The most important shots below apply to anyone in the wedding photography business, whether you’re a secondary shooter, a primary photographer who hires a second shooter on a wedding-by-wedding basis or a studio with a full-time second shooter on staff.
There are things you can do with scrims and natural light that are difficult if not impossible to replicate with artificial light. A case in point is this lovely daylight portrait series of model Willie Demi Spink shot at New Smyrna Beach, Florida.
Today’s generation is one that is generally open and accepting to change. While that’s a good thing, it also has its disadvantages. Your business could be here today and gone tomorrow. This is something I have learned in the volume photography world.
When I started doing photography, my focus was mainly weddings, and I was working from home. After a few years, my business grew tremendously. I had maximized the amount of income I could make with just two hands and a living room.
With so many sources of artificial light at your fingertips and numerous ways these sources can be modified, choosing the best tool for the task can be confusing. Developing a working knowledge of the differences between these tools and their results is the first step in choosing the right light.
I make my living as a wedding photographer, but my passion is travel. I have been fortunate to visit 44 countries the last 20 years, and will be adding two more this year. After many years traveling as a business executive and the last 10 as a photographer, I have learned many lessons, some good and some bad.
When I started my photography career, the idea of a destination wedding seemed out of reach. It was so exclusive and elusive. Anyone who talked about going to shoot one seemed like they were at the top of their game.
Has the travel bug ever bitten you? If you’re reading this issue of Shutter Magazine, I bet the answer is yes. Symptoms include feelings of discontent when standing still, reverse homesickness and increasing levels of poverty.
One of the coolest parts of my business is all the traveling I get to do. I have been so lucky and blessed to have traveled from one end of the country to the other shooting, as well as a few other countries.
Photographers are some of the worst businesspeople out there. Most lack the business background and knowledge to be as successful as they could be. No photographer ever woke up one day and said, “I want to own a business.” Instead, they said, “I want to be a photographer.”
