At family gatherings, I often find that people always ask what I do for a living, why I do it and what I get from it and I always respond the same way. Wedding and events filming is both the hardest and easiest thing to do. I say it's the hardest because, unlike many other forms of film, you have to capture what is in front of you. More often than not, wedding film is incredibly intimate, incredibly informal and incredibly invasive. Large amount of videographers have a tendency of not recognizing a number of fundamental things about people, their loved ones or what being in the moment feels like. They often invade the space that they are in rather than molding in to the space they are operating.
When you film something as intimate as someones wedding day, you always have to keep in mind that, this is the most emotional day of their lives. It's filled with anxiety, stress, happiness. It's filled with joy, fear and sometimes, the overwhelming need to run away. Being in front of that many people, marrying the person you love, reading your vows and being trying to look as beautiful and happy as possible are all incredibly overwhelming thoughts to have in the space of a few hours. Adding a camera or two into that would make anyone go crazy.
The way we film is very much doing everything possible to mold into the setting, rather than stand out and be a focal point to your moment. Sometimes, it is rather challenging, given the size of the venue or church to be hidden and in those situations we do everything possible to get what we need and then mold back into the setting however many photographer/videographers don't recognize this. They forget that they, themselves would be incredibly anxious on a normal day to be filmed/photographed and get carried away with the job at hand rather than being aware.
Film, for me, is incredibly intimate. Having filmed wedding for the past 10 years, I can honestly say it's one of very few jobs that give you massive satisfaction when finished. You get to the venue and everyone's happy,excited, nervous. Throughout the entire day, everything is incredibly uplifting and positive. It's one of very few jobs where you never face aggression or annoyance, rather, faced with nerves and excitement. I chose to get into wedding film as a teenager, filming for a small photography company I found who would take me on as their videographer. 2 degrees later and I now run my own business, capturing the most important moment of peoples lives. It's a wonderful thing to do. It also makes me happy to know that something I create, something I make and something I spent hours upon hours obsessing over, stressing about, getting the perfect angles, perfect lighting, the perfect shot and the perfect edit, stays within your family, your home for the rest of your lives.