Wedding 2nd shooter advice

Mrrikki

Mrrikki

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Rikki
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Hi, I am thinking about testing the water with wedding photos. I shoot mainly sports and events within the Bristol area.

How did others start, did you email some local photographers? Did you ask for a fee or for free so you can build a portfolio? I currently do nothing for free as has always been my rule but this is new grounds for me.

Cheers
 
Don't pick someone too local - why would they be interested in training up the competition ?

Also with regard to payment it depends on how good you are - if you barely know what a camera is then no one is going to pay , if you are a pro moving nto weddings but with a good portfolio of other work then its reasonable to get paid (also if you mainly do events you might try and find a wedding shooter who wants to develop their events portfolio and do a bit of quid pro quo)
 
What Jaffster said really. Just offer to assist someone for the day to see the ins and outs on the proviso you can use some shots for your portfolio.

Might be best to ask someone you know already, as a stranger probably wont like the idea of you hanging out for the day on his reputation. - If you know what I mean?
 
big soft moose said:
... if you are a pro moving nto weddings but with a good portfolio of other work then its reasonable to get paid ...
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Not sure I'd agree with that. I certainly wouldn't pay anybody to second-shoot a wedding with me unless they already had some experience of snapping a wedding, simply because weddings are not events. They're weddings. We worked quite a few times with fellow pro wedding snappers tagging along to our gigs as third shooters and never had any problems whatsoever. On the other hand, we worked a couple of times with pros working in other fields who wanted to get into weddings, and twice was more than enough. The basic problem was their ability to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, simply because they had no idea of how weddings work. They were continually being caught out, despite careful briefing both before and during the gigs.

There's also the question of whether the couple are OK with a learner tagging along on the day.
 
:plus1:What Dan said, I've always assumed that if you know what you're doing and you're 2nd shooting, you're getting paid. If you've no idea what you're doing and just tagging along for experience, you're extremely fortunate to have the opportunity and you're not earning anything.

You'd have to be pretty special for me to have to discuss with a B&G why I brought a 'guest'. So for me, unless you're a paid 2nd (so, experienced) you're unlikely to get an invite.

I just re-read the OP. I started by shooting mates for free, if you're a decent photographer wanting to learn the ropes, getting free/ cheap gigs for experience should be a doddle.
 
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Thanks Phil, yeah I can shoot fine (well I think I can anyway lol) I just need to learn the ropes for a wedding.

It seems my wife has volunteered me to shoot her cousins wedding as a gift from us!! They were not going to even have a photographer due to money being tight, so hopefully it will be ok.
 
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Mrrikki said:
Thanks Phil, yeah I can shoot fine (well I think I can anyway lol) I just need to learn the ropes for a wedding.

It seems my wife has volunteered me to shoot her cousins wedding as a gift from us!! They were not going to even have a photographer due to money being tight, so hopefully it will be ok.
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If you need any extra help on the day, more than happy to help out...

Spence
 
Firstly - good luck with your new venture :)

If you want to go down the route of second shooting, like others have said, be prepared to do it for free. No matter how good you are with a camera, being given the opportunity to shoot a wedding is basically free training! Also be prepared to travel.

Of course, you don't have to second shoot at all. Plenty of wedding togs solo and never second shoot.

Like I said - good luck.
 
I largely disagree with pretty much all the posts in this thread. I've said it before but I don't shoot weddings for grins. I do it to pay the mortgage every month. A bit like every other business I know. So rather then travel, or free training how about you explain what you offer, and how having you along will benefit me. Looking at my email over last weekend I have more second shooter enquires then anything else. All of them , without exception, will be ignored because none of them have told me what they offer to me & how thats good for me. There is an awful lot spoken about travelling - IMHO you don't need to do that. Just offer something. Treat every speculative email you send a wedding photographer as a job application. Guess what? It is.
 
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boyfalldown said:
I largely disagree with pretty much all the posts in this thread. I've said it before but I don't shoot weddings for grins. I do it to pay the mortgage every month. A bit like every other business I know. So rather then travel, or free training how about you explain what you offer, and how having you along will benefit me. Looking at my email over last weekend I have more second shooter enquires then anything else. All of them , without exception, will be ignored because none of them have told me what they offer to me & how thats good for me. There is an awful lot spoken about travelling - IMHO you don't need to do that. Just offer something. Treat every speculative email you send a wedding photographer as a job application. Guess what? It is.
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Hugh has hit the nail on the head there - but in 99% of cases people struggle because if they were objectively honest having them along doesn't provide a tangible benefit to the tog. and writing

"Dear xxxxxx

I'm very interested in a second shooter position, I've never shot a wedding before and have no real clue what I'm doing, but hey I'm happy to carry your bags and do gofer work for you if in return you train me up so that in a few years I can undercut you and steal all your clients

yours sincerely

Mr U Bob "

isn't likely to cut it

Unless you are female and very easy on the eye :naughty: your best bet is to develop some sort of skill - whether that's lighting, dye sub, photo booth etc which actually offers a proper benefit to someone who works with you and then parley that into a quid pro quo relationship with a pro
 
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