My start in wedding photography.

** I imagine this post will get edited a few times over the next days/weeks – when I read through it and realise I’m talking nonsense, or my spelling/grammar is sub-par =] I may also need to clarify/reword some things, as my mind doesn’t go from A to B in a neat line. **

I get inundated with letters & emails from photographers & people that want to be photographers, asking how I do x, y & z, If they can come and assist me, or If I offer work experience. (I tend not to need assistants & I get antsy If people are looking over my shoulder) I try to reply to them all, But people need to understand - my clients come first. No Ifs or Buts – My Clients, My Brides & Grooms will always come first.

So rather than get a bad rep amongst photographers (by, rudely, not replying) I thought I’d start adding little bits of help & general tips on my blog, so that prospective-pros can get a feel for my work, my workflow, my grounding & all that kind of thing…just by reading the blog. Some clients may also find it of interest…But its more for the pros & wannabes.

My First.

I’m not sure if I’ve put this anywhere else on the site, but I got started In wedding Photography when a friend I was working with saw some of my landscape & general work, & asked me to be his photographer – I’d never thought about going pro in photography, I was always pretty convinced I would become a graphic designer or an Illustrator – But the face of design & illustration was changing into the realm of motion Graphics & animation – 2 Fields that I really don’t have any interest in (Besides watching Futurama & Southpark, of course).

Anyway, Back to the first wedding – My Friend, Adrian, wanted me to photograph his wedding to Jackie – at the Royal Pavilion, Brighton & Their reception at Shoreham Airport – Not knowing anything about wedding photography I was reluctant to accept, But Adrian & Jackie are such a great couple, they made it hard for me to say no, & after chatting to them they made me feel totally confident & comfortable…So I decided to do it.

That wedding was amazing, besides alot of nightmares with gear malfunction, and ending up shooting the whole wedding in Film – my shots turned OK, not brilliant – but they were really happy with them… I really enjoyed the day, meeting people, seeing things you normally would see, and the processing afterwards was great too; I took hundreds of hours in Photoshop, because I didn’t have a good, consistent workflow – but the end results were so worth it. It was during the post-production work that I realised I would really enjoy doing this for a living – Every image brought back the fun, emotion & excitement of the day – It gave me a real job satisfaction that I hadn’t ever gained from any other work.

So using the portfolio from the first, I started doing more & more weddings – improving my techniques with every couple & more importantly making sure every couple was totally pleased with their images.

So now, I’ve shot loads of weddings, My portfolio is rapidly expanding & my style is constantly evolving – But I still have that passion & enjoyment for weddings that I found in my 1st & when I’m processing the images It’s always in my mind that I’m doing what I love- So I definitely know I made the right career choice.

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Now, don’t for a second think this means that, in the beginning, I was Ill equipped, with bad technique & alot of luck – I did, and still focus on my craft away from the weddings, away from the clients – I’m always reading books & websites about photography, I’m always trying new things that I can bring back to my work, I literally put everything I can into my business & my gear to ensure everything Is 100% up to task.

So yes, you Don’t need to shadow another photographer, you don’t need to work your way up the ladder slowly; but at the same time you do need to be prepared, you do need to know what your there for, but most importantly;

You need to look after your clients & make sure their happy with you & your business practices, but far and away the biggest thing you need is to make sure your clients are happy with their photos.

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I hope this tiny insight into my beginnings & general rambling helps someone, but if not here are a list of resources & books that I’ve found helpful over the past 5 years. Some are really basic but its good to check you know the basics before going into something deeper & some are totally unrelated, but I’ve gained something useful from them all – in no particular order;

• Professional Wedding Photography – Damien Lovegrove
• The Best of Wedding Photography – Bill Hurter
• The Portrait Photographers Guide To Posing – Bill Hurter
• The Art of Digital Wedding Photography – Bambi Cantrell & Skip Cohen
• Digital Weddding Photography – Paul F Gero
• Understanding Exposure – Bryan Peterson
• Contemporary Wedding Photography - Julie Oswin & Steve Walton

Subscriptions to Digital Photo & Professional Photographer Magazines have been enormously useful too.

I also read articles, blogs & forums on many different websites, but these are some of my (almost daily) visited sites for ideas, inspiration & techniques (as well as seeing whats going on in other photographers lives):

• Strobist
• [B]ecker’s Blog
  
• The [B] School Blog
  
• Jessica Claire’s Blogsite
• Jasmine Star’s Blog
• Susan Stripling’s Blog
• Fred Miranda (specifically the wedding forum)
• The Image Is Found Blog
• Don Flood (amazing photographer, gorgeous portraiture)
• Perspectiveye Blog

There are loads more sites & blogs that I regularly read, but I can’t think of any more at the moment.

So thats pretty much that, hopefully people will find some kind of info in the above mess, & maybe this will lower the amount of requests I’m getting from people wanting to assist me etc. – But at least I don’t feel so bad about not being able to reply to everyone now.

**CLARIFICATION**

I’ve re-read this post a good few times, and thought maybe it came off a little wrong – I’m not suggesting you can buy good gear & good books and go out shooting weddings – thats a sure-fire way to screw up someones big day – I’m talking more about preparation, customer service & confidence – I’m saying you don’t need to shadow pros, or assist to get this knowledge – it is available through other means – BUT shadowing pros & assisting WILL give you the same knowledge (& more in some cases).

But sooner or later, whether you shadow pros, read books or learn through other means you need to get the confidence to go at it alone – In my opinion this business is 50% Confidence, 20% Skill, 20% Experience & only 10% Gear. Only you can decide if your ready to shoot weddings – for me the initial confidence came from the work I’d been producing, the gear I own, the information I gained from books/the web & the positive reactions I was getting from my images – But Everyone is different, it may take more for some to get confidence in their craft & if that confidence is gained by assisting, then by all means go for it.