Ahhh the annual heatwave, always such a challenge for us Brits and super challenging for those that have to do a hard day’s work in it. Wedding photographers can find themselves shooting in full sun for several hours at a time. Beyond staying hydrated and slapping on the sun cream over the course of the day, there are a few other things that you can do to look after yourself and your kit.
Before You Leave Home
- Eat a proper meal before you go. Heat suppresses your appetite during the day and you can’t rely on wedding food appearing at the right time – or at all.
- Freeze a water bottle the night before so it stays cold for longer in your bag.
- Think about what you’re wearing. Light colours, breathable fabrics, and UV-protective clothing make a real difference over a long day. Your feet will thank you too – if you’re prone to swelling, don’t wear your tightest shoes.
- Pack a cooling towel. You can get them cheaply online and they work brilliantly – wet it, wring it out, and it stays cool for ages around your neck or on your wrists.
During the Wedding
- Keep eating, even if you don’t feel like it. You’re burning energy constantly and heat exhaustion can creep up on you when you’re focused on the job.
- Before you arrive, find out where the shaded areas are at the venue. Know where you can retreat to when you need a moment.
- Ask the coordinator if there’s a cool room you can duck into briefly – most venues will happily point you in the right direction.
- Know the signs of heat exhaustion: heavy sweating, dizziness, nausea, a fast weak pulse, and cool pale skin. If you start feeling this way, stop, get into the shade, drink water, and ask for help. Heatstroke is a medical emergency – don’t push through it.
- If you can, keep an eye on elderly guests, children, and anyone who looks like they’re struggling. Wedding photographers often notice these things before anyone else does.
Gadgets That Help
- A wearable neck fan is brilliant for keeping cool during portraits and outdoor coverage. Just be very mindful of the noise around ceremony spaces and if there’s a videographer nearby – switch it off before you go in and remind yourself to turn it back on when you come out.
- Stick-on mini camera fans are a thing – small rechargeable fans that attach to your camera body to help manage heat build-up during heavy shooting. Worth having in your kit bag for very hot days.
- Cooling wrist bands or ice packs in a small cool bag – keeping your pulse points cool helps regulate your overall body temperature quickly. At the very least, go to the toilets and run cold water over your wrists.
After the Wedding
- If you’ve been hot and sweaty all day, sodium, glucose, and mineral levels can really dip – and this contributes to that wedding hangover feeling the next day. Prevent it by having something salty to eat when you get home, or something that helps replace electrolytes like coconut water or hydration salts.
- Chefs who work in hot kitchens swear by anti-chafe cream – consider adding some to your kit bag for long hot days.
- Soak your weary feet in cold water and Epsom salts when you get home. It helps reduce inflammation. Even if you’re straight onto your image upload, put a basin under your desk – you deserve it.
- The best thing my partner ever did for me was put a damp hand towel in the fridge for me to come home to after a wedding. It was the best feeling after a long drive home and a sweaty day.
Your Camera in Hot Weather
- Regularly switch your cameras off during the day to rest them. You can swap in fresh batteries every now and then to stop yours from overheating. Bring more spare batteries than you usually would – if you don’t have spares, just open the battery door sometimes to let heat escape.
- If your memory cards are getting a little old, consider replacing them. Your camera generates more internal heat when cards aren’t running efficiently.
- Allow time for your camera to adjust to big changes in temperature – for instance, going from midday full sun into air conditioning. A five-minute switched-off break helps.
- If you shoot mirrorless, pull the LCD screen away from the camera body when you can to help with heat build-up.
- Keep your kit in the shade as much as possible – and never leave cameras in a hot car. Temperatures inside a parked car can get genuinely dangerous very quickly, and it’s easy to forget in the chaos of a wedding day.
- External flashes and battery packs overheat too. If you’re running off-camera lighting, keep an eye on them and give them rest time where you can.
- UV filters on your lenses are always a good idea, and worth a particular mention in hot weather. Also be aware that leaving lenses in a very hot environment over time can damage coatings and the adhesives in lens elements.
Shooting Film in Warm Weather
If you’re shooting film, warm weather needs a bit of extra thought.
- Store your film in the fridge before the wedding – it keeps it stable and slows down any deterioration. Take it out around 30 minutes before you start shooting to let it come up to temperature gradually.
- Don’t leave film in a hot car, a sunny camera bag, or anywhere it’ll be sitting in direct heat. Film is much more sensitive to temperature than your digital kit.
- Never change film in direct sunlight – find a shaded spot or turn away from the sun. This applies all year round but is especially important when light is intense and bouncing off every surface.
- If you’re using a film camera alongside digital, the same overheating rules apply to the camera body. Give it rest time too.
- Once the wedding is done, keep your exposed rolls somewhere cool (an insulated lunch bag is ideal) and get them to the lab as quickly as you can.
Take care of yourself and your kit,
Lisa x
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