How I got started shooting weddings

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I’m not a huge fan of origin stories because they usually don’t offer anything worthwhile.

Since this newsletter is for you and about you, I’ll try for something more. For those who think you need some kind of photo pedigree, I'll fix that.

I was not born a photographer. No one really is, but my folks were not photographers, nor were any relatives, and I’d never seen a cool camera as a kid unless you count the original Polaroid Land Camera.

For some strange reason, I got interested in video production during my first couple of years at college and went on to study that. I suppose that’s where my passion for image-making came in, but photography was never a focus (pun intended).

When my bride and I got married, my parents asked me what I wanted as a wedding gift. As a television professional who already spends my days behind the lens, I thought a real camera might be a nice gift to use on the honeymoon. Boom, that was it - one week of taking photos in historic San Francisco, and I was hooked on photography.

Though I decided becoming a Photographer would be my dream job, it took me a while to make the transition to full-time status (about 6 years).

I tried every discipline photography offered - landscape, portraits, wildlife, art and fashion. Though some of them were fun, nothing felt like what I wanted for a career (doing it every day and being paid to do it, even if I didn't want to).

A great way to immerse yourself is to assist others already doing it.

I assisted a few photographers to get a better feel for the different kinds of work photographers did for a living. This certainly helped. When I assisted a professional wedding photographer, everything changed.

This was different. It was exciting. The wedding day is a "game-on" kind of day where you can't just say, "Let's try another day." This is a real start-to-finish event, and you have to be prepared for everything.

I spent a full summer as a wedding photographer’s assistant, loading Hasslblads with film and watching every single detail of a wedding day each and every week. This was the greatest semi-paid internship I could ask for. While my hands loaded the film, my eyes and ears were always open.

Then I got my first wedding. It came about rather unexpectedly. The bride went to our church, and I found out they were getting married. I asked them if they had someone to shoot their wedding, and they did not. I offered, they accepted, and I had #1 on the books.

I had seen many weddings but had never shot one on my own. I did make a full disclosure and let the couple know of my rookie status and that I had only one camera (NOT recommended for a wedding photographer).

They were willing to get married with no photos, so if they got any from the day, that was more than they expected. Cool.

The wedding went very well. Just the two of them and two friends. I shot some prep shots, the small chapel ceremony, and some shots of the couple and their friends. Pretty easy all the way around, but more importantly, I got MY first wedding under my belt.

The pressure was off. I did it, and I did it the way I wanted to do it. That's an important part I’d like to go deeper on.

Shooting your style is SO much more empowering than I thought!

When you're a professional, you have a style that brides see and hire you for. There are many different kinds of wedding photography styles and it does take a bit of time to develop your own.

I had an idea of what I liked and how I thought things should be photographed. It differed from the pro I was assisting at the time. I even showed him the photos, and he wasn't terribly impressed (though he did invite me to shoot at one of his weddings a few weeks later, so perhaps he was sandbagging his feedback a bit).

On that fateful day, I had a beautiful couple at a beautiful venue and a handful of black and white film canisters. That day, I was a photographer. This was unofficially my second wedding! Someone else handled the grunt work for a change while I was behind the camera.

Little did I know, my employer was just posturing for the bride by “bringing in some additional talent.” He never looked at the photos.

Little did he know, many of those photos were amazing and became the cornerstone of my portfolio.

And then it began.

After shooting two real weddings in my personal and evolving style, I was hooked. I was an aspiring full-time wedding photographer...or, as I liked to call myself, "a part-time professional."

From there, I created my portfolio (of my 1.5 weddings) and went looking for brides.

Side Note: I got something special cooking for how to find your first wedding, but you’ll have to wait for that. For now, let me give you some encouragement.

This path takes some luck and patience, but it also takes determination. If becoming a successful wedding photographer is important to you, then you owe it to yourself and the future brides to make it happen.

My favorite Zig Ziglar quote is, “You don’t have to be great to start, but you do have to start to be great.”

Photography is a craft. You can practice forever and still not be the best. This is good news because you can start building your business now WHILE you build your photography skills.

We’ll talk more about that, but committing is the first step. That’s the agreement between your heart and your head, and it’s usually where mediocre careers fail.

So, you get good at using your camera, I’ll help you with your inside game and you’ll be on your way to a career as a professional wedding photographer. Sound good?