Well, Saturday was a wedding from h***. For some reason you just have one
of those days where you are glad that you came prepared for "anything."
The bride was about as witchy as they come (Elaine from Seinfield is tame in
comparison), and the couple had no appreciation for what was really
happening. They were both arrogant and rebellious. I knew I was going to
have some trouble with them, but did not have a clue as to how much. Momma
(of the bride) was well "medicated" and Pappa was mad at the world for
everything. The groom's family was great, but the groom was shorter than
everybody else in the wedding party except for the bride. Made for some
creative positioning of the wedding party.
Technical nightmares... One roll of film jammed at frame 12 of a 36
exposure roll. At first I thought I had pulled the film out of the
cassette, but it was just a jam. I hit the rewind button and tried turning
the crank but was met with some resistance. Finally it budged and I rewound
the film quickly and swapped it. (unfortunately it was mid ceremony and
rather hectic at the moment as I also needed to change film in the Mamiya).
I grabbed the IS-3 to get the kiss. I've only experienced this one time
before and that was years ago with a roll of K-64.
There was a relative that has "shot every family wedding since time began"
using a Rebel. I could tell she was doing a good job so I didn't bother her
any since she wasn't really bothering me. But during the recessional, I got
some interference from her and a couple others at the back of the aisle. I
ended up taking ownership of the aisle and almost knocked one of them over.
(I take one shot with the OM-2S in vertical mode and then a horizontal with
the IS-3 while back-peddling). I let it be known that a 10 foot stretch of
aisle was MINE and get out of my way! I also positioned myself so they
couldn't get the shot either. (that's why they paid me, isn't it?)
The OM-2S and Vivitar 5200 flash decided to not communicate with each other
after the ceremony ended. The rest of the evening was spent with the flash
firing maybe 500f the time. I haven't had a chance yet to figure this one
out. The IS-3 saved the day there. The OM-2s didn't fire my studio strobe
either with the x-sync connector. Another mystery to solve.
During the first dance I kept having trouble with the couple as they were
not cooperating with me at all and somebody with a Canon kept getting
directly opposite of me and shining that blasted "red-eye reducer" at me.
That bright light kept throwing the IS-3's autofocus off. However, it might
have given me a nice "backlit" to the couple on one shot.
The cake was about the ugliest thing I've seen (but it tasted wonderful) and
for the cake cutting it was way too high and wobbly. Ring shot? I'd
position the fingers just the way I wanted and then they would move their
hands to scratch their noses or something. I've never had that happen like
that before.
Major gaffs the couple made: Serving beer/wine to a non-drinking crowd
(remember they are being rebellious), having music played that was clearly
offensive to most of the crowd (some songs you don't play to a crowd of
Christians), and losing the checkbook so they couldn't pay the Priest or DJ.
(All my money was paid up front). They eventually found it, but not after
doing some serious sweating. (The Priest was none to pleased).
Major gaffs I made: I accidently had both the winder and the IS-3 set in
sequence mode so I fired off multiple frames of shots with the flash only
firing on the first one. I quickly addressed that mistake. Exposures were
all over the dial as I couldn't get consistant light readings on the
platform. For a combination of reasons I was getting variations as much as
two stops. Between clouds, lights dimming, etc., I ended up guessing and
averaging the readings of my Luna-Pro (still for sale), Polaris, and OM
meters. I'm NOT excited to see the results of this shoot. I'm glad I
didn't shoot chromes!
With all of the mis-shots (I also blew a bunch of exposures and focus) and
the jammed roll of film, I ended up using every single roll of 35mm film.
In fact, the last shot I took was the very last one I had left. I rewound
the film and went home. I had two rolls of 220 left, but I wasn't using the
Mamiya during the reception.
Oh, and did I mention that three days before the wedding they were trying to
stiff me out of the reprints?
Ok, end of venting. I know it comes with the territory. (Hey you are
getting paid enough, quit your griping).
Ken N.
Olympus content: Some, but this post is strictly meant for entertainment.
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