was very relieved, that there was no rain outside, so we took full advantage of that. However, there was a lot of wind. So, Kristen, I'll have you pretty much just right here on this first step looking towards me. All right. I love that. Just the way that it is, how it was all kind of wrapped around like that. Yep. Yep. So, and then zombie does. Yep. And then each pairing, whoever we went up down the aisle with, we'll come up there me in order, Jesse, or you know what, you two are married, right? Yes. Or you two. Okay. So then I'll just have you two stand together. Same with Sam and Jesse. And then I'll have. Oh, you two together up there. Like people, I have someone I have relat with. Might as well. Right? That's not true. David, I'm gonna have you come down right here. All right. You're gonna get your feet under the dress, then? Under the dress, because we want, I'm working on it. Let's see. I'll have, you four take maybe one step back. Go up one step. We'll see how that works. Yeah. Okay. And then I'll actually have you come in maybe just right here. Yeah. Take half. Yeah. Half that step right there. No, no half, half step back. Yeah. You don't have to be leaning on the rail. And then I'll have you when you come behind. Yep. Just like that. All right. And I'm gonna be right here, so you know what? I was wrong. I'm gonna have you right here on the railing. All right then everybody's just looking right here. And one, two, David hand in the pocket. We'll wait for the wind. We'll wait for the wind. And one, here it comes. 1, 2, 3. Woo. Okay, David, Kristen going for a kiss for me. Okay. Woo. Yeah. Now everybody, yeah. So once again, everybody looking right here. And Kristen, I'll have you hold your flowers down. Maybe even hold them down like that. Like Yep. Point 'em down. Okay. We'll kind of hold 'em up, but keep Yep. Just like that. Yep. Just like that. It feels weird. All right. One, two, and three. Ladies, I'll have everybody kind of fix the hair real quick before the wind comes back saying like, hold, hold back. Alright. And one, two, and three, just like that. Perfect. Kristen and I, if you put your hand around David, why do three? We'll get it before the wind comes. I think we got it. Perfect. All right, now, we'll do one more down here. All right, Kristen. David, I'll have you two probably just standing right here. When it comes to group photos, I really try to keep it nice and easy. We start off relaxed, everyone just hanging out, you know, looking at each other. And then we do a formal photo, everybody looking at the camera, looking a little bit more serious, looking a little bit more happy. and then I try to get a few variations. So we did, this photo on the stairs, because it was a good composition, and then we also did it down on ground level. Now, if I had more time, I would've loved to have taken them somewhere, uh, naturey. But, uh, it didn't work out. Okay. Alternating. Yeah, we'll just do boy, girl, boy, girl. Whatever's easiest. So maybe I'll have, you two on this side. All right? And then I'll have you come on in here. Let's see. Y'all have Jesse first. There you go. Perfect. And we're gonna get nice and close. We're just hanging out. Okay? Yeah. This, this is the vogue photo right here. All right. That's what this is. An arm up kind of thing? Yeah. Oh, I like that a lot. So yeah, I would just say, yeah, just looking at me right here. Very vogue, serious look or smiling. Very serious. We're all models. Okay. Yeah. This is the best day of our lives. Type look. Yeah, that's it. That's the one. All right. Now this one's a little bit more formal. All right, guys. Hands in the pockets. You guys are good, Jesse, we'll do thumbs out. Yep. And then nice and tall. Nice and strong, right? We'll wait for the wind to die down. It's a lot of wind, but there's no rain. I know. So rain today, so that's good luck for the wind, rain. There you go. And one, two, and three right there. Perfect. I love it. You guys look good. And then now just look in at each other. Everybody's having a good time. We're all laughing. Going for a kiss for me. Nice going David. Kristen going for a kiss. No, don't be weird. No kiss. Oh, okay. Woo. There it is. Perfect. And now everybody scream. Hold up the bouquets. Yeah, we did it. Yes. Love it. Awesome. That's what Photoshop is for. It's okay. We're good. Yeah, we're good. We're good. We're good. so now I think I just need you girls, right, because I already got all the guys You do you want more of us girls? Yes. Okay. Let's do it. Absolutely. Absolutely. Do you want David to stay for our photos or what do you wanna do? Do you wanna do those? Yeah, so yeah, once we finish up with girls, then we will, just do bridal party. Perfect. All right. All the guys. I'll have you guys come over here. Maybe over by the grass. I think if we, yeah, I think that the wind, if we go over here, it might be easier to get up if it's Yeah. You think that would block the wind difficult. Yeah. Forgot to bring my leaf blower today. With all of the, uh, wind from the