The Best of Wedding Photography.pdf - Free

Working with assistants frees you up to make imaginative shots like this one. Shooting from the roof, Marcus Bell created
a wonderful graphic image involving the amazing antique cars used for the wedding.
THE OTHER VENDORS
As the photographer, you are part of the group of wedding
specialists who will ensure that the bride and groom
have a great day. Be friendly and helpful to all of the
people on the team—the minister, the limo driver, the
wedding coordinator, the banquet manager, the band
members, the florist, and other vendors involved in the
wedding. They are great sources of referrals. Get the addresses
of their companies so that you can send them a
print of their specialty after the wedding.
ASSISTANTS
An assistant is invaluable at the wedding. He or she can
run interference for you, change or download CF cards,
organize guests for a group shot, help you by taking flash
readings and predetermining exposure, tape light stands
and cords securely with duct tape, and tackle a thousand
other chores. Your assistant can survey your backgrounds
looking for unwanted elements—even become a moveable
light stand by holding your secondary flash or reflectors.
88 THE BEST OF WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY
An assistant must be trained in your posing and lighting.
The wedding day is not the time to find out that the
assistant either doesn’t understand or, worse yet, approve
of your techniques. You should both be on the same page;
a good assistant will even be able to anticipate your next
need and keep you on track for upcoming shots.
Most assistants go on to become full-fledged wedding
photographers. After you’ve developed confidence in an
assistant, he or she can help with the photography, particularly
at the reception, when there are too many things
going on at once for one person to cover. Most assistants
try to work for several different wedding photographers
to broaden their experience. It’s not a bad idea to employ
more than one assistant so that if you get a really big job
you can use both of them—or if one is unavailable, you
have a backup assistant.
Assistants also make good security guards. I have heard
too many stories of gear “disappearing” at weddings. An
assistant is another set of eyes whose priority it should be
to safeguard the equipment.