What's the Point of Second Shooters?

There are numerous conspiracy theories surrounding the death of professional wedding photography or the exponential race to the bottom as it’s known in the office. I’ve mentioned a few reasons for the decline here on the Secret Wedding Photographer blog, such as free engagement shoots. Some will claim that the big camera manufacturers don’t care about us pros and much in the same way that Apple virtually ditched development of professional workstations and support for professional applications (farewell Aperture) the big camera companies are now focused on making photography easier and cheaper for consumers. Let's leave for another post! 

There is another far sinister factor - the Second Shooter, lurking in the background. I’m old enough to remember life before the second shooter. The days of a now mythical creature - the photographers assistant. A useful beast who knew his place. I even employed one once who didn't want to be a photographer. He liked assisting. Having an assistant is great. They carry your bags. Make sure everything is working. Move lights around and hold reflectors. They were a fantastic thing. Unfortunately, they are rarely seen now. Commercially no one will pay for them. They have been made extinct by the birth of the second shooter. Another disastrous idea for the wedding photography business.

“Do I need to provide my wedding photographer with a meal?” YES! I have the proof that wedding photographers need to take on the same calories as a Tour de France cyclist or they will faint during the speeches.

When I turned 50 a few years ago, I realised I was in a bit of trouble. The good years had been a bit too good for me and shooting  2 - 3 weddings a week had suddenly become tough. I was over-weight and out of condition. Back to back Summer weddings in the heat, with all the stress and logistical nightmares, had grown so exhausting that I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to continue into my 50’s unless I restricted my workload to one wedding a week. Unfortunately, this just wouldn’t work financially, and so I decided to get back in shape to cope with the workload. I joined the gym and went on a diet. It all went OK for the first six months but as anyone who has ever tried this will tell you - it gets really boring! On the verge of giving up I did what every professional photographer would do and bought a gadget.

It is your big day so everything has to be flawless, and in order to capture everything perfectly, you need to choose the best photographer for you. On your big day it could be argued that choosing the right photographer is one of the most important decisions you will make. This is because this is the person who will be immortalising all your memories, and you want everything to be captured in the way you have always imagined. But with all the other decisions and problems you have to deal with before your wedding, how do you make the job of choosing your photographer as simple and effective as possible? There are a few simple guidelines to make sure you and your photographer are on the same page… 

Over the past few years one of the most popular must haves at wedding receptions has to be a photo booth.

These essentially fall into two types, a traditional style enclosed booth or an open studio, often referred to as a ‘faux booth’.

Even within these two types there are a number of styles and options, which could affect the output, and or cost of hire. So lets look at them in a bit more detail:

Photo booths – by definition is a cubicle or small room in which a person sits to have their photo taken. Essentially it’s an enclosed space and usually containing an automated photo kiosk. Where once inside the guests press a button to start a sequence of photos, which are merged by software to become the ‘photo booth print’. The activation process could be via a button, touch screen or in some cases a foot pedal on the floor. Modern software today allows users to select a variety of options from pictures styles, backdrops and even layouts. With green screen now also a fairly standard offering.