BIG SUM

With a bunch of my classes cancelled due to Graduation prep, I'm left here with nothing to do. I figured my last post really didn't touch on my brief stint as Wedding photographer, I would copy and paste the blurb I sent to Stella in an E-mail.

Ready, here we go!

Several weeks ago, my friends Gino and Danielle ask me to photograph their wedding. They want a more "Photojournalistic" feel as opposed to the "Everything posed" album which is right up my alley (essentially meaning I get to shoot whatever I want within reason.) Ok, so I decide to take a really relaxed attitude towards the whole thing. I mean, it's pretty important and whatnot, but I figured if they didn't hire a professional, they wouldn't mind if I hit the open bar while "working" (tee hee). I also made sure that they didn't pay me. I didn't want the pressure.

Ok, I just wanted the opportunity to buy a few more toys. Remote Switch, Extra Batteries and a New lens! Woot woot!

So I meet up with Gino and Danielle around 10am as they leave the salon all pretty and dolled up. Danielle is looking absolutely radient in her Kimono and her hair is done up swimmingly (I use the term swimmingly because I really can't describe how hype it looked). Gino is straight up pimpin with his Kimono/Fedora combo. And I start taking pics and talking to their family and whatnot.

THEN IT ALL GOES WRONG...

Ok, it didn't go wrong. But for a second there you thought it did, right? Hooray for dramatic effect! Haha! Ok. I'm getting ready to shoot when out of nowhere they surprise me by giving me an order form and tell me that they bought me a new lens! DANG IT! That means, I'm getting paid! BLARG!!!! Pressure mounts and the day changes from "hey, lets have fun shooting around" to "oh man, I'm working on sunday..." Haha! I’m buggin’. Hindsight being 20/20 I suppose it's all for the better. I would have felt like a total piece of poo if I was clownin’ around and didn't get a single decent shot. Sometimes you need that extra motivation, at least I do.

The first location is at the shrine where a Japanese style ceremony is being held. We get there and out of nowhere a TV Camera crew shows up! The priest called the local TV station and they sent a crew out. Nuts, I tells ya! Nuts. So they come up and start interviewing the Danielle and I’m taking pics and so on and so on. Ok, moving on. The shrine is on the side of a hill, so we get to the top and I realize that I'm gonna hafta jockey for space. I went to the shrine and reception hall earlier to check lighting and all that stuff and figured everything was gonna be okay. There is a bit of space in the back and side that ONE person can get through no problem. Two is a different story. The entire morning was a BATTLE! Well, a battle as far as Japanese people go. I mean there were a few bumps and tripods getting tangled appologies and saying "sumimasen", but we were pretty inobtrusive (methinks) and I think we both got some good shots.

After that, I took the couple around and we tried to get some shots with nature and whatnot while they were in Kimono's. Now the forecast called for clouds and rain which really sucked because there is a GORGEOUS view of the ocean from a mountain side road. We went anyways and lo and behold, the SKY OPENS UP! For about 5 minutes we got amazing blue sky. It was awesome! We tried a few other locations, but by that time it was about 1pm and we were hungry and cold.

For lunch they had the idea that a grill at the Oyster festival would be a good idea. Hahaha!!!! They're one of the most wonderfully eclectic couples I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. So many things could have turned the afternoon into a giant ball of "OH CRAP!"
1) It was COLD!
2) EVERYTHING smelled of oyster brine and grill smoke!
3) It was FREAKING COLD!
4) Expensive Kimono rentals and sausage grease is NEVER a good combination.

Anywho, we go to meet up with everyone else. Now the whole deal is like a large covered pavilion with small grills set up for people. You go buy oysters and other things and cook them yourself. We arrive and immediately you can hear everyone turn their heads and say, "EHHHHHHH?!" It was like Brittney Spears arrived! Imagine you are chillin' out, drinking beer and eating oysters with friends when two English teachers wearing very expensive wedding kimono's arrive out of nowhere, trailed by a photographer snapping away like mad. Random people started to come up and ask for pictures! It was a media circus! There was even one really creepy guy who was taking pictures with his cellphone. I chased him off by taking his picture. Haha! Finally we were able to settle in and Danielle managed to enjoy a Beer and Sausage. Lovely! All in all, we were the best dressed group to enjoy Oysters and Beer. (well everyone else. I was Driving...) But more importantly, it actually worked out really well! There were no spills on the Kimono, and I had me a grilled chicken breast and an amazing slice of cheese bread (one of my biggest regrets is that I didn't take a picture of the cheese bread...)

We packed up and Danielle went back the stylist to change and redo her hair (I feel it's important to note that she was up at 7 or so after sleeping at 3am the night before.) I managed to get in 30 minutes of naptime and got ready for the reception. (Note: Being the lazy slob that I am, I opted to sleep instead of removing the smell of grill smoke from my being. Classy.)

