A Wedding - shot on Film - with LTM cameras

[brainwood]

I've been a bit quiet on RFF recently as my latest project has taken up so much of my free time but as its Rangefinder related I thought it was worth sharing.

A few months ago my niece asked me if you would photograph her wedding. She knows my work and she also knows I'm not a wedding photographer but she was quite persuasive and I agreed. As she asked because she liked the look of my film work the decision was already made to shoot on film in black and white using the two Leica bodies I have - the IIIg and M2.

On the day keeping a mental track of two meter less bodies often with different speed films and different focal length lens proved a taxing test. I'm used to working at my own speed but this something you can't really do at a wedding otherwise you just miss so much . Luckily I had only 1 roll out of the 10 rolls I shot that I managed to expose at the the wrong speed but as thankfully I realised before the end of the roll I just carried on and pushed the whole roll from 100 to 400. The guests were very tolerant of the eccentric uncle with his funny little film cameras, in fact many were intrigued by whole idea of shooting on film.

Most of the wedding was shot on APX100 as much of the reception was outside plus Formapan 400 for the interior of the church and later in the evening, with a roll of Delta3200 for the first dance.

From the rolls I shot I selected about 120 shots for scanning , these were then edited down to 86 which I printed into a 36 page Hahnemuehle A4 book which documents the day.

In addition I shot the formal shots on my old Canon D60 and managed a few formal portraits on Portra 160 with a Fuji GS645 by the end I was knackered and much everyones amusement fell asleep at the end of the reception

My niece and her husband are very pleased with the results which is great reward. I am not intending shooting any more weddings like this it was very much a wedding gift to them

Understandably they don't really want to make all their wedding photos public but heres 3 of my favourites to give a flavour of the book








Chris

[texchappy]

Very nice. Glad they were happy. I'm not sure I'm brave enough to be a wedding photographer. Fortunately I'm usually otherwise occupied during weddings.

[brainwood]

Thanks texchappy. Theres certainly a lot of pressure I had not anticipated to get the key moments

Chris

[Bill Clark]

Nice job.

Your niece will love the photographs you made.

[Gabriel M.A.]

Originally Posted by brainwood

Thanks texchappy. Theres certainly a lot of pressure I had not anticipated to get the key moments

Outside of the family/group shots, weddings are not "ooh! do that again!" territory; once it happens, it happened.

My first wedding I actually shot with film. You learn a lot from mistakes (and I was lucky as I was one of three when I made them).

It is much better to learn what you can and cannot do (or how to do it). It's like learning how to add without needing a calculator: the calculator is always nice, but if you don't have it, your life won't come to a halt.

Good job.

[brainwood]

weddings are not "ooh! do that again!"

Completely agree gabriel. I insisted that I did not change events or get in the way of the day, after all its a wedding not a photo shoot, but I have been to several weddings as a guest were the photographer takes over in order to produce a series of choreographed pictures of the key moments while everyone else stands around waiting.
The calculator analogy is good one but by the end of the day my brain was fried.. I guess thats just inexperience

Chris

[dave lackey]

Hey, that was good, really good! I like these types of wedding shots and you did well with LTM cameras! Bravo.

[bfffer]

very nice work.

[brainwood]

Thanks Dave - much appreciated

[ray*j*gun]

I did the exact same thing for my old Marine Corps buddy when his daughter got married. I used a IIIc and my M2 and shot available light through out. For color shots I used my c220 and Ektar 100. It would not have been possible without my fast primes (1.2 Canon and 1.5 Zeis Sonnar. I would not do it again. Too much pressure.

[brainwood]

I would not do it again. Too much pressure.

Hmmm think I'm with you on that...though I would love to my daughter's should they get married but that's not going to work is it

[ironhorse]

Don't even think about shooting your daughter's wedding. It is such a whirlwind day just being the father of the bride you will miss too much. It is much better to entrust the task to another professional so you can enjoy the day.

[paulfish4570]

well done, well done. the joy is obvious ...

[brainwood]

ironhorse - message understood , I know you're right

Paul thanks not sure I could get that joy with anyone else, the personal relationship is event in the photos I think

[Borghesia]

Very good work. I like the second shot, which is very atmospheric.

I've done a few film-shot weddings, and I remember to putted in so many hours in the post processing to compose a nice album, that I never do that again. Actually I spent weeks working on it (besides my regular job).

It's quite special to record that special day with a LTM camera and real B&W film.
I'm sure your skills, effort and results is an (vintage) enhancement of that day.

[jesse1dog]

I had wondered what had happened at the wedding. Glad to have this update. Thought it was going to be a bit of an undertaking because I had seen the general situation the semi-pro had produced for my daughter's wedding.
Love the expressions on the faces in the first photo.

jesse

[brainwood]

John

Yes it was a bit of an undertaking but well worth the effort. I take my hat off to all the wedding photographers out there - it looks easy ...but its not !

Chris

[Richard G]

Well done Chris and beautiful shots. I like the expression in the first one, a little nervous and still being 110% responsible for everything. The second is great too. I did a wedding when I was about 30, two Leicas, a 50 and a 90 on Tri-X and Kodacolor 400. I can't believe it now. It was the wedding of a good friend of mine. Fortunately I gave them the negatives so can't now check what a terrible job I might have done after all. I often read the wedding forum on photo.net. Some of those guys are such pros. Scared me off weddings well and truly. Took some under no pressure at my nieces's wedding. It's tempting to try it if someone insists. I hope I resist.

[tic]

Great work! A labour of love.

[shadowfox]

The second shot above is just beautiful.
Sounds like you achieved the balance between enjoying the day and producing memorable documentary.

[robert blu]

A great work, for sure you manage it. Bravo!
robert

[brainwood]

It's tempting to try it if someone insists. I hope I resist.

Richard its not all stress, I actually enjoyed the experience and the self imposed discipline of having to produce documentary book from the days events was a good one. I learnt a lot form it

Thanks Tic and Robert

Shadowfox the 2nd is my personal favourite too :-)

Chris

[buzzardkid]

Great work. Really like those shots!

I'm considering getting into wedding photography on film myself. Thing is, I'm not looking forward to it or anything, but on the other hand I suspect I will be good at it. After ten years in teaching I think I can put almost any person at ease and can work with them without needing any pressure while still getting the good result. From that I feel almost compelled to try my luck at shooting weddings. I've been resisting it for some years now but someday soon I'm gonna set up anyway.

I absolutely love that 2nd shot, light is great and centers the bride so nicely. Intrigued by that 3rd shot, what are those people doing with the oversized matches?

Again, great work Brainwood. I'm in awe.

[brainwood]

Johan

Good luck if you do give it a go. My approach was very much to cover it like a documentary project and I guess being part of the family aided greatly to the feeling of ease. I'm not sure I could pull it off again with strangers.

For the me the greatest challenge on the day was not the handling of the guest but the technical one of using unmetered cameras and trying to coordinate the right film speed in the right body at the right time with only two bodies... and I'm not looking for an excuse buy another M body

The large match sticks are drum sticks - The bride also performs in a Samba band which played at the wedding

Chris

[charjohncarter]

I hope they appreciate the images. Somehow, I think you and I are out of touch. I take photos at events and send them to the honorees of the events and never get a comment; except from their parents. But you are, at least it looks like, from England, which when I was there, had a different aesthetic than California.