Why You Should Opt For a 2nd Photographer 🎉 Delta Hotel Wedding, Kingston Ontario 🎉 Holly + Jonathan
Today I’m going waaaay back, to 2016.
This was one of the first weddings I ever photographed, and it was with the amazing Tim Forbes.
Even then, Tim was a seasoned photographer with over a decade of weddings behind him. Nowadays, he’s pushing 20 years in the biz.
I’m lucky that I photographed my first wedding season as Tim’s second photographer. I didn’t know much about the industry, or about taking a good photograph.
I learned a lot from watching Tim, and from seeing how he selected photographs and edited them. I learned about the type of moment to look for, as a wedding photojournalist.
A moment of insight during my first wedding season
(SKIP ahead if you want to just see the photos)
I will always remember the moment Tim sent me his ‘selects’ from the first wedding I shot with him. That moment made me very happy.
The ‘selects’ are the final (or selected) images a photographer chooses from ALL the photographs taken on a particular occasion. I took over 2000 photographs that wedding, and he chose nearly 200 to keep, edit, and include for the couple. When I compared his selects to the ones I selected as my favourites, it was a really good match! I didn’t count exactly, but it felt like we agreed on most photos.
I was used to doing this kind of comparisons in academia: you compare your own ratings to those of an expert, to see how close you are. If you get more than 90% congruence with the expert, then you’re off to the races. This is what’s known as inter-rater reliability.
Even though I did not carry out a formal test of inter-rater reliability between Tim’s and my choices, the fact that he agreed with me on what were my strongest photos in that gallery made me feel accomplished. Like I was on the right track! At the very least, I understood how to choose among the clutter of my own work.
A brunch wedding at the Delta
So anyway, this was July, 2016. Warm and sunny.
I was his 2nd shooter for the day.
‘Second shooter’ (or ‘second’) is standard jargon for the helper your primary photographer (or ‘primary’) brings. The second’s job is to capture interesting moments the primary cannot capture because they can’t be in two places at the same time.
The second takes candid photos, lugs the primary’s gear around, brings them water and food (hopefully), and stays out of their way.
The second has an outrageous amount of freedom compared to the primary.
Why?
Well, because if a shot gets missed, or a wedding gallery isn’t exactly what the client hoped for, it’s on the primary photographer’s shoulders. The primary photographer is responsible for everything. They are responsible for the behaviour and photographs of the second photographer, too.
So as a second shooter, I had carte blanche to preserve whatever moments I thought were fun and told a story of the wedding day. I wanted to be at my best, make the guests feel at ease, and make Tim proud that he had hired me.
I got to hang out with the groom and his family in the morning. That was a blast!
In fact, seconding for Tim gave me an incredible look into the getting ready process from the perspective of ‘the boys’, to use a gendered term.
That’s because I hung out mostly with the groom and his ‘groomsmen’ at the weddings I shot with Tim. Time went along to photograph the bride and her group.
What I learned deserves its own blog post, so stay tuned for that.
Now without further ado, let’s dive into the wedding photos.
Details
First things first: Couples choose Quirky Love Photography for the people-moments and energy of the weddings we photograph. Not for the frills or posed ring shots.
This is an intuition I had even before Quirky Love Photography became a thing: the intuition that the emotions and energy were far more important than the staged stuff. Shooting alongside Tim gave me confidence in that intuition.
So these two details shots - a forgotten pair of black stilettos belonging to the mother of the groom, and a discarded table after breakfast…
These two shots still speak to me. They say, forget about trying for perfection, and just enjoy yourself. Isn’t that what life is all about?
Getting ready
I’ll let you in on a secret.
🤭 Getting ready is not about standing near a window, pretending to put on your tie, because your photographer told you to do it.
It’s about what you do to pass the time while the butterflies build in your stomach. About how you shoot the shit with your friends or family. How you’re surrounded by vibes and energy, and you feel good and nervous and excited all at once.
It’s about playing video games or watching TV, doing shots, or having a laugh. About watching youtube videos of how to tie your tie, or pin your boutonniere.
It’s about connecting: with others and with yourself.
These are the moments that you’ll want to remember.
The next few photographs tell the story of the getting ready.
The best part: I didn’t give one single instruction to anyone. My main job was to make everyone there feel comfortable. Then, they could forget I was there and get on with their morning prep.
We can see that it was 100 days away from the election, for example (image 3). That it was a lot of fun (image above). Cell phones were dropped. Bow ties tied. All candid moments, completely unposed.
Before the Ceremony
While the primary is off doing group shots before the ceremony, the second can get all the in-between moments.
I had a lot of fun with this. Notice how many grooming shots I took. I love them all!
The secret to capturing these kinds of candid moments is to be having fun yourself as a photographer. When people see a big smile on your face, they can relax, and be themselves. They know you’re not there to judge them, or to tell them what to do.
They see you relish the ‘ordinary’ moments they create, and they completely open up to you.
There were also quirky moments of love shared between folks. Like these three photographs:
I kept an eye out for funny moments, too.
Like this next frame of three different people, seemingly taking photographs of three different things.
Just *what* were they photographing?
It will be fun for this family to try and remember what was going on.
