Natalie Jennings
Hey everyone welcome to the Photo Business Help podcast. My name is Natalie Jennings and I am bringing you a wedding photography for beginners podcast. This is going to cover things like gear, how to best prepare your clients for a successful day, and things that myself–and my guest Jasmine–can't live without.
Natalie Jennings
So I'd like to welcome Jasmine to the show, give you a chance, Jasmine, to introduce yourself. Maybe say a little bit about your background and where people can find you on the internets.
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
Well, thanks for having me, Natalie. My name is Jasmine. I have been shooting weddings for about 10 years now. Actually just hit my anniversary, so that makes me uncomfortably old in this industry. I love weddings and I love documenting real experiences and emotions. So that's, I think what drew me to wedding photography Initially
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
I used to work in the corporate realm, I was a graphic designer and brand strategist. And while I loved the work itself, I didn't love the corporate environment and the bureaucracy and the schmoozey, phony stuff. And I think that's part of what's so alluring about weddings is that they're such a tangible and real experience.
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
We get to experiment with so many different kinds of photography.
When you're shooting a wedding, it's not just one kind of thing. You need experience in traditional classic portraiture, you need experience in shooting details and decor, you need to be approaching things with an editorial eye, but you need to have a photo journalism, candid capabilities.
And so there's just this big, great variety of styles of photography, as well as you know, your own style and your own spin and techniques. So I just I think you get a lot out of the wedding experience. If you if you're looking for variety and challenges in a good way, I think weddings can offer that.
Natalie Jennings
Oh, totally. And how many weddings have you do you have under your belt at this point?
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
You know, I haven't actually counted it. But I would, I would assume it's probably around the 300-mark.
If I had to stop and count up, I think I've done around 300 weddings.
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
When I first started out, I was doing second shooting. I was doing third shooting, and then second shooting and then my own weddings. And so I did a lot of weddings as an assistant or second shooter early on, in my experience. So that adds up kind of fast.
Natalie Jennings
Yeah, and I think with our combined 20 years of experience, hopefully we'll have some interesting things to help new wedding photographers with today. Real quick before we jump into gear, where can people find you on the internet?
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
Oh, right. That's a great point. My company is called Let's Frolic Together. Conveniently you can find me at letsfrolictogether.com or @letsfrolictogether on Instagram or Facebook. So that's pretty much straightforward as long as you are able to spell frolic.
Natalie Jennings
Awesome. Cool. Well, this will be exciting. So today is part one of a three-part series that you and I are going to do. And we're going to talk about gear.
This is meant for folks that are just getting into wedding photography, or maybe you've done a few couple couple years and done a handful of weddings or you started out second shooting for people.
But yeah, let's cover sort of the basics of the gear that you absolutely…You know, I mean, we all have like a fun tilt shift that we throw in our bag or whatever, and we can talk about that. But let's start with gear that is like a must, must must for any wedding photographer.
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
Well, first things first, I would want to clarify that while I do think there are some “essential basics,” it really isn't an absolute thing.
I think a lot of photographers who are starting out feel like there's a lot of pressure to get it right and that there's one right way to do things.
They get really nervous about if they're choosing the correct gear and if they're making mistakes. And if it's good enough. And I think it's really important to remember that there's a lot of different ways to approach wedding photography, my way is just one of those ways.
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
I think I have some experience in this matter. So I think it's a way worth considering, but I do really feel like it's not going to be a match to everybody.
It's important to be true to your style, your gut, and your approach and be flexible. And take everything I say with a grain of salt.
Natalie Jennings
I'm really glad that you brought that up because you and I both shoot Canon and we both probably have some similar lenses and cameras in our in our bag, but I think it's really important for anyone listening that if you're going to Sony if you're going with Nikon, if you love zoom lenses instead of prime like all that kind of stuff is certainly personal. And we can talk a little bit about how to develop your camera bag. What have you got Jasmine in your camera bag right now?
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
Well, I think as a baseline, I should clarify that I shoot weddings, double cameras. Not everybody does. And you certainly don't have to, but I find it really works for me. I come to every wedding with two camera bodies that are active, meaning I'm using them both at the same time. Then I also have backup bodies in case of emergency.