past few days, there were leaves everywhere, all over the ground, and the bride's dress was kind of, lacy. So it was a real leaf magnet, right? They were all getting stuck in there, right there. So, we had to walk up onto a grassy patch to take some photos from the girls. So, you know, just do your best to try to help out by clearing a path, for the leaves. Great. Just with your shoes, just knock 'em outta the way. You know, you're not gonna get 'em all. But, you know, just, just making a small path really does make a big difference in their eyes and it saves you a lot of Photoshop time from having to remove those leaves from the dress later on as well. So, there we go. We'll have our flowers kind of down a bit more. Of course. Here comes the wind. Let's see, in one, two, and three, we get one more. 1, 2, 3, just like that. Perfect. Okay, so now Kristen, I'm gonna have you stay right there. Alright. We're gonna do. Photos with each of you. With Kristen. Alright, so I'll have you start since you're already in the perfect position. Okay. I'll you two come off to the side here. Okay. I'll have you two face me right here. And one, two, yeah, we'll bring the flowers down a bit more. There we go. One, two, and three. Perfect. Thank you so much. I'll have you come out. I'll have you going next. All right. Are we ready? Once the winds guys down down like this. Alright. Yes. Perfect. Alright. One, two. And before the wind comes, I think I got it. I think I got it. I did. Yep. Okay, perfect. No, sorry. Stay right there. Yep. Yeah. Kristen doesn't move. Okay. We'll get Sam back in and this is our chance right here. And one, two, and three, just like that. Perfect. Go ahead and look at each other, staring to each other's eyes. Just look at your wedding. Only you were like this. Are my favorite photos looking at each other? Yes. Okay. No, we're done now. Perfect. Thank you. You're finally married like me. Awesome. okay, while we're right here, I think this is a good spot. I'll just grab a few photos of you just, and then are there any other photos with the bridal party that you, um, have a picture? Any of like you and the girls? Oh, no. That, that he's saying the bridal party. Oh, I, I don't, I think we're good on the bridal party. You want me to. So now that I got individual photos of all the girls, uh, and a group shot of all of them together, now it's time for just the bride. So I start wide, you know, get photos of the bride looking around, get a few variations, you know, environmental, and then I start to get closer. I'll photograph things like the, the flowers, the her makeup, her earrings, her necklace, her eyelashes. Okay. So, you know, pretty much everything that she spent money on, you made it. We did it. I'll have you look down at your flowers for me. Okay. And actually I'm gonna get in a little bit closer, pretty light. And can I have you bring your flowers up a bit for me? I know it'll feel weird. Yep. Keep looking down at them and maybe even down a little bit more. Get those eyelashes looking good. Perfect. And then just with your eyes, look right at me. There you go. That's the one. Perfect. Okay, so I'll have you pull 'em back down. That was the one. I'll have you pull 'em back down. All right. so now I will have you looking. Let's see. You might be on. So looking right at me. Looking happy, right. Wedding day. Now look back at the girls. Girls are now the support team. Right? Woo. Looking back. Woo. Yeah. Perfect. And then I will have you just kind of looking maybe off into the distance that way. All right. That dog Ken. Perfect. And then one more looking just right back at me. Right here. There you go. And then, I'm sorry, one off looking at the kennel over there, the wedding kennel. We'll call that one. Perfect. Okay, now you can stay right there. I'm gonna kind of walk around you take a few photos of some details. Okay. And you picture with you flowers look so cool. Perfect. And actually while I'm here I will have you hold, uh, yep. Up the, uh, charm. Yep. Just like that. I will have you, no, no, no. Just lower. Yep. Right there. Right there. That is perfect. Once there. Got it. And then can you turn it around for me as well so that I can see the, just like that. Awesome. Love it. Okay. Stay right there. Can you go in, sorry, take a few photos of, your earrings, your necklace. You just want me kind like me looking off? Yep. Just looking off. That works. I got four to work with. Okay, good. I'll have you just, and that. Is where the battery on my GoPro died, so I have no more audio. I did swap out batteries when we went back inside and I recorded the reception as well. But after listening to it, it was just music, so I cut it out. So that means that we are just gonna jump straight to the end of the night when, I get into my car and share my final thoughts, of the evening. Wedding's over back at the car. initial thoughts? Initial thoughts, for things in my control. So the day felt, I said earlier in the day, like, we're gonna have so much time to do stuff. There's gonna be