Wedding photography can be a rewarding genre and can also be lucrative if you can make it to the upper echelons, but just like any other one, it has plenty of drawbacks as well. If you are newer to photography and exploring your options, check out this interesting video essay from an experienced wedding photographer that discusses five reasons why you might want to think twice before you pursue wedding photography.
Coming to you from John Branch IV Photography, this excellent video essay discusses five reasons why you might not want to be a wedding photographer. I think one that is particularly important to consider is that you will lose a significant chunk of your weekends as a wedding photographer. This might not bother you, but if your partner works a job with more standard hours, for example, it could make it difficult to be able to see each other. It can also be a very high-pressure and high-stress genre in which to work, and you might not find as much creative freedom in it as you would in others. Still, there are a lot of upsides to it, though it's important to make an informed decision, so check out the video above for the full rundown.
I once shot a Chinese wedding as a second shooter. Trust me, all weddings are not the same. I hate customer service and high paced environments. If you yell at me, we're done! So, yeah, I shouldn't be a wedding photographer.
A friend who has seen my stuff (non-wedding) asked if I would shoot his daughter's wedding. Having shopped around, he was shocked at the lowest basic pricing which ranged from $3-5K. I told him I wouldn't do it for $10K. Kudos to successful wedding photogs; the good ones look like they actually enjoy it.
For friends only photograph weddings in situations where they have no plans of it being professionally photographed, unless you do weddings professionally. Since I don't, and a friend of mine simply wanted a small gathering of close friends and family, thus it ended up being around 20 people, a rented tent, since it was done near a lake. I ended up photographing it as a guest.
Since I am an introvert, even as a guest, I like being able to photograph things, and since the event was done in a way where the only photos would have just been random smartphone images from various guests. I focused on getting main/ basic photos that people typically take for weddings. Since it was something I wanted to do and they didn't have much of a desire to hire a professional photographer, they liked the photos and there was no pressure.
With all of that in mind, I have no plans of ever doing wedding photography professionally. Weddings that typically focus on that, where the husband and wife and close family are at peak stress levels because of all of the planning needed for an event to have 200+ people, that stress will make its way back to the photographer, and it will not be a pleasant experience.
Wedding Photography is indeed a lucrative way to make decent money. For many photographers, it is how they started their professional career. When I first started my business, that's what I did. During that time I networked with fellow photographers/professionals and soon two years later I landed my government photography job. I'll photograph weddings time to time but they are such a time consumer but hey if they pay the dough I'm all game.
This video really sums up why I hate photographing weddings, He missed out the editing process and how mind numbing it is... Long days watching others having fun.
I dislike photographing people. Absolutely love photographing wildlife and nature, but find it very unpleasant to photograph a human. That is all the reason I need to not ever be a wedding photographer.
I'm not a people person, really. But, I love portraiture! I especially enjoy photographing people who don't think much of themselves. So, when you ask them to sit for you, they're shocked: "Who me? You want to photograph me?". And, when they see the results, it's almost misty.
What you said is interesting, because I am very much a people person ... very social, always inviting people to go along with me wherever I go, always getting big groups of friends and / or family together for all kinds of different things. Always seeking to meet up with locals whenever I go to a new area to photograph wildlife, making friends all around the country, etc,. etc., etc.
And yet I have an extremely strong dislike for people photography. Want to hang out with people all the time. Don't ever ever ever want to take their portrait, head shot, graduation photo, wedding photo, etc.
This is every single portrait iv taken
As a wedding photographer, you are responsible for the most important day in a woman's life. At the same time, a wedding is a) a religious ceremony, b) a social event, as well as c) a photo shoot.You have to shoehorn your work into the other aspects without fail and without being an asshole. It's a delicate balance. And the B&G (and moms) have to like you at the end of the day or they won't like your pictures.