Lessons Learned as a Budding Career Photographer

It is past 3am as I am typing this blog entry, and as exhausted as I am from working on my extensive backlog of photos, I thought I’d take this opportunity to not only give myself a break to write to you all, but also share my experiences. 

I’m in the process of finalizing the last of the photos of my very first major photography event of my career: A wedding! 

And not just any wedding… a Halloween-themed wedding! How cool is that?!

In early 2022, I was given an opportunity to photograph one of the first events that led to the launch of Atelier Reiko Photography. A friend had reached out to me asking if I would be willing to take engagement photographs of our friends, and I was honored to take up on the task. It was unexpectedly hot on the day of the photoshoot, but we made the best of it. It was a beautiful experience, and the couple loved their photos. 

They later asked me to be their wedding photographer for their big day later in the year, and I was thrilled. I never thought I would be asked to photograph something as big as a wedding, but I knew I it was my chance to get myself out there and build in my photography skills. Although I knew of the processes of preparing for a wedding, I was aware that I had one of the most important roles of all: capturing memories of this one special day. A lot was expected of me for this one day, so I was willing to do my very best to practice and learn as much as I could in preparation for it.

On the day of the wedding, I was excited and naturally nervous. There was a lot going on that day, and I was focused and ready to get to work. The ceremony was absolutely beautiful, the family and wedding photos were a lot of fun, and the reception went by in a blur. Overall, a wonderful night, and what better way to celebrate Halloween! 

The next couple of months after the wedding were going to be busy, so I wanted to take some time to enjoy with my family and loved ones before diving right into my work. I was occupied with a cosplay masquerade competition performance at Nekocon; spent the holidays with my family; shot my very first themed photoshoot at the end of November (see the Viking Photoshoot at Fort Boykin!), had my first holiday themed-photoshoot for another friend, and even participated as a model for a themed photoshoot in the beginning of January. These experiences gave me a better idea of directing both in front of and behind the camera, and motivated me to work on my extensive backlog of photos, including the wedding. 

I knew that working on the wedding photos was going to be important and I didn’t want to mess things up, so I worked on a couple of smaller albums to get my toes in the water. Working with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop has been a fun learning process, and with different themed albums, I was able to work on many scenarios and scenes. Once I was comfortable enough to work with both programs and find my personal editing style, I was ready to tackle the wedding photos. 

I took over 800 photos during the wedding, and after going through the best ones, I narrowed down to just shy of 100. I was very proud of myself for taking that many photos in the span of 6 hours, but of course I had a few hurdles along the way:

First, I still have a lot to learn about my equipment, most especially my cameras. In the years that I’ve had my Sony cameras, I perfected in my composition styles, but had yet to work the ins and outs of what true potentials my cameras could bring. Despite my research and hours of learning and practice, it was clear through my sorting processes that there was a lot of room for improvement. 

This said, I’m trying not to be too hard on myself, but for transparency, there were a few photos that I thought came out well ended up not doing well at all. In particular, the ones where I captured the father of the bride’s first look and the first dance of the groom and his mom… They ended up super blurry and I had no way of saving them. How I wish I could go back in time to be able to capture those moments again, but it was a lesson on my part to practice getting the timings and everything else just right for capturing beautiful moments like this in the future. 

My next hurdle was working with artificial light. I LOVE working with natural light, but of course, not all of my work is going to involve the beautiful tones and colors that are easier to work with. The yellow tints of artificial lighting was going to be a challenge on my camera, but what I want to work on in my future pictures is to not be too reliant on the editing programs. While they are programmed to enhance and help bring out the best of photographs, I want to work on bringing out the best potential of my equipment. I also want to invest in equipment to help me work on flash photography so if in the event I do need additional light, I can learn to work with them as well. 

One last lesson that I want to work on as a budding event photographer is being ALL IN with every movement and scenario of the event. If I am hired to work an event such as a wedding, I’m SUPPOSED to get in the way of everyone else. I get that nowadays our phones have the ability to take great photos, but for an event photographer, the quality and relationship built for this one day is worth so much more. And if I want the best shots, I need to be more assertive to get the best view and angles to make them happen.

Looking back at all of the work I have done over the last few months have taught me a lot, and while I still have a lot to learn, I am excited and eager for what is to come with my photography career. 

Thank you all for taking the time to read, and I hope that we can learn to grow together for future shoots to come! 

Lots of love, 

Jenni