This is not my job...

Yesterday it was my niece's first communion, a big family party. Her mother asked me if I could take care of the photos, something that I happily accepted. Poor crazy man, you don't know what you're doing...! and in fact I didn't, don't and won't probably ever know how to shoot such event. The good part is that everything happened at the family house, the bad part is that I had nowhere to put the strobes (one ended up on a tripod bouncing the light on the ceiling and the other on a Manfrotto clamp), and truly no clue of HOW to put them. I ended up with a mixed solution, trying to balance the light coming from the big window and the rest of the room, but it was only partially successful. Using a wide angle to take unusual shots I ended up with the majority of the photos with the flash well visible in the image, and a mixed bag of different exposures, from pretty clear images to very contrasty and saturated ones.

Well, eventually when we left the room to the garden things changed an my luck turned a bit. This is where I had most fun when the kids where playing or riding a mechanical bull, a very interesting photo op. I tried all possible combinations with the strobes and both in daylight (close to sunset with the sun already low), to twilight and night. This is where I probably spent an entire 2GB card, great fun.

Is quite a different thing photographing fish and people holding a fish from a family event like this. The responsibility, even you you're just doing it as a favour, is huge and the experience is very important. Something I truly don't have. Though, I sure learnt a thing or two and next time I would probably do it a tad better...maybe.