Here I am on a Saturday night- and a holiday weekend no less, hunkered in at my computer editing. And quite frankly feeling sorry for myself. I spent the day painting the trim in my new studio space (a bit too tedious for my taste, but Jay never complained so how could I??). Then took the pups for a walk and realized I have not mastered the training technique for teaching a dog to “heel” and it all unraveled from there. I hate to break it to the everyone (besides my mother and Jon & Juli), but Regina’s life is not all flowers and sunshine. She puts up a pretty good front but is slightly obsessive compulsive, perfectionist, prone to bouts of extreme impatience, frustration and melancholy. But let’s face it- aren’t those some essential qualities for any great artist? Self-loathing, despair, emotional disparity seem to be vital ingredients for great works of art!
As any wedding photographer will probably tell you, the first run through a wedding edit is HARD. Hundreds of images to get through, so many NOT good ones. But once you cull through and start working with only the solid shots the process is much more pleasant. Tonight I am still in the initial culling stage of Jake & Meadow’s wedding, about to pour another glass of wine and BAM, here was this shot. It took my breath away and filled my heart with a deep deep sense of God’s purpose in my life. I’ve known Jake a very long time and practically forced him to let me shoot his wedding. And I believe this shot is the reason why. Maybe you’d have to know Jake to understand why this is such a fabulous image of him. Meadow is an absolute dream to photograph, but this image in particular is so natural of her. I am not a fancy photographer. And while I’m playing the honest game on my blog, I don’t know jack about the technicalities of my craft. But this should not be a news flash as I’ve been blatantly admitting it for 10 years. I am in awe of so many other photographers and artists and feel often that what I do is so not impressive. My brother was the brilliant artist. And my sister the beauty. I was the charismatic one. But I think this image is a reminder to myself about what my work is all about: creating the space for people to let down their guard and be completely at ease with who they are. Before every single shoot I ask that God would give me His eyes, that He would show me the person He loves, who He created them to be, how He sees them. I will never be a technical shooter. I feel I almost shoot blindly, instinctively, trying to capture the moments in between when the most genuine childlike nature of a person feels it is safe to peek out.
Jake & Meadow: I hope you are both having a wonderful time in Hawaii!! I’ll have the rest of your wedding up in just a few days!! Thank you again for sharing your apartment with us! Hope you didn’t care too much about that couch… (j/k) Love!
