Upcoming Greek Orthodox Christening

mikegaryphoto · June 10, 2008

Hello all,
I have been hired to photograph a Greek Orthodox Christening in a couple of weeks. This is my first job, so I am of course excited but nervous. With reason I am concerned about my lighting. I will be shooting a Nikon D80, with Nikkor 50mm f1.8, 18-135 f3.5-5.6, 70-300 VR, and a Tokina 12-24 f4. I have the SB-800 flash with the diffuser it came with. I may have a D40 onhand as a backup.
I am wondering if you all can provide some advice for this type of event. It is a dark-ish church, so I trying to best plan my lighting. Am I ok with just my SB-800 and diffuser, or would you suggest a flash bracket, and if so, which one? Also if you have experience with and input on Gary Fong's Lightsphere that would be great.

Many thanks!
Mike

DJ-S1 · June 10, 2008

Can't help with the lighting, but if you need advice on the actual service let me know. There's a lot to it and some priests have their own rules for photography, like no flash at certain times, or that the photographer cannot turn his back to the altar.

Definitely speak to the priest ahead of time.

Oh, and welcome to Dgrin!

davidweaver · June 11, 2008

My advice:

Shoot A LOT OF PICS.
Shoot RAW.
Have lots of memory cards. I'd suggest twice or thrice what you expect to shoot.

Did I mention shoot lots! Shoot multiple shots of groups. If ther at 2 people take 2-3 shots. If a larger group take 5-6 shots. Really.

Also, take lots of pics.

Good luck!

Cheers.

mikegaryphoto · June 12, 2008

Thanks for the tips! I will definitely give the priest a call and take lots of shots. It would be great to hear more about how the ceremony works, as I've never been to one. Thanks again!:D

nicoleshilliday · June 12, 2008

I'm not expert with lighting....but thought i would share my own experience. Take a good look at the altar, or where the Christening will be preformed. A lot of times there is enough light there in comparison with the rest of the church to get some great wide shots of the event. I did this in my recent church wedding and it worked out well. I much prefer natural light in situations like this.

See if you can check out the space before the event, or even go and take some practice shots. I don't like using my lightsphere when the ceiling is to high to bounce off because it seems not to give enough light directly on the subject.

Other then that...take lots of shots!

If you feel as if you didn't get the shots you needed during the event, do some reenactments after.

Good luck!

cmorganphotography · June 12, 2008

davidweaver wrote:

My advice:

Shoot A LOT OF PICS.
Shoot RAW.
Have lots of memory cards. I'd suggest twice or thrice what you expect to shoot.

Did I mention shoot lots! Shoot multiple shots of groups. If ther at 2 people take 2-3 shots. If a larger group take 5-6 shots. Really.

Also, take lots of pics.

Good luck!

Cheers.

Did I mention what GOOD ADVICE this is? You can always go home and load up the pics and say "oh crap, 2 out of the 6 don't work but one of them is excellent!" and it ends up being the third or fourth one. I like to take a picture before everyone is ready, people for some reason look happier and relaxed before a posed group picture.

I got smiles out of people who apparently don't smile for a picture.... it was a weird discovery. Give it a try!
Good luck!

DJ-S1 · June 12, 2008

The ceremony starts in the Narthex (the "lobby" in front of the church); only the priest is there with the godparents holding the child. Several readings are done there before processing into the church. The rest of the service is conducted in the area in front of the altar. There is normally a table and a font or water.

Not long after they move into the church, the baby will be handed off to a grandmother or some other relatives, usually women, and they will undress the baby. Nothing exciting is happening at this time so you will want to get some shots of this. The location of the table for this varies wildly, so be prepared. The child will be wrapped in a large white towel and returned to the front.

Then the sacrament of Baptism really begins. The waters have been blessed and the sponsors will hold their hands over it so the priest can pour oil on them. Then the priest will hold the naked child over the font while the godparents rub the oil all over the baby. After this is done, the child is dunked 3 times. Depending on the priest, the child may be totally immersed or not. Some priests don't like to get the kid's head under the water, so they will sit them in the font after 3 dunks and then splash water over the head. Either way, you need to be ready and burst off a ton of shots here. The child should be facing away from the priest and towards the altar during the dunking.

Then the child is wrapped in the towel. The sacrament of Chrismation is then performed. The priest takes Holy Oil and makes the sign of the cross on the child's hands, feet, face, ears, etc.

The priest will then tonsure the baby by cutting small snips of hair. This can be tough to shoot and it doesn't last long.

Now the baby is returned to the dressing table to be clothed in new white garments and a gold cross necklace provided by the godparents for the occasion. I usually treat these items like a wedding dress and get "layout" shots of them before the service. Again, the dressing of the child is where you want to be at this point.

After the baby is dressed and returned to the godparents, they are given a large white candle (normally decorated quite a bit) and the priest leads the child and sponsors in a procession around the font 3 times. Many baptisms include several young children with small candles in the procession as well.

Lastly, the third sacrament of the day is performed as the infant is brought to the altar by the godparents to receive Holy Communion for the first time. This is a gold spoon of blessed wine from a golden chalice.

Unless the priest wants to make a sermon at this point, the service is concluded with the sponsors presenting the new Christian child back to the parents with hugs and kisses and smiles all around. The party typically moves on to a different location for lunch or dinner.

Whew, that a lot to type! It takes 30-45 minutes depending on the priest. It's a beautiful service, and all of the steps very symbolic. There's a write-up here if you are interested in some answers to "why do they do all of that?" There are 7 sacraments in our church and 3 of them are performed on the child during this single service.

Hope this helps!

DJ-S1 · June 12, 2008

And let me reiterate, some priests have lots of rules so make sure you check well before hand. Some allow photos but no flash, etc. Also, note that some areas of the church are not accessible for women so if you have a second shooter or an assistant that is a woman, make sure you know the rules ahead of time.

mikegaryphoto · June 13, 2010

2 years later...
Hi all,
Here I am 2 years later. Thanks for all of the helpful tips. I have been hired by the same family to shoot their new daughter's christening. They loved the photos and the book I did for them from their son's christening. I am now pouring over the photos to see what I did right and what I did wrong. Wish me luck (again)!

time2smile · June 16, 2010

Thats cool I didnt even notice the year.
good luck

BLWeddings · October 3, 2011

Greek Christening Photography
Glad you enjoyed the whole experience. I love Greek Christenings and we have just done our first 2 in the last few weeks. I'm a videographer and my wife is a photographer and so we often cover them together (and fight for the same space lol) which is great. But the more of these events you do the more relaxed you become. They are unpredictable (at first) but so so enjoyable. Anyway, here's our most recent Greek Baptism's:

Here's some of my wife's Greek Christening Photos - (Andreas - Greek Christening)
And here's one of my Greek Christening Videos - (Christoforus - Greek Christening Video)

Enjoy

Shaun Foulds
Beautiful Life Video and Photography

divamum · October 4, 2011

I'm not Greek or even particularly religious, but the shots of little Andreas's christening have me sitting here all choked up - SO beautiful and the love, warmth, humour, sense of community and sheer JOY in the whole set is really something. Thank you for sharing!!

BLWeddings · October 17, 2011

Thanks Divamum. Your welcome.

Upcoming Greek Orthodox Christening

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