People who believed in me when I didn’t.
Posted on September 5, 2009
Linda Wagner is a dear friend of mine and one of the best stylists I know. She is highly respected in the bridal and fashion industry and I am quite possibly her biggest fan.
Where am I going with this? Well if you have followed my blog you are no stranger to my thoughts of Linda. She was the light that gave me the courage to make the leap into wedding work. I make it no secret that I have been a professional photographer for just under two years. Quite some time ago I was looking for little kids to take pictures of and practice on. I approached a friend and photographed their sweet girl Gracie. Well Linda was friends with Gracie’s parents and saw the shots and said “OMG she needs to do weddings.” At the time I thought the idea was nuts. How did she see wedding photographer from 5 year old portrait session? Who would hire me to shoot their wedding and would be crazy to trust me with such a special day?? Linda was that crazy. She believed in me and didn’t even know who I was, in fact never had met me. She began to pester Katie to talk to me about it. Maybe I found some inner belief or maybe I got tired of hearing it so we planned a shoot. I knew a lot of great models and thought that I would practice on them. I talked to a bridal and tux shop and borrowed a dress and tux. (You would be amazed what you can get if you just ask for it). So here I was, I had a beautiful location, two amazing models who appeared for all purposes to be married. I had a well known and respected stylist working for free because she believed in me. In fact they all were…because they believed. I didn’t believe but they did. That thought still amazes me. Oh and did I mention that it was July…in Arizona…outside??!!
I share this story because I want to thank the three people that made this whole wedding venture happen. Danielle (who is now a hugely famous model in LA now), Tanner who braved the heat in that tux and Linda who made it all happen. These three people will probably never know what they did for me. Since I was recently looking through old work for a project, I ran across their images. It inspired me to write this. I also though perhaps I should share some. One image was on my first ever business card. That was the first time I really fell in love with the idea of wedding work. Obviously my first actual wedding was a wake up call, as any wedding photographer knows! However photographing people that are really in love was even more rewarding.
So thank you again, the three hours you all gave me changed my life course and for that I am so grateful. Here are some shots from my first bridal session. The turning point..
This was the image on my business card. I received so many compliments on her beauty. I never had the heart to tell people it was staged.
They did such a great job giving me “couple in love” models are like quiet actors. This day I got exactly what I needed…chemistry.
The lighting was so amazing that day. It was also when I fist discovered the magic of the “golden hour.”
These were some silk flowers I bought on the way to the shoot. I am no flower designer but it helped to have something. In the heat real flowers would have never survived.
This was one of the first attempts at adding grain into a shot. I fell in love with the look of it. It had a great film quality look.
I was madly in love with this image for a long time. I had never shot into the sun before and it was such a fluke that I got it. It’s was kind of a “hot” image for a bridal.
One more note. For anyone just starting I should tell you that these were all shot with a Canon rebel and an 85mm 1.8 and whatever stock kit lense I had at the time. You can start with what you know and work your way up in equipment. I have since upgraded my camera twice. But I still love these images as much as any I can take now. The freedom was that I went into this shoot with no expectation.
Hi!.. I was just simply serfing on the internet and found your site. This note means so much to me right now, you can’t even imagine.. Oh, sorry, I think you can. because you understand all the feelings of the beginner
Just wanted to let you know, that you are an inspiration to me. And I really need it right now.
I just wanted to say thank you for posting this. I heard about your blog a while back from Sarah Goodman and I’ve been a silent follower. I love your work, it’s always beautiful. Last year my husband bought me an SLR camera because he thinks I have a talent (I’m not so sure). I’ve just started getting up enough nerve to take more photos of other people. I found this post up lifting.