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Home: Video University Forums: Digital Photography for Videographers:
Anyone look into JUST becoming a second shooter?

Postal Boy
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May 15, 2007, 3:31 PM

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Anyone look into JUST becoming a second shooter?	Can't Post

I was just thinking and wondering if any of you have considered the thought of JUST becoming a second shooter for someone or a "group" of other main photographers?

We worked a video shoot with a high end photographer and his second shooter USED to run his own business, but liked being a second shooter much more because he didn't have to worry about coordinating gigs, setting everyone up, and so forth...He just showed up, took his photos (which were quite good), and was done for the day.

Wondered if that may be an option as far as gaining experience. I know it takes the "creative control" away from you, though, since the head photographer edits and delivers the final images.

-Postal

Brackish
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May 15, 2007, 3:58 PM

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Re: [Postal Boy] Anyone look into JUST becoming a second shooter? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Not too long ago I saw an ad "looking for a second shooter".
I think they were paying $11 an hour.

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"We'll always show up at the wedding with a gift bag for the bride. Inside we have these incredible fuzzy slippers in the teal of our branding."

Postal Boy
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May 15, 2007, 4:08 PM

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Re: [Brackish] Anyone look into JUST becoming a second shooter? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Heh...that is what, about $50 a shoot (for a half a day?) Actually, I would do that for about 3 weddings and then go out on my own. I think the second shooter that I saw was making over $500 for a day shoot...the main photographer was charging a little over $4k for the event, so he paid the second pretty well.

-Postal

Brackish
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May 15, 2007, 4:35 PM

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Re: [Postal Boy] Anyone look into JUST becoming a second shooter? [In reply to]	Can't Post

I've run into a few guys who work for these large
outfits. They're called "stringers", I think. What they
are is the main shooter, though. The company books
all the jobs and then assigns the job to a stringer
photog. The photog just shows up, shoots it, and
uploads his images when he gets back home and he's done.
No post work.

One of my current video brides went with one of these outfits.
She said they don't get to find out who their
photog is until 1 week before the wedding. She said
the company told her that if they don't like the guy
who gets assigned then they can be assigned someone
else but to be honest they really are not too crazy about
this setup - that they have no idea what the
guy will be like.

They pay these guys about $600 for a whole day's work to
shoot the wedding by themselves. Some of these guys
work 40 or so weddings a year this way.

And to add, I've heard that some of these companies
specify what equipment you must use. Like you must
have either this cam or that cam, this zoom, this or that flash.
So they do make sure it's professional equipment - which
I suppose they could confirm on the EXIF data.

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"We'll always show up at the wedding with a gift bag for the bride. Inside we have these incredible fuzzy slippers in the teal of our branding."

(This post was edited by Brackish on May 15, 2007, 4:38 PM)

Postal Boy
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May 15, 2007, 4:39 PM

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Re: [Brackish] Anyone look into JUST becoming a second shooter? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Interesting...the one I met works with the photographer permanently as a partner. It sounded like a good gig. I'm not sure if I am up to doing a permanent "second shooter" thing. Maybe just for some experience. I think Sparky did that for a little bit.

-Postal

Sparky
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May 15, 2007, 6:34 PM

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Re: [Postal Boy] Anyone look into JUST becoming a second shooter? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Yeah ... second shot for about four or five weddings? I think that first year I also shot one on my own. I would have to go back and actually count, but I think last year was between 6 and 8, but I do remember that one of them was free for a friend. It was at least a second marriage for both of them and fairly low key. I'm sitting on 18 right now with two contracts out that are supposed to be returned this week. If that happens you'll probably see smoke from the chimney in Rome. Angelic

I love second shooting because there are essentially NO restrictions. I can get whatever I want and not have to worry about formals. Those days are over and second shooting will never pay enough ... at least around here.

I had no weddings after the first part of September last year, so I asked a friend of mine if I could shoot with her for free. I didn't want the files ... just to keep shooting to stay sharp and experiment. She hates shooting weddings so when I asked if I could tag along she jumped all over it.

