I have been working for other photographers for over the past five years. Within that time, I have been able to connect and work with a lot of other photographers in the Bay Area. I have worked both in the studio doing post-production editing and album design as well as second shooting for other photographers. The obvious end result of this is that I have seen and edited a lot of wedding photos. I would guess the total would be in the millions at this point. And while that number might make you dizzy to think, all those photos I’ve seen and edited are a valuable resource as a photographer.
Today I’d like to introduce Vivian Chen, who will be guest posting on PhotoMint from time to time. Vivian is a long-time studio assistant for several well known San Francisco photographers. Her roles include second shooting, editing and color correcting, album design, customer service and studio operations. Because she is familiar with the inner workings of some of the best studios in town, she knows how to streamline day to day operations to keep everything working smoothly. In her free time, she works at building her own photo business. PhotoMint readers, please give Vivian a warm welcome by sharing your thoughts in the comments below.
As a second shooter, your job is to be back up to the main photographer. An effective second shooter is one who can balance understanding what the main photographer is expecting while also having enough initiative to capture moments on your own.
One of our PhotoMint readers recently asked for some advice on how to shoot while pregnant, so I talked to a number of photographers who have been there and done that, so I can report back. If you’re thinking about a pregnancy now or in the near future, there are probably a million questions running through your mind:
What do I tell my clients? How to make it work financially? How long can I shoot for? How long after the birth before I should plan to shoot again? How do I nurse at weddings? We’ll get to all those questions and more.
We’ve got a big wedding coming up this weekend, and that means we have some preparation to do in order to be ready for the weekend. We go through this routine every Friday afternoon, or the day prior to the wedding. It’s critical to have a routine that you follow each time. That way you know you’re covered. Follow our wedding photography checklist and you will be well prepared on your upcoming wedding shoot.
Wedding Photography Checklist:
1. Clean the Gear -Geoff goes through each piece of equipment, cleans dust out of the lenses, checks the camera body, makes sure everything is in good working order. Every lens gets cleaned. You don’t want some pesky dust spot on every image.
2. Charge the Batteries-We always carry extra flash batteries, you never know if you’ll need it or end up with a dead battery.
You know by now that networking is important right? It’s one of the best ways the best way to start your photography marketing, period. In the following video, I share the story of how a single networking event (and my first actually) led to our studio landing the job to photograph a major baseball player’s wedding. And that wedding led to us photographing another major baseball player’s wedding. Plus a bunch of other weddings actually.
Networking is the foundation of vendor relationships. It’s where you have the opportunity to meet and mingle, get to know people outside the hectic event day. Networking can be very powerful when done right. It’s why I want you to network for your own business. Attend events, talk to strangers and then follow up. So many great things are in store for your business, but YOU have to get out there and make it happen.
This is the story of how we made it happen-how we launched our wedding photography business. And how networking led to us meeting one of our favorite people in the industry who became one of our biggest fans and supporters. It completely changed the course of our career.
I promised another video soon, here it is. If you enjoy this video, I would LOVE for you to share it. I need that kind of positive reinforcement to keep doing more videos!
If you feel that your business would benefit from more bookings I encourage you to check out my latest ebook, Get Connected: How to Build Relationships to Drive Your Business. It’s only $29 right now, it’s a-step by-step guide to creating powerful vendor relationships that will lead directly to more bookings for your photography business. It’s packed with stories, case studies, examples, tips and as much goodness as I could pack in to 160 pages. From the feedback I’ve gotten, people who bought the guide last week have ALREADY gotten leads from implementing some of the strategies right away.
PhotoMint helps wedding photographers like you get results quickly and efficiently in all areas of your business. We teach photographers at every level how to increase profits, streamline studio operations and get more time for the things you love: shooting incredible images and spending time with those who are most important to you.
Everyone deserves to be successful doing what they love. What’s possible for you?
A guest post by Vivian Chen.
Today I’d like to introduce 
