Good morning, Steemit! It’s a gross day in Minneapolis. Hot and muggy. 
I’m sharing a rarely seen side of my photography on Steemit here today. Not at all ashamed of the work; on the contrary, I’m extremely proud of these images. They represent and capture the most meaningful moments in the lives of my clients and it’s a privilege to be the one to do it. This is a glimpse in to my wedding photography over the last ten years.
The reason this work isn’t seen often is because I don’t want to tempt fate or myself to turn this in to a career. There are few directions you can go as a photographer that you’ll make more money than shooting weddings. It is, however, an extremely high stress job that demands more than I’m willing to give. That said, the clients I take on for wedding photography are typically close friends which minimizes the likeliness of groom and bridezillas […minimizes, but by no means eliminates, as I’ve found out the hard way].
My mentor was Jim Gavenus. A documentary photographer from Scranton, PA. Truth be told, I didn’t have a lot of respect for photography as medium prior to meeting Jim. I was an illustrator and that was my interpretation of “real art”. Jim changed my mind on that naive opinion as I saw more and more of his work in Haiti and The Deep South. He was my basic photography course instructor but we became good friends.
While I was going through my earliest images [film], I remember Jim asking what I wanted to shoot. At the time, I think I said “Portraits”. He told me if that’s what I wanted to shoot, I should omit anything in my portfolio that wasn’t portraits, or at the very least, have separate portfolios. He said “You can have the most beautiful wedding photo the world has ever seen. Too exceptional to cut from your body of work, but, if you don’t want to shooting weddings as a career, you should take it out. I can guarantee that photo will always be the one that gets you hired, and before you know it, you’re a wedding photographer.”. That did hit home with me and I can thank that conversation for keeping my career compass pointed towards fashion and editorial fashion photography, which I’m poorer for, but much happier.
I do take weddings seriously when I am hired for one. I also think I’m good at them. Whatever it that makes me good at capturing the nuanced emotions and feelings of the models I shoot, I think I’m also able to do the same in the moment during weddings. The pressure is on an entirely different level. With my models, I can direct, pose and re-pose them as many times as I need. At a wedding, for much of the day, you have one chance. Especially the kiss! I’ve had anxiety dreams about missing that shot, which thankfully, I haven’t yet.
So, have a look in to some of the wedding photography most of the internet hasn’t seen. There are even a few big features I’ve had in major wedding publications such as Inside Weddings and Offbeat Bride! As I said, I don’t take on weddings often, but under the circumstances, I may be persuaded to accept one or two paid in STEEM :)
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