Wedding Photography-My Process

Yikes! Another few weeks have passed without any blogging. Admittedly,I am lazy and need to make a better effort at this.
It is April and it is wedding season. I am fortunate to have been hired by a friend to shoot his daughters wedding this coming Saturday and I have been thinking alot about how I got to this point in my young career as a photographer. I ventured into this medium mostly as a creative outlet but also in an attempt to make a modest living from it, if only part time. I figure, like anything else I attempt, I would end up going "all in" and if I stuck with it why not recoup some of my initial investment.
I put much effort into mastering my first Nikon digital cameras and reading and studying as much as I could get my hands on. I shot hundreds of images ( the blessing of digital) and was able to see rapid improvement over a short period of time. God blessed me with an eye and a creative bent so coupled with my love of technology and this medium I was able to produce some fairly decent prints.
Like alot of people in my shoes, and with the digital age there are a gazillion, I was asked the inevitable question, "would you want to shoot my wedding? I can't pay you much but I am sure we could both benefit from it." Something to that effect. I said sure! I ascribe to the Herbert Spencer notion of "contempt prior to investigation" as being a stumbling block to success so I decided early on to learn all aspects of photography and then narrow my focus to a few paths. I had no idea what I was in for!
Wedding photography offers a pressure all its own. It offers exhilaration, exhaustion, humility, and a sense of being in the midst of true love and joy if only for that moment. It is a demanding and unforgiving master.
Fortunately, I come from a background in the entertainment industry where "one chance is all you get" is the norm so I felt right at home in that respect. I also have been a guest at many a wedding so I am familiar with the format. The hardest part of approaching this avenue of photography is in the business end of it. It is this that I will attempt to explain, my process at least, in my next blog.
Until then......