Original subtitles

Hello friends, how are you?

How are things going?

I hope everything goes as well as possible.

Welcome to a new video.

In today's chapter I want to talk to

you about a wedding that we photographed three

years ago, or even four, sorry.

And it was specifically a wedding that we

photographed in Mallorca, in one of the best

hotels that we have visited in a long

time.

And the truth is that if I want

to talk to you about this wedding it

is because at first, when we hired it,

I came to think that this wedding was

the best of the year, or if not

the best of the year, one of the

best of the year.

So my expectations, as you can imagine, were

super high.

And curiously, the day before the wedding I

came to think that it was the worst

wedding that I was going to have to

photograph in many years.

It had become a nightmare.

Nothing more and nothing less.

Yes, yes, as I am telling you.

A nightmare.

That's why I chose this wedding to tell

you first what are the expectations that we

usually have all wedding photographers, including me, including

everyone, before getting to photograph it and the

mistakes that can cause that.

And then, what I'm going to take advantage

of, since I'm talking about this wedding, to

tell you how we photographed it, how we

developed it, and finally how it became a

success, so to speak.

Remember that it started very badly, but it

ended better.

So let's start a little bit and what

better than telling you what the background was.

I mean, everything that was hidden behind it.

And I'm going to go a little bit

detailing it and I'll stop at points that

I really think are important when we're going

to photograph, for example, a wedding.

You're going to see that I'm going to

be looking from time to time around here

because I have a lot of work and

I don't want to forget anything I want

to tell you today because every point I

have here is really important.

So let's start with the first thing.

I receive the request of a wedding planner

from Mallorca, which tells me that there is

a couple from Belgium who is really interested

in our services.

So we had the date available so I

sent them all the fees.

This wedding planner, whenever it has contacted us,

has always been for big weddings.

When I say big weddings, it means that

the place where this couple was going to

get married is the Son Claret hotel and

I know from experience that renting that hotel

for three days, which was the time this

couple was going to rent it, costs €300

,000.

You're kidding, right?

Yes, €300,000.

I knew it.

Anyway, whenever we receive a budget for this

wedding planner, it is usually a nice budget

and it is usually a couple with a

high purchasing power.

So I told Erika that we were about

to hire a big wedding.

In turn, when I began to intuit that

it was a big wedding, I have to

tell you that during the last years I

have been to different countries in Europe photographing

weddings or accompanying some colleagues to photograph weddings

like Fran Boutounet, Andrea Corsi or Fabio Mirula

and those three photographers have always helped me

to have a bigger portfolio of international weddings.

So, Fran Boutounet, who you will already know

because I have mentioned him a multitude of

times, had invited me to several very good

weddings in which I had achieved an incredible

portfolio and then Fran told me the next

time you have a big wedding call me

because I would like to accompany you and

I would like to feel how one of

your weddings is.

At that time, I began to experiment with

new ways of portraying or getting portraits.

I began to play a lot with hands,

with looks, with body language, with light, silhouettes...

I mean, I began to create the embryo

of what is now the way of portraying.

So, Fran wanted to come mainly for that.

So, gladly, I said yes.

Once we hired the wedding, I mean, when

I sent all the fees, all the information

and simply I sent it to the wedding

planner, the wedding planner gave it to the

couple and the couple simply accepted.

That's the way we sometimes have to work

with wedding planners.

Sometimes we don't know the couple until almost

the day of the wedding, but we always

usually send an email to the couple in

which we say hello, how are you?

Hey, thanks for contacting us, it's a luxury,

blah, blah, blah...

I sent an email and I didn't receive

an answer.

I sent another email again and I didn't

receive an answer.

I sent a third email again and I

didn't receive an answer.

So then, I didn't contact them again and

I didn't tell them anything else.

I just said, well, I'll see you on

the day of the wedding and we'll work.

Sometimes, when we work with couples with such

an acquisitive level, sometimes this kind of couples,

not always, only sometimes, this kind of couples

are above good and evil.

Do you understand where I'm going?

I mean, the photographer is always hired as

a waiter, or as a fireman, or as

a DJ.

So, if I didn't answer, nothing happened.

The wedding planner sent me, the week before

the wedding, a PDF with the whole agenda

or with the whole calendar of the different

days when things were going to happen.

I want you to see the calendar she

sent me.

One page, second page, more, more, and more.

As you can see, quite crazy, right?

There was a lot, a lot, a lot

of work to do on that wedding.

But well, we're used to that.

The truth is that I didn't pay that

much attention.

And the second that I started, that is,

that we started to look around, also, something

I would like to tell you is that

the wedding was not going to be celebrated

in a single venue, in a single hacienda,

in a single farm, I mean, it was

not developed only in Sainte-Claire, but also,

the ceremony was going to be celebrated in

another, or in another really incredible hacienda, which

is called Belmond, La Residencia.

I want to make something clear.

Both Sainte-Claire and Belmond are two incredible

haciendas, or farms, or hotels, amazing, in which

I have photographed amazing weddings in one place

and other weddings in another place.

