.......and made it to a wedding?

So on Friday I went to bed with an upset stomach that during the night turned into a severe case of D & V - I won't go into graphic detail but by Saturday morning I was pretty much camped outside the bathroom door!!! However I was determined the show must go on so I dosed up on imodium and travel sickness tablets and off I went - It was an unfamiliar venue so I made sure I knew where all the toilets were but once I started to do my thing I was ok - right through to the first dance!

I once broke my 2 legs and then just used a wheelchair, I hired a guy to push me around all day, got some great steadicam alike shots that way, well, not really :) but have worked with a severe hernia, was lucky I got it on a weekend that I didn't have a wedding, could not walk for a week and had to ask my dad to help me out the following wedding 7 days later as I still barely could walk. Every step I took hurt and it looked like I was 90 years old, that was one very painfull wedding I like to forget, it took at least one month before most pain was completely gone.

Survived 3 months of weddings hopped up on Vicodin, but had to hire a 2nd camera/assist for each one. It cost me some money, but probably saved me some lawsuits. Chronic pain that lasted until my surgery in November. Went from a healthy 165 lbs to 140 lbs during those months. Not. Fun.

been sick (bad flu/fever thing) the last 10 days or so took to the bed for about 5 of them, i have footage from two weddings an event to edit, but til the last two days, was just too ill to actually do anything productive. Thankfully I hadn't any location work to do. It can be a worry ok!
I have a clause in my contract concerning illness/accident for both parties (just in case)

I once did a fashion shoot while dizzy, feverish with a pounding headache and on the verge of hallucinations, (i think it might have been the swine flu) the shoot turned out quite well tho!
:-)

I have been really lucky and at most weddings I haven't even been "off colour" .. I did do a Christmas Pageant one year when I was feeling really rotten so I lost out on the Christmas dinner that we were offered (and it really looked good too!)

It will be interesting to see at what stage shooters with really severe illnesses have still made it to weddings! I wonder where the point is where the dedicated videographer gives up and says "I definitely cannot make this gig"

Noa and Oren look like they have already "Gone beyond the call of Duty"

Chris

I've done a few that I really probably should have been in bed for but I guess we all do what we have to do but that's not saying it's fun. I've never missed a wedding or any other event for that matter but it's been close a couple of times.

Just remembered another one a few years back where I had very bad abdominal cramps all through the night and had to shoot a business event for a regular client of mine, I called her in the morning that I was really too sick to go and she was disappointed as it was a very important event for her and she needed the footage for her portfolio and she had promised her client a copy of the trailer I had to make.

I felt guilty for letting her down so I packed my gear and went anyway. it was only 4 hours I had to cover but 4 of the longest hours ever, the cramps where still there, I had a headache and a fever. When I got home I crashed and was in bed for 2 days but the film turned out allright :)

Wow Noa

You are a real soldier! The job comes first even if you are in pain!! I guess I would too unless it was going to severely cramp my ability to do the actual shoot.

You can't really tell a bride, I'm not feeling well so let's postpone your wedding until next week??

I wonder how many of us have a backup videographer that would do your job for the same amount of money and with the same amount of passion and dedication?? Not too many I would think and if they were as good as you and also working weddings one would expect them to be booked up anyway!!

Chris

The 2 examples I gave would have turned out bad if I had to do a wedding, that 4 hour event was pure punishment but a full weddingday would not have been possible, that's for sure, same when I got my hernia, if I had a wedding the next day I couldn't go because I couldn't stand up straight. Also a few years back I had a bacterial infection that kept me hospitalised for a week so there again I would not have been able to cover any wedding, again I was lucky it was before the weddingseason started. I do have a network of videographers I can contact in case of an emergency but most are booked as well during teh weddingseason so there's a large chance I can't find a replacement on short notice. I do have a clause in my contract that protects me from a lawsuite if I"m not able to attend due to these kind of circumstances.

Good point Noa

I too have a limited liability clause in my terms and conditions that limit the liability to a refund of all monies paid if I cannot attend the wedding or totally mess up the wedding (like all 3 cameras failing..which is highly unlikely of course!) but it does protect me if I was in a traffic accident or hospitalised.

Of course I still would try to find someone else to do the wedding but as you already know, if the guys you could trust to step in for you are any good, they are probably booked anyway!

Funnily, I had a bride phone me last week saying her videographer was on a waiting list for elective surgery and his date came up as the 9th November ... November here is a popular month and I was, of course. booked already and I would suspect that anyone half decent would also be booked so she would end up with someone definitely below average at best. I did feel sorry for her but if you are booked, then you are booked!