Now the tables are turned. My daughter who typically assists me can't make this Saturday, so my friend (who hates weddings) is going to second shoot for ME. She doesn't mind this because other than watching my formals list I'm not making her responsible for anything. (Shoot whatever you want.) I'm paying her $125 for a 7 hour day and she's using my equipment and cards. That way everything is back home with me at the end of the night. That pays more per hour than her day job and she has no stress.

I think what Brack was talking about before was Bella. They are huge and the owners really do know what the hell they're doing. It's not a bunch of hacks like you might envision. Very few of those that apply to work for Bella actually are accepted and some extremely good photographers do shoot for them when they have open dates.

Brackish
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May 15, 2007, 6:56 PM

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Re: [Postal Boy] Anyone look into JUST becoming a second shooter? [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

Interesting...the one I met works with the photographer permanently as a partner. It sounded like a good gig. I'm not sure if I am up to doing a permanent "second shooter" thing.

One thing I've been noticing about a lot of "assistants" and
"second shooters" I've been working with (when I'm doing
the video) is that there seems to be a good degree of skill
separation between the lead shooter and the Number 2.
A lot of these Number 2's I've seen seem like they don't hardly
know what they're doing. They don't seem too "into" shooting
the wedding. Half the time they're just standing around
watching things go on when they should be shooting.
Some don't really seem to know the shots to get and
the way a wedding goes down/unfolds. I've sometimes
wondered if the primary photog is able to charge extra for
a second shooter so this is why they bring someone.

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"We'll always show up at the wedding with a gift bag for the bride. Inside we have these incredible fuzzy slippers in the teal of our branding."

RustyB
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May 15, 2007, 7:53 PM

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Re: [Brackish] Anyone look into JUST becoming a second shooter? [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

I've run into a few guys who work for these large
outfits.....

There's a studio in Houston that seems to do about half the weddings I'm at...especially when my price has been on the cheaper side. They have photogs do the shooting, techs to do the post-processing, etc, etc. They weren't real cheap, but often brides didn't know the name of the photog that would be doing their shoot on the wedding day, engagement, or bridal shoots. Most of the photogs I talked to said they really liked it....all they have to do is go shoot a wedding....not run a business or process images...just take pictures and get paid. I don't know how much they got paid, but even if it was just a few hundred bucks, that's a pretty good deal.....no business overhead other than your camera. Most of them said they do other photography work during the week on their own, so shooting a wedding on Saturday was just easy money.

This particular studio even used to offer video. One of their photogs told me they quit offering it, because they quickly realized what a horrible drain on the business it was. While a lot of brides want to book video+photo packages, it's still more profitable to simply not offer video. Videographers may lose bookings because they don't offer photography....but photographers are not losing bookings because they don't offer video. Tongue

the People's Video Collective blog
wedding video and the means of production

Sandy B
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May 15, 2007, 8:19 PM

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Re: [RustyB] Anyone look into JUST becoming a second shooter? [In reply to]	Can't Post

yup, bingo. Might have to purchase a camera just for moments when the call comes in asking for "do you do photography", no just video, then click they hang up.

Sandy B
SSPBLOG

"Good luck seldom comes in pairs, but bad things never walk alone" Chinese proverb

Brackish
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May 15, 2007, 10:27 PM

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Re: [Sandy B] Anyone look into JUST becoming a second shooter? [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

Might have to purchase a camera just for moments when the call comes in asking for "do you do photography", no just video, then click they hang up.

You don't have a still cam, Sandy? Thinking about maybe getting in?

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"We'll always show up at the wedding with a gift bag for the bride. Inside we have these incredible fuzzy slippers in the teal of our branding."

Brackish
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May 15, 2007, 10:29 PM

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In Reply To

Most of the photogs I talked to said they really liked it....all they have to do is go shoot a wedding....not run a business or process images...just take pictures and get paid.

My experience, too. The ones I talked to seemed to like it alright.

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"We'll always show up at the wedding with a gift bag for the bride. Inside we have these incredible fuzzy slippers in the teal of our branding."

videochicke
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May 18, 2007, 11:16 AM

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Re: [Postal Boy] Anyone look into JUST becoming a second shooter? [In reply to]	Can't Post

I actually like being the second shooter. I get to look for all the fun, emotional, creative stuff because I am not responsible for the formal stuff.
Julie