like tons of waiting around. And, I wasn't wrong that there was a lot of time scheduled for stuff, but. Stuff just took forever. So I am shocked, but everything was properly, you know, the time was properly budgeted, so that is kind of crazy to think about. so as far as that goes, things in my control. How do I feel? I, did I do this after every wedding? Or the good things? What were the bad things? what can be improved upon next time? So, I'm gonna start with, the good things. What do I feel went well? so, I said that I was worried about my flashes. and actually I didn't even use them. I had one on camera. but even though there were no windows downstairs for the reception, there were tons of lights, and the lights looked pretty good now. Sure I had to shoot everything at, a 30th of a second, dancing and stuff. So, I really tried to stay at a 60th of a second, even though the photos were clearly underexposed. I think I can save them in Lightroom. that shouldn't be a problem. I like to get it properly exposed in camera. But, this is what I had to do with if I didn't have, my flashes to add, extra exposure. I had to shoot everything underexposed so that at least then they were still, sharp from a shutter speed perspective. And, I'm gonna have to do my best in post to brighten 'em up. So that was, uh. Did I say that was good or did I say that was bad? I think I said that was good. That was good that, I was able to at least initial reaction, get good enough photos, without using the flash. Alright, update, after the call, way too many photos were blurry from the lack of flash. I'm not happy about that at all. not good. I did get enough photos that were in focus and, had a fast enough shutter speed that it was frozen, that it's not, it's not gonna be an issue. but I did miss way more shots than I thought I did. so don't shoot a wedding without flash. Seriously. I mean, you're gonna get 40, 50, 60% more keepers from a reception, when you use a flash and the light just looks a hundred times better. This was 100% my mistake. what else was good? I feel like, yeah, even though this whole thing was indoors and, not a lot of natural light, the place had some pretty good lights, and in good locations. So I feel like I was able to get some pretty decent photos with a decent exposure without having to use too much flash. I still tried to keep the flash on my camera for all of the getting ready stuff because, you walk in and you're just like, you just have this preconceived idea that it's gonna be all fluorescent, that it's all gonna be bad. And, I wasn't totally wrong, but, I tried to, overpower all of the, not natural light, but the artificial light that was just naturally occurring inside of the church. So I tried to overpower it with my flash. but once I, so once I kind of gave in to the natural light that was there, things kind of felt better. So that was a, that was a good thing. one thing that I can do is be less, critical of the light that is there. Maybe, maybe critical isn't the right word. I should be more open to, to testing the light that is there. because even though I've shot, well over a hundred weddings, there are still times where I'm surprised by light. And, you know, I'm not a, I don't have the perfect light trained eyes, so I need to be more, open to testing out the light that is available to just see how it looks in photos before I introduce flash instead of just saying, I'm just gonna use flash all the time. and go from there. but I think that the photos are gonna turn out better because of it. I, what went bad? there was some, I don't wanna say miscommunication between me and the bride, but, I could have done more on my part to educate her on what, family photos look like. Right. Because what I found was that the family photos took a hundred years because, her list, the bride's list just said things like bride plus parents. Well, she had three sets of parents, two, two sets of parents. and then he had a set of parents as well. So like, and then the mom didn't know exactly who was helping me. The mom who was helping me call out names didn't know, like, does that mean all the sets of parents plus the bride and groom? And at the end I had to be like, let's do individual families because and then we'll do one giant group photo. But if we do all the individual families first, like the Smith family and then the, well, I guess that's a bad example, but like, if we do one side of the family and then the other side of the family and then his family, then, people feel more connected to those photos. They're like, these are my people, not, these are all the people. The only people who want photos of everybody at the wedding are the bride and groom. So, I gotta think about the other family members who are at the wedding and that they might want to by prince of these family photos and therefore, they want photos of just them. So, I could be more clear about that. Second thing, the daughter was very young. I told you toddler earlier, I, I said that she, had fell asleep during the