Wedding Photographer Goes Viral With Epic Rant Against Guest Who Ruined Shot With Phone

Wedding Photographer Goes Viral With Epic Rant Against Guest Who Ruined Shot With Phone

Guests with phones getting in the way have become a legitimate issue for wedding photographers in the last decade or so, and after just such an attendee ruined a shot of the bride and her father walking down the aisle, one wedding photographer took to Facebook to launch a rant at the phone photographer.

Hannah Mbalenhle Stanley of Hannah Way Photography has gone viral with her recent rant against a wedding guest who stuck their phone into the aisle to get a shot of the bride and her father, ruining Stanley's shot. The post has received well over 100,000 reactions and shares:

There have been reactions on both sides of the coin, with some agreeing with Stanley and expressing their frustration over the culture of smartphones. Others have expressed that while the guest could have been more considerate, they empathize with the emotion of the moment and don't blame them for wanting to take a picture. In recent years, many wedding couples have begun to ask guests to turn off their phones before the ceremony or have taken them away completely at the door in an effort to combat this problem.

Do you think Stanley's post will help stop this sort of behavior? 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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48 Comments

Doesn't look too hard to shop out.

why don't you shut the F up. talking about it doesn't look that hard to shop out. who the F*** wants a photoshopped image of a special moment on their wedding day? hate reading dumb a** comments like this.

eat it

Will her outburst help stop this sort of behaviour?

The short answer is no.

Apart from being well outside my competency, a fairly complete answer is probably too long for this forum and could well be the subject of a whole book.

I think the main reason people do stuff like this is a combination of selfishness (I want a picture of this spectacular moment) and lack of consideration (I did not think that my innocent picture could spoil the carefully planned setup for the hired photographer). I do not think that malice is an issue, except for rare occasions.

History has shown endless times that no amount of words said or written can substantially change behaviour like this, otherwise we would not have issues with tailgating and mobile phone use in movie theatres.

So you mean an high end pro doesn't try to have beautiful-looking pictures during the documentary part of the day? Interesting.

Perhaps they don't snipe the couple from that far back....

So just to understand, you do posed shots of the bride walking down the isle with her father? Wow you must be super talented to get all that Raw emotion out of them. Put your phones away people, enjoy the moment.

Firstly. If that’s the only shot he got? It’s not a great composition anyway. Not much ruined.
Secondly. He moved to shoot around the offender. To get the well composed shot? Didn’t he?

No?
Ah. Oops.

Yes?
Non issue. Carry on, just another day’s work in shoot with the phone society.

Not to be overly pedantic but I believe Hannah is a “she”.

I don’t care if it’s a she, he or anything else. My point still stands. There is no issue here if he/she/they were doing their job right, this would have been just another day shooting another wedding. Fair play though. Now the photographer has had themselves recognised by a wider public, for better or worse. Nice bit of publicity.

Rob Mitchell said: "Firstly. If that’s the only shot he got? It’s not a great composition anyway."

Hi Rob. When you're shooting an isle shot from there this angle is common. It's live so the photog shoots what they can, shifts right or left to get them in the middle and can have a beautiful shot post crop. Just curious what other composition should she have from where she stood?

This seems staged? Who holds their phone out and at a oblique angle aimed so conveniently in frame of the photographer and at the same time the culprit (phone user) is also out of the main shot. Trust me most people are like Beluga whales and just stand in front of you with no awareness that they are blocking a shot from being taken. IMHO.

LoL. Who knows. . .

Of course its staged. Look at the picture on the phone. Its not even the same scene. People are playing right into this person's self marketing plan.

It's the same scene. The reason it looks different is because it's a long (~200mm) lens taking a picture of a phone with a short (~28mm) focal length. It messes with the perspective, but if you look closely, it's the same arch and the same people.

You are correct! Thanks!

No way that dude is her father.

That was my thought too. Could well be all staged to get some exposure. If so then job done.

FYI, I went to the actual post and the photographer did in fact get the shot they were trying to get. They also decided to post this rant as a just because. There was also someone who took the time to Photoshop out the arm and phone and then afterwards, the photographer said they actually obtained the photo.

I can understand the frustration from the photographer, (Even though I'm not one), but she could have at least informed everyone that she did in fact get the photo.

That was intellectually dishonest to make people believe this moment was completely ruined.

Them would be all the people reading the post. I'm not saying what the phone holder did was right, I was just saying they(the photographer) made it seem like they(the photographer) completely lost the picture when they didn't, hence intellectually dishonest.

One of my rants in my small world, the decline of simple ethics, well mannered guests. Not sure this can be stopped in the wedding world, unless the bride and groom clearly state to guest no photos taken unless from your seat , not isle grabs or leaving. Perhaps some visible signs to hinder “wildcatting” shots. I am safe from this, because I cannot take the stress of big weddings anymore. Best left to younger folks or a seasoned wedding photographer with large staff. Proper boundaries have all but left the wedding world, I shot a sunflower shoot yesterday. The farmer, a gracious couple gives free access to his sunflower lands. I was so pleased that all the photographer and other folks preferred one another and gave room to all so that we could ‘get that shot” . Heart warming it was.

Why is the model grey? Why is the sky grey?

