Wedding Photographer Education

About ten years ago, when my interest in photography was making the transition toward career, it wasn’t hard to find mentors and free education in my community. I simply wandered down to the local newspaper, and bugged one of the staff photographers. My first mentor, Pete Kendall, was usually thirsty for a root beer after a days work, so I’d bribe him with soda in exchange for some knowledge. Pete graciously allowed me to ask him lots of dumb questions while he imported and edited his news assignments for the paper. Jay Drowns, the other veteran staffer, was (and still is) an amazing sports photographer. He shared countless tips on getting great action shots in dark gymnasiums. Both of these guys are geniuses. Those were fun times and I learned a lot.

Thank you for your wisdom and patience Mr. Kendall!

Two “wild and crazy guys” (and great mentors of mine) Jay Drowns (left) and Pete Kendall. 

Today, with all the free online how-to’s, “webinars”, and DVD tutorials there are lots of ways to educate yourself on the various technical aspects of the craft. But recently, I’ve found mentorship harder to come by.

I began photographing weddings in earnest during the summer of 2008. It was a new realm for me, but I found that my experience in news photography had prepared me well. At this time I had just moved to Switzerland and my professional network was not extensive. I found a few helpful photographers in the community, but the questions I wanted answers to were less of the artistic/technical type and more of the business/customer relation type.

Enter the workshop.

In Switzerland, the wedding photography industry is not quite as developed as in the USA, but it’s getting there. Until recently it was not common to find wedding photography workshops happening in the Zürich area at all (don’t bother asking about English). But this year I’ve been able to take advantage of two great workshops here in Zürich. One was hosted by Mike Larson, a high end California-based wedding shooter, and later this month I’ll spend two days at a wedding workshop hosted by Bob and Dawn Davis from Chicago. This husband and wife team form a prominent celebrity wedding photography business. They’ve shot the weddings of Salma Hayek and Eddie Murphy to name two. They also cover many of Oprah’s swishy private events.

I am REALLY excited to participate in this months workshop. If only I could pay them with root beer!