I had zero experience, a complete lack of ability and I didn’t even own a camera! Becoming a Yorkshire wedding photographer definitely hasn’t been easy, it’s taken hard graft, determination and a lot of sacrafice. And it’s all been 100% worth it.
Here’s how I did it.
I’ll start at the beginning
Back in March 2017 I’d just returned to my corporate job in HR after my second maternity leave. I was really unhappy, I knew the corporate world wasn’t really for me any more. I’d apparently committed career suicide by dropping to 3 days after my eldest. I felt invisible, unfulfilled and in hindsight, I was probably depressed.
I told my husband I’d give it 6 months and that I needed to get out of there. His puzzled response was “well, what else will you do?” So I put pen to paper and created a spider diagram. I wrote down things I thought I was good at and things I enjoyed.
Taking photos actually appeared twice amongst lots of other random things! And then I got bogged down with the juggle of being at work, being a mum to kids aged 1 & 3, and general life admin.
Until one day I posted a smartphone pic of my kids to Instagram and several people told me I had a talent and should go take pictures of their kids. And that my friends, was my first lightbulb moment.
A dim and distant dream
I broached the subject with my husband, which included “Can I spend £1k on a camera and see if I can earn money from it?” and bless him, he listened to what I had to say. He asked me to do my research and write a business plan, and if it was viable we could invest that money. I used this template from the Prince’s Trust.
Around the same time I completed an online course for Mums wanting to change direction. Sadly it no longer exists, so I’m so grateful that I had the chance to do it. It was all online and I clearly remember the session about skills and strengths. I was so worn down by the way I’d been treated in my day job that I couldn’t think of a single skill, strength or talent. I went out for a walk, had a word with myself and I came back and started writing. And once I started, I couldn’t stop. I was so ANGRY with the way I’d been made to feel useless and incapable because I wanted to spend time with my young children.
That very afternoon, I received a call from a recruitment agency, who told me about a different job in HR. With renewed confidence I told them I was perfect for it, but I needed to work 3 days a week. It was a fixed term but full time job but after a couple of interviews and a bit of negotiation on the hours, I secured myself a new day job and handed in my notice at the old one.
My last day there was 6 months to the day after I’d returned from that maternity leave. I’d been there 8 years and expected I might feel sad, but I left with my head held high and without a backwards glance.
Taking action
And once I’d dealt with the corporate energy suck, I had the headspace to think about my photography once more. The first thing I needed to do was learn how to use the camera!
So I went and did an introduction to DSLR course at Leeds College of Art and then I started to build my family photography portfolio with some free shoots for friends. Things felt vey exciting but didn’t know how to make the leap from portfolio building to getting paid.
Thankfully, one day, someone messaged me and asked if they could book, and that was my first paid shoot at the end of September 2017. So I started to advertise and to my surprise and delight, more and more people booked me to take their family photographs. Life felt pretty good – I was enjoying the new day job and happily side hustling on a weekend.
Becoming a Yorkshire Wedding Photographer
Being a Yorkshire Wedding Photographer was NEVER on my radar. I assumed you needed qualifications, and to be much better than me. But in January 2018 a girl I’d met a few times asked me to photograph her wedding!
My immediate reaction was that I hadn’t photographed weddings before, but she was adamant that she wanted me to do hers. It was on the 1st April 2018 and I got super lucky with my first wedding venue – Middleton Lodge. I did loads of research beforehand – visited the venue, read other photographer blogs and went along full of excitement and nerves.
On that day I was happily snapping away during the ceremony, the sun was warming my back through the window and I felt this great sense of peace with the world. This was my second lightbulb moment, I realised that THIS was what I was supposed to do with my life – and that I could build a business that I could put my heart and soul into. I think I possibly grinned more than the Bride and Groom all day and they loved the photos I produced for them.
You can read the full blog of their amazing wedding here.
Building momentum
When you decide you’re going to be a Yorkshire wedding photographer, it takes time for the momentum to build. People tend to book their weddings 12-18 months in advance, so I second shot a couple of weddings with another photographer and did my second solo wedding in July 2018. Around the same time I’d been offered a permanent contract at the day job and I was really enjoying that too.
But weddings had my heart and I’d quickly realised I needed a portfolio to get the bookings, so booked onto some styled shoot workshops and photographed 7 weddings in 2019. By the end of that year I had 15 weddings booked in for 2020 and life was starting to feel a little bit uncomfortably busy.
