Dragged kicking and screaming into it

[Murph]

I love my wife, I really do. Been married to her for almost 19 years. BUT! She has a fault, which is to volunteer my services as a photographer to her friends to shoot Weddings, Quinceneras, etc. 90% of the time, I put my foot down, and tell her a resounding NO F**KING WAY WILL I DO THAT, hire a professional. The remaining 10% of the time, after I pull the knives out, I do it, and IMHO, my efforts SUCK! I do not do flash well, or with ease, I am more at ease shooting my beloved landscapes, which don't move, and I can compose to my heart's content. I do not like photographing people, never been good at it, don't really want to do it, and am very very self concious when I am forced into doing it.

I personally thought all the Quincenera photos I took for my niece stunk, and stunk badly, I so many errors and imperfections, I was embarrassed about them. They on the other hand, loved them, and kept telling me how good they were! They were awful, I offered to pay to get a pro do the photography, but got told no way.

I just needed to rant, because she has volunteered me again to do a wedding, and since I am sleeping on the sofa tonight, I guess you could say I won this battle.

[okcwannabe]

haha aww I'm sorry Murph...do you think they sincerely meant they were good? If you didn't want to do it and they think they were good then I would just try and forget about it. Easy for me to say though. Hope ya have a comfy couch

[smoothassilk]

I hope you have a bigger couch than we have. Because if not your in for a long night.

[Murph]

No, they liked them. I am my own harshest critic. Even my MIL liked them. Lupe told me to shut up and say thank you....

[gardener]

Right there with ya... Son #2 called this morning to tell me that he's bringing the oldest granddaughter, GD's best friend, and my niece over on Saturday all dressed up for their first junior high dance Saturday evening.
Told him I don't do posed people pictures, don't have a clue how to effectively use my flash on people, and moreover, why here? Why not at the local park where at least, there are still a few flowers blooming or a water fountain... NOT! Grandma has officially applied the pressure that #2 son couldn't...
Looks like I'm now the designated photographer for the girls first dress up dance...

[rages4calm]

Oh man I know exactly how you feel. Some how or another I get volunteered to take photos at local events by friends even if i don't have the time to do so.

[srwatters]

I've tried to do the wedding/event thing and I officially suck. I'm much more comfortable in my studio and getting better in natural light, but please no more weddings for me. I'll leave that to the experts.

In other words, I feel your pain.

[photonewb]

Originally Posted by Murph

No, they liked them. I am my own harshest critic. Even my MIL liked them. Lupe told me to shut up and say thank you....

gotta say I'm the same way

I look at some pics and think "there's gotta be a better way to get this shot" or "this looks like crap"

but my boss asked me to come out and photograph his sons football game yesterday, they were in the championship game and he didn't have pics of him playing all year. So I came and sat in the stands with everyone else and shot the pics. I burned them onto a CD without any touchups and told him that if he picked out a bunch I'd do some touch ups to them for him. He looked at them and loved them and doesn't think anything needs to be done. There was a lot that when they were on the camera I thought they were good, but as soon as I got them onto my PC they seemed to be out of focus, or noisy etc etc

[Nikolai]

Weddings are ok if there is an open bar. I shoot alot better with a few whiskey sours in me. :D

But yes, I feel your pain.

[jleyendecker]

Originally Posted by Nikolai

Weddings are ok if there is an open bar. I shoot alot better with a few whiskey sours in me. :D

But yes, I feel your pain.

After a few whiskey sours how can you feel anyones pain. lmao.

[lucian]

Ah, you won the battle - nice sofa, right? But, did you win the war?

Murph, any practice time between now and the wedding?

Sorry, couldn't resist. Been there too. The advantage I had was I used to do weddings. Fortunately I've been able to refuse the last two I was volunteered for - bad knee, bad shoulder, only use film cameras for weddings, my E-20N writes too slow ...

Good luck.

[byarger]

Murph, I feel your pain. I also don't feel comfortable or professional or optimistic when I've been roped into photographing people at an event, or even just casually. But give me animals or scenery and I'll fill up compact flash cards faster than you can say runway model. The ultimate horror story was three years ago when my son was being married at the beginning of their honeymoon cruise on the cruise ship. They didn't have the ship's photographer for the wedding, just for the reception. And that put me and my film camera plus new Minolta Dimage A-1 squarely in the crosshairs of two family's expectations - my own and my in-laws to be.
As much as I could I tried to get out of it, but their madness prevailed and I was forced to be both the father of the groom and the wedding photog. It turned out well and I got the shots I needed, but I had a huge number of discards (before my digital SLR days) plus I didn't really get to enjoy the wedding as I was too worried about getting the shots.
So Murph, I'm right there with you on this one. And to you wedding and event photographers, I tip my hat to you.

[Murph]

I won this battle...for now. But she had already told her friend I would do it, ooops. The sofa is lumpy, and I just can't get the pillows comfortable.

Originally Posted by lucian

Ah, you won the battle - nice sofa, right? But, did you win the war?

Murph, any practice time between now and the wedding?

Sorry, couldn't resist. Been there too. The advantage I had was I used to do weddings. Fortunately I've been able to refuse the last two I was volunteered for - bad knee, bad shoulder, only use film cameras for weddings, my E-20N writes too slow ...

Good luck.

[Nikolai]

Originally Posted by jleyendecker

After a few whiskey sours how can you feel anyones pain. lmao.

That, and I wouldn't remember it either.

[Titaniumblade]

Originally Posted by Murph

I won this battle...for now. But she had already told her friend I would do it, ooops. The sofa is lumpy, and I just can't get the pillows comfortable.

Oh man, you are not taking the wrong approach!!! This is what I would do, each time she volunteers you to do stuff, tell her you are going to go buy a new camera, lens something really nice! Then if she keeps it up; step up to the big boy Hasselblad etc…I think by the time you get to the Hasselblad she will see that its costing her way more than its worth to farm you out….At least it worked for me…but I did not get very far…

So you could say I won the war!