And this next one, which has to be one of my favourites of this gallery: the groom yawning and his grandmother giving him a *look*.
I don’t think it was a scolding look, but the photo made me chuckle, and I bet it’s one that they revisit and laugh about, too.
This frame accentuates the height difference between the generations. Together with the earlier photo of the groom hugging his grandmother, we feel this grandmother’s pride for her strapping young grandson, on his wedding day.
So if you take one thing away from this post, it should be this:
We shouldn’t forget to have FUN. Both on our wedding day, and in life.
If as a photographer, you aren’t having fun yourself, you will not be able to capture these intimate and happy genuine moments between people. People need to trust you to be themselves with you.
I capture lots of moments throughout the wedding day that show the marriers and their guests letting off some steam and just having fun.
Like this:
The Ceremony
The second photographer arrives at the ceremony venue before the primary photographer.
Arriving early means we can capture behind the scenes footage, like this next shot of the priest and the groom, going over bible readings.
Couples often don’t realize that moments like this will be meaningful to them. They don’t realize it until they see it for themselves.
Why?
Because these moments give context to your memories. They remind you what the day was really like, by filling in details you’d forgotten.
When capturing the ceremony, the second photographer works around whatever the primary is doing.
If the primary is shooting up the aisle, the second needs to capture a different angle, while staying well out of the primary’s shot.
This can be tricky. You need to have eyes everywhere, I tell you 👀
Here’s a nice moment of the bride having fun during the ring exchange.
After the ceremony, guests gather outside to congratulate you.
This is a chance for the second photographer to take some… You guessed it - *candid shots*!!
Surprised?
You shouldn’t be. The theme is clear by now, I hope.
Weddings are contagiously fun. The guests are elated. The wedding party is elated. The photographer needs to be equally elated in order to fit in and take these shots.
I really lucked out with the timing in this next photograph. It looks like the bride is trying to slam the door in the priest’s face. He looks distraught, while our groom is oblivious in the foreground.
What a quirky and funny moment, one that all three parties would later laugh about!
At the Reception Hall
This brunch wedding reception was held at the Delta Hotel, but no matter where your venue is, receptions are full of opportunities for candid fun.
In these three images, we see both partners having fun - together and with their guests.
Left to their own devices (like after the speeches are finished), your guests will also be having a blast.
The second photographer flits around the room, grabbing moments we can later share with you, so you can relive the day through the eyes of your guests.
You’ll be surprised and thrilled at some of these moments.
They give you another dimension to your wedding day.
Likely, these moments captured by the second photographer were moments you missed at your wedding, because you were busy having fun of your own!
Traditions
Couples sometimes include traditions: first dances or cake-cutting.
Having a second photographer means multiple angles of these events can be captured for maximum effect. This is especially true for quick-moving events like bouquet tosses.
Below are two photos I took of the bouquet being tossed.
I captured two angles, but I might have missed the second moment had I been just a fraction of a second late.
This is why, when shooting alone, I position myself in front of the bride, so that I can get her in the foreground and the catchers in the back.
I bet Tim was exactly in front of the bride for this shot.
Couples photos
Couples sometimes like to include photos of just the two of them on their wedding day.
They can be either formal or candid.
A second photographer rarely does formal photos. The primary photographer orchestrates the formal shots, if any. (At Quirky Love Photography weddings, there aren’t many formal photos)
I took only this one, and it was a pose Tim arranged.
Instead of calling the posed shots, the second photographer can capture lots of candid moments, while continuing to hang out and have fun.
No surprise, but these moments can be equally interesting to look back on.
Maybe even *more* interesting.
At every wedding I have photographed, since 2016 - whether as a primary or second photographer - I have always found the fun, eccentric, joyous, quirky, emotive moments to be the most meaningful to couples.
Since Liz Cooper and I started Quirky Love Photography, it’s been our vision that each wedding is as unique as each two people getting married.
Capturing that uniqueness fills couples with all sorts of feelings when they first see their photos.
Quirky Love is all about capturing the nature of your heart.
And in each gallery, you’re bound to find many wonderful surprises that reflect that.
Photos like this show not only what your wedding day looked like, but what it felt like.
I’ll leave you with this cute little shot of the bride, face buried into her gorgeous bouquet of roses.
Wonderful things happen when you embrace the candid.
Oh, but before I go, I cannot end without thanking Tim.
Tim gave me the amazing opportunity to shoot nearly a dozen weddings with him that year.
I learned the ropes and tried my hand at any photo that struck my fancy.
Thanks to Tim, my bar for wedding photography was elevated before I ever took my first wedding photo.
When I was first starting out, Tim’s expertise didn’t intimidate me. I was new and naive, and appropriately confident. Plus, he was a super chill and nice guy (still is, I guess 😉 ). He didn’t have any strict rules for me. I had read online how strict some primaries are. The list of orders and expectations they give their seconds. Tim didn’t expect anything of me, which was both unnerving, and also super motivating. So yeah, he made it easy and fun. And not intimidating.
In retrospect, I should have been intimidated. Because Tim is awesome.
He’ll find the best angles, even if it means shooting from among the foliage.
Thank you, Tim. ❤️
