Maybe it’s because I have a lot of friends who are climbing bums, and many other friends who are journalists -- in other words, I know a lot of people who are ne’er-do-wells, vagabonds, and dreamers -- that I have been on the listening end of more than a few conversations that began: “If I was rich and didn’t have to work for living...” The climbers then rhapsodize about peaks they’d summit, while the journalists go on at length about bar stools they’d occupy in some out-of-the-way, south sea island village until a Big Story came along that needed covering.
I guess I personally tend to be a fellow with pretty lame fantasies about what I’d do if I was independently wealthy. As a former photojournalist who now shoots weddings for a living, if I quit working, I’d pack my cameras, go someplace where people don't speak my language, and then...I’d...shoot...(wait for it...) WEDDINGS!
Or at least I’d shoot events a lot like weddings.
You see, I am passionate about photography, but I’m even more passionate about the magic way the camera allows me to plug into the lives of people around me. For me, weddings -- and cultural celebrations, religious holidays, and festivals of all kinds -- are great opportunities to see and document the coolness of everyday Life.
A week ago, for example, I photographed a wedding, and wonderfulness was happening here, there, and everywhere. The pictures I’m sharing here today of a young flower girl, caught in three very girlish moments, are the kinds of somewhat non-wedding wedding pictures that I love.
I suspect I could go to a wedding in Mexico, or Brazil, or China, and find similar moments...Or at least that’s my theory.
If I was independently wealthy, I’d head to Brazil, bum around a bit, then shoot a wedding and hope to find pictures like these, just to prove my point.
There’s a little ne'er-do-well in all of us.
