Where do I start???

Gambrel

The wife came home the other day and said that one of her friends would like us to shoot their wedding. Which I quickly turned down. The main reason being I have zero experience shooting people. Let alone someones Wedding day!
Now this got me thinking. How would I get experience shooting weddings/people? I have seen people suggesting 2nd shooting but I don't think anyone is going to just pick up a second shooter with no portfolio of people in it. I have no idea where to begin? I am having a hard time finding friends who will let me take them out for a free session. My wife is prego so she is not about to have any photos of her. I don't want to be that guy that takes on a job and runs my career into the ground before it has a chance to take off. Any suggestions? Any such thing as a 3rd shooter?

l.k.madison

Gambrel wrote:

The wife came home the other day and said that one of her friends would like us to shoot their wedding. Which I quickly turned down. The main reason being I have zero experience shooting people. Let alone someones Wedding day!
Now this got me thinking. How would I get experience shooting weddings/people? I have seen people suggesting 2nd shooting but I don't think anyone is going to just pick up a second shooter with no portfolio of people in it. I have no idea where to begin? I am having a hard time finding friends who will let me take them out for a free session. My wife is prego so she is not about to have any photos of her. I don't want to be that guy that takes on a job and runs my career into the ground before it has a chance to take off. Any suggestions? Any such thing as a 3rd shooter?

Do what my husband and I did: put out an "all call" on Facebook/email to family members, whatever it takes and offer a free session to whoever (one or two or five, whatever it takes) - the model gets the cd, you get the experience. We actually found a VERY willing model through the grapevine of Facebook who does just about anything for us, she loves to model, she's great at it and we get the experience. Our favorite are shots of her in the rain (we even have a few of her in a prom dress on a really nasty afternoon in a run down shed with tractors and random concrete blocks), she doesn't care about getting wet, so it works out great. If you lived closer, I'd share my model with you, she really is wonderful.

A great way to get wedding experience is to bring your camera to a wedding - as a guest. Shoot what you can, do the best you can and still offer prints to the B and G. Why not bring your camera to your wife's friend's wedding? There's no such thing as too many friends with cameras at a wedding, who knows, you might get *the* shot that their photog missed for whatever reason. My favorite wedding picture from my own wedding is one my father took during our first dance. They'll have a hired pro there so you won't be under a lot of pressure, but you'll still get the experience of the madness that is a wedding. Just a thought.

leaforte

I am not a professional, but it seems with a pregnant wife you would have some great opportunities to be creative and capture some 'life moments' that would equate to the once in a lifetime (Oh, so pardon the pun!) partnership of marriage. If I had a pregnant wife running around my house...you can bet she would bust up my gear!

Qarik

Gambrel wrote:

The wife came home the other day and said that one of her friends would like us to shoot their wedding. Which I quickly turned down. The main reason being I have zero experience shooting people. Let alone someones Wedding day!
Now this got me thinking. How would I get experience shooting weddings/people? I have seen people suggesting 2nd shooting but I don't think anyone is going to just pick up a second shooter with no portfolio of people in it. I have no idea where to begin? I am having a hard time finding friends who will let me take them out for a free session. My wife is prego so she is not about to have any photos of her. I don't want to be that guy that takes on a job and runs my career into the ground before it has a chance to take off. Any suggestions? Any such thing as a 3rd shooter?

hmm..most of us have wife or kid they can pratice a lot on. Here are things you can do practice:

1) any social event..friends bbq, company party, dinner engagment, dad's birthday..you get the idea.

2) self portraits

3) your wife..ignore her pleas

4) your kid when he/she arrives

5) weddings as non-official shooter is great place..just stay out of the way

Also don't try to take your friends out for session..just show up with camera when you or they visit. This kinds of csaul shooting is sooo important to start establishing the basics of people photography.

Gambrel

l.k.madison wrote:

A great way to get wedding experience is to bring your camera to a wedding - as a guest. Shoot what you can, do the best you can and still offer prints to the B and G. Why not bring your camera to your wife's friend's wedding? There's no such thing as too many friends with cameras at a wedding, who knows, you might get *the* shot that their photog missed for whatever reason. My favorite wedding picture from my own wedding is one my father took during our first dance. They'll have a hired pro there so you won't be under a lot of pressure, but you'll still get the experience of the madness that is a wedding. Just a thought.

