Foreword

I'm a wedding photographer. I have been now for 14 years. I like photographing weddings and I'm pretty good at it. My clients are happy and so am I with my work. The problem is lots of wedding photographers are awful. In fact they should not be called photographers at all. Why? Before digital cameras and compacts you used to have to purchase a camera on which you turned dials, took readings and changed settings to get a picture. You made sure you knew how to do this as you have paid for the film and were about to pay for the processing and printing of that film. 24 shots, that's all you've got. So you would purchase a camera, take it out of the box, put in the battery (for the meter perhaps) choose your film, load the film, choose your subject, read the light, set the aperture, set the shutter speed and then...... Press the shutter. Click! Have you got an image? Maybe? Probably? Or definately?

If you are in the "definatley" camp then you have probably learnt about light, aperture, shutter speeds, ISO and maybe even composition as ,well (you don't want to waste that film, which you may even develop yourself!).

Ok, now let's look at digital camera. You purchase a camera, take it out of the box, put in the battery, put in your card and turn it on.....click. Have you got an image? Maybe? Probably? Definitely!! Look there it is on the back of the camera, wow that's good " you should be a photographer!" says your friend. Yeah, maybe I should you think...

Problem is what you are at the moment is better described as a digital camera operator. If you understand light, aperture, shutter speed, iso, compositional rules, depth of field, hyper focal length, the effect of your lens on people and the landscape and more importantly their relation to each other then and only then I believe you can be a "photographer". Knowing these things brings confidence to all that you photograph. Slow down, be a photographer, make photographic decisions and then operate the digital camera telling it what you want not what Nikon or Canon have told it to give you.

I remember hearing David Bailey in an interview talking about the model shot with her hand on her hair and it sweeping backward. "I just snapped away" he said. And I'm sure he was right, but before he snapped away he made all his photographic decisions. He chose the model the background the film the lighting the aperture the shutter speed the camera! He was a photographer then he became a snapper, and a damn good one at that.

So I'm going to go through what it takes to be a photographer. And if you discover you are a photographer or that you think you can become one then I will show you how to attempt to succeed at it. Wedding photography requires many skills, not just with a camera as it's all about people and the way you interact with them. So read on, open your mind and don't be afraid. I won't pull my punches and this is not a guide on how to do it on a budget, this is a business and you have to treat it like one to increase your chances of succeeding.