Last weekend, we celebrated the wedding of my childhood friend Joe to the charming Pamela in Austin. Joe’s dad Paul officiated. Rain could not dampen such a beautiful day.
I was not the wedding photographer and the formal photos haven’t been published yet. However, on the sly, I did snap these 3 images.
The first look as Papa Rivers looks on
Joe with my mom Sue and Brian P’s mom Ann
Daniel P. and Jen
While I wasn’t the wedding photographer (FYI, if you ask me to shoot your wedding, I’ll almost certainly tell you no), Joe & Pam asked me if I could build a photobooth for their celebration. While I’ve shot lots & lots of step-and-repeat pictures with studio lighting, tons of formal portraits, and certainly seen my fair share of drunk Santas, I’ve never built a setup where guests could take their own pictures using professional lights & photo gear.
Drunk(ish) Santa
I machined a little box with an arcade-game button which would allow guests to trigger their own photos.
The box is filled with TONS of hot glue to act as a strain relief on the cord so that it doesn’t get yanked out by unruly guests. The cord is 25′ long so that it can be dressed to the floor, the stand, and finally a strain relief at the camera to ensure that the camera & connection can’t get yanked. I showed this trigger box to a TV engineer at work and said “well, this should hold up for 1 wedding, right?” Remember that TV engineers have to make EVERYTHING war-ready and battle-hardened because of the abuse field journalists and photographers inflict. In absolutely appropriate TV engineer fashion, he took the box in his hand, thoughtfully turned it over and over, and said nothing. Finally after about 30 seconds of inspection, he handed it back to me and replied “Well, I guess that depends entirely upon the wedding, doesn’t it?”
Indeed. Too true.
Point taken.
Here’s the final setup courtesy of my setup assistant Brian. Notice that there’s only 1 stand which has the camera & light and that it is weighed down by many sandbags. The whole intention of this is that it requires no intervention during the event.
In short, the booth worked out great. However, I truly had no appreciation for how quickly a collection of 7 year olds and semi-drunk adults could fill multiple 16GB memory cards when given a trigger button, a fast camera and a bright flash. I have 100’s of pictures of an empty wall thanks to one particular little man who was fascinated with how quickly he could repeatedly push the button. One of the beautiful things about professional lighting & camera gear is that you can shoot it FAST — like several times a second FAST. HUNDREDS. OF. PICTURES. OF. A. BLANK. WALL.
No matter. The booth turned out great!
Here’s the Westbury Houston Crew — Me, Ralph, Jen, Sue, Daniel P. Paul (Joe’s dad), Joe, Brian P. Betty (Joe’s mom), Gerry (Brian & Daniel’s dad), Melissa (Brian’s much better half), and Ann (Brian & Daniel’s dad).
Brian needs to poop
Joe with brother Ben
Photobomb
The Rivers Nuggets — Brandy (with Beau Austin), Joe & Pam, Ben (wife Tammy is hidden in the back), Bethany (with Beau Eric)
There were no male dancers at the bachelorette party. Betty was not so lucky at the wedding.
The Rivers Men
The photos ranged from sincere and sweet.
To cute.
To ridiculous.
All in all, it was a fantastic night celebrating a fantastic couple starting the next phase of their life!
Click here to view the full gallery of photobooth images from Joe’s wedding. Joe & Pam’s Wedding Photo Booth
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Want to see more pictures or get a print? Here’s the galleries: http://davidcox.smugmug.com/Family