About a month
ago, a friend forwarded an email on Friday afternoon asking if I would be
willing to take pictures at his son’s wedding reception on Saturday.
I replied that
I am not a professional wedding photographer. His response was “you’re better
than you think.” It seems his son forget to hire a photographer for the
reception so I was his backup. Well, I’m not afraid to tackle another vocation
at this stage in my life so I reached out to a real professional wedding
photographer who shared his experience with some practical tips on the web. The
website made a list of what a wedding photographer needs to shoot at a wedding
like when the bride throws the bouquet, or when the bride dances with her dad.
I got to review the photos that he took at previous weddings and made my notes.
When the guests arrived, no one knew my cover since I was dressed casual, so I
just walked around the hall snapping away and looked for “sacred moments” when
family and friends were greeting one another.
During the
reception I noticed five young men all sitting together at a table. I asked the
father of the groom what’s up with these guys. He shared that they were his
son’s best buddies when they were 10 years old. He remembered they use to pile
into his kitchen on a Saturday morning and he make them French toast. Now they
all live and work around the country and yet they traveled to share the joy of
their old buddy’s new vocation.
I only took
150 shots, a wedding pro takes 4,000. I edited my best 10 images and forwarded to this dad. The image he
liked the best was his son smiling with his old buddies around the table. I was
embarrassed when this dad’s response after he looked at the photos was that
they were better than the wedding pictures.
I feel blessed
that my primary vocation has been a spouse to my beloved Sue and to serve as
shepherd at Holy Family. However, I am approaching another milestone that
offers the possibilities of embracing other vocations.
Some of my
Sonshine Friends have offered their encouragement and suggestions that include:
mentoring young people for ministry, a forest ranger working with professors to
teach college students the physical sciences, photography ambassador for
visitors to national parks, and a baker of artisan breads.
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that we are open to Your possibilities, Fill us with Your wisdom, grace and courage to step out of our self-imposed limitations and live in your possibilities.
