I am looking forward to an industrial video assignment tomorrow for a local Geotech firm. I had a meeting with the company CEO today and in our cordial side conversation he asked me how many images I take at a typical wedding. I answered that the amount varies greatly with the package size and end product but explained that it could vary from 400 to 1500 for a very comprehensive plan. Having heard my response he related a story about meeting a women photographer at a wedding recently who told him she shoots 10,000!
That’s NOT a typo. 10,000. images and 6 months of work before the bride sees a thing! That brings to mind the old joke I heard years ago implying a photographer must not know how to get it right the first time if he has to take so many shots.
That joke holds even more true today than ever. If a bride needs 10,000 – NO WAIT- if a PHOTOGRAPHER needs to take 10,000 images in order to get enough to convey the story of a wedding either the bride or the photographer or BOTH have a lack of confidence in the ability to react and capture the decisive moment when it happens. I can understand having a variety of angles but when you approach that kind of number what you’re doing is more video Surveillance than a careful planning, thoughtful observation and insight to capture the feeling of the day.
My advice is to approach the wedding as if I am absorbed in the emotion and it gets results
which have been tried and true over decades of the craft.
My other advice is if you DO feel for some reason you NEED 10,000 images hire a videographer and then get frame grabs from the best of 30 frames per second and as bonus you will have a great selection from which to choose and not wait 6 months to see them. Happy wedding planning to all brides out there!
