In January of 2015 my husband and I took a leap of faith. While he was considering making a career change he threw out the crazy idea of coming to work for me full time. At first, it was a hard no from me. How could we rely on MY business as our main source of income? What would it be like to work with my spouse 24/7? What if people stopped booking me? All valid questions (and we’ll save those for another blog). But after a lot of prayer and consideration we decided to take the leap and Trev started running the business along side of me and second shooting almost all of my weddings.
I have always been spoiled with great second shooters. My sister Morgan had consistently shot with me before Trevor and she still shoots with me from time to time and I am so thankful to be able to work along side of her! I’ve also had some friends in the industry fill in from time to time and it’s always fun to see how others go about their business on a wedding day. But it wasn’t until Trev started shooting with me week in and week out that I realized how valuable it can be to have a consistent second shooter with you. After about a half dozen weddings or so together we found or groove and I couldn’t believe how smoothly the wedding day would go having somebody there who knew my system, my philosophy and what I was looking for when it came to capturing images.
Having a consistent second shooter has completely changed my couple’s experience on a wedding day and drastically improved the images that I deliver to them.
Here are a 5 ways that having a consistent second shooter can change the way you capture a wedding day and improve your couple’s experience:
1. It’s much easier to stick to the timeline.
Ex. The bride is 30 minutes late getting into her dress. If you’re solo shooting a wedding, this can be incredibly stressful! But when you have a capable second shooter with you, this doesn’t have to impact the timeline at all. If this happens to us, I usually will send Trevor out with the guys to capture individual shots of the groom with his groomsmen so that those are out of the way, giving me more time with the whole bridal party once the bride is ready.
2. I can get more photos in less time.
– We typically stick to an 8 hour timeline on a wedding day. Not because we can’t stand working longer than 8 hours, but because we know that we can deliver 10 hours worth of photos in 8 hours and give our couple a complete wedding day experience without having to pay for extra coverage. For instance, I send Trevor with the guys for all the getting ready portraits while I stay with the girls for their getting ready portraits and in 30 minutes we can capture an hours worth of photos. And the same goes for my portrait time with the bride and groom and the whole bridal party. If I spend 20 minutes with them and I have Trevor shooting along side of me, I know I am getting double the amount of usable images in that short amount of time.
3. My second shooter can captures angles that would otherwise be impossible.
– Here are a handful of examples where Trevor and I were taking pictures at almost the exact same time but because we always shoot from different angles and at different focal lengths, we always get different images!
Left: Trevor’s Right: Kari’s
Left: Kari’s Right: Trevor’s
Left: Kari’s Right: Trevor’s
Left: Kari’s Right: Trevor’s
4. It makes my same day slide show possible.
– During times where the second shooter is often times left without much to do (for example family formals) I send my second shooter off to dump cards and prepare everything for me so that I can put together a quick edit for a same day slide show.
5. It makes the day more fun for everybody.
– Having someone to bounce ideas or to laugh with and kill the awkward silence while you fill up a card in the middle of portraits and have to get a new card…. ((This happens to me every wedding!!)) But most of all, it makes working on the weekends so much better, especially when Trevor is with me.
These are just a handful of ways that having a capable second shooter with you can improve your business and improve your clients experience, which is ultimately the goal.
I hope this is helpful to somebody out there and if you have any questions don’t be afraid to send me an e-mail!
Thanks
xoxox
Kari
