Why You Should Ask for TWO Photographers

The adage "two are better than one" finds itself used in a litany of different places. After all, what is Batman without Robin or Tom without Jerry? Two is often a number of safety, it means that you have a back-up plan in case something goes wrong. Having two of something means that you have increased flexibility and creativity since your options have now doubled. And when all is said and done, having two things instead of one means that teamwork is involved, and a good team of two people can do things that one person by themselves can never dream of!

Before we go any further, we want to be really clear: there is nothing wrong with having one of something, especially if they are a photographer! Some of our greatest inspirations in the photography world are single shooters, and their work is absolutely stunning! However, you will still see these photography "super-stars" often align with the "2 > 1" idea as they bring second-shooters along to a majority of their weddings. So for the next few minutes, we'd love to invite you to sit down and grab a cup of coffee as we share with you why you should be asking for two instead of one when it comes to photography!

1 | Multiple Angles

Although this first reason seems like "common sense," this is still our favorite reason by far to encourage our friends, family, clients, and even complete strangers to look for two photographers. We often tell our wedding couples, "The best photographer in the world still has a glaring flaw: they can't be in two places at once."

If you're curious what this looks like on an actual wedding day for Josh and Andrea, we'll give you a snapshot of a regular wedding day for us:

Andrea hangs out with the girls and gets all the "getting ready" pics of the makeup, hair, and bridal details of the invites, rings, etc. At the same time, Josh is somewhere else snapping photos of the venue and the ceremony details. He'll then go and chill with the guys and take their own getting ready photos and the groom's details. During both the First Look and the ceremony, Josh's main focus is the "bride's face" and Andrea's is the "groom's face". Our goal is to not miss a reaction from either of them and be able to capture all the angles! This also comes in to play as we search for different angles during the ceremony, the expressions of the guests during the speeches, and more!

2 | More Photos

How can you possibly get MORE photos? When two photographer are taking photos at the same time AND from different angles...well, you can clearly see what that looks like below! And the best part is that often, our clients don't even have to move while still getting a completely different portrait. This slight shift helps our engagement shoots and our family sessions not feel nearly as rushed or chaotic, since every moment is compounded by two cameras firing instead of one.

3 | Crowd Control

In almost each and every client meeting, Andrea will make some comment about how she will be the "main shooter and Josh will be off to the side, getting multiple angles." What we don't normally tell our clients is that Josh does so much more than that behind the scenes as a "second shooter"! Sometimes you can find him playing games with the kids while Mom and Dad get some romantic portraits of themselves or hanging onto the leash so that the dog doesn't run off during a break in the portraits.

On wedding days, the second photographer is essential to not only help out with portraits and posing, but also with crowd control and "creative portraits" (AKA helping Andrea get that awesome veil shot!). Family Formals will always go faster when you have one photographer shooting and one photographer calling out the next family combination. Instead of a just having one photographer trying to balance shooting and organizing, both of us are locked into our assigned jobs, which helps us stay calm and collected during the most chaotic of family formals! The crowd control also comes in the form of comedic relief...which basically means Josh being goofy and making everyone laugh from behind the camera!

By now, we hope that we've shown you that when it comes to photographers, two is always better than one! So when looking for your photographer, whether it is for your wedding or just some updated family photos, try to find someone who works with a team, so you too can get Multiple Angles, More Photos, and Crowd Control for your photoshoot!

All photos are property of Josh and Andrea Photography, LLC