Wedding Photography as practice
Depending on your own proclivities, standing out or being different by having a camera and snapping shots may be an uncomfortable or self-conscious act.
For me, wedding photography provides a unique opportunity for two things:
1. Because people are counting on me, I have an "excuse" to put all my self-conscious tendencies aside. This allows me to practice being un-self-conscious.
2. Wedding photography is very similar to photojournalism (or can be) except it takes place in a staged environment with more than usual opportunities for creating excellent images.
Although it had not occurred to me until writing this, I can see how this challenging and opportune environment helps to re-enforce my skills and confidence as a candid photographer. I get to review lots of images with a higher than normal success rate, therefore accelerating my skills development and helps me discover a personal style.
I guess I say all this only to say that I think workshops and model sessions are a good way to improve rapidly too. Weddings are great because it is income rather than expense, but everyone reacts differently to that pressure. I have found I react positively to it and get into a zone where I don't even hear but only see.
Should anyone think I take weddings lightly and recommend taking on a wedding simply for practice, I don't. I prepare intensely for every wedding by looking at photos other photographers have taken and watching videos of other professionals doing weddings and visualizing myself and the wedding. My entire week before the wedding is consumed with the event at hand.
Great thread. I want to come back and comment more on other sub-threads another day.
If you're interested, here is a sampling from my last wedding:
http://goo.gl/GJd5e (public facebook page)