Selective colour onlybreally works when pnly a small part of the image is coloured, not 90% of it...

Good point, thank you

As a photographer, whether you do weddings, journalism, portraits etc. You have to be quick on your thinking and light on your feet, be witty and direct. The moment this happened she could have done many things differently! Include the smartphone, step a few steps to the side or in front of it and have them stop to take the shot

It's not like people asking guests to don't shoot pictures at the church is super effective.

I was thinking it was a shame that the groom - no way that's the Dad! - couldn't have made that extra little effort and got a suit that fit...

The bride probably made him take off his baseball cap before the walk. Could be the first time he has been in a suit since his own wedding. And maybe that is the same suit. Party on.

Well whenever this happens to me i go straight for the phone screen shot and then back to thd bride and groom. No need to cry about it. Plus you get two good shots.

Ah, it happened to me once too when I asked the guest to please lower her phone she did not listen. I just walked towards her and stood next to her so she could not take a photo. I signaled to the bride to stop and I took a few photos.

I smiled to the bride and signaled her to move forward, the guest never did it again.

I always used either the 24-120 or the 24-70 when shooting the bride coming down the aisle, this way, I can be close to the bride if needed.

No, the post won't stop the behavior and whining about it only makes you seem like you don't know WTF you're doing. I've seen this situation at literally every wedding that I've attended for at least the past decade. Even before that, there were people with their disposable cameras or compacts doing some version of the same thing.

If you're a wedding photographer, this should be an incredibly predictable scenario for you and you should figure out a way to solve the problem because that's part of your job.

At my wedding we had signs informing guests not to use their phones. We also recognized their desire to take photos anyway, so we had our officiant tell everyone at the start of the ceremony, but still took a moment to let them take a few snaps of us in various cheesy poses. Then that was that, we didn’t see any phones out throughout the rest of the ceremony.

This is a nice rant but I must respond with this thought. If she had enough time to think about not only focusing on her subject but then on the phone itself with her long lens she could have entered in and won the battle by walking up to the women with the phone and taken some winners on her second body, wider lens, or the same lens. I wouldn’t have sat there. I would have moved up to make a point without having to say a word and captured the shot. Instead she gets upset and takes a tack sharp picture of the phone.

But did she step the the left and start moving forward to get another shot. I mean at 200mm down the isle that's what you can expect to happen, best be prepared.

I don't ever see people not using their phones at weddings, no matter what is said to them.

move one step on left, get the shot :)
before cellphone, there were compact camera, uncle bob video cam...IMO it's a part of a wedding

It's not even a good shot anyway, regardless of the phone. The bride is looking at the ground and nearly looks like she is mid-blink. This photo would be culled out anyway just because it's not good, not because of the phone.

It is the photographer's job to get the job done. Move, use your legs, get closer, back up, move to the side, whatever.

Talk with your clients beforehand and encourage them to ask for guests not to take photos, or not, whatever. You're a damn professional, act like it.

To those saying that he can't be her dad? Wow, I guess a guy cant look good for his age? Ever heard of just for men? Ever heard of having kids when you are young? Happens a lot. Don't be jealous.

I'm not a professional photographer, but I go to weddings, and I take my camera.

This is India (and talking, mostly of Hindu weddings. Point of context for those to whom that means something) and there is a an army of photographers surrounding the events. They are there between what's happening and everybody else.

They have a job to do, and I think that, as I go dodging around, clicking my "snaps," I should not get in their way. They are often amazingly accommodating to the amateurs/casuals with camera or phone!

As an amateur, I hope never to be that person spoiling a shot. It is worth reading this story to understand how easily, especially in a moment of excitement, through ignorance or thoughtlessness, to be that person.

Twats with smartphones ruin everything. They ruin walking because they're gazing downward at their screens occupying all the space on the pavement. They ruin driving because so many of them are watching their Facebook feed not the road. They ruin concerts because they'd rather record a shit video that they will never watch than spend time enjoying the music. They ruin dining out because taking crap photos of food is always better than eating it while it's hot. They ruin social spaces because they're so desperate to find out what's on Twitter that they forget to talk to the people they're with. So, why should weddings be the only thing they don't ruin?

to answer the question, no.

people in general are too arrogant and lacking in humility to be convinced they're in the wrong for the greater good.

It's in my estimate to couples that family members have their phones put away until after the wedding party photos are done. But then again, everyone has a camera these days and that's ruining the market itself.

The wedding industry needs to crash and die.

Problem solved , 5 minute edit. I'm sure the photographer has a shot of the dress, so could be even better than this, which is cloned

Why would you put your watermark on this?

I didn't Lightroom did, ask Adobe

the floor and wall behind the bride is jacked up lol

While it is annoying, it is part of what we do, we do what we need to get the shoot. A step to the left would have removed the obstacle. And if she couldn't it is completely editable in Photoshop. We are not going to stop people from wanting to capture a beautiful image themselves. It's our job to find a solution to the problem, that is why clients pay thousands of dollars to have their wedding photos done.

I hope Hannah gives the bride these pictures, and let her know what a fantastic shot was ruined by one of her guests. Smartphone photographers won't ever realize how much they get in the way of a professional photographer - forget it. The best way to handle these situations is the clients themselves asking their friends and guests to keep their phones tucked away.