John & Caroline got married in the old Dutch-style, Tulbach Reformed Church (which is supposedly the oldest church, still in use in SA). They were one of the most natural couples I've ever photographed - what a pleasure.
They were completely at ease in front of the camera. They hardly wanted to allow any time for a photo-session and preferred me getting nearly only natural-shots. Fine by me. Although the overall feeling of the wedding was very natural and relaxed I experienced a couple of moments of serious stress when I was photographing them during the vows and the very familiar click, click, click of my Canon5d (camera) ended in a crack-sound and then went silent completely. What timing for my camera to break!! Right there in front of the fully packed church, during the vows!!
This was like the stuff from the movies. I couldn't believe my luck.All I could do was to play it cool as if nothing was wrong. (Under no circumstances could I allow the bride and the groom to realize that something was wrong.) I casually moved to the back of the church where I (thank God!) had a back-up camera and my assistant on stand-by. It only took us a minute and camera-body's were exchanged and all was good again. Sigh of relief. (As a wedding photographer it is an absolute necessity to always have at least one back-up camera.) This may not sound like such a big deal to you, but just imagine for one moment that there were no back-up camera on that moment/day: We're out in Tulbach far from any professional camera shops. It's a Saturday afternoon so even if we were in the city the relevant shop would still be closed. John & Caroline will be walking out of the church in about 10 min. The sun would be setting in a bit. There would be no 2nd chance to get these pictures. It's a cliche but nevertheless true: as a wedding photographer you have only one chance so you have to come fully prepared. (Unlike fashion where you have the whole day to shoot and reshoot and reshoot till the shot is right). One chance.
The rest of the day went perfect and I really, really enjoyed every moment of the rest of the wedding. I stayed at the reception till well after 1:00am to get all those party shots, then still had to drive to Stellenbosch to drop my assistant, and then back to Cape Town where I was living then. I finally made it home around 4:00. It was a long but most enjoyable day.
No comments:
Post a Comment