Wedding Photography: 0 Weddings to Full Time, With Sam Hurd

[@TaylorJacksonPhoto]

P.S. Way Up North Rome is May 3rd and 4th in Rome! Get more info here: wayupnorth.co/

[@LindsayCoulter]

Outing me for shooting on the D850 still 😅 Sam’s right, the R6 and those 3 lenses is the best combo 🙏🏼

[@alexferrari7]

I am so glad I found your channel man! Incredible content for someone who is ready to get into wedding and event photography. I cannot thank you enough for the resources you provide with your channel. Thank you so much for such great content. I will be subscribing soon. Just on hard times for now. Keep up the awesome work man!

[@Ataraxia_Atom]

Thanks for the great info Taylor. I'm literally shooting my first engagement today and i bought the black friday deal to prep for 2022. We're going in hot

[@MichaelAres]

Pricing always gets me. Same thing, I was at $1,800 this year. Now I jumped up to $2,200 and part of me feels like a hack too. I’m not super creative where people are getting a Kardashian Vogue type of wedding shoot, I just work more as a photojournalist and wonder if people will pay higher for simpler pics of their wedding day. That’s what I tend to attract which is people who just want to take quick post-wedding pics then head back to reception asap which is what I prefer.

[@alejandropennerphotos]

I really enjoyed this!

[@JacobMedler]

Hey Taylor! Sam mentioned having a separate brand or site for wedding photography and families and other things separate. Would you agree this is the best move? I have wedding photography, wedding films, families, portraits, commercial all on one website. Would you set that up as a different company name and brand, or separate websites?

[@TaylorJacksonPhoto]

If your commercial photography involves a lot of people it’s probably okay to stay. Best case if you want to book a lot of weddings it probably makes sense to make it a very wedding centric website though

[@JacobMedler]

@@TaylorJacksonPhoto Thanks! Do you think wedding photography and videography should be separate too? I'm doing about 60/40 photo to video

[@liamgoodvisuals]

@@JacobMedler jumping in here to say that personally, I’d recommend keeping wedding photo and video on the wedding-specific website :) unless of course, you’re trying to create separate companies for each (one company for photo, one company for video). But otherwise, makes sense to have all wedding things on your wedding website IMO

[@JacobMedler]

@@liamgoodvisuals thanks Liam! My only thing now would be is that I do a bit of commercial or family work and I don't want to have 3 different brand because family and commercial work seems much different. I see the value of weddings on its own but my brand is already geared towards weddings with the occasional family/commerical work that I don't even advertise

[@zaccaldwell]

As someone who’s been into the wedding scene for a decade, the change in equipment is something I did not see happening. These cheap lenses are unreal. Now I’m just waiting on a decent, smaller telephoto to complete the setup.

[@brendanwebb4600]

I have been following your channel form some time and the content is fantastic. This video has certainly given me food for thought and take the plunge in to turning my passion in to a business. I have been stuck on camera system choice for a while. I have had a Nikon DSLR for 12 years, which have their place but need to expand my horizons. What are your thoughts or the Canon RP? Prices in the UK even for used gear is super expensive. I plan on combining with Primes mainly.

[@TaylorJacksonPhoto]

RP is nice. Personally I’d want two of them, and shoot important moments with both of them for backup. (Basically, one card slot makes me a bit nervous) Another option is that you can always rent for wedding days

[@brendanwebb4600]

@@TaylorJacksonPhoto Thanks for the reply. I am needing to build a portfolio as most of my images are landscapes, airsoft and wedding setups. My wife dresses weddings and I have been taking images for Facebook, Instagram and her website. I will keep watching for more fantastic content.

[@taplubambhos2869]

@@brendanwebb4600 I bought the RP two days back and I have already shot 1500 pictures. I can't put it down. With the 35 and 50mm rf primes its amazing

[@tiagoguedesfotografiaofici6186]

Um dos vídeos mais uteis que assisti nos últimos anos.

[@gregcorker2193]

Very informative.

[@diarimoment742]

Which do you recommend, brand your name or find a catchy name for branding?

