Careers · Los Angeles · Southern California
Second Shooter Jobs
for wedding photographers in Los Angeles
Second shooting is how most photographers start with us — on real wedding days, beside a lead. Open now — we hire year-round.
The role
The angles the lead can’t reach
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.
What you’ll do
- Cover what the lead cannot be in two places for — the other partner getting ready, the reaction shot down the aisle, the detail frames
- Shoot what you are assigned on the call sheet, never stepping into the lead photographer’s frame
- Work on real wedding days alongside a lead, and learn our approach as you go
- Weddings across the LA basin, mostly Friday through Sunday
Hard minimums
- 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
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.
How to apply
Three steps, read by a person
Every application is read by a person on our studio team, against the requirements above rather than the presentation.
Send your work
Use our application form and include all six: the role (Second Shooter Wedding Photographer), 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
You 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 “Second Shooter Wedding Photographer” in the subject line. Please don’t call, text or DM to check on an application — everything happens by email. Lulan Studio is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applicants from every background.
Good to know
Questions about this role
Is this a freelance or staff position?
Freelance. Second shooting is booked wedding by wedding around your availability, and you carry your own general liability and equipment insurance. We confirm the terms before anything is signed.
What does a second shooter get paid?
Rates depend on coverage hours and your experience. We give you the actual number on your intro call rather than a range that would not apply to you, and we pay on a set schedule after each wedding.
I have never shot a wedding. Can I start here?
No — this role needs at least 10 weddings as a second photographer or 5 as a lead. If you are under that, our mentorship program is the honest route.
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