Careers at Lulan Studio
Wedding Photography & Videography
Jobs in Los Angeles
We are hiring second shooters, associate photographers, lead videographers, wedding content creators, editors and event coordinators across Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Las Vegas. We take on a small number of people each year and the requirements below are minimums, not preferences. All six roles are open and we are actively hiring as of 8 September 2026 — we recruit year-round, so there is no closing date to wait for.
Who you would be joining
A fifteen-person crew, not a freelance pool
Lulan Studio is a Los Angeles wedding photography and videography studio founded in 2016. We shoot digital alongside real film — Leica M and SL bodies, Hasselblad and Mamiya 120, Super 8 and RED cinema cameras — and we have been featured in Vogue, GQ, Brides, The Knot and Style Me Pretty. Every photographer, videographer and coordinator here works toward the same vision on the same call sheet. Nobody is treated as a subcontractor.
Now hiring
Open roles at Lulan Studio
These are the wedding photography and videography jobs we hire for year-round, and every one of them is open right now (updated 8 September 2026). Weddings run mostly Friday through Sunday across Southern California, so we recruit continuously rather than in seasonal batches. Read the requirements for your role in full before applying — every one of them is a hard minimum, and applications that do not meet them are not taken further. Compensation is competitive and discussed on your intro call.
Associate & Lead Wedding Photographer
As an associate wedding photographer you lead your own weddings under the Lulan Studio name, directing the day, the family formals and the couple portraits, with a second photographer beside you. This is the senior photography role on our team.
- Minimum 40 weddings shot as the lead photographer, documented and verifiable. Days spent assisting or second shooting do not count toward this.
- Two professional bodies with dual card slots, written to simultaneously, plus a third body available. Single-slot cameras are not acceptable on a wedding day.
- A fast prime kit covering 24mm to 85mm, two off-camera flashes and modifiers, and spares of every consumable
- Your own general liability and equipment insurance — most of our venues require a certificate before you are allowed on site
- Two complete galleries as delivered to the couple, each from a single wedding, start to finish. Highlight sets and Instagram grids are not reviewed.
- Full manual exposure and confident off-camera flash in a dark reception, without hesitation and without chimping between every frame
- Minimum 20 weekend dates a year, based within a 60-mile drive of Downtown Los Angeles
Second Shooter — Wedding Photographer
Second shooting is how most photographers start with us. You cover the angles the lead cannot be in two places for — the other partner getting ready, the reaction shot down the aisle, the detail frames — and you learn our approach on real wedding days.
- Minimum 10 weddings as a second photographer, or 5 as a lead. We do not take on first-time wedding shooters in this role.
- One professional body with dual card slots plus a second body as a genuine backup, and at least two fast primes
- Working knowledge of off-camera flash — receptions here are dark and we do not shoot them at ISO 12800
- Your own general liability and equipment insurance
- One full wedding gallery you shot yourself, start to finish — not a curated set of ten frames
- The discipline to never step into the lead photographer’s frame, and to shoot what you are assigned rather than what you would rather shoot
- Own reliable transport and a minimum of 15 weekend dates a year across the LA basin
Lead Wedding Videographer
Our video team shoots documentary-led wedding films on cinema and mirrorless bodies, including RED, with Super 8 woven in. You will cover ceremonies and receptions, capture audio properly, and hand off clean footage for a film delivered in eight to twelve weeks.
- Minimum 25 weddings filmed as the lead videographer
- Two cinema or full-frame mirrorless bodies, a gimbal, and a lighting kit that can carry a dark reception
- Dual-system audio, redundantly: two lavaliers, a shotgun, a dedicated recorder and a plan for a board feed. Ceremony audio recorded on one lav with no backup is a disqualifier.
- Two complete delivered wedding films — plus the raw ceremony audio from one of them, so we can hear how you capture vows
- Editing to a delivered standard in Premiere Pro, Final Cut or Resolve. Assembling clips to a licensed track is not editing.
- Your own general liability and equipment insurance
Wedding Content Creator
Content creators shoot vertical and horizontal social footage alongside our photo and video crew — the same day, the same call sheet, angles assigned in advance so nobody is fighting for position. Couples get the raw footage from their day on their phone.
