Let me start out by saying that I didn’t always have this frame of mind. And I know plenty of photographers that shoot almost every wedding by themselves, and it works perfectly for them. This is just what I’ve found works for ME. 🙂

The first two out three weddings that I booked myself were shot solo and I was totally ok with it- they seemed like they were going to be manageable enough that I’d be just fine. The first wedding was great- no sweat! The second time, though, was almost a disaster. I only had two lenses at that point- a 24-70 (which I kept on my camera for about 95% of a wedding day) and then a cheap 50 1.8, which I used here and there for portraits. I arrived at the salon 40 minutes early and felt proud of myself until my stomach dropped when I realized my 24-70 was still sitting at home.

Talk about a PANIC ATTACK. I was an hour away from home and there was no way I could get all the way home and all the way back before my bride left the salon for the ceremony location. Long story short, my dad came through in the clutch and met me part of the way, saving me 30 minutes and delivering my lens (thanks, Dad!). But case in point? If I’d had a second shooter, I could have easily asked them to either a) meet up with my dad to grab my lens, or 2) asked them to stay at the salon with my bride until I got back without missing a beat in photo coverage.

Example number two: I was in Lawton, Oklahoma two weeks ago on some non-photo-related travel when I woke up at 2 am with severe chest pain. I headed into the ER later that morning unable to breathe without pain, suffering muscle spasms right near where my heart sits. The first thing the doctor suspected and tested for? A pulmonary embolism- a blood clot in my lung. I was terrified, but I was also panicking because I had a wedding on Saturday.

But then I remembered that because I no longer book weddings without a second shooter that I had an automatic insurance policy. If I was somehow still stuck in Oklahoma come Saturday morning (and trust that I would have done everything in my power to get back), Susie was going to be there. And since I have photog friends from all over the DC and am plugged into several photog networks, I knew I could find someone to help me out and be there if, God forbid, I wasn’t.

I’ve said before that I’m picky about who I ask to second shoot for me and what happened two weeks ago is a PERFECT example as to why. I need to know that if something happens to me on a wedding day preventing me from being 110% on (like having to take blood thinners and pain meds due to a pulmonary embolism), that I have a CLUTCH second shooter at my side, someone who can step in without missing a beat, someone who has plenty of experience shooting weddings of their own clients. That trip to the ER was as close of a call as I ever want to take, and I am so glad that I could at least rest in the fact that I had confidence in my second shooter. (Everything ended up being fine- I was found clot-free and was back in DC on Thursday, and the wedding went SO well!)

Like I said above, I know that no everyone does it this way, and those who shoot alone all the time definitely make it work for them! Maybe it’s due to my overactive imagination and heightened sense of paranoia, but I always want to make sure I’ve checked, double-checked and insured myself on a wedding day as much as possible so that I can rest easy in knowing that the photographs are covered, no matter what.

Happy Thursday!