[@TaylorJacksonPhoto]

I’d use name if it’s for wedding photography.

[@diarimoment742]

@@TaylorJacksonPhoto it's just that I'm thinking that if I use my own name, people will expect me myself on each wedding session and the number of sessions would be very limited for 1 person. If I use a company name, I can send my team or sub the shoot job to another photographer similar to my style where needed. Is this counter productive?

[@baotcreekdisco]

Where was this filmed ?

[@TaylorJacksonPhoto]

Copenhagen at the Way Up North conference

[@millmountain]

So funny seeing one of your videos in my country - great interview!!

[@TaylorJacksonPhoto]

We had a great time in Denmark! Ended up with great weather and even made it up to Hirtshals! More to come on that

[@millmountain]

@@TaylorJacksonPhoto Nice - great to hear Denmark was a great experience for you! Look forward to that video!! 😊

[@santisarkar3264]

First comment ❤️

[@TaylorJacksonPhoto]

One day I'll get first comment.

[@sonphoto]

Great video thank you

[@woodbutch4]

I'm a little older that you two (okay, a lot) and I wonder how using the LCD instead of the viewfinder will work for you once you need reading glasses. I wear bifocals and on my DSLR, I have to review images on the LCD, but tend to raise my glasses to see detail up close. Same effect as putting on reading glasses for the non-fulltime glasses folks. One of the things I love about my mirrorless is being able to review images in the viewfinder without have to shift my glasses to see the LCD. And trying to see a LCD clearly and distance too, is problematic with older eyes. However, I'm not saying what you do is wrong, but in 10 years you may see things differently. We may be shooting with VR cameras that are remote control by then though.

[@PlantingMoistly]

I read somewhere that pricing yourself to low will get you fewer clients even if your portfolio is amazing. How can you know what’s too low and too high for your “level” in the scene? (I’ve only shot 2 weddings but have been in countless magazines for fashion editorials and had some success doing family portraits) where do you draw the line?

[@TooGood79]

I love it! Just what I needed. Grateful to have consistent clients but the ones I set out to get in the beginning… Weddings. 😂 I will give the 2nd shooter offer a try. P.s. Nice PD bag Taylor 😎

[@julianrobertsphotography9]

Nice video. Any idea which LED light Sam uses for his off camera light? Thanks!

[@angrylittlelou]

Great info! Thank you both!

[@greyhameavandhat1220]

that setting sun split twilight picture is awesome

[@MagicWeddingPhotographer]

It was great meeting you in CPH! 🕺🏻🕺🏻

[@TaylorJacksonPhoto]

I’m sure our paths will cross again!

[@catjive2]

led panels are going to be the new flash. dont fight it.

[@justesmond]

A lot of great tips. Thanks Sam and Taylor.

[@DieHardEddieEdwards]

This is such a great and informative video. Although, I guess I’m a little hurt as a Nikon shooter seeing how effusive the Canon praise was.

[@BustedShutter]

At least some insight from Sam's perspective (I think he's mentioned this before): he plays with double exposures a lot...you can see from his instagram feed...the current crop of Nikon mirrorless cameras only give you a JPEG file when you make a double exposure and the Cannon's give a RAW file. Nikon used to give RAW files but they switched to JPEG for some odd reason. Since that creative aspect is such a large part of Sam's "look" and identity, it's really a no brainer to choose Cannon over Nikon if you have the option.

[@DieHardEddieEdwards]

@@BustedShutter Yeah, I’m not trying to get into the brand wars. Taylor is just a longtime Nikon shooter and it hurt to see that he’s switched over to Canon. I was really following his purchases for a while. I’m not worried though, I’m getting a Z9.

[@mikevalencia1318]

awesome vid 1yr later.

[@JacobMedler]

Great video! So many great tips! Thanks Taylor!

[@codyf.3369]

Love this video, thanks for all the info!

[@queerfoto]

It does take forever to get to the good stuff in a KZbin video, for sure. I think that’s why it’s so hard to learn and find the right info online, unless it’s curated carefully.