41
thePeorian.com
Commentary that is
sometimes funny, sometimes
edgy and always timely.
Read Paul Gordon’s blog:
Rated PG
ThePeorian.com
Don Wagner also got
interested in photography as a
kid and worked as a wedding
photographer for more than 20
years, starting in the late 1980s.
It was a long career compared to
most, he says.
“
The ‘life expectancy’ of a
wedding photographer is about
seven years,” says Wagner,
who mostly worked in Chicago
but left the business in 2010
to become a Princeville land
broker (who still does nature and
wildlife photography).
“
That seven years is pretty
well known in the industry –
unless maybe you have a degree
in psychology to be able to
deal with the stress of handling
people,” he continues.
For example, there are
unexpected surprises, shocking
as well as charming.
“
At one wedding I shot, after
the ceremony – during the first
dance – the bride took off her
ring, threw it at the groom and
left,” Wagner says. “For a second,
everyone at the reception thought
it was staged or something,
but she never came back. They
broke up.” Photographers see it
all, he adds.
“
The best part is meeting
engaging personalities, strangers
you might relate to immediately,
who are easy to work with and
appreciative of what you’re
doing,” Wagner says. “It
sometimes seemed easy and fun;
little kids are always adorable.
The worst is someone who, no
matter what, won’t be happy.
And, of course, there’s alcohol
involved, so things can run wild.”
Commercially, things got wild
after the change from film and
darkrooms to computers and
smart cameras – an unwinnable
challenge, Wagner says.
“
Technology was good for
the quality, but it really hurt the
industry,” he says. “When digital
took over, everybody I knew
had to cut back. We shot large
format and fees were $2,000 to
$3,000. Suddenly, ‘cheap and OK’
became preferable to ‘expensive
and great’.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 42
The Present
This photo and those on the previous and next pages are from a few of the weddings Christopher Cote has photographed
