A personal letter
to the bride...
Sometimes I feel guilty. I really love what I do and it is so much fun
that it can't be right. Or can it? I often wonder what kind of work a person would
be creating if they didn't like doing what they were doing. Say for example you
had to go for some kind of surgery. Not something we take too lightly, is it?
Wouldn't you want a surgeon who deeply loved what he or she did for a living?
Someone who felt a deep passionate connection with their work. Someone who woke
up in the morning and was glad to be alive, and a large part of that joy was connected
to their work. Is there any other way to live? Would you want a mean old
crouch working on you?
I guess it's the same with capturing photographs and forever freezing moments
in time. The events in people's lives are those moments, and although it's
not the same as operating on someone like a surgeon does, in many ways it
is a responsability that I feel just as passionately about. Every single
person that steps in front of my camera, no matter if it's another wedding
and the tenth one I photographed that month, or another couple celebrating
their anniversary, or another screaming two year old, each and every person
gets the same amount of passion because it is a part of who I am. It never
changes. I love what I do, and I believe this not only helps me create more
powerful images for others, but it also creates a more powerful experience
for the those who are being photographed, while they are being photographed.
The session itself is a positive experience. I've had folks come up to me
time and time again and say things like: "Thanks, you're so relaxed and
so much fun to work with. I can't wait to see the pictures."
I suppose if I ever stop loving doing what I'm doing it will be time to move
on. I can't see that happening. I'm having too much fun and it keeps me young
and energized. I love doing what I'm doing. If that fact never changes, nothing
else will. I'm a people/portrait photographer and as long as I can put up
with the occasional pangs of guilt for having so much fun doing what I'm
doing, and getting paid for it, everything will be okay. And I can keep making
bride's smile when they look at their finished wedding album. I often meet
couples years after their wedding date and say hi to them in the mall or
where ever. They tell me all about the album. How everyone seems to think
that it's the only time they've ever seen such a unique collection of images
that captures so much. And they always have a sparkle in their eyes when
they share these little experiences.
A surgeon can often go back and reset a broken bone. A carpenter can re-cut and
replace a botched job. A chef can start all over if he ruins his latest creation.
I can't. Time moves on and the moments are a "flicker". I can't explain why I
love to do something that carries so much responsability. Some think it's the
money, but it's not. I mean money helps, it pays the bills and I get to take my
10 year old to Disney Land if I plan well, but it's more than just money. There's
something about a wedding day. There's something about taking pictures for a living.
It all comes together and makes sense in the long run.
Go figure.
Thanks for reading my babbling.....Robert Provencher