Entry #3

Dates: 4/16-4/29

Activities: Assist photographing 2 weddings

Technical Information: Light meter, 3-4 Canon DSLR Cameras, video light, ceiling flashes

Reflection: April is a busy month at Tammy Wingo Photography! It seems like every girl in the world plans her wedding this month! Hannah and I assisted another wedding together on the day that all of the tornadoes just swept through North Carolina! The wedding was at Duke Gardens and it had been pouring earlier in the day. Our bride, Ashley, remained very calm and sure enough, the rain stopped by early afternoon and by ceremony time, the sun was shining and you never would have known there were horrific storms around the area. The next wedding of April, I assisted Tammy by myself and it took place at Fearrington Village. The setting was absolutely beautiful and I was able to use one of Tammy’s cameras at this wedding to photograph during the ceremony. I had a big job awaiting me as I was in charge of snapping the first kiss! I needed to make sure that the camera was set to the right light settings and put in the right position to capture the special moment for the bride. It was definitely one of the highest pressured moments of the internship so far.

As I progress through this internship, Hannah, Tammy and I are figuring out each other’s strengths when it comes to communication. Photographing a wedding is a busy day and sometimes we have to read each other’s minds to get the job done. As supervisor, Tammy makes all the big decisions as far as what gets done and when, but while she is shooting, Hannah and I have to be in charge of making the small decisions, such as which cameras need new batteries when, where can the camera bag be set that it is a safe place, and when to tell Tammy that it’s time to stop shooting and move on to the next section of our checklist. It is a very cooperative environment between the three of us, and we often bounce ideas off of each other. If it were to be competitive, we would never get the job done. To be a successful photographer, you need to learn to cooperate with others and make quick decisions. When meeting with Tammy and soon to be when editing images, our dress code is very laid back and casual, as we are not in as much of a professional setting. At wedding and other events, however, Hannah and I are expected to dress nicely and formally. We are allowed to wear a dress to weddings, but I have found that I prefer wearing dress pants and a dress shirt to the chilly spring weddings. We are expected to be very honest with each other as we make decisions and provide each other with opinions. We are also obviously expected to treat our clients with the greatest amount of respect and kindness possible as to assure a pleasant experience with the business.