Chris

Thats unfortunate for her Chris. I have only done a couple of weddings and would have thought about helping out, but that Saturday is my birthday, definitely a no go zone with the family!

Do you work north or south of the river? Those EA50's sure sound tempting (still), love to see one close up.

Hi Tim

I work anywhere from Yanchep to Mandurah but I'm based in Mt Pleasant SOR

If you have done weddings before and can figure you can handle a solo wedding by all means send me a PM and I'll give you my contact number. I'm pretty much out during the day with Realty shoots but usually home in the evenings.

It would be great to also have someone I can refer my excess bookings to.. you have no idea how many brides ask for the same day as I have booked even though I have an up to date calendar on my website.

Chris

Two years ago I gave my word to a charity to shoot their largest annual event. The week prior my health deteriorated to an alarming low, and the morning of the event I could barely stand, but I sucked it up and did the shoot. I had no idea what was wrong with me. Five hours later and barely able to move about, I stumbled into a hospital emergency room where I was diagnosed with pneumonia. I lost about 15 pounds in two weeks and I have never been sicker. The final edit was a success. Gads, I hope that never happens again.

I filmed a wedding with a fever of 40 degrees and suffering from the sh*ts on top of that, two days before my wife and father-in-law had suffered a near-fatal car crash and in where seriously ill in hospital. Didn't cross my mind to cancel it.

I once woke up and threw up twice. Thought I felt better. Tried to drive four hours to a gig in another state, but continued to throw-up and had to turn around after a half-hour. Spent the next 24-hours wretching. Food poisoning.

Otherwise, headaches, fevers, and sore-throats are not deal-breakers. I have found that I have been MUCH HEALTHIER and MUCH HAPPIER since going full-time and working for myself. Take care of yourself and pay attention to your body.

Most ill...Been sick several times but I can't imagine ever missing a Wedding. The worst is when you have a cough and it's a quiet Ceremony and you feel that little tingle and need to cough. Last time that happened, during the Ceremony I just held it in and tears just flowed down my cheeks. I was a wreck. I figured if anyone saw me they would just think, "man that guy is really into this Ceremony!"

Worst pain...A while back out of nowhere I somehow got Shingles for a couple weeks and was in pretty bad pain intermittently. I wore long black sleeves that day to not show my arm that was affected and of course it was about 105 degrees out. I also noticed the Photographer was in pain too. We both stopped at one point to take pills. Pretty funny. The couple had no idea but that's the way it should be. His pain was chronic and it totally threw me and everyone for a loop when he suddenly died a few weeks later. He was fairly young too. That couple's Wedding was his last blog entry on his site. Really sad. RIP.

After reading all these posts the next time I feel a little off-colour I think I will have to just suck it up as there are plenty of videographers who still get to the wedding, don't complain and they are in much worse shape than I have ever been.

Gosh, the next time I'm feeling not quite 100% before a wedding I should come back to this topic before complaining!

Chris

I suffer from really bad eczema, but usually have it under control. I actually have 2 weddings this week but my eczema is quite bad at the moment (it's a seasonal thing I believe as Autumns kicking in) and the regions affected are the back of my legs.

It's going to be painful getting down on my knees to get those cinematic slider shots!! not looking forward to it.

I reached the bail out point. Ten years ago I was in a town of 600 people at 7000 feet in the Rocky Mountains. I was there to shoot an Executive Adventure Learning Experience. I woke up the morning of the shoot feeling really weird and had a strong pain inside my guts. I had no idea what was going on. I sucked it up and went to the meeting spot. The pain got worse and worse quickly but I tried to hang in there. We were about to all get on snow mobiles and head into the back country.

I had hired an assistant for the gig but not for video, she was there to get stills. She was freaking out because I did not look good, she knew something was wrong, but I wouldn't even tell her what was going on. At the last minute a spam of pain hit me that was so bad the voice in my head said "you are going DOWN, you can't do this!"

I went to the client and asked him if there was a doctor in this little town and told him I was very sick. He got someone to give me a ride to a clinic. Before leaving I gave my backpack full of video gear to the still photographer and said good luck?

Thirty minutes later I was on the floor of a bathroom at the clinic puking my guts out the pain was so bad. I could not stand up, I thought I was going to die. The doctor finally came into the bathroom and got me up. Frigging KIDNEY STONES! Never had them before and never want them again. The pain was incredible. Thank God I did not go into the back country. I would have become an emergency med evac.

Ten hours later I felt like a new man. It was over as fast as it came on.

Almost every inch of the video from the still photog was useless. It was a four day shoot so I had three good days out of four to make up for it. Lesson learned, I am not superman even though I thought I was. There is a time to pull the rip cord and walk away!

Steve