Wedding Photography

[Steedie]

Hey all,

My dad has recently decided that he has had enough of his job, he's been there 20 years and has decided he really wants to get back into wedding photography so he can be happy again and do something he loves.

A small bit of background, he ran his own photography business back in the 80's and 90's that included his own shop and a separate studio and from this did portrait photography and travelled doing holiday brochure photography, but his main interest was weddings, and has literally done over 1000 weddings. Sadly in the mid 90's he had to give it up to look after me

He hasn't done it since then but he really wants to get back into it and start up again. But he's terrified. He says his confidence is shot given he has never done it in the digital age. He has some awesome gear, bought about 6k worth of cameras and lenses 2 years ago so he still does it as a hobby

The biggest stress for him was worrying what the photos turned out like as you just didn't know until you had them developed, so obviously that has gone but he's worried that the style of wedding photography has moved on so much since he's done it that his experience counts for nothing.

I'm trying my best to support him and said I'd take care of a website, social media and teaching him the basics of photoshop but what I can't help with is the area of wedding photography itself...

So given that there are a few on here, what advice could you give my old man? Where should he go? Should he shadow someone for a few to get the experience then do a few free/cheap weddings to get his name out there? What are his first steps?

Really appreciate any advice on this one guys, I want to help him be happy again

Thanks in advance!

 

[Steedie]

He has a 7D and a 50D, and he has about 4k worth of lenses. He bought all this a couple of years ago to get back into it as a hobby, but he's aware he'll need another camera (said he'd never go to a wedding with one camera) and some decent flashes etc

 

[Steedie]

Thanks so much for your input so far guys, can't tell you how much I appreciate it

mr tommo: I said that to him about his contacts, but he pointed out that he really doesn't have any anymore, they've either shut up shop themselves and are no longer doing it, dead or he just doesn't have their details anymore. Been a long time I suppose since the mid 90's. So would it be worth emailing around local wedding photographers and asking if he can shadow them just for experience?

DBT85: He doesn't have lightroom although he knows what it is so is more than willing to pay for it. I use lightroom a lot myself so again, could teach him the basics and hopefully enough for him to then learn himself. He does however own a copy of photoshop (legit ), granted it's not a recent version but it should suffice for now?

Raymond Lin: Yeah I guessed as much, that different people want different things. I actually showed him your website as a guide of what good wedding photography is like these days and he was very impressed and also added that his style wasn't too far off yours in terms of the photos he'd like to get on the day.