Shooting a wedding, as it turns out, is incredibly difficult. I have compared photography to predation. Hunting an elusive beast, tracking and stalking and waiting for that perfect moment when the heart finds center the cross-hairs. If the metaphor stands, being a hired gun at a wedding is like spear fishing minnows in an Olympic sized swimming pool. Bride and groom are stressed, under the pressure of countless friends and relatives, under the pressure of wedding coordinators and chapel staff and aunts and uncles and infants infinite swirling bout' their heels while they prep and pamper and prepare. For perhaps an hour the photographer is the center of spectacle, a ring-master of sorts bringing the collective chaos to something resembling order. But even in these moments clarity is fleeting, attention is spread too thin, smiles hang on rusty hinges, exhaustion and over-stimulation slowly collapse the room and the photographer can try only to keep his head and wits, mostly blasting away randomly, but sometimes, with luck and a few deep breaths, pulling a small minnow flapping from the pool.
Suffice it to say I am better at shooting flowers. They do not fight back.
I'd like to thank Tina and James for the experience, and I hope they find a few handfuls of treasure amongst the 1,000+ shards. I learned more from my few hours with you than I could have in a year stalking around warehouses and fields, under bridges and across hills of stone. You were patient and understanding, but also crazy energetic and just plain fun. I wish you well in your new life together; two years in Korea and who knows what... Thank you.
