Every now and then I look at the income potential of weddings and get tempted. Then, I realize how much more is at stake if things go badly and go back to my own world.

I did a lot of "practice" with homeless pets before I ever offered a paid portrait session.

There isn't exactly and SPCA for weddings though, so how does one practice?

As you can tell, I'm having one of those temptation days.

Best,
Jim

Jim, If you are tempted, I have to ask, How old are you? I have been shooting weddings since 1967 and I am now 64. Yes, lots of money and if you have the personality for it, it's not hard. I have never had a bride unhappy with her photographs or me. Never. Maybe I can help.

Thanks Billy,

I'm almost to the 10th anniversary of my 29th B-day (I'll be 39 in Jan).

My career has been about dealing with people and selling them on certain ideas. My colleagues joked that I could sell ice to Eskimos, but for it to really work that well, I have to believe in whatever I'm "selling."

I'll take all the help & advice I can.

Best,
Jim

Jim, There are things that can make wedding photography fun, interesting, and profitable.

You have to understand weddings. You have to know the customs and traditions of religions for which you will shoot weddings. You have to know the people that run the churches and know the rules of the church. You have to know what a bride and her mother want for wedding photographs. You have to listen to what they tell you and then know what they will want after it's over (not always the same thing). Now these are only a few of the things you have to know to be successful. If you don't know things like this, you will do a few weddings, but the people you are meeting and the brides will be so unhappy with you that you will quit.

You can start by shooting events for your local charities for free. You go to parties and shoot lots of photographs of people until you can do it in the dark (really, because most weddings are really dark). Then you go and help a wedding photographer shoot wedding by carrying his gear and watching what he does right and what he does wrong. Watch how the people react to him and note the photographs he makes and the ones he misses.

Go to a WPPI convention. Join PPA. These conventions and the people there provide a lot of information.

I am just skimming. The best way to start is to help or assist a wedding photographer. Go for pay or for free and see what it's really like. Try to learn from the best, but even learning what not to do is a good thing.

The books are fun to read, but the ideas are best for the working wedding photographer. You generally learn new techniques one at a time, but first you have to understand weddings. And that means real weddings not a wedding seminar with a fake bride.

Check out David Ziser's blog.

http://www.digitalprotalk.blogspot.com/

and this:

http://digitalprotalk.blogspot.com/2008/07/bbusiness-day-thursday-is-professional.html

http://www.kenrickparish.com/jgeerling/articles/photography/liturgy_photography.html

http://www.photonewstoday.com/?p=14465

This is just a little of how you might go about it. And you have to sincerely be interested and care about the client and the event. You don't have to care to shoot it, but you have to if you want to be successful. Many a time I have stood in the back of a synagogue with tears in my eyes listening to the ceremony. It shows in my work and in my orders.

Find the best photographer you can and help him on weekends.

Thanks Billy!
(Edit: silly me, I was thinking of our preacher when I typed the first time - - - smacks self in forehead)
I'm loath to work for someone else for fear of messing up their gig, but maybe I'm just paranoid.

In addition to the things you mention, how do you deal with things like the sound of the shutter annoying the heck out of people? I'm guessing flash is out for the actual ceremonies for the same reasons, but OK for the formals. . .

I'm a long way away from jumping in the wedding pool, but the temptation has lasted more than a few hours this time.

David Ziser's Blog is on my reading list every morning already, and is one of the things fueling my current explorations. In fact, I read one of your comments / questions there earlier.

I'll check out the other links too.

Thanks so much. Now I'll be up all night reading

Shutter noise is generally not a problem. You just work the shutter into the background noise. Sometimes in a real quiet church a cough will hide it. Being sensitive to it is the key and because you have thought of it, my guess is your would be.

If you just assist then you are not going to screw anything up. You just do what you're asked to do. You're just paranoid.

In some places flash is fine during the ceremony, if you need it. Depends on the rules of the church. You really need to go on some weddings. Maybe as a start your could just attend a wedding (as a pretend guest) and watch the photographer.

I was a photographer in Kentucky doing portraits and weddings before Ziser started. About 30 years ago I came back to Texas.

Thanks again,



Sounds like the basis for a book -- The Wedding Crasher Photographer

I'll definitely check around to see who is in the area that might let me tag along or who might need a second shooter.

I don't suggest you start as a second shooter. I suggest you assist the photographer. You can't watch and shoot at the same time. When you are thinking about shooting, you are too focused to watch the event. I trained my photographers by taking them with me and then after they had gone with me several times, I would hand them the camera during the reception and say "go make some photographs". Most of the time they couldn't find anything to shoot. That's when you know they are not thinking about the bride or her family because for them there is always something they would want to see. Then I would say "follow me" and I could shoot 20 groups of people in about two minutes.

At a wedding there are always the standard shots. Bride with father walking down the aisle, ceremony kiss, cutting the cake, but those are so little of the wedding. Friends and family make up most of it. That's why people have weddings, to get together with friends, family and business associates. Parents think of it as sort of a party for all the people you know. Not all do, but here in Texas they do. When they spend a million on a wedding, they want everyone they know there to see it. And they want me to record it so they can remember it and show it to those that weren't there.

Thanks for taking the time to provide so many answers.

Good point on the shooting v. watching.

I've been searching for local wedding photographers and have only found one or two that seem like I would want them to do my wedding.

One of them actually has a "program" but I can't really afford to pay anything at the moment. He charges $1500 for a day, and $200 to assist him at a wedding.

I'll send off a couple emails and see what happens.

What about actually working for a photographer. As in they pay you a modest fee to help them. You don't have to tell them everything you are planing to do. Just go to work one night a weekend and watch and learn.