Something I have learned in the 10 years since I first picked up an SLR camera: Being a photographer allows you rare insights into a multitude of experiences.
As we all know, photography allows us to capture our lives’ big and little moments, from birthday parties to camping trips to births to graduations to family gatherings. Through pursuing photography as a career, I have also been given the opportunity to record the experiences of others.
Sporting events, community festivals, concerts, competitions, celebrations and even solemn events such as collisions and kidnapping investigations are all things my camera and I have captured.
In some circumstances, people can be wary of the photographer, but most of the time people are excited to see you and happy to have you recording a moment in their history. This is especially true of joyous occasions like community festivals, graduations and weddings and that is why they are my favourite to shoot.
This year, I have photographed four weddings - the rehearsal, the ceremony, the formal shots, the family photos, the dinner, the speeches, the dance, the whole shebang - and I have enjoyed nearly every second of it.
Shooting a wedding was an idea that terrified me only a matter of months ago. There is a great deal of pressure that comes with being entrusted to capture the moments of what is generally the biggest day of that couple’s life together. It was more responsibility than I wanted to have and I steered clear of three requests to shoot weddings last year.
However, having been involved in these four weddings this summer, I have to say I have fallen in love with it.
I am an emotional person to begin with, so simply sharing in those special moments and celebrating the love of a couple, their friends and family is something that warms my heart.
But being a photographer allows you to be so much more involved than you would be normally. Everyone recognizes the importance of allowing you to capture all the special moments, so they tend to treat you like one of the most important people in the room.
On Aug. 4, I shot the wedding of two of my friends, a hilarious and beautiful couple who have the admirable talent of making every single person know they are appreciated and loved.
After spending the day with them and their amazing bridal party, catching as many of the funny, beautiful and emotional moments as I could, the bride and groom each came up to me separately during the dance and thanked me sincerely for the work I had done. One of the bridesmaids then proceeded to take my camera from me and insisted I just take it easy and have fun with our friends.
Throughout the day, a number of people offered their assistance and told me, should I need something, not to hesitate to ask. I was deeply appreciative of how supportive and patient everyone was, as it made my job easier and more enjoyable.
I love to photograph children, events and landscapes and spend a great deal of my time doing so. But the feeling I get from giving someone their finished photos and seeing how truly happy it makes them and how much they appreciate my work is something I cannot easily describe.
With wedding season drawing to a close, I have to say I am sad to see it end. I can barely wait until next summer for the next round of hitchin’ parties.
Let it suffice to say I have more or less caught the wedding bug. Not that I will be hunting for a husband to walk down the aisle with anytime soon, but I will be more than willing to sling my camera over my shoulder and join in the celebration whenever the opportunity arises from now on.