- Minimum 10 weddings or comparable live events covered as a dedicated content creator
- A current phone or compact camera with real stabilisation, plus an all-day power and storage plan. Running out of battery at 8pm is not a recoverable mistake.
- A portfolio of vertical work you both shot and cut yourself
- References from photographers or videographers you have worked alongside — we will contact them
- Proven ability to work inside an assigned-angle call sheet rather than roaming. Stepping into a photographer’s frame for a reel is the fastest way off this team.
- Footage handed over on the schedule agreed at booking, without being chased
Photo & Video Editor
Editors carry the look. Photo editors work our galleries to a four to eight week turnaround; video editors cut wedding films and same-day edits. Color consistency across a fifteen-person shooting team is the whole job.
- Minimum two years editing professionally at volume — hobby-scale editing does not transfer to an 800-image gallery
- Photo: Lightroom Classic to a consistent look across a whole gallery, matched to our profile within one round of notes
- Video: two complete delivered wedding films you cut yourself. Exercises, spec pieces and school projects are not reviewed.
- A paid test on our own files decides this role, not the portfolio
- A calibrated display. Work graded on an uncalibrated screen is rejected on sight.
- A delivery record you have never missed. We ask for references and we call them.
Event Coordinator & Studio Manager
The coordination side keeps every wedding day running: booking crew, building call sheets, confirming timelines with planners and venues, and being the calm voice on the phone before and during the day.
- Minimum two years in wedding, hospitality or event production — general office administration does not qualify
- Verifiable references from planners, venues or vendors you have worked with
- Fluent, precise written English — you will be writing directly to clients, planners and venue coordinators
- Comfortable with contracts, certificates of insurance, timelines and vendor schedules as daily work
- Calm under pressure on a live wedding day, and reachable when a vendor calls at 6am
- Available on-site some weekends as well as in-studio during the week
What we look for
A high bar, held deliberately
Couples get one wedding day and it cannot be reshot. That is the whole reason we are strict. The same three gates decide every hire, and failing any one of them ends the application regardless of the other two.
Craft
A portfolio is the floor, not the pitch. We read the frames you did not choose — the middle of a gallery, the dark reception, the group formals, the hour when the light is ugly and the schedule has slipped. Anyone can pull ten strong images out of forty weddings, so we ask for the whole wedding instead.
Character
Weddings are long, hot and unrepeatable. We hire people who are early, unflappable, kind to vendors and generous with the crew — and we check. References are contacted, and we ask specifically about reliability, not talent. One no-show ends a career here, because the couple has no second date.
Kit
Professional bodies with dual card slots, a genuine backup of everything, and your own liability and equipment insurance. Single-slot cameras, entry-level kit, rented-for-the-day gear and borrowed bodies do not clear this stage, however good the work is. Venues ask us for certificates; we ask you.
Read this before you send anything
What gets an application declined immediately
We would rather tell you now than leave you waiting. Any one of these ends a submission at the first read.
- No portfolio link, a dead link, or a gallery locked behind a password with no code
- A highlight set where the role asks for a complete wedding, start to finish
- Fewer weddings than the stated minimum for the role, applied for anyway
- Single-card-slot bodies, no genuine backup body, or a kit you would have to rent per booking
- No general liability or equipment insurance, and no intention of carrying it
- Not naming the role you want — or applying to all of them at once
- Images that are AI-generated, heavily composited, or not your own work
- A reference who will not confirm you turned up on time
If you are under the bar today, that is a not-yet rather than a no. Our mentorship program for photographers is the honest route — it is paid training, not a job, and it exists precisely because the standard here does not move.
Why photographers stay
What working here actually gives you
No agency middle layer, no bidding for scraps of a wedding season, and cameras most studios do not own.
Volume, not scraps
More than 2,300 weddings documented since 2016 and a calendar that runs across five markets. Consistent bookings are the single biggest thing a growing wedding photographer needs, and it is the thing hardest to build alone.
Cameras worth turning up for
Leica M and SL bodies, Hasselblad and Mamiya 120, Super 8 and RED cinema cameras sit alongside our Canon, Sony and Nikon workhorses. See the full cameras and equipment list.
Real mentorship
We already teach photographers formally through our mentorship program for photographers. Team members get that same critique on their own frames, wedding after wedding.
