South Jersey Event Photographer | National Park, NJ | Thirty Reasons to Celebrate
So much of what I have learned from starting this business is that photography is so much less about the camera and so much more about the memories that that camera captures. Whether it be a portrait or a special event, to capture a moment in time is such a wonder and a joy. But it does come with one caveat...who is there to take pictures of the photographer's family? Who will document MY memories?
No one.
Oh yeah, people try but it never works out. My mom can barely operate my camera on auto, my sister does a bang up job but she never wants to take time away from her relaxation to sit behind a camera all night. My husband will begrudgingly do it but then who will be the proper host and hostess if he is snapping pics and I'm off gallivanting, enjoying life in front of the camera for once. There seems to be only one solution for me and my fellow photog.
HIre someone else to take our job. Not as hostess, of course, but as the photographer. The keeper of memories.
And that is just what this photographer did.
I had the intimidating honor of being asked by a fellow photographer to document her 30th birthday celebration with her friends and family. While I know she would love to have those moments captured while she is living them herself instead of behind the lens as she normally is, I have to say, it's quite intimidating to work for a peer. She does not have mommy goggles, she knows technicalities. She knows light. She knows cameras. Not that there EVER is a margin for error but whatever there is, when working for a fellow photographer, that miniscule margin shrinks away to nothing!
But, I forged through my fears because I was given a task and I was honored to do so. And the moments I captured? Just melted my heart. The look of joy on a great-grandmother's face when her children's children's children walked through the door, the emotions in the room of the people who gathered to show their love and devotion for one special woman. The children, the next generation, of this wonderful family, just doing their little thing surrounded by their mommies and aunties and great-great relatives. I love that I could capture these moments for them.
Gotta say, I'm jealous. So jealous, I am so hiring a photographer for my next event. So I can be the one IN the memories instead of just the one keeping them in my camera.
