Code of Conduct for Wedding Photographers

Myself giving direction to the wedding party.

 I am a retired Wedding Photographer but still interested in the art of Photographing weddings and learning.

I have been watching a lot youtube instruction on photography lately and was disturbed when I saw a prominent online teacher using dialogue with his customers that I found unsettling.
He uses it to get a responsive expression and emotion but........
There is a fine line in my opinion between what is acceptable and not acceptable.

While jokes between friends who know each other might be acceptable, in today's climate we need to wake up to there is a fine line between fun and "felt or perceived"  sexual harassment.

People have different standards and we as photographers should not assume that even though someone laughs at what we say, or does what we ask during posing, that they are comfortable with what you are saying and suggesting.

I photographed a couple of weddings in an Adelaide Church years ago and while the priest was talking to the couple and the wedding party out of the gaze of the congregation, he was making some very suggestive remarks.
I was tempted to report him to his superiors and in retrospect I should have.
Another photographer had done a wedding at the same church and noticed the same behaviour.

As can be seen today it does not take much for people's careers to be destroyed overnight when people start saying "me too".

I am all for fun dialogue to relax wedding couples and others when having their photos taken but........

I did a a quick search for code of conduct for wedding photographers and the few I looked at did not seem to be addressing this problem.

Below are a couple  codes of conduct links I found.

https://www.aipp.com.au/about/aipp-code-of-professional-practice

http://www.prowedphoto.ca/index.php?p=code

Also see a link below to my youtube channel talking about the profile of a wedding photographer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATgCH2ByWdE&t=7s


So do any photographers think about this?

Consider the Lillies--- more from Oswald Chambers

From today's daily devotional by Oswald Chambers

https://utmost.org/

Living Simply— Yet Focused

By Oswald Chambers

Look at the birds of the air….Consider the lilies of the field… —Matthew 6:26, 28

“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin”— they simply are! Think of the sea, the air, the sun, the stars, and the moon— all of these simply are as well— yet what a ministry and service they render on our behalf! So often we impair God’s designed influence, which He desires to exhibit through us, because of our own conscious efforts to be consistent and useful. Jesus said there is only one way to develop and grow spiritually, and that is through focusing and concentrating on God. In essence, Jesus was saying, “Do not worry about being of use to others; simply believe on Me.” In other words, pay attention to the Source, and out of you “will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). We cannot discover the source of our natural life through common sense and reasoning, and Jesus is teaching here that growth in our spiritual life comes not from focusing directly on it, but from concentrating on our Father in heaven. Our heavenly Father knows our circumstances, and if we will stay focused on Him, instead of our circumstances, we will grow spiritually— just as “the lilies of the field.”
The people who influence us the most are not those who detain us with their continual talk, but those who live their lives like the stars in the sky and “the lilies of the field”— simply and unaffectedly. Those are the lives that mold and shape us.
If you want to be of use to God, maintain the proper relationship with Jesus Christ by staying focused on Him, and He will make use of you every minute you live— yet you will be unaware, on the conscious level of your life, that you are being used of Him.

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Have you heard of Keith Green?

When my wife and I were young Christians in the late 1970's and early 80's  one of the greatest influencers we had for our Faith, someone who challenged us all, was the late Keith Green.

Keith Green was an amazing Musician, Songwriter and Evangelist all in one.

A book about his life written by his wife after his tragic death in a plane crash, his own which he was flying, is called "To Obey is better than Sacrifice".

Keith preached and played and sung at amazing Gospel Events around the world.

Just go onto youtube and you will find the many examples of his ministry and gifts.

He and his wife established "Last Days Ministries" and made much material available to help new Christians.

One tract, which I still have, was "What's wrong with the Gospel?"

This youtube video is Keith explaining his reasons for writing this and how his faith was growing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP5fZU_NnTY

This blog is just to encourage the younger generation to discover his music and his message.

Above all to discover the  God in Jesus, who was his Lord and Saviour and mine also.

Below are 2 links.

One that shows the amazing talent Keith had even as an 11 year old.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ6Vi2PUx08

Another to give you an example of his music and ministry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzWyZxlwGKI

I trust you will find this challenging and a blessing.

Many of course are already greatly appreciative of his legacy.

Boxed in in a black dark place?

Today I read of yet another discovery of a previously unknown "blackhole".

This from the ABC.

"Professor Tamara Davis, an astrophysicist at the University of Queensland, says it has implications for our understanding of how it all began.

YouTube: YouTube: Stephen Hawking explains black holes

"There's a big mystery about how these supermassive black holes form, because we don't understand how something could get that big that quickly; our normal theories don't work," she says.

"And it might mean that there were seeds to these black holes in the very early universe.
"During the birth of the universe, some really massive seeds were created that these black holes then formed around."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-15/monster-black-hole-discovered,-and-its-growing-very-fast/9761540

I always find it interesting when new discoveries like this are made.

We all ponder the heavens particularly when we are somewhere where we can see the night sky in all its brilliance.

As a creationist rather than an evolutionist it seems to me that  secular scientists are ever learning but each new discovery puts them back to the drawing board when their previously long held views are challenged.

And yet for the Christian who is a scientist, each new discovery makes them marvel even the more about our Creator and His creation.

A dichotomy for sure.

Where do you stand?

Have you examined the evidence for the creation story with an open mind?

We can of course be in a deep dark space within.

 The creator of the "black holes"Jesus, can assist you to escape from your own.

I love what Stephen Hawking says in the linked you tube video.

"If you feel you are in a blackhole you can get out of it so don't give up".

I couldn't agree more.



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The Tamron Fotovix- The shape of things to come?

When the digital photography world was just beginning to encroach on analogue(film) photography along came the state of the art Tamron Fotovix. (1991)

The one pictured is the amateur model and there was a more expensive one for about $3000.

For a couple of years I had my heart set on one of these quite expensive items.

I am glad I never wasted my money on one.

The apparatus was designed so you could scan negatives or positive films and transfer them to a TV screen or a Video Tape.

This was before digital cameras had really come into their own.

Everyone was still shooting film.

Now there are film scanners that can do the same thing.

The only time I saw one of these being used successfully for commercial purposes was when we had a family holiday in the Australian Alps at Mt Hotham in 1992.

Photographers were employed by an entrepeneur who had set up a photo business based on one of these.

Photographers would photograph, on negative film, holiday makers snow boarding and skiing over jumps etc.

The business owner would then develop the films and show them on a tv screen with a number for each pic.

People would check them out and choose one or two  and he would print them for a price after they placed their order.

He seemed to be doing a roaring trade.

A curious thing that was seen as very innovative at the time.








 

"Shutterbug in the Bush" a book review.(sort of)

One of my favourite photographers that I came across when I was starting my photographic journey was Jocelyn Burt.
The late Jocelyn Burt was a Australian Landscape and travel photographer.
She authored and produced numerous pictorial books about Australia.

In her latter years she was based near Bright in the picturesque Ovens Valley.

My friend Ray Smith was her local pastor and he had offered for me to meet her on one of my trips
to Victoria but sadly I never got to take up the offer before Jocelyn died.

He autobiographical book,"Shutterbug in the Bush" I found enthralling when I read it.

Amazingly a book about photography, by a photographer, and not one photograph in it.

You would think how can that hold my attention but it did and still does.

I have put together quite a collection of Jocelyn's Pictorial books as they are often found in used book stores.

I have taken the liberty to include a little text from the book and one of the illustrations for you to encourage you to go searching for the book. 

The book is illustrated by Eva Wickenberg.