1st Year Of Wedding Photography; My Experience

Now that's me on the right, the one with the 'canon' strap around her neck, red dreadlocks held tightly in a bun, and the crazy facial piercings!

It was the mark of my 1st year anniversary last week, of when I first started my amazing journey of wedding photography, and somehow managed 11 weddings!

Of course not all of these were paid, as I did a lot of free weddings in exchange for valuable experience and practise, and also did some second shooting work with other local photographers (again unpaid) along with shadowing professionals.

One word that I could describe the journey of pushing yourself to become a dedicated wedding photographer; CRAZY! There would be other fitting words too, but this just about sums up every aspect of the job description. Let me tell you about it;

• 'Fake confidence to be confident' has been my personal motto throughout each and every session I've had the pleasure of doing. I never had been a confident person, even with my work. I was one of those children that would hide behind their mothers skirt and peek at the 'stranger' with one eye open. So you can imagine that wedding's wasn't something I ever thought I would do; before starting university. The bottom line is I have diagnosed anxiety, and I thought that I would carry on with the cute Newborn/Family sessions in the studio, where I had full control and less people to talk to. However, when my tutor asked if I would like the opportunity to take on a wedding for the first time, I felt the curiosity and thought 'why not'. I was pleasantly shocked that the anxiety changed to an adrenaline rush, and fell in love with the chaotic day that followed.

• After my first wedding I started teaching myself how to use OCF, and really get to know my camera's inside and out on the manual setting, for weddings in particular. You will find that wedding photography is complex and demanding in the sense of constant lighting changes, which you need to be ready to tackle. Going from shooting inside a dark church with your camera on a low F stop, slow shutter speed, and high ISO number does not transition well when following the bride and groom out of the church into the blazing sun. One of the ways that I knew could tackle this situation is by carrying a second camera body; and this will be one of the best decisions I ever made.

• Upgrading my primary body from the Canon 500D (crop sensor) to the Canon 5Dmkii opened my eyes to the possibilities of wedding photography. I was now on my way towards creating art. I kept the 500D as my secondary body (Im a student, finances are tight don't judge me) but it's been working for me up until this day! Having a lens that goes as low as F1.8 would be sitting on my 500D, with it not great handling higher ISO settings. My primary body will have attached usually the 24-105 at the lowest F4, as it works great up to ISO 2800. Having two camera bodies available allows the photographer more chances to capturing great candid moments, that can be missed during lens changes.

• Most of the time I would question myself, and my sanity, and whether or not I could handle the pressure of capturing the memories of someones day. I would sometimes come home shaking from coming down from the adrenaline rush, and sink into the sofa hoping to God that I got good shots. Uploading the images was always scary, but then Id sigh with relief, and yet again I was being too hard on myself because the images were fine, and the clients LOVED them every time.

• I would find myself in crazy situations; contorting myself whilst trying to get 'the shot' of the happy couple in the back of their wedding car, whilst I was in the passengers seat trying not to impale my lung with my own ribs. Holding the bride's crazily large dress whilst she had a pee, because she just didn't trust anyone else to hold it (not usually in my job description but I'll go with it), running up and down a field trying to make sure I don;t miss the bride walking down the abnormally large isle, but also trying to capture the anticipation on the grooms face (yes they got married on a field). I've even had to bite the bullet and stand on a bench at the front of a (very full) church to get a shot of everybody present, otherwise I was shooting behind a poorly placed speaker!

Bottom line is, despite the hurdles and the self doubt, I've love and will always love the art of wedding photography. Being at the forefront of watching 2 people declare their love for one another. For as long as I can move my arms and legs I do not dream of giving up this passion that burns for this particular field of photography, and it will always be the most rewarding.