And this couple had rented two really amazing

haciendas.

I mean, I was amazed by the money

that that couple was leaving not only in

Sainte-Claire, but also in Belmond, I was

amazed.

And also, what was going to happen was

that the wedding preparations would be in Sainte

-Claire and the wedding preparations with the girls

would be in La Residencia, in Belmond.

Mallorca is not very big, if we compare

it with Spain or with the rest of

Europe.

As you can see, Mallorca is a very

small island and if we stop to think

about it, in a corner of the island

there is both La Residencia and Sainte-Claire,

but in Loro.

Between each of them there was a distance

of around almost two hours or an hour

and a bit by car.

Of course, the most comfortable for us is

that everything happens in the same place.

Why?

Not only because of the comfort, but also

because of the degree of concentration.

I mean, what works with us, for example,

is that we arrive here, we start to

photograph, the ceremony is a few meters away,

the banquet is a few meters away and

the dance is also celebrated there.

I mean, we are totally concentrated in what

we have to do at all times.

Catching a car from a place, driving almost

an hour and a bit, doing the ceremony

and driving again another hour and a bit

in a place that is full of cars,

full of tourism, I mean, that I knew

or sensed that it could cause us a

maximum lack of concentration at all times.

So that was another problem that I wanted

to transmit to you.

Another problem, also important, was that when we

arrived on Friday, because on Friday there was

a kind of reception or party and such

and such, when we arrived on Friday to

photograph the preparations, because they put on makeup

and got ready as if it were the

day of the wedding, I'm talking about the

day before, okay?

When I arrive the day before, the first

thing I find is the boyfriend.

And I say, hey James, how are you?

How are you?

How's everything going?

And when I shake his hand, do you

know when someone shakes your hand and it

seems that he doesn't shake your hand, it's

like something very soft, it's like marking the

distance, right?

I immediately understood where everything was going.

And I ask James, do you need something

special for today or for tomorrow?

Photographically speaking.

And what he tells me, the first thing

he told me, yes, something very important, I

don't want you to make me pose.

I feel totally ridiculous.

And those photos seem totally ridiculous to me.

We hired you for who you are and

how you capture moments.

Don't bother us a second.

Literally.

I was stunned.

The first time a boyfriend marks me in

such a dry way, not so hard.

I say, yes, yes, of course, James, of

course.

Minutes later, I meet her, with Janik, and

I ask her the same thing.

Hi, how are you?

Something special for these two days?

And her answer was, well, I think a

little better than his.

Yes, look, we are constantly traveling all over

the world, as soon as we see the

family, as soon as we see the best

friends, and they are here.

Please, Victor, take as many photos as you

can, family, friends, all people here are important

to us.

So, please, I would like you to take

as many photos as you can.

Now comes one of the biggest problems.

When I was taking photos of the preparations

the day before, Erika was on her way

to the airport looking for Frank Boutonnet.

Because Frank arrived just in time, and we

decided it would be better if I started

the preparations alone, and they, even if they

arrived an hour later, nothing would happen, because

they were the preparations of the day before.

So Erika and Frank were at the airport

when I was taking photos, or I was

starting to take photos of the preparations.

At that moment, when I was taking photos

of the bride, I was there with the

make-up artist, the door of the suite

where I was with all the girls, and

two guys appeared who looked like models, not

photographers, because of the way they were dressed,

the way they were combed, their physical presence,

but those two guys, each of them had

two cameras, and not two amateur cameras, I'm

talking about the Sony, the Sony Alpha, and

the harnesses and everything.

And I was taking photos of the bride,

the door opens, I see them enter, I

mean, imagine, a huge suite, and in the

background they two arrive, they look at me

and I think, and these guests, they are

invited because they have to come with so

many cameras, they see me, their faces change

completely, and they leave the room, I keep

shooting, but thinking at the same time, those

are not guests, they are photographers, apparently professional

photographers, I mean, I was shooting and all

the cables I stopped everything, I went out

of the room to see what was going

on, to see if I could see them,

and to see what was going on.

I leave the suite and the first thing

I see is the wedding planner, a 50

-something lady, 60 years old, I've never seen

her nervous, never, never, never, and I see

her climbing the stairs, nervous is not enough,

I mean, hyper nervous, Victor, Victor, Victor, and

I say, yes, tell me, what's going on?

She says, you have to help me, I

say, what's going on?

She says, the photographers, and I say, Charlotte,

why didn't you tell me there were photographers?

She says, I just found out, they came

with the bride, I say, wow, and I

say, what do I do?

She says, they are super nervous, they are

super nervous, please, go downstairs, try to talk

to them, I'm sure you'll be able to,

because I haven't been able to, and try

to calm them down.

I say, wow, what seemed like a good

time is turning into a nightmare.

The bride looks like an idiot who doesn't

want photos.

I have a second team, the haciendas are

totally separated, I'm going to work like a

black man because I remember there was a

PDF full of information, I'm going to have

a hard time today.

And now I have to go down and

talk to some photographers who look like models

and tell them what?

So I go downstairs and they were like

waiting for me.

