The pros and cons of portrait/wedding photography. From the assistant and photog's POV Pro: You are now your own boss Con: You really didn't believe that did you? Pro: You get to earn a living at what you love to do. Con: Sometimes you really hate your job. Pro: Kids shout out, "Hey camera guy/lady" everywhere you go and you get to see their parents smile at the blessed lil angel. Con: That blessed lil angel screamed at his little sister everytime she would start to smile the entire session making her cry more than once. Pro: You're getting paid to learn a craft you love Con: Of course you're the janitor, gopher, liason with angry customers, digital tech, computer tech, camera tech, equipment tech, prop tech, packmule, and a 1,000 other things. The boss poses, shoots and signs your check and that's about it. Pro: You get to meet all sorts of interesting people, some of which you will build a lasting friendship. Con: Some people have really nasty attitudes, and should be slowly tortured to death, and nothing you do will please them. Pro: You get to use the studio anytime you want for personal projects. Con: When do you get the free time to use it? Pro: You get to share that special day with couples, enjoying that love in the air and capture every moment of it forever. Con: The bride is unhappy with a few shots, you thought they were great but she just doesn't quite like them, and wants those all retaken at your expense. Flowers, tux's, flying people in, lodging, food, and of course transportation to the church again, adds up to a six digit figure. Her dad is a big time lawyer. Pro: Your boss starts to realize you are a photographer and actually know more than him/her. Con: You see them start to keep the resume's for assistants lying around. Pro: You get to play with all your favorite toys. Con: Your assistant drops the camera as you set up at a wedding, doesn't tell you and the apeture gets stuck at f2.8, when the viewfinder tells you f8, for 7 rolls of 32 exposures each. Every shot is 5 stops overexposed. Pro: You get to use some of the sweetest church interiors to shoot some weddings Con: The artwork on the walls has been coated with a super gloss finish, not seen under normal lighting. Every formal shot against the wall has a white background, from reflected flash. Costs the photog over $3000 to reshoot the walls a week later and have the lab scan and do the corrective artwork to fix it. Pro: Some couples are a joy to shoot. Great looking, pleasent and open to any ideas you throw at them. Con: They had a preconceived idea of what they wanted, and thought you were a mind reader. Pro: You get take women's portraits, sometimes nekkid or close to it, for their husbands or boyfriends. Con: Her husband/boyfriend his huge and very jealous and lets you know it. Pro: Sometimes kids do the cutest things for you. Con: Mom doesn't want cute, she wants looking at the camera, smiling and behaving. And she gets all flustered when you ask her to leave the camera room, because she's making things worse as she starts to get gruff with the kid making him/her go into their shell. Pro: You get to make everyone look their best and make them happy inside. Con: God and mother nature have a very sick and twisted sense of humor. Pro: You get to take a child's first portrait. The little bundle of joy just a few days or weeks old. Con: Mom is bound and determined that the child will smile and won't accept anything less. Pro: You get to play with and meet all sorts of pets. Con: Sometimes they think your territory is theirs and mark it as such. Pro: You get to go to all sorts of exotic locations and take portraits by special request. Con: A barn and pasture aren't exotic, and the landmines are everywhere. Pro: You get to see all the kids in their dance costumes and kids around with them Con: After 5 hours of 300 hyped up kids even Job's patience starts to wear thin. Pro: You get take weddings formals where everything and everbody looks great. Con: Uncle So n So dabbles in photography and wants to talk your ear off, ask you endless questions, and wants to know why you aren't shooting with the Whizzbang 9000 cause it's the best camera there is. And if you aren't using it then you can't be much of a pro. But seriously, I wouldn't trade what I do for anything. Except maybe for my own studio. Maybe one day, who knows. Even though these are all things that have really happened to me or other photogs it is meant very lightheartedly. Wondering what ya'll have for pros and cons.. Doug:)

I think you shot one to many weddings :P

These are funny.... !