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
Today Natalie, I have to tell you, I'm going to talk a lot about backup things. Backups are the most important part of the gear discussion. And I think for anyone starting out, keeping backups as a primary concern in your mind is a good idea. Even if your gear list is somewhat small, backups are important to avoiding crises of any kind.
Natalie Jennings
I'm so glad that you brought that up because–a short little tangent–I just ordered another Canon mark ii off of Ebay for literally like 300 bucks. It has, maybe, 7000 actuations. Just someone that hadn't really shot it but was selling it. My other backup, I just cracked it against something and the body just sort of cracked open on the top.
It doesn't cost necessarily a ton of money to have a backup, but it could cost you a lot more in reputation and in stress, anxiety, and disappointment for your clients if your camera craps the bed in the middle of a wedding.
Natalie Jennings
So thank you for bringing that up. So you're shooting double bodied. I also shoot double bodied. Sometimes when you're shooting prime, you know, it's nice. I like to have like a long and wide lens.
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
Exactly, yeah, that's exactly why I do it as well. I think for people who love zoom lenses, they may not feel the need to do the double body setup because with a zoom lens, you have a lot of flexibility. With that lens alone, you can cover a pretty broad range of focal lengths within whatever your zoom is covering.
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
In my case, I just personally feel that the quality of primes is just so much better than most zooms, and I and as a result, it's worth it for me to cover two different focal length with primes instead of a single one with the zoom. That's why I choose to shoot double cameras, personally, because I am such a preparer and I'm such a believer in backups as a major force in my success.
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
The double camera shooting is enhanced by the idea that in a worst case scenario, I always have a second camera on my person ready to go, not just packed in my bag. If something should happen to one of my cameras, don't worry, the other's hanging on my other shoulder is ready to rock and roll.
I've had that happen. I've had it happen. I had a mirror go on one of my cameras at a wedding and I mean it was not a convenient time to run to my other camera bag that was sitting in the other room and get my backup.
Natalie Jennings
I think we're speaking to a very, you know, unique sort of genre in the sense that sort of similar to like, a sporting event, like you can't ask people to stop and wait for you. So, you know, be prepared at a wedding. Even if you were at a family shoot or lifestyle shoot, you'd have a second to be like, hang on a second, but let's talk about lenses really quick. What do you have kind of as your go to's when you shoot a wedding?
On each body, I'm shooting 35mm/85mm. That's sort of my default and probably covers somewhere in the range of 80 to 90% of my day.
I haven't done the actual ratio math here, but it's a big majority. I'm shooting 35mm/85mm, that covers a comfortable wide–I'm a 35mm lens lover–as well as a middle-of- the-ground long. The 85mm still gives me some wiggle room. So I'm shooting long-ish, but not that long. So 35mm/85mm is my go to.
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
I do have a kind of large range of other lenses at the ready. I don't think of myself as a gearhead, but I do feel that the longer you're in this business, the more you're likely to have acquired a collection and the more you realize what is particularly useful in specific circumstances.
While 35mm/85mm is my default standard, and I could have shot a wedding on just those two.
In my bag, I also have a 16-35mm for like ultra-wide scenarios.
For example, a really crowded dance floor, or a really awkward family grouping situation where I don't have enough room to shoot on my 35mm or my 50mm. In that case, I can be squeezed in this small space and still get really wide for this family photo. Then I have 45mm tilt shift that I play with sometimes it's for-fun lens. I have a 50mm that I treat more as a backup lens. I very rarely use it but it's an in-case lens. If something happened to my 35mm or 85mm, the 50mm would be an okay go-to.
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
I have a 100 that's more or less use as a macro lens. I shoot jewelry with it, details and tiny little circumstances. Sometimes my seconds don't have the right focal length, and I have this gear in my bag that they can go to. So I have a 100 available there. Then I have a 135mm that generally speaking, I shoot mostly just for ceremonies. Occasionally, it's for speeches as well. It's for any like more long range scenarios.
Natalie Jennings
Totally. And we've talked about this before going beyond the 135 at least in Canon's arsenal is getting really heavy. So not to say that it's not awesome to go longer than that, because I've had seconds that lug that thing around and capture beautiful moments, but if you are looking to experiment with prime stuff, you know and it carry around all this stuff it it's sometimes a little bit easier to not go so long. Those those lenses get real heavy, real fast.
