Being a Second Shooter

I never imagined I would become a photographer until a couple years ago and it wasn’t until I started editing photos for a professional wedding photographer did I realize that I really loved being the fly on the wall of someone’s most special day. Second shooting is the best of both worlds, of being a wedding photographer but not being a wedding photographer and minus the financial rewards. Obviously, you make the big bucks if you are booking the weddings and leading the day, but for me I get to show up the day of and just dive in. I am meeting the bride and groom for the first time and all the weddings details are new and different from last weekend’s wedding. I can’t wait to see the dress… it is what I look forward to the most because it tells you a lot about your bride and you never know what to expect. Since I am usually the one to hold the dress, help hang it in the “dress spot” for photos, the one to fluff the dress, hold the train for the bride, ooh and aww at it from the back of the aisle as she walks down with her Dad… it’s important for me to point out that the dress is EVERYTHING.

For a second shooter, your job is to assist the lead photographer in whatever they need, period. A good second shooter will already know what their lead needs before they even have to ask, so there is some pressure to be on top of things. But the beauty of second shooting, for those photographers who don’t want to necessarily specialize in weddings (like me), is that you get to enjoy all candids moments of the day, take great pictures, interact with the wedding party, get to know the other vendors, receive a delicious meal (most of the time) and then hand your SD cards off to your lead and call it a night! I wouldn’t be the photographer I am today if I hadn’t started off second shooting…so cheers to all the wedding photographers out there killin’ it, hustling to book weddings, doing all the hard work so photographers like me can second shoot with you!