How did you learn?

I would like to get into the business of wedding photography...and I was trying to think of the best way to do this. So....I thought I would ask the people who actually DO it! So, how did you get your wedding photography education? Formal classes? Internships? Second Shooter jobs (if so...how did you get them?) Just jumped right in? anything at all!

We did a few for friends and family and then jumped into it full swing...

Trained under a pro for two years, but not in wedding photography. Just learning how to take a decent picture. That was 17 years ago. Practiced a lot... even with point and shoot cams.

It was funny. The more I learned, the more scared I got in photographing something important. Ignorance is bliss when you don't know how many zillion ways you can screw up a shoot. It was well over a decade before I was confident enough that I could produce high quality through any bad shooting situation.

i started shooting for family and friend's gatherings. then we have a family friend who's running a wedding / events photography business and asked her if i can be her second shooter from there i really had a chance to apply what i've been reading from this forum and from the books our fellow POTNer members recommend. after a year of being a second shooter, i started accepting my own clients. but until now, i'm still in the process of learning. i think photography is an endless education. if you want to grow as a photographer, you should be open for suggestions and ideas from books, from our fellow POTNer's, etc... hope this helps.

I'm interested in this too.

I'm still learning, but I decided that I want to go the route of doing portraits and pro bono event coverage for NPOs to learn the ropes over the next 6 months THEN second shoot weddings for at least one season. It's nice cause I can start making money on the portrait sessions right away and I don't have the same pressure of having to capture this once-in-a-lifetime event with no second chances.

It all happened very quickly.

I second shot one wedding, 6 months later I had 10 solo bookings.

I did those 10 weddings and now I've got 20 bookings for my current season which is my 2nd official season.

I'm also interested in this.

I was going to offer to do some weddings for free to gain experience but figured too much was at stake for me to practice on someones wedding as the sole shooter. I would still do it if the happy couple's only other alternative was no photog or grandma and her p&s but wouldn't want someone to think they could save money because a seasoned pro was offering free work, only to regret it later.

I'll probably look for second-shooter opportunities.

We found someone who offered photography courses for small groups, and we hired him to do a 2-day wedding course just for the two of us (Ann and myself). It wasn't cheap - we could have bought a 70-200 f2.8 IS instead. I then second-shot one wedding, and we started booking weddings on the strength of the portfolio from course and second-shoot, in the meantime while waiting for those bookings to kick in, we did a couple of free weddings for friends and family which boosted the range of our portfolio and filled in some gaps.

Rob

I shot film for 18 years, learning the basics on my own, and then started participating in area competitions and exhibits. When I took over the high school yearbook, I began taking senior portraits for underprivileged kids. After building a solid foundation in portraits and sports, I shot a wedding for a family member and things evolved from there. I must say that shooting sports really helped me with the fast paced nature of weddings.

I 2nd shot some weddings for about 2 months. During that time I put together a website and offered some free photography for family pictures, senior pictures, engagements, bridals, and weddings. I put a limit on it though. 2 free from each portrait section and then 4 free weddings. Once I had those 4 free weddings booked I kept getting inquires so I told them I booked the free ones and then gave them my starting prices. Many just walked away but people got more and more interested once I started added my images from the free weddings to my blog and website. Once the "portfolio" part was done it was now time to market.

MrsOpie wrote in post #4164666
I 2nd shot some weddings for about 2 months. During that time I put together a website and offered some free photography for family pictures, senior pictures, engagements, bridals, and weddings. I put a limit on it though. 2 free from each portrait section and then 4 free weddings. Once I had those 4 free weddings booked I kept getting inquires so I told them I booked the free ones and then gave them my starting prices. Many just walked away but people got more and more interested once I started added my images from the free weddings to my blog and website. Once the "portfolio" part was done it was now time to market.

The addition of a website was very helpful to my business as well. I direct all my marketing toward that site, also. I had to remove the link from POTN, though, as 77% of my traffic this month (according to AWSTATS) was from curious POTN shooters rather than potential customers.

liza wrote in post #4164741
The addition of a website was very helpful to my business as well. I direct all my marketing toward that site, also. I had to remove the link from POTN, though, as 77% of my traffic this month (according to AWSTATS) was from curious POTN shooters rather than potential customers.

hey, there is nothing wrong with that! The more exposure your website gets, the better! I get a good number of hits from curious potn users too.

We did it the "wrong" way!

We ( I have a business partner ) both have a similar background - BA Fine Arts, and strong studio portrait experience.

A uni friend of my business partner asked her to shoot their wedding when we were both working at a portrait studio together two years ago. She said sure - and then turned to me to help out. I said why not. Sounds like fun. We quoted $400 for the both of us for a few hours of shooting. Pocket money. I now cringe at the figure and the thought process!

Before the wedding, due to circumstances we both ended up quitting the portrait studio within a week of each other.

Now what? Go into business for ourselves!

So we did. Two years ago next month.

Over that time we have built up both the wedding and portrait side of our business. I have a shooting studio, am employing people, and the business is going from strength to strength. We cater for all aspects of the portrait industry - engagements, weddings, maternity, babies, kids, families, fashion-make over, corporate etc etc etc. We also on occasion take on small commercial jobs, if it is something that interests us, and we feel we can provide the client with a quality product.

We started our prices very low and have had price increases along the way. I still offer one package for $400 - only because of poorly thought out yellow pages advertising a year ago - but this package is from walking down the aisle to walking back up it, and doesn't include any products at all. When the new addition of the yellow pages is out next year, the package wont exist any longer.

Business is a learning curve. You can make mistakes along the way. After all - no one is perfect.

If you are after advice, mine would be to treat any shooting you ever do for money as a business, not a hobby with perks.

Fingers crossed I didn't just sound like a wanker!

Cheers!
Naomi

I didn't have classes, second shooter gigs, or anything. I bought a DSLR, taught myself, shot everything I could find, until I felt that I could handle any situation that came at me. Then I did a couple weddings for free, saw that I could do it, and here I am, many many weddings later.