If you want to shoot weddings the best way to start is to become a second shooter, right? But is that really all it takes? You bring your camera to a wedding, stay out of the way of the pro, take  a few nice candid shots of the guests and voila, you’re a wedding photographer! Nah, that’s not the best way.

Ok, I’m not saying it can’t happen like that, but those few shots you take would have to be pretty special for someone to entrust you with their most special day and lots of their hard earned cash. Second shooting is definitely invaluable for building experience; all I’m saying is don’t rely solely on being a dictionary-definition second shooter. Instead you should first aim to be as good as the pro and then second shoot like a pro to make your images much more marketable. So how do you do this with no wedding experience?

Let’s travel back to 1984 and take a look at one of my favourite movies: The Karate Kid. Apart from having one of the best soundtracks of the 80s, it also teaches a simple but important lesson: hard work and preparation pays off.

When Daniel-san spends hour after hour, day after day waxing cars, painting fences and sanding floors he doesn’t see how it’s supposed to prepare him for the impending All Valley Karate Championship. Instead he wants to learn the glamorous rapid punches and spin kicks he sees in the dojo and thinks that copying the routines in his karate text books will turn him into a black belt.

We know, of course, that all those seemingly unrelated tasks actually disciplined Daniel-san in exactly the skills he needed; he just didn’t realise it at the time. Read More→