It’s true that everyone has to start somewhere. I remember several years ago, when I first thought about becoming a professional documentary wedding photographer, I knew a fair bit about photography but very little really about the industry I was entering. I knew I enjoyed photography, I knew I had a decent eye for composition and storytelling, and I knew I had potential. However I didn’t just buy a camera, design a website and jump into it with my eyes closed. I took my time and I did things right.

Working previously as an art director for various advertising agencies allowed me access to some very fine photographers. Whilst working with them I studied their approach when photographing and it’s amazing how seeing the way others work can really help influence and shape the way you work yourself. I trawled photography books, photography sites, forums, attended seminars and workshops, basically anything that I could to help me absorb what I needed to learn.

Before I shot my first wedding, I knew my cameras inside out. I knew how they behaved and how they coped with all manner of lighting conditions. I could change the settings with my eyes closed. It became instinctive. On a day when there is no room for error, it simply has to be this way. One slip up with your camera settings and the bride has no photographs of her walking down the aisle. Or her first kiss with her new husband. All because their photographer was too irresponsible to learn the skills required before marketing themselves as a wedding photographer. I also knew the fundamentals of photography. Exposure, composition, lighting, f-stops. shutter speeds. I studied the work of great photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson, picking their shots apart to try and work out the reasons they framed particular shots the way they did, and to understand the story they were telling.

There seems to be a mentality that you can rocket yourself into overnight super stardom with a few simple steps and the gift of the gab. Apparently you don’t actually even need to know anything about photography to start charging people to photograph their wedding day. Just learn on the job. An unrepeatable once-in-a-lifetime day is not the right time to be learning how your camera works.

I didn’t come into this to become a ‘rockstar photographer’ or to make a million new friends on facebook. I became a professional wedding photographer because I wanted to build a successful photography business, taking the absolute best pictures that I could for couples on their wedding day. I want to tell stories and produce beautiful timeless wedding photographs. Every day I do something to improve my photography, because it matters. To me and to the couples who book me. I encourage everyone who decides they would like to be a wedding photographer to put the effort in to learn their craft first. Because you can’t ‘wing it’ on a wedding day.