Wedding Photographers are sometimes like famous sportsmen, not just because we often find ourselves having to sprint over distances (although I’ve never seen Bolt run with a full camera bag), but because wedding photographers tend to have some very strange superstitions.
Sporting heroes have charms they wear, and bizarre rituals they feel they must go through before each competition. I was going to mention something about some sportsmen kissing balls, but I know how many readers of mine have dirty minds so I thought better of it. If your mind is in the gutter I’m not going to keep pushing you down!
So what rituals do photographers have? Well we all have to check our gear before each job, but that’s more logical than it is superstitious. Clients are not going to welcome me with open arms if I turn up with flat batteries and broken cameras. The night before a wedding my living room likes like one of those scenes from action films where the hero is laying out their weapons, checking they’re lubed and loaded; but with camera kit and without the tense background music. Well done if you got through that sentence without giggling at the word ‘lube’.
So do I have any lucky charms, rituals or even so much as a lucky pair of pants? Nah, but I do have a huge beard and epic dreadlocks. So if I cut off my beard and dreadlocks would I lose my magical photography powers? No, but my head would feel a LOT colder.