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
I mean, I love it, when my seconds have a 70-200mm because that really balances our collective focal range out.
Natalie Jennings
Yes.
A lot of my seconds honestly shoot with a 50mm is their default, which is great because it complements my existing range of lenses.
A lot of them shoot with a 70-200mm as well for things like ceremonies. And that works super well for me because I'm not covering quite as long most of the time. There are a few wedding circumstances in which I will rent a 70-200mm because it's the kind of space where I just will not be able to get very close, so it calls for it. But it's pretty rare that I feel that I need it.
Natalie Jennings
That's great for folks listening that are maybe just starting out second shooting, remember to, you know, connect with your lead photographer and talk about what's coming to the wedding because you may be able to really round out what they don't have with something you can rent or something you already have in your bag. So thank you for that.
Natalie Jennings
Let's jump into a different zone here. And I guess I want to talk a little bit about what I'm shooting with because you mentioned that you don't use your 50mm. What's interesting about my collection is it's super similar to yours. 35mm, 50mm, I do 135mm. I have that 45mm tilt shift, and then I have a wider one. Sometimes it's a 28mm, it's an old little 28 that I bring.
I used to have at 24mm. I feel like as long as you're in this sort of somewhat wider zone, you've got your bases covered.
Natalie Jennings
Totally. And I find that too, that like some of the more extreme focal links like you don't, you don't use as much. I shoot a lot of 50mm/135mm, that's usually what I carry. A final note on lenses, you know, experiment with it. If you're comfortable shooting zoom, because you know, you're just starting out and weddings are already a lot to keep track of, and you're trying to make sure you get your shot list, like that's what you're comfortable doing. There's no right or wrong.
There's definitely no right or wrong.
People who should single body cameras tend to be very fast, quick changers. Like my second shooters who are single camera shooters, they'll have this like western cowboys and young guns walking out real fast, they have a really great experience at being able to swap fast. So if you're one of those people, if you're able to just like do a super quick change and not miss a moment, hey, then power to you. Maybe a single camera just works best for you.
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
I think the most important thing is to make sure that you have your focal ranges covered sufficiently so that you're not in a scenario where you're like, Oh, no, I can't get closer. How am I what how am I going to handle this? Or you're not like oh, no, I'm too close. Oh, I can't get wide enough.
Natalie Jennings
That's right. That's right.
Natalie Jennings
Those are great points. I think it just takes a little experience in practice to sort of know where you feel comfortable.
Natalie Jennings
Before we run out of time on gear today I want to get into just a couple things. So let's start with cards.
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
People talk about gear a lot. Gear is a big deal and people spend a lot of time thinking about lenses.
To me, sometimes it's the tiny things that have the biggest impact.
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
For one thing, my camera bodies I always shoot dual slot. I am hardcore about dual slot cameras because you are shooting on two cards meaning you're backing up on to a second card at the same time that you're writing to your first card.
Natalie Jennings
Do you write in RAW to your backup or jpeg?
I write in RAW to my backups.
I know a lot of people who write a jepg to their backups because it saves space and it's faster. But to me in a worst case scenario, I like I said I'm kind of a doomsday prepper. In a worst case scenario, I want to be able to have the full RAW, high quality images and not have to settle for just the jpegs that I'm struggling to edit as I want them to be. So yeah, I shoot full RAW to my second card and as a result I shoot high size cards, 64 gigabyte is my sort of default. I think that's plenty to cover most weddings unless I'm shooting like a 16 hour day like I won't fill a 64 gigabyte card, even on full RAW.
Natalie Jennings
From a Canon perspective in their lineup, when they went from the mark ii to the mark iii, the mark iii started the dual slot thing. Mark iis only have the one compact flash slot. You and I are both shooting Mark ivs, I think, right now?
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
I'm on Mark iiis.
Natalie Jennings
So dual slots with tha.t I as I just mentioned, my backup that I bought for a few hundred bucks is a mark ii. When I shoot a single slot camera I i've always shot 16 or 8s. And the reason for that, is I always worried about if a card corrupted, and I had 64 gigabytes worth of info on it.
