Group Photographs & Social Distancing… so how does that work…?
In an age of the Covid-19 pandemic weddings have been few and far between. Those that have taken place have been significantlt reduced in size and as a responsible photographer I now have the added responsibilty of trying to keep my Clients as safe as possible.
So when it comes to those all important group photographs how does that work?
I thought long and hard about this and devised a plan. I added some key pieces of ‘kit’ to my wedding day kit I carry.
A 30m long tape measure, some ground pegs – I added some cute navy blue bows for visual safety and also because it is a wedding after all, and blue duck tape! Thank you to Carlé & Moss for the backdrop from their new range on sale soon.
This example shows how I can do this. It was photographed at the wedding of Sarah and Ian (blog to follow very soon…) and the photographs of me in action were taken by my Husband on his phone (thank you Mr NKP!).
I also need to point out that I’m not in the habit of wearing a long tulle skirt to a wedding! I was also a bridesmaid for Sarah and Ian. Their original wedding had been planned for August and for 280 people. My awesome team of Charlotte and David should have been on duty, with me just taking their official bride and groom portraits. On August 22nd they had their wedding day with 27 guests. Before the pandemic restrictions reduced numbers even further to 15. So I doubled up as bridesmaid and photographer. How I didn’t fall over in this skirt I will never know!
For venues and Churches with hardstanding (ie not grass or lawn) I take my monster 30m tape measure and measure out a good 10-15 metres.
And then I create blue crosses using the duck tape at 1.5m intervals. This allows for people in small groups to stand together whilst observing a metre distance between those next to them.
For venues and Churches where the group photographs are taken on grass/lawn I use my ground pegs with the navy blue bows instead of blue tape crosses. The blue bows enable guests to see the pegs clearly but they blend well.
I can then take the photographs and if needs be merge the images.
Here is a great example of a merged image. Note: this image as it stands was never taken. In ‘real life’ it doesn’t exist! This is a created using several images all taken with guests adhering to social distancing rules.
It can be done. It just takes a little bit more organising and some PhotoShop skills!
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