Amateur Wedding Photographers
Flash or candid - they have to film it all
Amateur wedding photographers - you love them or you hate them! The problem is that everyone has a camera (or, worse still, a video camera) and everyone thinks that wedding photography is easy and they all want their own personal memento of the marriage. As a result, it is very easy for chaos to break out as everyone attempts to 'have their go'.
When considering amateur wedding photographers, one needs to reflect that they are made up of people of all ages and abilities with equipment ranging from an ancient box camera to a modern digital video device. The worst sort of amateur wedding photographers can just be a plain nuisance as they demand for poses to be held long beyond the point of the subjects looking natural; in fact they can take so long that discomfort sets in and all the faces in the final picture end up with a pursed pained look.
Registry offices are very wary of amateur wedding photographers and the delays they cause. With their wham, bang, thank you Ma'm approach to the ceremony and their piped music, the conveyor belt never stops and there is no time for multiple attempts at the perfect picture. In most registry offices nowadays, there is a limit on time for the amateurs and, when it runs out, that's all folks.
It is forbidden to take a photograph of the bride and groom signing the actual Wedding Registry book as that is part of the marriage ceremony so a substitute one is usually provided along with a pen that doesn't work. Bride and groom then assume various uncomfortable poses as dozens of flashlights explode.
After the wedding ceremony is when the fun really begins
Outside the registry office is when the chaos can really begin. Only the closest family to the bride and groom are going to know even a reasonable proportion of the guests present. As a result, various individuals are to be found scurrying around trying to get pictures of different groups and subgroups. In the meantime, the official photographer is probably getting extremely frustrated as he or she endeavours to locate all the key members of each clique and assemble them in some form of ordered cluster.
Finally comes the reception and that is where the modern digital autofocus cameras separate themselves from the old-fashioned hand-focussed SLR's. As the alcohol flows, the work of the amateur wedding photographers becomes progressively out-of-focus, heads get lopped off, pictures are skew and sometimes the individuals or the event being photographed is unrecognisable or incomprehensible.
From this article you might be forgiven that I feel that only the official professional photographer should be allowed to take the pictures but that is not so. The next section on wedding photography will explain how many good photographs can be taken and special moments captured only by amateur wedding photographers.