Something had to give
I was working 3 days a week in my corporate job, juggling a fledgling business, my hubby was working away, and the kids were 3 and 5. So I quit the day job in January 2020. I’d done my due diligence, checked the finances, looked at the bookings and although it was a big scary step, it didn’t feel too risky.
The news was full of talk about this virus in China and I remember thinking “that’ll never affect us here.” But I was starting to get emails from nervous brides asking “what if” and “can we have our deposit back” and I started to worry.
Locked down
We went into early self isolation on the 16th March 2020 because our son had a cough, that I’m fairly sure wasn’t even covid. I had 3 weeks of my notice period left to work. A week later, the rest of the country joined us in lockdown, and all of my weddings were postponed. Just like that my entire projected income was wiped out.
I didn’t qualify for furlough or for self employment support. I’d fallen down a big crack and I genuinely worried we might lose our house.
On top of that, I had two young kids to entertain, home school and support through the strangest period of our lives.
Taking lemons and making lemonade
I’ve nicked this quote from a podcast I was interviewed for during the 3rd lockdown – Wedding Mavericks and you can listen to my episode here.
It turned out that there was no motivation quite like having my income cancelled. I got out and about doing a few doorstep photos – which became 100’s and I was back in business! Taking that action got me well known locally, I made the local press and had a feature in Yorkshire Life Magazine. Decision made, I realised that I could and would make a success of this business, no matter what.
I also started to organise my own styled shoots as I had a creative itch which needed scratching and a need for up to date and relevant wedding portfolio content. It provided a bit of light relief and colour, during a time when our work was still cancelled and we were all on our knees and I made some lasting industry friendships.
Finally, I managed to photograph a few micro weddings during this time and these will always have a special place in my heart. But I do hope I never have to see the guests wearing face masks ever again!
You reap what you sow
All of this hard work came to fruition, BIG TIME and weddings came back with a BANG in July 2021. It was weird going from lockdown to partying with hundreds of guests again and there were a few niggles along the way – omicron, kids getting covid etc. But these hurdles were all dealt with and 2022 brought the busiest year of my life as a Yorkshire wedding photographer. I photographed 46 weddings in total, launched my own online course for budding wedding photographers and launched PhotoBomb workshops with one of my wedding industry friends – Chrys Chapman. It was a bit TOO much though and I teetered on the edge of burnout at the end of the year.
So what does the future hold?
There’s no doubt, the last few years as a Yorkshire Wedding Photographer have been tough physically and mentally. But 2023 is looking lovely! I’ve got lots of beautiful weddings booked in and have decided to limit the number I take to 35. We have our next Photobomb workshop on the 1st March and I would love to run a retreat, it’s definitely happening!
My top tips for becoming a full time wedding photographer
As I said right back at the beginning, this road to becoming a full-time wedding photographer definitely hasn’t been easy. It’s no walk in the park without a pandemic to navigate, so here are my top tips.
- Practise, practise, practise – with your camera, it’s the only way you’ll improve!
- Invest in some education – learn from those who have been there and done that, attend styled shoot workshops and be a complete knowledge sponge.
- Community over competition. Network with other photographers – don’t be afraid to drop your favourite photographer a DM on insta, attend local networking meet ups, join facebook groups etc.
- Show what you can do – try and get some second shooting opportunities so you can show what you can do.
- Share what you want to shoot more of – this is so important, and at first you’ll want to share everything you shoot. But curate your portfolio towards the weddings you love!
- Work on your mindset – we all go through mindset wobbles, imposter syndrome and money mindset. Do your work – read the books, listen to blogs and form your daily habits to lift you out of these slumps.
- Do your business plan – kinda essential for running a profitable business and yet so often overlooked because it’s not exciting or sexy, and we UK wedding photographers love exciting and sexy!
- Set up your business infrastructure – website, social media, editing software and a system for keeping track of your enquiries, customers and finances.
- Be yourself and keep showing up – it’s so easy to try and emulate what everyone else is doing but BE YOURSELF and you will magnetise the people you want to attract (and it’s ok to not be everyone’s cup of tea!)
- Keep the faith. If you do all of the above, the bookings will come.
I hope you found this useful. If you’d like to drop me a message or come find me on instagram, I’d love to hear from you!
