When to Approach to be 2nd shooter & How?

[pumpdog]

Hello,

IMHO, if you want to get into shooting weddings, get to the book store and read up on it. The internet is filled with an infinite amount of info. There are many great books out there that can get you going in the right direction. With your prior experience it shouldn't be that difficult breaking into the the wedding field. It helps if you enjoy it, I believe you will learn faster if you are having fun doing it. Also, let it be known to friends and family of your wishes and that you would shoot some weddings for cheap. There is always someone out there wanting to save some green on their wedding and the word can get around fast. As you get better simply raise your prices.

That is how I got started with one exception, I wasn't looking to get into Wedding Photography but was asked by a close friend to shoot his wedding, I had fun doing it. So now, it's a part time gig for me.

[David_Buzzard]

Weddings are hard work, and it's a tough go to get to a point where you make a regular living at it. I came from a news background, and I know guys who have come from fashion and other fields of photography. I think you have to have a strong grasp of what you're doing, and then learn the wedding biz. My advice would be to take a good, week long, wedding workshop. Some hands on experience is really critical.

The other thing is that no matter what your genre of wedding photography is, from PJ to super formal, you have to have a firm grasp of basic wedding skills. You need to be able to manage family groups, and do basic formal portraits. When photographers get into trouble, it's usually because someone gets left out of a family group shot. Once you have the basics down, start putting your personal style into it.

I don't think you need to have specialized gear for doing weddings, although it nice. Two cameras, zooms from 17 to 200mm, and a couple of flash units will pretty much do you. I have a couple of high speed zooms, but I almost never use them.

David Buzzard