The Big Jump Off

I'm on the big ride, nearly at the top of the hill. There's no looking back. I'm going to be shooting my first digital wedding this Spring. After years of trusting film, this is quite a rollercoaster. I've been blasting the camera at everything that moves (and quite a few things that don't) trying to prepare for this. But when it's over I know I'll have some shots that I really like (the couple's likes and dislikes are secondary... ;-) ). I have the assurance because I've now worked out some of the kinks that I was experiencing with my new gear, and it and I are getting along. It's almost to the point where's it's out of my way and I can shoot through it instead of with it. Almost.



But the job of the photographer at a wedding is only partly to make a record of the events of the day. The much bigger part is to integrate into what's happening, to offer reassurance to harried parties, to look for and celebrate the moments that hardly anyone sees. If wedding shooting was all stress and pressure, I'd never do it. But I find the things that I know the couple is going to want to remember and catch those fleeting moments for them. For me, the way I shoot, there's no convention, routine or tradition. Every situation is unique, because people are unique. It's my goal to find who the couple is. I want to find the soul of the union and harness it. When it works, I follow and the pictures happen naturally. And that's fun, in the truest, deepest sense of the word.

I wasn't the principle shooter at this wedding – that honour belonged to a friend of mine. It was fun to grab shots (nothing of what he set up, mind you) without any pressure, except that which I naturally put on myself.

Broken Site Stuff

I set up feeds for my site, and they were working, and now they aren't. My solution to this problem (seemingly experienced by many people that use Blogger with external hosts) is going to be rather complicated. I'm going to be porting my entire blog (100+ posts) over to a new content management system (CMS) called Joomla.

This will be better for me on several levels -- for one thing I will become more familiar with this CMS, a current standard in web development. And for another, I will have far more flexibility in the presentation and capabilities of my website. There are many plans lingering in my brain (and have been for about 10yrs now), and I think they will finally start coming into fruition. This is a rather exciting and daunting proposition for me, but it's a challenge I'm ready for.

Thanks for reading!

Cool Beans!

I gotta share something I just heard that's got me entirely jazzed. This American Life is probably my favourite radio show of all time. I've followed it online for a few years now. I just love the stories they find, and how they chase them down. If you've been reading LM at all, you know how much I value the honest pursuit of truth, and I really feel like the creators of this show espouse those ideals, even if I don't always agree with where they end up.

Anyway, preamble over, they're now announcing a TV documentary! I can't wait to see what they do with this concept visually. Apparently there already 6 episodes -- collect them all!

We're Gonna be Huge!

We've just started recording a new project at the Bridge. This is pretty exciting to all of us -- for one thing we've spent a lot of time gelling as a group, and this is probably going to be kind of a last hurrah as we again face a time of massive transition and upheaval. It always seems to happen at the end of a school year, but it's going to have a greater impact this year as we probably say good-bye to a number of key leaders and participants.

So this is kind of happy-sad occasion, but we're all grateful to have the opportunity to put this memory down in a physical form. Anyway, when I'm not only laying down some sax tracks, I'm taking pictures -- I thought I'd share this one. She's listening back to the djembe track she just recorded, and I like the moment of reflection.