Internships
Internships are great for newcomers in the wedding photography industry. This is something that will help make your life so much easier to deal with as a wedding photographer because you will be working under the guidance of an experienced wedding photographer who will walk you through in the process. If you are currently enrolled in a photography class or if you have had experience in attending a photography course, you might want to go ahead and reach out to the school administration. They will usually have a special board up for internship offers that you will be able to apply to one way or the other. Internships are guided tutorials. They are the perfect venue for you to get out there and get your feet wet and really figure things out the right way as you are still trying to establish your name and your brand in the industry of wedding photography.
Pro bono
You will have to do stuff for free for people at some point or so in your career in wedding photography. It is something that all of the other wedding photographers out there have undergone. You will need to put up a few sacrifices one way or the other. Approach friends and family members to see if you will be able to render your services for free for them. This is a great way for you to get out there and to start getting your feet wet about how things are supposed to pan out and work out in the wedding photography side of things. This is also a great way for you to come up with content for your portfolio. People won’t be too willing to hire you just yet especially if you haven’t really established a reputation in the market just yet so just make sure that you get that checked out as much as possible.
Mentorships
Reach out to the friends you may have in the wedding photography communities in your area. There are bound to be some people close to you who might be able to share certain wisdoms with you. Talk to them and try to see if they could take you under their wing. At this point in time, you should liken yourself to a sponge that should be absorbing things and learning things as much as you can. Make sure that you always have the right kind of mindset when you are getting into this. You will gain feedback that will not always turn out to be praises for you and for what you do in your wedding photography style. You need to be a little thick skinned and you need to be a little more open to improvement because that is the only way for something like this to work.
Follow photographers online if you have to.
Try to sift through wedding photography pegs and pull inspiration from them online. If you are from York, visit Kirsty Mattson Photography for great wedding photography examples. You don’t have to see someone in person in order for you to learn something from him after all.