ceremony, which was kind of cute, But that meant that, when we did family photos, nobody wanted to wake her. So I said, okay, make sure that I get a photo of the bride and groom and then their two kids before I leave, get a photo of the bride and groom with their two kids before I leave. Well, about, seven o'clock, so I still had an hour left. things had started to, there started to be less activities for the reception like we had done the, the dinner we had done, the, the toast, the first dance, you know, all these sorts of things. And, I said like, so it started to just become like open dance floor. And I said, okay, I went up to the bride and I said, I would be a terrible photographer if I didn't get a photo of you two and your two girls. And she looked at me like in horror, because she had just sent the girls home with, her in-laws and she's like, what? She was upset. She said, oh my God, I'm the worst mother. And so obviously, like she didn't blame me directly, which was a good thing, but honestly, that is 100% my fault. That was not, there's so many moving parts on a wedding day that, to expect her to remember all of those things and to have a good time is ridiculous. That's 100% my fault. And, unfortunately I dropped the ball on that one. So, at this wedding I didn't get a photo of, the bride and the groom and their two girls. outside of that. A, uh, little interesting observation that I found today. So, I actually shot this wedding with a Fuji's version of a 24 to 70. And if you've been listening to the podcast for any length of time, you know that I am a big fan of, prime lenses, and I've been shooting weddings on prime lenses for the past 10 years. And I feel that, when it comes to zooms, they made me a lazy photographer. I just kind of stood in a corner and could zoom in and, you know, whatever. so that's why I like primes because they forced me to think more photographically. And I would say that that's still the case a bit. When I shoot with a, the equivalent of a 35 and an 85, when I have the 35 on, you get your photo and then you think, okay, it's be nice to have a tighter version of it. Look with like the 85. But if it's in your bag, and I'll be honest, sometimes that laziness creeps in and you just don't change lenses, and then you just end up getting closer to the action. And those photos typically get a little bit better, but they're still not, you know, a photo changes. When you change the focal length, the relationship that you have with your subject and the surroundings, it changes. So, today what I found was with the 24 to 70, I might start wide like I normally would, but then instead of just getting closer, I was able to zoom in, which I did find helpful because now I don't have to crop in as much. And I think that the photos are gonna benefit because of it, because I was able to get more, tighter shots. I was able to fill the frame more. I'm gonna have to do less cropping. So again, I feel like the photos are gonna benefit because of it. But, I didn't feel that same. I didn't feel the same creatively as I do on a shoe with primes, when you're forced to either get closer or further away with your feet. Step closer, step further back or change lenses. That is a different relationship that you have with your photos and the, uh, or capturing the photos in your surroundings. And I like that because again, it makes me feel like I'm in control of the image that I'm capturing and it forces me to, get closer nine times outta 10. So, I don't think that it was a bad thing. I don't think that it was a good thing. It was just an observation. The photos might be slightly better because of it, but while I was shooting, I just felt less connected. So the next step is to go home and, tonight I still have work because I'm going to load the photos onto my computer so that they could back up to my cloud service, back blaze overnight while I'm asleep. And then in the morning, they can be imported into a Lightroom to start their initial call before I start editing. But it is super important, super important that when even on your drive home, make sure that those memory cards are on your person, not in the cameras, not in the trunk, on your person. Because trust me, sometimes late wedding, you get home and you bring, you're bringing the camera bag. But no, you forgot that. You also put the second camera body in the rolling suitcase, and you leave it in the car overnight. And I've never had a problem losing a camera or data or anything like that, but I think it's because I take these precautions, keep the memory cards on you so that you don't have a mistake. Thank you for tuning into this week's episode of the Beginner Photography Podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, please share it with a friend. Start a conversation, grow together. That is it for this week. Remember, the more that you shoot today, the better of a photographer you'll be tomorrow. Talk soon. Thank you for listening to The Beginner Photography Podcast. Keep shooting and we'll see you next week.