When I’m Not The Photographer
What many do not know about me as a Photographer is that I actually got started shooting video at weddings before photography. It didn’t take long for me to want to make the switch. I enjoyed shooting video, but it was hard for me to get the creative shots I wanted in the limited time we had. The Photographer always ran the show and that made it hard for the video guy to have much creative control. I decided to make the switch in 2006 after a friend of mine asked me to shoot photos of his wedding. I knew how weddings ran due to my past video experience, but I had never “ran the show” when it came to capturing moments. After this first experience as the Photographer for the wedding, I knew that is what I wanted to do. Since then, every wedding I worked at, I was the Photographer.
After working many weddings with videographers, I decided it was time I got back into videography. At this point, I could afford all of the high end equipment I didn’t have when I was shooting video before. Since I could not shoot photo and video at the same time, I hired a team to come with me. There are usually 3-4 of us at weddings capturing photos and video. It is a lot of fun to work as a team and since we work together often, everything flows well. This was something that was lacking when I worked with other videographers. With out knowing each other well, it is hard to work well together. Other videographers would get in the way, try to take control of the situation when we barely have enough time to capture the photos and take forever to get their shots. I understand the dilema. It is hard to get good shots when everybody is always looking at the photographer. This is where a lot of wedding videos end up looking like documentaries.
The last two weddings I shot, I was part of the videography team. One wedding had a family member do the photography (gasp) and the other had another photographer whom I respect shoot their photos. Leading up to these events I was very excited to get to shoot video rather than photos. It has been years since I have shot video at a wedding other than getting random short clips with my DSLR through out the day. My main focus was always photo and if I thought about it, I would get a few video clips.
This past weekend’s wedding was just Sean and I shooting video. Stephanie Baker was the photographer and I had actually worked with her before years ago when I was shooting video. As the photographer, she set the pace and mood for everything. My job is to get as creative as I can while she is directing our subjects around. During all of this, it really felt weird, because as I said before I am used to doing the directing. Stephanie did a great job, and we got fantastic footage, but it still felt weird. I guess it’s like doing anything for the first time in a long time when you are used to doing it another way. It was also really cool that I got to step back and shoot video because it gave me a chance to watch Stephanie work. Sometimes I think you can get used to the way you do things and it’s refreshing to get to watch someone else do their thing.
Another difference that I quickly realized was the way I had to affirm a shot and move on. With digital photography, you can see your photo on the back of the screen to make sure you nailed your shot just right. With video, you are continuously shooting for a certain amount of time and the only way to review that shot is to play it back. Playing back a shot takes to much time. Of course while you are capturing video you can see things happening and if a mistake is made you can either edit it out or retake the shot. What I am getting at is that the process is different and though I knew what to do, it felt different, which took a little getting used to.
Capturing video also allows you to be more of an observer than you can be when you are the Photographer. I feel like I have to have Adult ADD when I am the photographer. If I focus on something in one place for to long I might miss something happening somewhere else. With video, I can browse around and capture the essence of what is going on, something that you couldn’t tell from a single photo.
All in all it was a great experience. I thoroughly enjoyed being a videographer today and look forward to more events where I can shoot video even if I am the Photographer. In the future, when my team and I are booked for photo and video, I am going to start bring an assistant photographer, so I can do some video work with the video team as well.