Of course, they didn't know me at all,

they didn't know me at all, because they

came from Belgium.

So when I go downstairs, I say, hello,

I just tell them I'm Victor, the two

of them came up to me like two

sharks, literally, they started yelling at me, what

are you doing here?

What if he was going to shoot?

How did they hire me?

I mean, they were super nervous, super, super,

super, super nervous, and with a very loud

tone, and I just the opposite.

I mean, I was getting almost punches as

if I were a sack, I mean, well,

not punches, but I was getting yelled at

like crazy.

There was a moment when I was about

to grab one of their necks because they

kept yelling at me.

I say, calm down, calm down.

And just as they finished, I say, well,

can I talk?

Yes, yes, of course.

And I say, look, they hired me for

the wedding planner, but for the boyfriends.

I have a contract signed, surely like you,

so we don't need to discuss more and

we're going to find solutions, okay?

Second, I saw them who were not the

type of photographer in which apparently it seems

that he has been 10 or 15 years

in the profession.

They looked like they were starting and as

I will tell you later, they were starting.

It was the second year, right?

The second year of a photographer and more,

when he is going to do a wedding

his expectations, like ours, were very high and,

of course, meeting with a team of photographers

did not seem good.

Well, not with a team, they had only

seen me, neither Frank nor Erika.

And I tell them, what is your style?

And they told me, we are photojournalists.

I say, perfect, if you are photojournalists, you

will work with a 35mm and an 85mm.

And we too.

And we're going to move all the time,

right?

So it's a wedding in very large spaces,

so don't worry.

And if we bother you, we stop working.

They were still super, super serious and very,

very, let's say, very, very clumsy.

And what they even said to me, but

you tomorrow, in the preparations, are you going

to photograph?

And I said, of course, obviously, I have

to go.

Well, we are not going.

I mean, that's how they were.

Finally, everything calmed down.

I told them to please calm down, to

relax, and that I promised them there would

be no problems.

I was thinking, and now when Frank comes,

what do I tell him?

Because I had invited him, because it was

supposedly my best wedding of the year, in

an incredible place, with an incredible couple, with

a good wedding planner.

I mean, everything was going very well and

suddenly everything was going very badly.

And then I say, when Frank comes now,

and on top of that, he didn't take

a wedding to come with me, he pays

the bill, he comes here, we make him

miss a weekend, I say, wow, when I

tell him this.

Well, when Frank arrives, I told him all

this, and I say, Frank, the groom doesn't

like portraits, he's not going to want them.

He says, oh la la, don't bother him.

I say, no, man, it's going to be

complicated.

And on top of that, as you can

see, there is a second group of photographers.

Frank was super professional and understood it, and

he started talking to them too, and in

the end everything was solved.

Well, more or less.

So we took pictures the day before, it

was a kind of Spanish party, in which

they were there drinking wine, champagne, a very

soft dance, some speech, nothing serious.

We got to the room that same night,

and there was a crisis cabinet, saying, well,

what do we do?

What's going on with this fucking wedding?

And well, we decided that we had two

options.

One, go into depression.

Going into depression means like, well, photographing the

wedding.

I mean, well, you have to photograph it,

you know, you put the camera, you let

time pass, there's nothing else, and what happens,

and that's it, it's over.

Or, being selfish.

What does that mean, being selfish?

It doesn't mean, we are the most famous,

the best, no, no, no, no, no.

Being selfish means that, ok, you hired us

for what we do, for the work we

do, so we're going to sweat everything, and

we're going to work, to give our best,

because that's what you want.

We're not going to bother you, we're not

going to be a problem all day, but

we're going to photograph what comes out of

our balls, I mean, in the best sense

of the word, we're going to do the

best job possible, and that's it.

And we're not going to think that if

we have to take a family picture or

we have to do a detail because that's

supposed to be done for the couple, no,

no, no, no, we're going to be ourselves

100%.

So, before continuing, I'd like to show you

this slide, it's a slide, well, it's the

slide of the same wedding, so you can

see, how bad it started, and well, when

you see the video, you'll say, fuck, if

you hadn't told me how bad this whole

wedding was, I'd think it was a mess,

ok?

So, I'll show it to you, and then

we'll talk.

Oh, I forgot, there was one more problem.

The wedding wasn't going to be a 10

-hour wedding, or an 11-hour wedding, but

a 17- or 18-hour wedding.

For us it was...

a mess.

But well, I won't entertain myself anymore, and

here's the video.

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I feel alright I

missed the bus enough to know that it's

not coming back I poked the bed so

much eventually it did attack She broke my

heart in two, then walked right out of

me Now she's off with somebody new Stranger

in a strange land I lost my old

friend Said son don't ever be afraid cause

this is not the end You'll be alright

I feel alright I

missed the bus enough to know that it's

not coming back I poked the bed so

much eventually it did attack She broke my

heart in two, then walked right out of

me Now she's off with somebody new Stranger

in a strange land I lost my old

friend Said son don't ever be afraid cause

this is not the end You'll be alright

I feel alright