Your wedding photos could be a disaster if your photographer doesn't carry backup gear
Here's a little behind the scenes peek into a real wedding disaster that could have RUINED this couples wedding day.
I remember the exact moment my camera stopped working the first time— I was photographing the bridal party in a field of long grass in 95 degree weather. We had just started doing bridal party photos and I could tell everyone was uncomfortable standing in this itchy grass. But the lightening was perfect and they had just walked 5 min to the minute of this field at sunset because it would make the bride happy. Welp, 2 poses into the bridesmaid photos, my camera screen died and refused to power back on. I tried taking the battery out and in but nothing changed. Thankfully, I had a backup camera body in my gear bag. I told the bridal party that my second shooter would be taking over for a few minutes and sprinted the 5 min up the hill to the reception venue where my backup gear sat. I grabbed the backup camera, swapped my camera cards, abandoned my dead camera and windedly jogged back to the field to finish out portraits. The bride and groom were none the wiser and we were able to keep photographing their day thanks to my talented second shooter and my backup camera.
I was sufficiently freaked out after this instance and promptly sent out my camera to be repaired and ordered a new camera body.
Ironically, the following season, my camera body also died during bridesmaid photos. 😅 What the heck yo?! This time, I was prepared and had my backup camera body steps away from where we were shooting. We rolled on with the rest of the day and the couple still has no idea what went down.
This time, I was able to get my camera body repaired by ended up having to rent a backup camera body for the 3 weddings I had booked for the following 9 days. (Ie: $$$$$)
Unfortunately, I’ve also been unlucky with lens. About once a season, one of my lenses also seems to kick the bucket. Causes of death include: camera bag falling on concrete, kiddos pulling mommies camera off the kitchen counter and the worst of all— unknown causes.
I’m going to get preachy for a hot second. A wedding cannot be ‘redone.’ Wedding photos are a once in a lifetime experience and a heirloom that lasts over a lifetime. It’s my job as a professional wedding photographer to safe guard every aspect of your wedding photos— which means carrying backup gear just in case. I’ve lost 2 cameras and 3 lenses over the course of 3 years. Most of these occurrences were during real weddings. It’s stressful folks but these occurrences won’t compromise my brides/grooms photos because I always carry backup gear.
