I remember so many years ago when I was first taking a huge leap into wanting to be a wedding photographer. I had enlisted some of my friends to do a faux-engagement shoot for me. I did this both for practice, and… if the images were good enough… to start to build a portfolio.
Nice people are amazing. And my friends are very nice people. I am forever indebted to all of my friends and family who allowed for me to practice on them, and the exploitation of not only their time, but the time of their children, as well. I was not good for a very long time. And I could have never become a better photographer without these types of amazingly nice people in my life.
Okay, but back to being nervous… The shoot was at The District in Henderson. I now know that you’re not allowed to shoot there without a permit, but hey… I was new to the game, so I apparently started off my business breaking rules from the beginning.
It was a blazing hot morning, and vomit laid in the basin of my throat. I pushed back tears as Fraser drove me to the shoot. I couldn’t believe how incredibly nervous I was, but I couldn’t imagine being any less nervous either. Fraser tried to calm me down. He said to me, right there in the car, as we winded through the streets of Henderson… “I would be worried if you weren’t nervous. Being nervous means that you’re doing something that really means something to you. It’s when you stop being nervous that you’ll know that it is time for something new.”
He was right. I still get nervous before every shoot. I’m no longer vomit-inducing nervous, but I’m a healthy dose of nerves before every shoot and every wedding. So, it doesn’t surprise me that I can’t quite seem to shake the butterfiles out of my stomach today because tomorrow… wedding season starts!! Andrea and Brian will have their gorgeous wedding at Mandarin Oriental, and it will be blissful… but the first few clicks of my camera will likely be a little bit shakey.
Along with the start of wedding season is also a wonderful time of year in Las Vegas because our city hosts the largest wedding photography conference evahhhhh…
I have attended the conference many times in the past, so this year I have decided to lay off the classroom instruction a little bit and just head out and dive into some shoots that have been designed and styled by some of the best photographers from around the world… yeah… nbd.
I will be shooting the Thirst Relief International shoot with a huge list of amazing photographers. This organization is literally changing the world and the fact that the proceeds from this shoot is going straight to providing clean water to nations across the world is more emotion than I can handle.
I will also be attending a fashion editorial shoot hosted by the world renowned Mike Colon!! Mike is an international fashion and wedding photographer, and is a contributor to the Grace Ormonde Wedding Style Magazine.
Epic is too small of a word for what things are about to look like up in huurrrr.
