Mike Zohn's Wedding

[P3D Bruce Rosenberger <BR3D@xxxxxxx>]

I wanted to share this article that I wrote for 3D Ink with everyone...
3D Wedding
At the April meeting of In Depth the Stereo Photography, Cliff Howard handed 
me a posting from the Photo-3D. It was a request from a Mike Zohn, a regular 
on Photo-3D, looking for someone  from the Allentown area  to shoot 3D 
photographs at his wedding. Being one of two stereo photographers in the area 
(that I'm aware of). I E-mailed Mike to say that I would be glad to help out. 
We traded a few E-mails to nail down the specifics. Mike offered to pay for my 
time, but not being a professional, I instead asked Mike to bring the slides 
to a future meeting of  In Depth as payment.
The wedding was held outdoors at the Longswamp Bed and Breakfast, the evening 
of June 7th, 1997. I arrived two hours early and soon met Lea, who was doing 
the "2D" photography. I asked if I could just tag along as I'd never before 
taken wedding photographs. Lea explained that she too rarely took wedding 
photos. Lea is a professional photographer who has worked with Mike in his 
professional capacity as an art editor. My concerns were soon put to rest as I 
realized that Mike had a good idea as to what he wanted in the way of 
photographs. With suggestions from Lea, and a few from myself, we managed to 
take an awful lot of photos that evening. I shot four rolls of film, taking 
one picture to every four or five of Lea's (bear in mind that Lea was taking 
photos in both color and black and white). Lea was very helpful, quickly 
grasping the concept of 3D photography, and making suggestions as to good 
shots. Later on I asked if Lea had ever seen any of Mike's stereo shots and 
was surprised to find that she had not. I showed her one that I had in my back 
pack, and sat there silently amazed that she had so quickly grasped the 
concept of an added dimension. 
Mike and his new wife, Chris, had many interesting relatives and friends, 
quite a few of whom knew about stereo cameras. Mikes grandmother explained 
proudly that she had gotten Mike started in 3D photography when she gave Mike 
all of his grandfather's camera equipment, which included a Stereo Realist. 
One thing I did find interesting; Lea pointed out that New Yorkers wear a lot 
of black, even to weddings. Indeed, while photographing the wedding I noticed 
that the grooms side was all dressed in black while the brides side, from the 
Lehigh Valley area, was not. 
We started by shooting all the photos before the wedding while we still had 
the light. Lea would set up the groupings, take a few shots with color film, 
and then while she retrieved her camera loaded with black and white film I 
would try to shoot the grouping from some interesting angle. Not the easiest 
assignment. I tried to rearrange the folks in several shots, but found it to 
be a little too time consuming. The wedding got started about twenty minutes 
late. That's when I found the biggest problem with taking 3D at weddings, 
getting close enough to take a good photo. Luckily, we were able to restage 
some of the shots after the wedding. The Rabbi was also helpful, letting us 
know that he had no problems with our photographing the wedding and even 
offering us some insights as to some of the tradition and when and where the 
best photo opportunities could be had.
I have yet to see the photographs, although Mike has assured me that they look 
just fine. I suspect that I owe a great deal to my Sunpak 383 flash. An 
electronic eye flash can be an invaluable asset to stereo photography as it 
judges how much of a flash you'll need in any situation. Mike's choice of 
Kodachrome 64 may also have contributed to our success. K64 seems to be more 
forgiving in it's exposure latitudes. Maybe next time I'll use my View-Master 
Personnel (would you like to see my wedding "reels?").                Bruce M. 
Rosenberger


                           


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