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
Because you'd be so traumatized by how much data you would lose. Yeah, of course. And that's how I used to shoot, I used to shoot small. Eventually, I sort of crawled my way up to 32s and then I had a lot of anxiety about that back in the days of shooting Mark iis.
If you're shooting single card slots, it's wise to change out your cards frequently with smaller sizes.
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
Even then, a worst case scenario, you would still be losing something, even if it was a small card. There's a lot you can fit on a small card. I think it's pretty important to prioritize. I know not everybody can afford to upgrade to like a really expensive new camera body, but I think it should be on the top of priority lists for dual slot cameras. For wedding specifically. You know for a session in a worst case scenario, you could reshoot. But for a wedding, a one-day-only event, the trauma to your client if a loss was to occur, it's just it's…
It's priceless, really, what you're creating for them. Protecting that is important.
Natalie Jennings
I really agree with you there. A very quick budget-friendly workaround that I worked with for my first couple of years is just renting. If you're going to want to go into a wedding with at least two cameras, and one of them is your own, that's a single slot, spend some of that money that you're getting paid to shoot the wedding. Go spend 150-200 bucks and rent rent a dual slot camera for the wedding. Especially if you're shooting lead. if you're shooting second you may not feel that pressure you know, it might be okay but your first lead I agree with being prepared.
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
So as a lead photographer that hires seconds regularly, to m one of my highest priorities is to ensure my seconds also have dual slot cameras. So if you are somebody who wants to second shoot a bunch that's another reason why it might be worth prioritizing. Your lead photographers might only hire people who also have the security of dual slots.
Natalie Jennings
That's a really great point. And it also makes logistics a lot easier. You can give your second maybe one of your cards and they can put one of their cards in the other slot. So everyone walks away with with all of their photos at the end of the day.
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
And it's so much easier at the end of the night. You know, back in the day with single card slots, as a second photographer, I would be sitting around waiting for like hours while people backed up my card to their computer, or I would have to go to their house like later in the week to drop off my card. Like the whole thing was so messy. It was such a messy, complicated situation. At the end of the day, me and my second shooter wave at each other, “bye” because they had me back the card and it's simple.
Totally. That's all great. And I'm glad that we brought that up because people don't talk about cards enough.
Natalie Jennings
There's something that I think I'm going to do for this episode. Since we have so much good stuff, I am going to wrap it up here for right now. We'll do a part two on gear and we're going to talk about lights. Because that is something that people are afraid of. It's something that a lot of natural light photographers are a little freaked out about, and especially at weddings, it's an important thing to be trained in. And I want to make sure we get a full 10 minutes on lights.
Natalie Jennings
So thank you, Jasmine for diving into this with me, and I'm glad we went over because it's all really really good stuff.
Jasmine Fitzwilliam
It's been fun to talk about gear and I'm excited we get to keep talking about gear.
Natalie Jennings
I decided to cut this into two parts halfway through the interview. I think it's a better way to do it so that you can listen to what Jasmine and I have to say about lighting and we're not rushing through things. All of this was really good stuff and I want to keep it in here. If you are interested in just a quick little checklist summarizing what is in my camera bag, go to jennings.photo/mybag that's jennings.photo/mybag. It's a checklist covering most of what we talked about here on the show. If it's something that you want to keep handy to look at as you build your own kit that might be helpful for you.
Jasmine is a California-based photographer, teller of stories, eater of french fries, and head honcho of Let’s Frolic Together. She grew up in Montreal but has called San Diego home for over a decade, so you have to listen real closely if you want to catch her in an ‘oot and aboot’ moment. She’s inspired by adventure, connection, wonder, and dancing her behind off at every wedding. She believes that love is love, that representation matters, and that pursuing a career in photography does NOT have to mean being a struggling artist—in fact, you can surprise yourself at being far more successful in your new endeavor if you’re willing to put the work in to learning how to run a thriving business. Six years as a graphic designer and brand strategist helped her to fall in love with storytelling but out of love with the world of corporate bureaucracy. Now she loves immersing herself in entrepreneurship and crafting honest and playful stories about people in love.
