Second Shooter Photography Workshop

Charleston, SC

Back in January of this year, I put on a workshop with 4 other wonderful Charleston photographers. The idea started over margaritas and tacos, as Taco Boy has always been our go-to meeting spot. We were all saying how we needed to find some second shooters for our fall weddings, and how we wished we had a pool of confident, trustworthy photographers to choose from. And hence the idea of creating a workshop geared towards training what we in the photography world call “second-shooters.” These are photographers who help out the main photographer on a wedding day, and their job is SO important! As the primary photographer, I can only be in one place at any given time. That means I trust my second shooter to be photographing things that I can’t.

Another reason we wanted to put on this workshop is that we all started as second shooters to another photographer. And in that, we gained extremely valuable insights into how the wedding day worked. Just knowing how to work your camera isn’t enough for a wedding day. You have to know the flow, how to capture the moments, and how to deal with crazy Uncle Ned who has had one too many glasses of champagne and wants to talk your ear off about what type of camera you have :) All of us are so grateful for the training we received from other photographers, and wanted an opportunity to give back and teach to others who are just starting out.

We are so thankful for the 22 women who came out to the workshop. When we first started talking about it, we thought, “Oh, it would be nice if we could get 5-10 women to come out to the workshop,” so we were THRILLED when we had such a huge response! We started the morning with a teaching session, going over everything from wedding day timelines to professional dress to how to give the most value as a second shooter. We then had an amazingly gorgeous styled shoot, complete with our lovely real-life couple acting as models.

I cannot say a big enough THANK YOU to my 4 photographer friends. While it was an incredible amount of work, it was so much fun to collaborate with these ladies. They are each brilliant photographers, and bring so much life to what they do. I’m also so grateful to all the wonderful vendors who were part of this workshop. We couldn’t have done it without you! I have the links to their websites below. Any of these vendors would make a wonderful addition to your wedding day. They are professionals through and through. Thank you to my dear friends Lea and Weston for putting up with 27 cameras in your face all afternoon. Everyone was oohing and ahhing over what an adorable couple you are :) And finally, thank you to all the women who showed up to our workshop! We are so happy to know that you enjoyed your day with us and that you felt as though you took away some valuable information. It’s been so great keeping up with y’all and hearing your success stories and seeing the steps you have taken. I’m so proud of y’all!!

Photographers and Workshop Coordinators: Sara Bee Photography, Dana Cubbage Weddings, Jenna Marie Weddings, Caroline Ro, and me of course :)

Venue: The Gadsden House

Dress: Fabulous Frocks

Florals: Branch Design Studio

Rentals: Ooh! Events

Tablescape: Polished!

Linens: Eventworks

Hair and Makeup: Carrie and Shayla from Paper Dolls

Catering: Mosaic

Cake: Delicious Desserts

Calligraphy: Shop Struggle Pretty, The Silver Starfish, J.Lily Designs