Public Domain Image borrowed from Wikipedia.comWhen I first started out as a "professional" photographer, I didn't start out photographing weddings. I photographed crime scenes.
Everyone I meet always asks me, "How does someone who used to shoot crime scenes end up shooting weddings?" Well, I posted about this back on January 7, 2006, so check the archived posts on this blog. No need to retype all that here.
But what I'd like to discuss today is what we do at crime scenes and how I use the training I received for weddings.
First, everything needs to be photographed at a crime scene. Even if you don't think something is important, you photograph it. The reason is that you might not know that it is important now, but it could end up as the most crucial piece of evidence later!
Crime Scene photography is often the first thing that's done at the scene. Yes, we get to go into the scene before anyone else! If too many people have already trampled through the crime scene, evidence gets disturbed. But by taking some photos first, evidence gets preserved... at least photographically. Later, after items of evidence have been located and marked with an evidence number (you've seen these little yellow number markers on the TV show "CSI") then other photos are taken. By the way, Evidence Technicians "Locate, Collect & Preserve" physical evidence at crime scenes. (My instructors would be proud that I remembered that, although that might not necessarily be the actual words used...)
Everything I learned in school about crime scene photography directly related to my job later. Not many people can say that about their school training in their field. A lot of it is "book knowledge" and not related to the real world. But that was not the case for me. In fact, I still have all the lecture cassettes I made of those classes! I was so into my photography classes that I taped every lecture that the instructor gave!
I was one of two lucky students who were asked to join the internship program at The San Diego Police Department and so I got to use my skills learned in class immediately on the job. Later, while we were making "mock" crime scenes in our class to learn from, I approached the photography exactly as I learned it while actually on the job with SDPD.
My instructor for my Evidence Technology class was the lab supervisor for The San Diego Sheriff's Department's Crime Lab. And, my instructor for my Criminalistics class was one of the lead criminalists for The San Diego Police Department. I was glad to hear them both comment to the other students that they were impressed with how confident I was when I approached the mock crime scenes and knew exactly what kinds of photos to take. I can thank my internship for that.
Today, I still use what I learned from the years of work with forensic photography on my work in wedding photography. I document everything! That's why I'll usually take well over 1000 or more images from just one wedding. I shoot first and ask questions later... just like I did with crime scene photography.
A few years after I had graduated with a degree in Evidence Technology and a degree in Pre-Law/Court Management, I was asked to teach crime scene photography at my old school . My former photography instructor recommended me to be his replacement so he could retire. But after I went through the process of getting the school to accept me as the new instructor, my former teacher decided not to retire after all and he stayed on to teach a little while longer. Eventually, I left San Diego to move back to the Chicago area and so I never got to teach the class.
Still to this day, I have fond memories of those early years in my photography career because it is truly what has shaped me into the photographer I am today. I approach things with the same enthusiasm as I did back when I worked in law enforcement and I hope it shows on every assignment I get.
Everyone I meet always asks me, "How does someone who used to shoot crime scenes end up shooting weddings?" Well, I posted about this back on January 7, 2006, so check the archived posts on this blog. No need to retype all that here.
But what I'd like to discuss today is what we do at crime scenes and how I use the training I received for weddings.
First, everything needs to be photographed at a crime scene. Even if you don't think something is important, you photograph it. The reason is that you might not know that it is important now, but it could end up as the most crucial piece of evidence later!
Crime Scene photography is often the first thing that's done at the scene. Yes, we get to go into the scene before anyone else! If too many people have already trampled through the crime scene, evidence gets disturbed. But by taking some photos first, evidence gets preserved... at least photographically. Later, after items of evidence have been located and marked with an evidence number (you've seen these little yellow number markers on the TV show "CSI") then other photos are taken. By the way, Evidence Technicians "Locate, Collect & Preserve" physical evidence at crime scenes. (My instructors would be proud that I remembered that, although that might not necessarily be the actual words used...)
Everything I learned in school about crime scene photography directly related to my job later. Not many people can say that about their school training in their field. A lot of it is "book knowledge" and not related to the real world. But that was not the case for me. In fact, I still have all the lecture cassettes I made of those classes! I was so into my photography classes that I taped every lecture that the instructor gave!
I was one of two lucky students who were asked to join the internship program at The San Diego Police Department and so I got to use my skills learned in class immediately on the job. Later, while we were making "mock" crime scenes in our class to learn from, I approached the photography exactly as I learned it while actually on the job with SDPD.
My instructor for my Evidence Technology class was the lab supervisor for The San Diego Sheriff's Department's Crime Lab. And, my instructor for my Criminalistics class was one of the lead criminalists for The San Diego Police Department. I was glad to hear them both comment to the other students that they were impressed with how confident I was when I approached the mock crime scenes and knew exactly what kinds of photos to take. I can thank my internship for that.
Today, I still use what I learned from the years of work with forensic photography on my work in wedding photography. I document everything! That's why I'll usually take well over 1000 or more images from just one wedding. I shoot first and ask questions later... just like I did with crime scene photography.
A few years after I had graduated with a degree in Evidence Technology and a degree in Pre-Law/Court Management, I was asked to teach crime scene photography at my old school . My former photography instructor recommended me to be his replacement so he could retire. But after I went through the process of getting the school to accept me as the new instructor, my former teacher decided not to retire after all and he stayed on to teach a little while longer. Eventually, I left San Diego to move back to the Chicago area and so I never got to teach the class.
Still to this day, I have fond memories of those early years in my photography career because it is truly what has shaped me into the photographer I am today. I approach things with the same enthusiasm as I did back when I worked in law enforcement and I hope it shows on every assignment I get.
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