Welcome to story time with me where I tell you random photography stories that will hopefully entertain you!
So, this is a terrifying story if you are a photographer. Honestly, it's kind of terrifying for anyone, but photographers will understand it the most. Imagine me at my second wedding... ever. This was actually the first wedding that I had ever been officially hired for, I believe. There may have been another on somewhere in there, but I can't remember. It was so long ago. Anyway, I had no clue what I was doing, and I think I charged like $300. This was an outdoor country style wedding, and everything had been going good. I had been taking pictures, getting all of the random shots that I needed to get. Then the ceremony started. This is where everything fell apart... literally! The ceremony had started, and if I remember right, my camera was working fine. However, my camera had just recently fallen out of my truck. Everything seemed to be fine after I looked it over; "seemed" being the key word. Buuutt, everything was not fine that day. My camera picked the day of a wedding and moments before the bride walked down the aisle to just go ahead and pass away. Literally, the mirror in the camera came completely out. So, needless to say, I was internally panicking. I had no clue what to do. I had no backup camera. I was literally just sitting there with no options. This is making me anxious just typing about it. I had my little moment, and to be honest, I don't even remember what all happened right then. I probably lost some memory from those few moment of total insanity. Then, I spotted someone in the crowd who had a decent looking camera, and he had it out taking photos. If I remember correctly (once again, I had insane brain at that time) I asked if he could take some photos because my camera had stopped working. Somewhere in that conversation, I ended up taking his camera and using it for the rest of the wedding day. This had to have been the Lord watching out for me. I don't even have a clue what I would have done if I just wasn't able to capture anything from then on. So, like I said, I used his camera for the rest of the day. I let the couple know what had happened, and I did not charge them for anything.
Evidence
Yes, I kept the camera. I mean, this is a big deal in my photography carrier. Maybe I should mount it in my office as a constant reminder of where I came from... Lol
Here's the deal. I know people usually regret when they use amateur photographers because either the photos aren't good, or they mess something up, or they don't get the right shots, or something crazy happens like a camera breaking and there is no back up... that one is me, by the way. However, there is no way that amateur photographers (or amateur anybody for that matter) would be able to learn without actually being hired and experiencing what that field of occupation is like. So, even though it can be upsetting for something to go completely wrong on a day as important as a wedding day, just remember that everyone has to start somewhere. I hope that the couple was able to see how incredibly sorry I was, I hope that they enjoyed having me for the other parts of the day, and I hope that they liked the photos that I did get. Your attitude is how you make it through a lot of situations. If something genuinely goes wrong, then be up front about it. Be kind about it. And to the customers, be understanding when things like this happen. We are all out here trying to make it, and simple common courtesy in stressful situations goes a long way. Well, there is my story for today. I hope you enjoyed it, and stay tuned for more. Have a good day, byyeeee!
P.S. I still do weddings, I know waaayy more than I did then, and I do have a backup camera. Just putting that out there.