What does it take to photograph a wedding? Part 3

© Anthony R Socci photo & graphic art

You’re back for the third round! You are brave so let’s get to it.

Carlo Frappoli was a policeman (his “real job”) and friend of mine when I lived in Seneca Falls, NY. He also had a lucrative weekend gig photographing weddings and knowing that I was an aspiring professional photographer, agreed to take me on as his apprentice. (See? I took my own advice.)

I loaded my trusty German made Rolleiflex 2.8F with a twelve exposure roll of Kodak Vericolor 120 film, packed a second twelve exposure roll into my shiny new leather camera case along with 24 Sylvania M2B Blue Dot peanut flash bulbs and we were off to the races. Yes, you read that correctly. We covered an entire wedding with just two rolls of film and matching flash bulbs! That’s a proverbial dinosaur compared to the 400 to 500 images we digitally capture on four megabyte compact flash cards with today’s handheld computer/cameras.

To say that I was nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs would be an understatement. A cartooned White Stag on the side of my Miida camera case still states, “Prune juice makes downhill racers!” and I was definitely facing one of the steepest slopes of my life. Remember, as I stated in my first article, “‘a wedding is a one-chance-to-get-it-right-the-first-time event. Translate that as, “if you missed an important happening, you can’t go back and replay it.’” (I think I got all the quote marks correct.) As another person stated somewhat differently, “If you can keep a level head in this confusion, you don’t understand the situation.”

Let me tell you how comforting it was knowing Carlo was the primary photographer who definitely understood the situation. He helped me through sweaty palms and nervous twitches and gave me the experience and confidence required for such intense work. Note: If someone tells you that wedding photography is easy or not a “real job”, please throw some cold water on his head to wake him up then challenge him to a digital shoot out at a working wedding.

Mr. Frappoli must have seen something in my work that I couldn’t. He presented the proofs to his clients and they made their selections for their album. A full 50% of them were the images that I had created! I was ecstatic, to say the least. That was a real payday for me! It eventually led to my quitting my “real job” as a school teacher to open a successful photography studio of my own. Thank you, again, Carlo. I know you’re somewhere up there smiling down on me as I pass this information on to aspiring professional photographers.

I’ve written all that will fit into this column, so you’ll have to come back for yet another exciting chapter in the Wonderful World of Wedding Photography.

Talk to me: socciphoto@yahoo.com