The reception was held at the Navy base in Sasebo. I've only been there once and it seemed pretty big, but once I got in I almost wet myself. It really was incredibly beautiful. The Bride and Groom sat on a stage with a red torii in the background and everyone sat at a table surrounding an open space with a really beautiful white lily centrepiece. Anyone who downplays presentation is an idiot. But I'm going to stop before I lose all sense of my manhood. I spent some time taking pics of everything before the masses entered.

Oh, it was DARK. Now, I don't know if you know this, but I have some shaky hands. Like seriously shaky. It's really bad. And in low light conditions, that's not a good thing. I think this was the craziest part of the day. I had to take so many pictures to get one or two that I liked and sometimes I couldn't get a shot I liked at all.

I'm going to be honest, the worst thing about doing the wedding photography gig is missing shots. I mean it. Especially if you are friends with the bride and groom. I could literally go on ad nauseum about the number of shots I wanted to turn out that completely flopped. And while a lot of it had to do with my own ineptitude as an amateur, it has even more to do with not being more direct with people. It's really hard to take pictures when you have 39 other Japanese women trying to get the same shot with their cameras. At some point, I probably should have just stood up and assumed some authoritative pose. But that would draw unnecessary attention to my stankin’ self.

The night started out with speeches and video presentations followed by the serving of dinner. Now usually you get the "Beef of Chicken" deal but this was different. I'm talkin' BUFFET! Aw, hells yeah. Now I'm not the biggest fan of the Country Kitchen Buffet stylin's, but this was AMAZING! I'm talking Fish, Chicken, salad bar (and not in the ghetto-tastic way, but the salad-tastic way) and ROAST BEEF! When you go about a year without seeing a large cut of beef, seeing some dude carve meat is indescribable. Needless to say, I took pics.

The night progressed with a ceremonial dance by the priest who performed the wedding ceremony. It was pretty cool. He was dancing with three swords (one was held in his mouth) and doing somersaults! Dancing with the father and mother of the bride and groom followed and all those other wonderful moments that require capturing. You’ll notice I’m skimming through these details. There was actually a lot going on with speeches, singing, toasts, videos and whatnot. But this point was probably where I was secretly buggin’ out. I remember one point where I couldn’t get a decent shot out of like 100 pics. But it soon passed and I even found myself just watching the magic that is a wedding reception.

Then the monkeys came out.

By monkeys, I mean dance monkeys. Gino's friend Charles DJ'ed for a bit and good times were had. While this was going on, Gill, another ALT at the wedding was preparing a small music joint named Rogiq for the after party. I would also like to note that she has the voice of an Angel and can reduce you to tears with the single utterance of a note. We all headed over there and spent the rest of the night dancing away and listening to tunes. I ended up bouncing at around 1 because I had school the next day.

Now Gino and Danielle were headed to Kyoto to show their folks around Japan in two days and I had a conversation class to teach that day so quickly rushed to sort pictures, edit and print out an album. I really really wished that I had one more day to actually make a proper album rather than just stick pictures in, but I think it turned out nice. (I’m not a perfectionist by any means, but I can’t help but think of a hundred small things I could have changed as I type this out.) At this point I was completely drained but drained in the best way possible! I brought the Album to the newly married couple and waited for their response.

SUCCESS!

I'm not going to lie. Seeing the two look through the album with huge smiles on their faces just made EVERYTHING worth it. I'm sure once they have a good look at the album they'll notice errors here and there, but for now I'm gonna call this a personal win. Hooray for me!

I slept like a baby that night.

It's interesting being on the other side of a wedding. Heck, it's interesting being at a wedding period. But being able to see everything that happens behind the scenes and try to capture it all is a totally different creature. Through the course of the day I took about 1364 pictures and actually managed to get a couple shots here and there that were pretty good. It's actually a lot of work and if you're a lazy bum like me it can be a bit intimidating at times. That being said, I would have done it again in a heart beat. With a few changes here and there on my part.

1) You can never have enough memory cards
2) Take charge. People need to respect your authority!
3) Make business card! Who knows?
4) Don't think about shots missed. Stuff happens.
5) External Flash for indoor shots. If I had an extra 400 bucks, it wouldn't have been a problem. Ah well.

So that's that. It was an absolutely amazing experience and even greater honour to participate in something as important as a wedding. I can only hope for another opportunity to do it again!

THE END.

Okay, so it's a bit longer than a blurb. Haha! Appologies if you actually read the WHOLE thing. Here's a link to the facebook albums.

Hitoshi's foray into Wedding Photography vol.1
Hitoshi's foray into Wedding Photography vol.2

-Hitoshi "It's sunny today!" Murakami