A Documentary Photographer's Pre-Wedding Preparations
These are the items that I tick off ahead of a wedding assignment
- crowd rank
- curated
- alpha
- newest
- queue
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Tape lens hoods to lenses
Canon lens hoods are awful. They're always falling off. To prevent this, I use black tape to secure them in place.
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Clean lenses front and rear and check autofocus is working
Lenses get dirty during use. Before each shoot, I like to make sure the front and rear elements are working. I also check the autofocus. Lenses do break and the time to find out is before a shoot, rather than during.
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Format memory cards
I use the following:
1 x 16MB Sandisk Extreme III CF
2 x 4MB Sandisk Extreme IV CF
4 x 2MB Sandisk Extreme III CF -
Sensor cleaning
By far the most annoying thing concerning the use of DSLRs. Many have vibration-based self-cleaning functions these days. They only work in the minds of the camera manufacturer's marketing departments.
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Charge batteries
Camera batteries and flash batteries, plus spares.
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Check information
Review of locations, timings, weather, contact details and the names of the key people on the day. I also back this information up on to my iPhone, so that I have it both in hard copy and in an electronic format with me on the day.
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Check wardrobe
I usually wear a suit, so I need to make sure that it is clean and that I have a shirt ready. Sometimes, the wedding is a black tie affair, so I check with the couple before hand so that I can adapt and wear black tie too.
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Compile a nutrition package
On wedding days I live on bananas and energy bars, as well as a bottle of water. I eat in between locations.
In addition, I have some throat lozenges ready in my lens bag just in case a bout of tickly coughing strikes at the wrong moment
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Check the car
Specifically, do I have enough petrol for the day?
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Pack my bags
During a wedding assignment, I use a Shootsac. It is discrete and holds everything I need, including spare batteries, lozenges and cleaning cloths.