My wife has friends that are about the age when they are really starting to get married left and right. So far this year I think we have 3 to go to. The only problem being that they are pretty close to when my wife is due.:DThe only thing is I feel like I shouldn't be up during the wedding making a distraction to the guest. Plus, I do not want to get in the hired photog's way. He or She is there to get the shots not me. So I end up staying in my seat, which I know is not going to help me much. How do you guys/gals feel about people up and shooting during the wedding when you are the paid photog? My flash or being in their way could ruin a great shot for them.
As far as offering prints to the B & G goes. Should I do that? I always felt like I would be putting them in an pickle when offering to sell them photos.

Thanks for all the replies and info

0bscura

Gambrel wrote:

My wife is prego so she is not about to have any photos of her.

I would say now is the prime opportunity to get a few maternity shoot examples for your portfolio.

If you shoot weddings, those same customers will eventually make babies and maternity shoots are an extra revenue stream.

For learning bridal, you might ask around to see if a friend who has been recently married would be interested in getting out the dress for a shoot.

Qarik

Gambrel wrote:

My wife has friends that are about the age when they are really starting to get married left and right. So far this year I think we have 3 to go to. The only problem being that they are pretty close to when my wife is due.:DThe only thing is I feel like I shouldn't be up during the wedding making a distraction to the guest. Plus, I do not want to get in the hired photog's way. He or She is there to get the shots not me. So I end up staying in my seat, which I know is not going to help me much. How do you guys/gals feel about people up and shooting during the wedding when you are the paid photog? My flash or being in their way could ruin a great shot for them.
As far as offering prints to the B & G goes. Should I do that? I always felt like I would be putting them in an pickle when offering to sell them photos.

Thanks for all the replies and info

Don't shoot the B&G..shoot guests, etc. It's not hard to stay out of the way. If you are shy about this then wedding photography is not right for you.:D

Gambrel

Qarik wrote:

Don't shoot the B&G..shoot guests, etc. It's not hard to stay out of the way. If you are shy about this then wedding photography is not right for you.:D

Elaborate on what you mean by shooting guests? During the reception or during the ceremony? It is not that I am shy, I just want to be resepectful of the paid help. Should I maybe talk to the paid photog and see how they feel about me shoot with them?
I am sorry for all the questions but I can only read so many things until I have to go and just do something. I want to go about it in the right way.

Once again Thank You for all the help.

l.k.madison

Gambrel wrote:

My wife has friends that are about the age when they are really starting to get married left and right. So far this year I think we have 3 to go to. The only problem being that they are pretty close to when my wife is due.:DThe only thing is I feel like I shouldn't be up during the wedding making a distraction to the guest. Plus, I do not want to get in the hired photog's way. He or She is there to get the shots not me. So I end up staying in my seat, which I know is not going to help me much. How do you guys/gals feel about people up and shooting during the wedding when you are the paid photog? My flash or being in their way could ruin a great shot for them.
As far as offering prints to the B & G goes. Should I do that? I always felt like I would be putting them in an pickle when offering to sell them photos.

Thanks for all the replies and info

Yes, of course, stay out of the 'tog's way, but at the same time, be ready to catch "the shot. I've been to 3 weddings since October as a guest and in all three have captures shots that I KNOW the hired photog didn't get. The first wedding, I saw her set up her shot, I gave her space then I did the exact same shot. I later looked up her version in the couple's gallery and I nearly cried, she dodged and burned where she shouldn't have and killed the shot. Second wedding had flower girls that carried candy instead of flowers (It was SO cute) and I have a semi-candid shot of one of the flowergirls pretending to lick one of the suckers. I KNOW the 'tog didn't get the shot, he was doing the formals with B and G. Third wedding, my husband attended with me and was standing in the back of the hall centered on the aisle at the end of the ceremony (he waited for the hired 'tog to meet him there and he never showed) and my husband caught the shot of them coming down the aisle, as soon as he clicked, he still waited and the hired 'tog never made it to that spot.

