A breathless relative comes up to me 10 minutes before the ceremony was to begin, and tells me “the photographer forgot to show up.”  Crap! What was to be a relaxed event at Sand Harbor in Lake Tahoe just became a small nightmare for the wedding party, and an interesting exercise in improvisation for me.  An hour before, I was looking at a backpack containing a very abbreviated  collection of gear, and asked my wife, “what do you think?”  No doubt, a rhetorical question for a traveling photographer.  I threw it in the trunk.  Dashing back to the trunk an hour later I scrutinized the contents.  Three lenses, (no problem there) one SLR body, and a point ‘n shoot (potentially bad news) no flash (shadows are going to be a challenge) no diffusors or reflectors (gonna be working for days in post.)  Just a few of the thoughts going through my head as I click into work mode.  My anger at the unprofessional behavior of a fellow photographer who just made my relaxing getaway, full-on work, got me amped up for the task at hand.  I mean really, if you’re a wedding photographer, and it’s a Saturday during the summer, and you’re not doing anything, shouldn’t a bell go off in your head?

Of course, I am not a wedding photographer, and often joke that I don’t do babies or weddings.  I have done both this year.  Never be too sure about what you will and won’t do.  Fortunately, many things about photography cross over, and years (decades if I’m honest) of experience take over, and get me through the ceremony without too much drama.  On the back burner of my mind I’m thinking that this shoot is make or break in post, and it’s going to take days.  I have a full schedule of architectural work when I get back to LA, so I know I’ll be working very late into many nights to churn through the backlog.  I am a hands on guy, and personally work on every image that goes out of my office.  If it sucks, I own it, so late nights it is.  This limits my ability to schedule stacked shoots, but I like to think that my clients, friends, and family appreciate it.

I was lucky that my wife’s cousin, and his new bride are impossibly cool, and a lot of fun to photograph, but please don’t tell anyone that I shot a wedding….