500 Wedding Ideas
How to find weddings in my area to offer photography services?
I have never photographed a wedding before, however I would like to start and I have to start somewhere! I would firstly like to offer my services for free so they could possibly even pay for another photographer if they don't trust me to capture the event well enough. How would I begin with this? I am from Essex (UK) so how would I find weddings in my area to get started? Or how else would I do it if this is a bad idea? Please help! :)
Public Comments
- Start with family and friends who you could photograph weddings, parties and christenings for free. Make your mistakes and learn your craft before starting on the general public. You only have one reputation and wedding photography is a demanding skillful job with high expectations from your customers. Hope that helps and best of luck!
- You are going about this all wrong. First get some gear together, then get some experience shooting wedding as a second shooter with a pro. You do not have the skills, knowledge or gear necessary to shoot a wedding, and offering your services free is just pointless - the B&G will no doubt have numerous guests at the wedding who are taking pics - why would they need you?? The B&G generally pay for a photographer because they want a quality of picture that the rest of the guests CAN'T achieve - that's the point. Until you can do this - there's no point in offering your services. Just for info - my basic wedding kit is; - two DSLR bodies (one as a backup) - fast primes or zooms (50mm f1.8. 85mm f1.8, 24-70mm f2.8) - at lease two speedlights off camera (with triggers & modifiers) - plenty of spare batteries & memory cards plus you need the knowledge & skill to shoot all this in manual (flash & camera) - weddings are not the place to be using Auto or Scene Modes!
- DO NOT ever offer to do weddings for free just to get some experience. Find wedding photographers in your area and ask if you can shadow them or even assist as a second shooter or gofer. You will learn more by working with an experienced wedding shooter than you ever will trying to do this on your own.
- You should post in church bulletin boards, event halls, and even the supermarket
