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Monday, May 28, 2018

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?











2 comments:

  1. Thank you. This information is very useful for photographers. Warm regards!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Alfredo.I only just noticed your comment.I am glad you appreciated it and probably have similar ideals.

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