A photographer named Kate sent me a question…

“I can’t imagine that a bride would want to hire me for her special day with little to no wedding experience. I don’t have any friends who are engaged who I can use as guinea pigs. What do you suggest I do?”

Great question Kate and you’re right, but there are ways to build your portfolio.

Over the year’s I’ve seen dozens of ideas on how to build a portfolio, but the one that stands out the most is utilizing friends and family. Even Bambi Cantrell, today one of the most respected wedding photographers in the country, at times in the early years used friends and family (OMG I’m sounding like a cell phone commercial!) to add images to her portfolio. And look at the images in the video I posted on Yervantlast week and read the post. Obviously at this point Bambi and Yervant have so many amazing images from real weddings, it doesn’t matter anymore, but friends are also a great way to practice technique as well.

1) Friends or family involve renting a gown and a tux and finding a place to shoot so you can add images to your portfolio. Look to create images that show your skill set. Work on having a variety of lighting situations and poses. Work to capture the interaction between the couple.

2) Attend a few classes. Virtually all of the major icons are at some point on the road teaching. Doug Gordon, Ken Sklute, Bambi, Joe Buissink, Jim Garner, Hanson Fong, Clay Blackmore, David Ziser, Yervant, Jerry Ghionis, David Jay, Becker, Andy Marcus and I know I’m going to be in trouble because of friends I’ve missed – but they’re all teaching somewhere. It might just be speaking at a local chapter of an association, but they’re out there.

3) Get the word out with your friends that your working to develop the business and you might photograph your first wedding for expenses only. You’ve got to walk before you can run and you need the practice, but you also need to know what you’re doing. Don’t offer to photograph someone’s wedding if you don’t have the skill set to get a decent images. Being a newbie doesn’t relieve you from the responsibility of still doing a good job or the trust and faith the bride has in you!

4) Second shoot with another photographer, but ALWAYS ask the photographer if you’ll be allowed to use some images in your portfolio! When you assist like this the images are ALWAYS owned by the photographer who has the contract!!! (Notice the three exclamation marks.)

5) Look for workshops that will help you build your portfolio, e.g. Greg Schrader’s done a number of them. Even outstanding legendary photographers like Matthew Jordan Smith will usually have a model or two during his program when you’re out shooting with him. This is controversial, because I’ve seen a lot of discussion that suggests using these images are misrepresentative of real work. While I understand the complaint, I don’t believe they have to be used in a deceptive way. There’s nothing wrong in having images in your portfolio and being able to talk about them as a series of work you’ve done from workshops and programs you’ve taken.

The point is there are lots of opportunities out there to help you get started and plenty that I’ve missed here, but if you don’t work on getting started you’ll wake up tomorrow in the spot you went to sleep in!