Our latest shoot was a wedding for Leslie and Daniel on the Valley Gem sternwheeler out of Marietta, OH. When Leslie had first asked if we could take photos of her upcoming wedding for her, we were pumped. I mean really pumped! How often do you get to cruise the Ohio river on anything, let alone a sternwheeler? The opportunities for awesome shots was going to be practically limitless...just carry the camera around and it could almost capture amazingness all on it's own without any human intervention!Yeah, right!
First off, Leslie, Daniel and their entire families were just wonderful to work with. So upbeat and more than willing to do anything we wanted to do to get memorable photos. Just a great group of people. So as far as models go it was a home run!
Next up was it was just about a perfect day...high 70's and sunny. Beautiful blue skies and the river was just gorgeous...another home run!
We arrived a little early and went aboard the Valley Gem and started scouting it out a little, and though we did decide there were only 2 - 3 nice spots to take the formal portraits, we still didn't anticipate any problems...until all the people started to arrive! Oh dear...
Imagine two mobile homes stacked on top of each other. Two mobile homes about 24 feet by 60 feet. Now imagine 150 people ALL on either the top deck or ALL on the bottom deck...never divided between the two. Can you say crowded? Now don't get me wrong, it wasn't like people were sardines. Everyone had a seat and everyone was comfy, but as photographers Heather and I are used to moving around a bit, finding the right angle...different perspectives...mixing it up. Not here. One spot for each of us and that's where you stayed. We were able to get all the important stuff you're suppose to...but we had to work for it!
Moral of the story : Never think the lenses and angles you usually use will work for your next wedding. This was the first time our 70-200mm was actually a liability to have...just not enough room. At least we have an excuse for buying another new lens(that 50mm f/1.4 may be calling our name)!
Thanks for the Capt. of the Valley Gem for letting us in his lair for the above shot. What an absolutely great group of people to work with!
Jeffrey
