My first time as a second shooter for a wedding was definitely a little odd and had a few personal bumps in the road.  About a week before the wedding, I started reading up a little on what role the second shooter takes.  I've done a few weddings with just me before, never with another photographer.  Corrie Kraft Photography has a fantastic blog post (found HERE ) on what a second shooter should do and what their responsibilities should be based on her own experiences.  I really found the post helpful going into this wedding.  When I asked my 1st what she wanted from me, she told me details and the second angle that she wouldn't have.  She also told me she only wanted me there for the ceremony.  (Does this make any sense to anyone?)  So I came at 2.30 pm as asked.  The ceremony started at 3 pm.  And left right after the bride and groom just before 4 pm.  She didn't have me help with group shots and as much as she asked for details there really wasn't an opportunity to do them because of the timing.  I'm just confused on all of this.  But I tried to make the best of what I was able to shoot and really work it.  

On that note my camera decided to be special.  I shoot on a Canon 5D Mark II and love canon and love my lenses but last fall I had to send in my camera due to focus issues.  Well, that seemed to happen again (since I haven't shot a lot since I got my camera back).  I was rather disappointed with the overall results I ended up with and spent about 2 hours figuring out what was going on with the body.  I googled the issue and found many many people having similar problems with the 5D Mark II.  Apparently the auto-focus system is really old technology and very inaccurate which causes many photographers to think their images are sharp when they really won't be.  Next I pulled out my user manual and started going through all the customs settings, figuring out which ones would improve my accuracy and work best for me.  Needless to say I changed a lot.  I then tested my 50mm in a low light situation in my apartment and so far I'm getting better results.  We'll see what happens next time I shoot a lot of movement.  It should be good to go now though!  

And to conclude, I'd like to share a handful of images I took that worked at the Wedding of Hannah and Matthew as a second shooter:

There is something to be said about being prepared.  Whether it's for a test or for a photoshoot.  There's a lot you can do as a photographer to get ready to shoot.  In journalism, you learn as much about your topic or event as possible.  You look at what has been done before and pre-visualize a few ideas that you can try that are different.  For weddings and various lifestyle photography, you do the same thing.  In a world saturated with images you find things you like and look how you can apply them for consistency and make them work for your own unique vision.  Going into the first shoot of my professional project I did not feel prepared.  I'd done photos in the studio at Mizzou, figuring out what type of lighting I liked and what I definitely did not.  A few days before meeting with Janet I set up my one flash and my giant reflector in my tiny living room and did some self portraits.  I had to figure out distances and ratios with the equipment I had.  I'm glad I did because it really helped me when I was with my subject.  Here's the process I've gone through over the last few months in preparation for the next two months of crazy.

Megan helping me out:

Figuring out Light Ratios and Directionality in my Living Room:

The self-portrait result:

and the result with my subject!:

:)

This is my little cousin Aisling and my first time photographing her for portraits with a purpose.  Needless to say photographing small children is a real challenge.  They move a lot and their moods can be all over the place.  I took almost 200 exposures and she smiled twice.  Having a cold probably didn't help her mood.  Some of these images I wish I had little fairy wings we could have put on her.  There is something about tiny people and flowers that evoke that fairy feel.  I cannot wait to do her one year portraits, cake smash and all!