Saturday, August 28, 2010

One Wedding and A Leica, Part III

This must be a great year.  I don't remember having so many close friends getting married in the same year like this.  It's also great because I can now bring a real camera (other than a compact) to the wedding and stand a  chance of getting a few good shots.  This wedding is slightly different than the one earlier few months ago.  There are three separate events from the traditional Thai engagement, the church ceremony, and the evening reception.  The major different, though, is the size of this wedding which includes all the big names in business.  This alone entails a rather large group of hired photographers and videographers throughout the three events.  Which means getting a few good shots can be a little tricky, to say the least.  

Going to the wedding, I want to keep the M9 light so I can also keep my kids in check and mingle with friends without having to worry about my equipment.  So after some thinking, I decide on the following: 

Engagement ceremony - (held in confined space without too many guests - and, boy, was I wrong about that one) M9 + Zeiss ZM 50/2.0

Church ceremony - M9 + Noctilux for that low-light, magical background rendering, making the most of the church environment

Evening reception - Lots of people, low-light, M9 + 35 Summilux to handle low light and group photos

The biggest challenge, for me, shooting this wedding was the videographer who frequently swoops around the couple with his Canon DSLR, trying to shoot video footage.  This is an additional video to the main video camera.  I'm sure the photographers (from a different studio) were equally frustrated with him. Sometimes I wonder if the wedding photos / videos are actually more important than the wedding itself.  

Well, the final results are posted below.  Another confirmation that the M9 is truly a superb equipment that doesn't get in the way like big DSLR would. I hope you like them as much as I do.  


One of the better formality shots. My friend, the groom, seems tensed most of the time.






Just as the ceremony finishes, the couple is much more at ease.





The church exit fills with swooping videographer and other photographers.
I struggle with the Noctilux focusing here but the images are not too bad.





I like this candid shot of the groom.



The next couple to be married in November!


I pre-focus the 'Lux to shoot from my waist level. A fun shot of a friend of mine!



An evening formality on stage.  I love the contrast and how the backdrop is rendered.


A very happy couple cutting their wedding cake!


A small surprise from the groom who requested his cousin (a singer) to sing a special song for his wife.


Have a nice weekend,

Wisrute




4 comments:

  1. that's really good my friend... keep up to this blog!!! feeling that I might addict to this...

    Dean A.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dean,

    Thank you. I sure will keep updating the blog as long as work doesn't keep me too busy to shoot!

    Wisrute

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  3. Wisrute, how practical do you think it would be to photograph an entire wedding with the Noct f/1.0 or f/0.95?

    Ryan

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  4. Ryan,

    The Noct has a long focus throw compare to other M lens. I don't think it's best suited for professional wedding use as the only lens, unless you have another camera body. Either the f1.0 or f0.95, you will get very special photos, but they do take more effort also.

    If I had to choose a wedding with one lens, I'd go for a 50 Summilux or a 50 Summicron simply because they can be focused much faster than a Noct.

    ReplyDelete