Photographers Photographing Photographers

I just flew across the country again, so forgive me if this blog isn’t 100% coherent. It’s been a long day, and it’s 3am east coast time. I’m here to photograph a wedding of a friend and photographer this weekend, and had some time to reflect on the flights over, without the usual distractions of internet, and email, and life.

This isn’t my first time photographing another photographer, or my first time photographing a friend’s wedding, or the first time that I really feel the pressure. But this is one of the first times that I KNOW there will be a lot of high caliber photographers in attendance, the groom himself an accomplished landscape photographer and a great source of inspiration. These are folks I know, either personally or through internet fora, and whom I hold in high regard–it’s definitely a bit intimidating.

When I started getting asked to shoot things professionally–weddings, families, engagements–I was advised to avoid photographing friends and family, that it gets “too messy.” I have blithely ignored that advice, and I can’t say I’m the worse for it. On each occasion, I have risen to the challenge, and produced some of my best work (in my humble opinion, of course). With those you know, there is an added layer of understanding, of communication, of emotion that you can often dig up.

There is added pressure to do a great job, that’s for sure. There’s no denying it. And this wedding, maybe more than any before it, has ramped up the pressure. But as I sat there on the plane, thinking about what it means to photograph other photographers while still others look on, and what it means to photograph friends, I found myself more excited than nervous, more grateful for the opportunity than fearful of the outcome.

In the end, I want a vibrant, emotional record of one of the most important events in a person’s life, and what better way to create that than to be a part of it, to feel it along with everyone else?