I thought it was time to introduce myself. It's the least I could do considering how much I've learned, and continue to learn, from all of you. I'm based in Los Angeles and have been shooting for around four years now but only became 'obsessed' with wedding photography after shooting my first wedding in August. Before that I was one of those guys that swore up and down I'd never shoot a wedding. My friend's Mom lost her husband 7 years ago and was finally moving on. She asked me to shoot her wedding and I just couldn't say no (she ended up loving the photos). Since then a whole new world has opened up to me - your world - and I've been living and breathing it ever since. Some of the most creative imagery today is being created by wedding photographers. The past 5 months have been spent trying to hone my skills and learning the nuts and bolts of the business. Networking, marketing, shooting. More shooting. If you're curious to see where my work is at right now please check out this little slide show I created from my last shoot - http://mitchelwu.myshowit.com/kerriannbridal. I'd love to get your comments. Perhaps it's not quite up to FM standards (which are amazingly high) but I'm happy with my progress and have every intention of continuing to learn and grow.
I currently shoot with a couple 40D bodies, Canon 70-200 2.8, Canon 85 1.8, Canon 50 1.8, and a Canon 17-40L f4. I'd really like to add a 5DII plus a faster wide angle lens.
Welcome to the forum Mitch~ the slideshow was great~ nice job capturing the couple.
I would say you are doing what you should be doing, practicing, and learning from many fabulous folks here... one thing to be cautious about is please realize that a wedding day is not like a bridal session, you need to learn to work quick and get the shots!!!
Thanks for that. It's funny you should say that. Leading up to my friend's Mom's wedding I had all of these visions about how I was going to create some amazing imagery with beautiful compositions, etc. Then when it came time to shoot it was all I could do to just make sure I got the main shots. I was scrambling and being creative was the last thing on my mind! And of course very little is in your control during the wedding. It was a huge learning experience to be the only shooter at my first wedding. Again, I was happy with the results, as were the clients, but it really motivated me to improve.
Mitch W wrote:
Thanks for that. It's funny you should say that. Leading up to my friend's Mom's wedding I had all of these visions about how I was going to create some amazing imagery with beautiful compositions, etc. Then when it came time to shoot it was all I could do to just make sure I got the main shots. I was scrambling and being creative was the last thing on my mind! And of course very little is in your control during the wedding. It was a huge learning experience to be the only shooter at my first wedding. Again, I was happy with the results, as were the clients, but it really motivated me to improve....Show more →
Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. With a few shoots behind me now, and some decent photos to show, I'm putting together a studio wedding book and am about to start pounding the pavement (both the literal and online pavement). First target are local planners and wedding vendors - see if I can build some relationships there. I'm also trying to cast a net far and wide among family, friends, acquaintances to let people know that I'm actively trying to book weddings for 2010. Who knows, if I book one wedding from this very grass roots approach it will be worth it.
Regarding the studio wedding book - since I am trying to book weddings in the mid $2k range initially am I correct in thinking I should have a lower end book made up to show as opposed to a high-end book? Or do you typically have a book made up for low, mid and high price points?
Interesting about the song. I have the CD and when I heard it I said "Perfect!" But I also had a feeling it was used in every other wedding as well as it really is the perfect wedding song. Thanks for the heads up!
