September 17th was my last wedding for the year of 2011. This was my first year doing wedding/portrait photography, professionally, since I got into photography 5 years ago. When I first started, I only photographed landscapes, close-up’s, night shots, wild life, weather and dabbled into some sports photography. While I still do all of those styles of photography and enjoy them, I needed to expand my abilities. So that’s when I decided to start portrait photography. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous, terrified, excited, under confident and ready to accept a new challenge in my photographic career. I spent countless hours doing research on poses, lighting techniques, required equipment and everything else you could imagine. When the time came to finally photograph my first couple (Jessica and Sean), I was quite surprised my knee’s weren’t making a clattering sound that was calling a few young bucks that may have been in the area. When we got done, I went home and immediately uploaded the photos to my computer and surprised myself. A decent handful of photos turned out pretty good, at least my mom said they were good (thanks for the ongoing support in life mom!).
After my shoot with Jessica and Sean, Beth and Kris were next. This time it was in my hometown. This was a little challenging because my hometown doesn’t really have any great photographic spots. There’s a lot of “neat” spots that require you to be very critical when composing the shot. Luckily though, the shots I got turned out better than I thought. At this point I thought, “All right, I got this!” Then came my shining moment.
I got a phone call from a mother who was finding a photographer for her daughter’s wedding. I unfortunately could not photograph the wedding, but I offered to do the engagement photos after her daughter and fiancé had a bad experience with the original photographer they had lined up. The engagement photos were for Kelly and Kraig. I drove down to Spencer, IA the day before the shoot and drove around for a good hour or so. The next day, me and my “assistant” AKA “the girlfriend” met up with Kelly and Kraig at the skate park and that’s when it hit me. I HAD to make these photos the best I’ve ever done. I took my time, took advice from my girlfriend, took advice from Kelly and hoped and prayed that all that time researching and critiquing my own work would pay off. What made me know that I was doing what she was expecting was when Kelly said, “I’m really happy about the locations!”. At that time, my mind was exploding fireworks with loud booms and even louder cheers from my imaginary crowd of spectators. I got back to the hotel room and I couldn’t boot up my laptop fast enough. When I looked at those photos and my girlfriend said, “That is a really cute picture of them. I love it!” that’s when I knew I finally had it. I had created photos that was worthy of an Oscar, and I say that with as much of an unbiased opinion as I can. After I did some editing, re-editing and fine tuning each photo individually, they were the absolute best photos I have ever created. Getting the rave reviews from my critics of friends, numerous random people who joined my Cult of AMP Followers on Facebook and Kelly and her friends and family, it brought me great satisfaction that I had created photos that people were going to “wow” over for years to come. But, it brought even greater satisfaction knowing that I lived up to, and even exceeding in a short amount of time, the challenge I had set for myself.
After Kelly and Kraig, there was Sam and Mike, Heather and Eric, my friends’ dad’s wedding (can’t think of their names for the life of me though) and finally Jennifer and John. I do have a special shout-out to my friend Richie and his wife Christina. But I’ll get to that in a little bit.
I know I’m doing more rambling and story telling than anything but here’s what I’m getting at:
THANK YOU!!!!!! If it wasn’t for all of you couples who trusted in my new venture into wedding/portrait photography, I would not be where I am now. I knew I had an inclination I was going to at least be “decent” with having very little experience in portrait photography, but I had NO idea it was going to grow so fast and be able to create remarkable, unforgettable and gorgeous photos for all of you to enjoy and share for a lifetime. All of you took a gamble on me on my first year being a professional photographer and won.
There is one thing I do want to say though on the negative aspect. I want to personally apologize for any photos that you felt weren’t what you expected and were even remotely disappointed in my work. I have no legitimate excuse except for the fact that I’m new to this style of photography. But from what I’ve heard from a lot of you, you were ecstatic when you received them.
Now that I’ve said my thank you’s, I want to mention my most memorable moment’s at each of the weddings. Here we go!
Jessica and Sean: There’s the obvious one of Sean being sick right up until the wedding, but I won’t mention that. My favorite moments of their wedding is when Jessica came down the aisle with her dad and she was a watery mess…TWICE! Was definitely a true sign of love. The other one was when I was photographing Jessica and her mother right at that pinnacle moment where mom knows that her baby girl has grown into a beautiful woman who has started her own life. Every time I look at that photo, I always think about how much of a special moment that is in both of their lives.
Beth and Kris: I think in all the year’s I’ve gone to weddings, your’s was probably the most by the book, fairy tale wedding I’ve ever been to. And I say that in 100% good faith. But the topper was the car. I almost quit photographing your wedding and stole, I mean, focused on the car. And the humor from all of Kris’s guys, my god the humor. I think MTV needs to be contacted and have everyone contracted for a show. And by the way, I think the only reason why everyone made you two kiss so much at the reception is because you kept us waiting from eating!
Kelly and Kraig: While I wasn’t able to be part of your wedding, I’m glad I was able to make an appearance at the dance. All I can say is, I know who to call if I want to party! I will say this much: I had a fantastic time shooting you guys.
Sam and Mike: Despite the fact that the girl’s were running a “little” behind, forgot their flowers, forgot the rings, Mike heading back home to get the rings, the girls already GETTING the rings, Mike’s cell phone dying so no one could TELL him the girl’s got the rings…it was a very nice wedding.
Heather and Eric: I have but only a few words to talk about your special day, and I think you’ll agree. Redneck…camo…hay ride…crazy party’ers…EPIC!
Jennifer and John: The wedding itself was very traditional and smooth. I will say though, it was very cool seeing two officiants do the wedding. But I think the highlight of the whole day/night, started out at Wing’s. I can’t get the “Freese!” chant out of my head from John’s sister. And then came the reception and dance. It just became an organized chaotic mess after that. Good times.
And last and but never least -
Richie and Christina: There’s a lot I could say, but I’ll keep it short. I absolutely loved how the wedding was quiet and quaint. And I loved how you guys turned such a small venue and small wedding into an absolute well planned and fantastically decorated ceremony. Now comes the special shout out. I want to thank you guys immensely for not doubting my ability into my dabble of portrait photography. It may have taken two tries because of rain, but if it wasn’t for you guys being critical about my work and telling me what I did wrong, what you liked and what you would have like to see, it never would have opened my mind that it is 100% completely OK to think outside the box. So for being friends first and clients second, I thank you for that. But no matter what anyone says, Richie will always be a cynic (Inside joke. He’s really not a cynic, just mildly upset because bottled water was introduced.)
Thank you again everyone. Not only was it an honor you chose me to capture your special day, but it was definitely my favorite year of photography ever. It truly does mean a lot to me that all of you had enough confidence and faith in my ability as a newly formed professional in portrait photography. I wish ALL of you the absolute very best in life and I hope to either hear from you again or see you later in life.
Cheers and Allons-y,
Ryon McCamish
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