The Second shooter ( not a western ).
Wedding websites everywhere say you must have two photographers. Why? Back in the film days, there was ALWAYS only one photographer. Why? Because that person was the person you were hiring for their eye and film was so expensive! Now, it has become common place to hire freelance photographers as second shooters because digital is so inexpensive and the barrier to entry in the digital marketplace is very low – just about everyone I know has a digital camera or a really good smart phone, that takes pretty great snapshots.
Ask your photographer if they always have the same second photographer, if they use different people each time. How do the chief photographer’s handle the editing process? How long have they worked with the second photographer? How much of YOUR money is going to cover that second photographer? A second photographer that is for hire is not necessarily worth your money. So consider where else you can put that money towards. An option I would highly recommend instead of a 2nd photographer, is to spend money on an AMAZING video team – I’d be happy to refer you to a few awesome videographers I’ve worked with. Once you book with me I can send over all my recommendations for like-minded vendors.
I have trained myself to work my tail off and am confident in the images that I provide. You are hiring me for my eye and vision and I am constantly on the move to give you a well-rounded gallery of images. I work to give you art pieces and not just snapshots. It allows me to give you consistency in the images – I know exactly what I’m capturing and would never rely on a random second shooter to give me their images as it would create inconsistency in the final product -no matter how similar our vision is. There are times when I do recommend a second photographer – when the guest count is greater than 100 & if the timeline is extremely tight. Or if you need me to be in two different locations at once.