Just shows that just because they're there doesn't mean they'll score "the shot". If you're on Facebook, just post the pictures up and tag the B and G, they'll see them and if they want prints, they'll contact you about it. I made $100 on a set of 4x6s from the flowergirl/candy wedding just for being there.

marikris

Almost a year ago, I asked myself this same question. I had just moved to Houston, my husband is constantly gone. I had no friends nor family; didn't know a single soul other than my cats. It was pretty sad. I had a portrait portfolio but I really. really wanted to ease into wedding photography.

So I googled.

And as luck would have it, meetup.com proved to be very interesting. It didn't sound great (I mean, it sounded like match.com to me) but there are photography groups going on all around us, and just make sure to search for photography meetups.

Anyway, from there I was able to hook up into the photography community. Somehow, I got connected to the wedding photography community. Also through google - I found out that outside of meetup.com, there was a new get-together for photographers that was hosted by a local wedding tog. Anyone was welcomed.

Tomorrow, I'm driving 9 hrs with another tog to second shoot for her. My 3rd this year. Fourth one on Feb 6th. Yeay!

So I guess, long story short: if there's a will, there's a way. Google is our friend. Meetup.com is awesome. Network, network, network. And read tons.

Cheering you on

PS. Btw, you can ask to tag along with the pro(s) first too. I did that as well, and it's pretty cool coz there's no pressure on you.

Matthew Saville

Qarik wrote:

hmm..most of us have wife or kid they can pratice a lot on. Here are things you can do practice:

1) any social event..friends bbq, company party, dinner engagment, dad's birthday..you get the idea.

2) self portraits

3) your wife..ignore her pleas

4) your kid when he/she arrives

5) weddings as non-official shooter is great place..just stay out of the way

Also don't try to take your friends out for session..just show up with camera when you or they visit. This kinds of csaul shooting is sooo important to start establishing the basics of people photography.

This is pretty much it. You can practice portraits and candids without even attending a wedding, AND you can attend a wedding and learn a LOT without even bringing a camera. (If the pro demands no other DSLR's, hey some do!)

I recently answered this question twice in a row so I ended up polishing the same reply and creating an article out of it. It has more to do with pricing and less to do with experience, but there are bits in there that talk about gaining experience.

http://photos.matthewsaville.com/For-Photographers/The-Business-of-Photography/Pricing-101-Your-First-Wedding/11003566_2R5no


=Matt=

Gambrel

Thanks for the info Matthew! Once this crappy Jan. weather breaks then I am to have to start finding some people willing to model for me. Thanks Guys/Gals. You people have been a big help

VayCayMom

Everyone wants photos of their kids, ask all your friends about using thier kids.

digger2

Bridal shops
Are another resource. approach the owner and show your exisitng work etc and explain that you are branching out into wedding photography. Ask if you can setup on a saturday and take pictures of the prospective brides in dresses they are considering. You will need your laptop and a good sized screen. Take the pictures and then put them up so that the bride to be can see herself in the dress.
It's a great selling tool for the shop, no more twisting around in the mirror to see the back of the dress or how the train looks. It may not be art as some of the shops are cramped, but you will add to your portfolio, get experience and some leads.
Another way is to just turn up in your local togs' hotspot for pictures. Remember, there is no right to privacy in a public space but keep out of the way and you will learn.

JAMoore

Everyone here has great suggestions. I started by bringing my camera to every wedding I went to. At my brother's wedding, the photog didn't show so guess who got stuck doing the photos.... my wife! (I was in the wedding).
Her and I processed the photos and they turned out very nice. I had also done some shots at a friends wedding a few months prior (had recently gotten a Sony A100) and then was asked to shoot a friend's wedding that was on a budget.
The bottom line is practice, practice, practice. You can certainly take your camera to the weddings and shoot whatever you want - not getting in the photog's way isn't that hard. Just shoot whenever you can.

It has been a 3 years since my brother's wedding and now my wife and I are booking a good number of weddings and have made a real business out of it. It helps tremendously that she shoots with me... I can't imagine doing a wedding by myself.

quark

When I attend friends weddings I find it hard to not take photos. I agree with several others that you can stay out of the way and get great detail/guest shots but I always find the paid photographer and introduce myself. Typically they smile and tell me to shoot away. This always makes me feel better about elbowing my way around some other photographers business.