The Crew: Who's shooting your wedding?

I believe it's very important to know who's shooting your wedding.  When a client books me, they get me; period, however I can't shoot a wedding alone. This is especially true when it's a wedding video. There's simply too much gear, and too many events going on to cover it well by myself. There are some wedding cinematographers that shoot solo and do a very good job of it, but it isn't my style.

Pamela and I shoot nearly every wedding together. She shoots "B" camera, always playing off my camera angle. She is also is fantastic at keeping track of our gear, because if we aren't careful, we could easily leave a crucial (and expensive) piece of gear behind. Luckilly I'm happy to say that in six years of shooting weddings, I've never lost a piece of equipment. We have a system and a check list when prepping gear, because there are so many things to remember.

When we need third cinematographer I look to Jessica Fisher. Jessica isn't exclusively a wedding shooter, which is why I love working with her.  She's a freelance cinematographer and camera assistant, and she's fantastic to have along on our wedding work.  Her eye is different than mine, and it lends itself very well to my wedding work.  Jessica just shot a independent feature film called "Trash and Progress" directed by Abraham Dieckman.

Chris Poeschl is another cinematographer that works with our team as needed.  Chris, like me, graduated with a Cinematography degree from the Academy of Art in San Francisco.  Chris shoot music videos, corporate work and weddings.  Chris runs a production company called Bent Lens Productions. He has an incredible work ethic, and he's much taller than me (this actually is a bonus when shooting over crowds).

I choose my people very carefully, as they not only shoot the video that ends up in client's films, but they represent Luke Goodman Photo + Cinema.  I'm only as good as the team around me.

photos by Tanja Lippert, Pamela Francisco and Luke Goodman.