03/08/2021
When I started working with Travis, I was shocked at how many men filmed weddings. I always envisioned wedding related industries to be bridal, elegant, and driven by feminine energy. And they mostly are. Except wedding videography. There is a disproportionate number of men working in wedding videography compared to any other wedding industry. Why? I didn’t get it.
Until I shot my first wedding.
Six years ago, Travis took me shooting on my first wedding. He brought a camera for me to use and a shoulder rig, “in case the camera got heavy.” I soon found out that the shoulder rig was too heavy and bulky, so I carried the camera instead. Travis would look at me over my shoulder and watch my shaky footage as I was trying to film a shot. He looked at me askance and said, “just hold the camera still.” I was dead. My arms were giving out. The camera had no shoulder strap, I had barn dust between my toes, and my earrings kept clipping the straps of my dress. I was done. How did this happen? Travis made this look like a breeze.
It didn’t take me long to put the pieces together. The muscle it takes to hold a camera while filming is serious. It’s like a day at the gym. Arm extensions, lifting, holding, holding while extending, carrying, stairs, oh and if you get shaky the footage is unusable.
Well, I knew Warner Bros. wouldn’t be calling me anytime soon. To film anything. Ever. By the end of that first day, my arms were visibly shaking.
We got in the car and Travis said, “Wow, I had so much fun filming with you. You did great!” I sat and listened as he raved about me being in the right place at the right time and shooting all of the emotions.
Hmm…
The next wedding things went a little differently. He could see what I struggled with and made changes. He tried a different rig, a different camera, different lenses. And he continued doing that for five years until we got it right.
As he was able to help me find manageable options, he learned to really enjoy having a woman around for the day. Travis quickly recognized that women brought specific strengths to the bridal world and wanted them on his team. He began hiring more women and realized that just because they weren’t as available didn’t mean they weren’t as hirable. With his years of experience, he helped them fine tune their film kit to be more manageable for their needs.
We support women working with technology. The camera world is a male dominated industry. It’s tech-savvy and equipment heavy. Largely speaking, it does not appeal to women. What we see is a lot of women gravitating toward photography. Holding one or two cameras, lenses in a bag, and that’s it. Often, we hear female photographers commenting on our equipment. We hear, “that looks so heavy” or “y'know I never even tried with video because it always intimidated me.”
Me too, girl, me too.
But I finally found something that works for me. And so has our team.
Men bring some amazing things to this field and I am personally grateful for all of the equipment made by men that help us do our jobs. But we recognize all of the untapped potential that women can bring to the (bridal) table.
I think women have a bright future in wedding videography. Our daughter has toy cameras. She holds them up and says confidently, “Say cheese, Dad!”
We believe women can do it too.
#internationalwomensday
