Nothing worse than a July or August wedding. I too ran into a photographer who didn't allow anyone else to take pictures at my niece's wedding. It was annoying as hell and yet, my few images were requested by the bride and groom since the official photog takes forever to get the proofs ready.

And hey, don't they just kick their shoes off and dance in stockinged feet out your way? This is done by the best of 'em here in the northeast! And something else (since I was asked to make it): the detachable headress and veil!

yeah some of those "pro" really don't have a professional attitude, I've had some yell across the room to tell folks to stop taking pictures .. I can kinda see where they believe that their "setup" pictures are proprietary, but many more of them will just ask you to wait until *after* they get their shot .. chances are really good that their pictures turn out better anyway ;)

hmm, heat and mugginess can be bad for electronics .. maybe your computer needed a cooler area .. turn it off and let it sit by the AC for a bit .. not too close though if it gets too cold too fast you'll get condensation internally ...

Susan - had I not needed the photos for the DVD, I wouldn't have cared as much. As for the stockinged dancing feet, true ... I could have, but I also could have slipped and cracked a few bones, given my propensity for clumsiness :-)

Steve - I did indeed wait until the photog got his shot, never expecting the videographer (who was nowhere near me) to suddenly show up behind me and poke my shoulder. Posed shots are good, but I go for the candids :-)

p.s. I keep my laptop well ventilated and cool at all times. :-)

Two things: stockings are a no-no in heat. I don't care if you're in front of the pope himself. YOU must be comfortable. No sense in passing out, right?

The other thing is regarding the photographer. While the attitude was quite rude, perhaps if he'd explained that he was worried about losing future sales because of your shots (he doesn't know the quality of your work, but trust me when I say it doesn't matter to pros anymore), maybe it would have been more understandable. I'm not excusing his behavior, just trying to offer a different perspective. More than once, I've had someone "watching" a shoot who suddenly pulled out their camera and wanted to start snapping. While they're not going to get the shots I'm getting, they are taking advantage of MY lighting and posing. Most often, my standard shoot only includes a couple of 8x10s because I hope to make more money selling add-ons. And when someone else starts shooting, well...you kind of get the feeling they're taking away from your potential earnings. (Not that you were.)

Da Goddess-I hadn't thought of the future sales aspect, although frankly, if the bride & groom at this particular wedding didn't use the amateur flashers, then they're not going to be hired by anyone else. I would think that the biggest problem for the pro is that it screws up their own planned pictures, i.e., unwanted flash, posers looking at the wrong camera, etc.

Joanie - My plan (as stated above) was to _wait_ until the photog took his shots, then take mine (which is what I did.) It was the videographer who poked me, even though I made sure I was nowhere near anyone's setup or snapping away while they were working.

However, I think that the hired hands should be experienced enough to know that family and friends are going to be taking photographs at the event. It's a given and the photog and videographer should expect that and deal with it. Preventing the groom's father from taking a photograph of his son is just bad form on the part of the pro.

Cindy, you know this and I know this and hell's bells, I was thankful as all get out when I got to see photos from people other than my photographer at my wedding. I'm just sayin'...and because of digital, pros are getting cut out of the, pardon the pun, picture more and more frequently because of editing software and the like. My brother-in-law (who was, btw, my wedding photog) has had to change his entire approach with clients, all because someone wants to step in and shoot after him. He's lost a lot of business over the last several years because of this.

Had the videographer and/or photographer understood what it was you were doing, I'm sure they'd have lightened up. And if not, I'd have stepped on their little toes with your high heels. But that's just the evil me talkin'. Frankly, I find that family stepping in to shoot is a normal part of the whole wedding scene, it's amazing these men acted as they did.

Note to all photographers: if you want exclusive photographic control, it's probably best to spell it out in the clearest of terms to avoid the problem in the future.

i enjoyed your writing. it has been a while. as for the photography, just keep shooting and practicing. what is scary is when you shoot images for a gift, and they are better than the actual photographer. then people don't realize the time and effort in editing and making great prints. they just spent 5k for a guy who didn't get the shot, but your "free gift" get sucked up. go figure. my advice, just enjoy shooting, if you get a great shot, hand the one as a gift, and soon people will offer you money to shoot weddings. but after doing a few for free, you probably will be bored to tears with the work. your fireworks stuff, will never bore you. thanks for the giggles.