What type are you?

[Tim Borek]

I mainly follow the "unobtrusive" mindset, but I'm not afraid to stick out to get a shot. I try to give couples their idealized wedding using as much of the real-world wedding as I can to achieve that end. Real-life footage takes me about 90 percent through the process.

Once I was actually in a shoving match with a pack of photographers to get shots of a cake cutting. (They started it!) The rude women still managed to step in front of my camera and ruin the shot just as the B&G were feeding each other cake. Since that incident over a year ago, I've not held my tongue about wanting to re-enact shots that don't come off naturally. As long as I make it quick and respect their time, B&G -- especially those clients who really value how valuable a wedding video will become over the years --usually are happy to comply.

I have mixed feelings about staged exits at the end of the reception. Most clients don't want to keep me on the clock for the whole reception (nor do I want to stay until midnight), so I'll set up a staged exit to bring closure to the event. Thing is, when the couple watches their finished video, they'll know that scene was "for the camera" and not genuine. This may be a topic for a different thread, but how do you balance a photojournalistic/unobtrusive approach with bringing closure to your video?

T.J.

[Craig Terott]

Very easy. I stay 'till the end.

[Peter Jefferson]

Tim, staging the exit is always a good thing however liek u said, teh client KNOWS it was done for teh camera and what you see in the final presentation isnt a true progression or representation of the day as it happened. Theres nothign wrong with it, its just not accurate, and dependin on how your client feels about it, youll get mixed resposnes..

i stay until the end, coz here in oz theres a tradition (withn about 95% of weddings ive shot anyway) where the guest form a circle, then a tunnel whcih the couple run through.

now with the farewells, this is GOLD. lots of emotion, lots of tears.. really nice stuff, and with the tunnel, what i usually do is run INTO the tunnel with the couple, running backwards, camera facing the couple as theyre surrounded by friends and then i run backwards as they make their way through the tunnel moving forwards.
Now something like this CANNOT be reproduced..

like i keep saying, at the end of the day, people have different ways of doing things, and if anyone feels that one way works better than another FOR THEM, al the better for them.
Theres just too many personal factors involved for it to be a right or wrong situation.

[Craig Terott]

Originally Posted by Peter Jefferson

now with the farewells, this is GOLD. lots of emotion, lots of tears.. really nice stuff, and with the tunnel, what i usually do is run INTO the tunnel with the couple, running backwards, camera facing the couple as theyre surrounded by friends and then i run backwards as they make their way through the tunnel moving forwards.
Now something like this CANNOT be reproduced..

Absolutely. I had a military couple who were getting on a plane for Germany the very next morning. Everyone was saying goodbye, MOH, Bride & MOB were crying, lot's of hugs and emotions that would never be felt/seen again if I had "ditched" before it was over. I used some of these scenes in their recap and in the final edit. Of course, their photographer was long gone at that point, and so I was the hero. As Peter put it, those scenes were "GOLD." Just one example of many.

I've never staged an exit.

[Tim Borek]

Thanks, Craig and Peter. That's good food for thought. Kudos to you guys! Maybe "advancing the art of wedding videography" requires staying until the end. I offer a long-time package for the most comprehensive coverage, but no one has opted for it yet. Don't get me wrong; I always try to shoot the couple's departure at the end of the event, especially if it involves something novel. It all comes down to scheduling and whether the couple wants to keep me "on the clock." The good news is about 60 percent of the weddings I shoot allow my block of coverage to include the B&G's departure into their new life together.

[David Mathew Bonner]

Originally Posted by Craig Terott

To the contrary, I think some of the dullest video I've ever shot was unobtrusive. In fact, no offense, but I believe that "unobtrusive" is more characteristic of an absence of style. I think that fear is what dictates the actions of most unobtrusive videographers.

That's how I feel as well. No offense, and I wouldn't call it an absence of style, being in the shadows capturing candid moments is a style and takes an eye to make it work right. the good ones make it look like pure voyeurism, the bad ones make it look like the camera is uninvited.