Venues you want on your reel
Greystone Mansion, Vibiana, the Millennium Biltmore, Bel-Air Bay Club and hundreds more — see our favorite wedding venues. Work that ends up in reviews like these.
A full range of work
Weddings from intimate elopements to multi-day South Asian celebrations, plus engagement sessions, portraits and corporate work. Photo and video crews shoot the same days together.
Straight answers on pay
Rates depend on the role, the day and your experience. We tell you the number on the intro call rather than making you guess, and we pay on schedule.
How to apply
Three steps, no application black hole
Every application is read by a person on our studio team, and read against the requirements rather than the presentation.
Send your work
Use our application form and include all six: the exact role, your city, how many weddings you have shot in that role, a link to at least one complete wedding gallery or film, your body and lens list, and whether you carry liability and equipment insurance. Anything missing and we cannot assess you.
Intro call
A fifteen-minute call with our studio manager. We walk through your work, how our wedding days run, what the role pays and where you would fit on the team.
Shoot with us
Photographers and videographers come out on a real wedding day alongside a lead. Most applications never reach this stage. It is paid, and it — not the portfolio — is what decides the hire.
Prefer email? Write to info@lulanstudio.com with the role in the subject line. Lulan Studio is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applicants from every background.
Please do not call, text or DM to check on an application. Every application is read by hand by a person on our studio team, between wedding weekends, and that takes time. There is no queue position to give you and no status to look up over the phone, so calling cannot move an application forward. Everything happens by email — use an address you actually check, and add info@lulanstudio.com to your contacts so our reply does not land in spam. The studio phone line is for couples planning a wedding.
Careers FAQ
The questions people ask us first
Do you hire wedding photographers with no wedding experience?
No. Second shooting is our entry point, but it still requires at least 10 weddings as a second photographer or 5 as a lead. We are not a training ground on a client’s wedding day, and there is no reshoot if it goes wrong. If you are below that, our mentorship program is the route.
How much do wedding second shooters get paid in Los Angeles?
Rates vary by role, coverage hours and experience, so we give you the actual number for your role on the intro call rather than posting a range that would not apply to you. We pay on a set schedule after each wedding.
Do I need my own camera gear to apply?
Yes, and it has to be professional. Dual card slots written to simultaneously, a real backup body, fast glass, off-camera flash, and spares of every consumable. Single-slot cameras, entry-level kit and gear rented per booking do not clear this stage. You also need your own general liability and equipment insurance in your name, because our venues ask for a certificate before you are allowed on site.
Where would I be shooting, and do I have to travel?
Most weddings are in Los Angeles and Orange County, with regular work in San Diego, Santa Barbara and Las Vegas, and destination weddings beyond that. Lead photographers should be within a 60-mile drive of Downtown LA and available at least 20 weekend dates a year. You are never sent somewhere without knowing the travel in advance.
Do you hire wedding videographers, editors and content creators too?
Yes, and the minimums are just as firm: 25 weddings filmed as a lead videographer with redundant dual-system audio, 10 events for content creators, and two years of professional volume editing. Editors are decided by a paid test on our own files, not by a portfolio.
Do you offer photography internships or mentorship?
We run a paid mentorship program for photographers, and it is training rather than a job — it does not convert automatically into a place on the team. Everyone here also gets their frames critiqued wedding after wedding. Applying to mentorship because you are under the shooting minimums is a completely reasonable move.
What actually happens after I apply?
A person on our studio team reads every submission against the requirements above. If you meet them, you get a fifteen-minute call, and then a paid test wedding alongside a lead — that day, not the portfolio, is what decides it. We would rather be blunt at the first read than waste a month of yours. Reading them by hand takes time, so please do not call, text or DM to check on an application — there is no status to look up by phone, and everything happens by email.
Are these freelance or staff positions?
Both, depending on the role. Shooting roles are typically booked wedding by wedding around your availability; studio and coordination roles are ongoing. Either way you carry your own insurance and we confirm which applies to you before anything is signed.
Before you apply
Look through the work first
The fastest way to know whether you would fit here is to see what we actually shoot.
Join our team
Send us your work and let us see how you see
Second shooters, associate photographers, videographers, content creators, editors and coordinators — we read every application.