Anyone Got Field Advice

[PureKiwi]

Hey Members/Friends , I'm just wondering for all those who do photography for a living have you got any advice iv got some key questions I'm trying to get answered



How did you start off in the field , how did you get ( noticed )
What gear did you start off with ( have you got more now )
How much experience did you have
Was this your first big break
Any Advice ?


And if anyone is or knows a wedding photographer , i wanting to no how do you start of been a wedding photographer as its 2 peoples special day you cant guaranteed something you cant do if you screw it up you don't get to do a re-shoot

My point is how do you get that Experience , one of your first answers might be go to your friends/family wedding and tke photos but I live in Invercargill don't know many people down here I'm originally from Hamilton

[BaNaNaMaN]

Sophie McMillan (Y) www.pixelperfection.co.nz (http://www.pixelperfection.co.nz)

Alot of the times you have to get to know a photographer and "study" under them for some time. So ask someone in the business if you can shoot an event with them for free to get a few under your belt.

I got into motorsports photography that way (my partner is a motorsports photographer and was before I met her) and as such got some work published through contacts she already had.

My advice is to offer your time for free to be a backup photographer at an event and gain experience from there. Once you feel confident book a wedding and take the leap.

Goodluck

[Redal]

If you are looking at getting into wedding photography or getting paid for your work, my advice never work for free, once people know you will work for free, why pay you ? If you do, your work is seen as having little or no value.

From my experience with shooting sports, NBL and Air new zealand cup and other sports , i started off working for free, and it was a huge mistake , it took me about a year off playing hard ball with people before i started getting paid.

Everyone thinks they are a photographer, and will work for free to get a start but very very few get paid. Look at most newspapers they have readers photos of everything, but 95% are rubbish, but they are still in there.

To get experience, give discounted (even heavily discounted) shoots to friends and family. After a few of these shoots , put really pressure on yourself to get 80% real keeper shots, where exposure, wb, composition and posing is good. And limit your time and set an amount of shots that you need to get.

Also know your camera/ flash/ equipment inside out, and know how it reacts in different situations, like harsh light / low light.

Then when you think you are ready, just jump on in, and remember dont charge a fair price,

I laugh at these guys that do wedding for $500 and do heaps of PPing on there image to make them look ok.

Also look at getting lightroom 2 , i can get through 100 images in less than an hour.

[PureKiwi]

Some nice advice thanks , yeah i have light room & photoshop and all that stuff ( use to be a web designer before been a chef )

[Cory Varcoe]

I was lucky enough to get invited to shoot a wedding which had a very low budget and they werent planning on getting photos done so there was no presure at all. But i agree with Redal and BaNaNaMaN, try do a couple of wedding with a pro then head out on your own. But i wouldnt do too many as you could fall into the tap that Redal talked about

[PureKiwi]

Everyone probably getting sick of all my topics and reply's lol , normaly im the one on other forums giving advice Computers , Cooking any way to the point ,

My partners Uncles wedding coming up in October they have a photographer but I'm also going to be there snapping away see the results i can come up with.

BaNaNaMaN (http://www.photographersonline.co.nz/member.php?u=24) : i see you offer printing do you do that or goto a independent printing shop ? if so do you have any kind of deal with them for the business your giving them ?

[BaNaNaMaN]

We have purchased printers to print up to A4 boarderless and anything bigger we build in the printing cost to have it printed at a local print shop. We get a reasonable deal and I guess you could say it was better the "retail"

[Cory Varcoe]

So you find its cheaper to print you own rather then getting the print shop to do it? ( never sat down and acturally work it out/counted the prints i get per ink etc )
Are your prints professional ones or the ones you find at Harvey Normans? If you dont mind me asking

[Kazeden]

Interesting topic.
I only started picking up photography and i am totally in love with it. I am a doctor training in Pathology as my specialty and is quite close to being at the "top of the food chain" now. But i am just so sick and tired of the work i do. The money in pathology is pretty damn good (a lot better than an average photographer i think) but i just don't have the passion in medicine. I am quite keen to do photography for money, maybe part time that and part time medicine. I know some wedding photographers in Asia, most of them are fully booked all the time and they make their job look easy. But i know it must be harder than it looks.

Bananaman, as a wedding photographer, how hard do you think it is for a person like me to do part time wedding photography? In other words, do you think wedding shoots are so taxing that it will be impossible to do as a part time job? I know wedding being a once in a lifetime thing is treated seriously by the couple, they may be demanding? What you reckon?

Just while we are on this topic, there is this wedding photographer in Malaysia. He is pretty much the most popular wedding photographer now and gets paid to fly everywhere around the world from Bali to Phuket to Paris and Australia to shoot weddings. Check out his work on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamong/