A petition demanding better relations between wedding photographers and vicars has attracted media attention this week. Despite the majority of wedding photographers being easy to work with, some situations have become memorable for all the wrong reasons. One retired vicar, who conducted over 400 weddings with dozens of photographers, remembers cases of photographers “clambering over chairs” in pursuit of pictures and causing “total mayhem.” “If they were out of sight, there was no problem,” he says.
A wedding photographer in Kingsbridge, Devon, Lorna Yabsley, whose portfolio includes more than 700 weddings across 40 years, also claims to have been treated like a “third-class citizen” on several occasions. Though the 59-year-old has seen changes in wedding styles and preferences, she sees a lack of distinction between amateurs and professionals. Her “fly-on-the-wall approach” to photographing has not always been welcome by church officials. The “snobbery” towards photographers has led some to treat them in a “patronising, off-hand manner,” says Yabsey.
In some cases, couples have had to remind photographers and church officials that their wedding day is meant to be about them. One couple who got married in 1995 recalled how the vicar was in a “foul mood.” He warned the photographer they could take only one photo in the church and none from the aisle. In 1973, another couple in Newton Abbot, Devon, had the opposite problem, as a “scene-stealing” photographer was treating the ceremony like a photoshoot.
The retired vicar came up with an effective way of working with photographers, inviting them to the rehearsal and advising them on where to stand to get their shots while causing minimal disruption. At the end of the day, the couple should have a good wedding, and that involves a balance between the ceremony and their record, he says
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More