I’ll be honest, ten years into this gig and I often still feel hesitant about calling myself a “professional photographer”. As Ive been updating my website and portfolio, it has been encouraging to see just how far I have come and how much I have learned over the years. I never had another photographer to take me under their wing and show me the ropes. I never shadowed any sessions and while our local photographers are friendly and welcoming for the most part, its hard when you are starting out to know when to ask questions and when to keep quiet. I learned photography basics primarily through you tube, taking classes (you can see which ones I loved on my info page here, ) and reading blogs. I specifically remember learning about shooting in manual through the pioneer woman’s blog series which is kind of funny to think of, now that she is pretty well known for her cute kitchen items and cooking. Those were so easy to understand for a non technical person like myself and they made me feel like I may actually figure it all out.

While Im still not saying Im an expert by any means, I have actually learned a few things over the last ten years and I thought Id share a few little things that may encourage someone along their way. My tips wont be super technical or in any way hard facts, they are simple preferences and pointers that have helped me personally along the way.

Tip of the day number one comes from a hard lesson I learned in wedding photography.

When photographing a wedding, it is crucial to have a shot list of sorts in your mind or to have a paper copy. I started the practice of having a shot list after I photographed the Lazar wedding in 2011. My personal shot list is always created with the bride, the week before her wedding. I love doing this together the week before the wedding for several reasons. First, the bride has an idea of who will and wont be attending at this point, the other vendors have given her their arrival times which helps us to create our timeline, the information is fresh on my mind when I get to the wedding, and its a chance for me to encourage and calm a typically anxious bride. Bonus tip, I have this time with my brides the week before the wedding because I’ve read stories of photographers accidentally forgetting they had a wedding to photograph and getting a call from a bride who is at her wedding and waiting and I would seriously die if I ever did that to someone… like fall right over and die the ultimate people pleaser death. Below is what a typical shot list, including a timeline looked like for me back in 2015 before the bride and I completed it together.

During the final consult I would add details and names and make sure to have the bride tell me about any special sentimental items that I needed to be sure not to miss. I also like to get a heads up on any special touches like the fact that a first dance would be split into three parts or that there would be three cakes, an extra speech or a choreographed dance, you get the idea. I tried to make note of people that are special to the bride and any potential difficulties that I could help run interference with. I did later incorporate a clause into my wedding contract stating that while I would do my best to capture every important image; things often happen on wedding days that are out of my control and some images may not be possible due to people, weather, timing and variable circumstances.

The main tip is this, don’t forget that you are helping to create moments for this bride that she will hopefully treasure forever. Early on I felt like I was letting things progress organically during weddings and felt more comfortable with a documentary perspective on the day. While that is still true, I learned that there are certain points that I, as a photographer, can help to “create” sweet moments for my brides. My favorite ways to do this was in a first look photo for a bride with her dad, an intimate moment for a bride and groom to sneak away for their first look at one another. I also love that last moment before a bride walks down the isle and gets a little nudge or snuggle from her daddy and that moment right after the ceremony when the bride and groom make it out of the church and fall into one another’s arms for a few minutes of quiet before they are surrounded by a crowd of loved ones anxious to talk to them.

I had photographed less than a handful of weddings back in 2011 and I was still learning some very basic photography. I know some people will say I had no business photographing a wedding however, I believe there is a “market” for everyone as long as you are honest about what you are doing and where you are in the process of photography. I had been requested by a family member to capture their wedding and I was willing to do it for a few reasons; I loved them, I had done their engagement and bridal portraits and they were happy with them and I was very honest with them about how inexperienced I was and the fact that I was super new to it all. I showed them images from the other few weddings I had photographed so that they would know what to expect. At that point they were glad to have me photograph their wedding knowing what to expect and because of my lack of experience my pricing was pretty minimal. The wedding went well, everything was beautiful and the images turned out great, given my experience at that time. I never even noticed anything that was missing until the bride messaged me asking if I had a photo of her with her mom. I searched back through the images several times only to realize that had missed that moment. I didn’t get that image, let alone create a sweet moment, for the bride with her mom. I was crushed and so embarrassed. I found a few images that I could crop to look like it was just the bride and her mom and while that would pacify the hurt a little, I knew that I had failed to create and capture what should have been a precious wedding day memory and I could never ever get that back for them. So make your timeline and your list, make sure you have the basics on the list and look over it while you scarf down your meal at the reception. If you missed anything, grab those people and create a moment off to the side of the reception because you cant ever go back to that day.

As I wrote this blog I enjoyed looking back at this sweet wedding and reminiscing. I am so thankful for the people that gave me a chance and trusted me with their memories. Don’t laugh too hard at my young photography skills and some of the dated photography trends like the jumping photo and the flowers around the brides face, they might be dated but they still make me smile. I don’t want to leave you hanging or feeling sorry for me, you should know that the bride and her sweet mama were so gracious with me and reminded me that they understood that I was learning. I apologized and cropped every image I could find that looked like an image of the bride with her mama to try to make it right. I always tell my kiddos that a mistake you learn from is okay, it’s the ones you don’t learn from that you need to worry about. So, heres to learning and sharing, being thankful for grace and hoping someone else can learn from my mistakes too!