April 1st began a series that will allow me to be transparent about the people that have influenced my personal and professional growth.  When I look at where I have achieved success, I can honestly say that I never did it alone.  There was always someone there that believed in me, motivated me, encouraged me, or pushed me to continue.  This series is dedicated to those people!

“If you admire somebody, you should go ahead and tell them. People never get the flowers while they can still smell them.” ― Kanye West

DAY 9: MICHELLE AND ROCK WOOLFOLK

This weekend marks the start of my 2014 wedding season and will be my busiest year to date and I have a confession…I never planned to be a wedding photographer!  Now, I absolutely love shooting weddings and documenting a couples’ love  so much that it’s what I specialize in today!  Day 9 of Watermarks on my Soul is dedicated to Michelle (and Rock) Woolfolk- my very first wedding clients!!!  I met Michelle a few years ago thru a referral from the Jones Family (Crystal and Marcel).  Michelle contacted me to have her engagement photos taken one February and Rock being the awesome fiance’ that he was came along but sometimes I think he would have rather been somewhere else other than trekking around a local park while I tried to get them to embrace and kiss over and over and over!  Boy the things I have learned since then.  Well, Michelle was happy with her photos and a few weeks later asked if I would take photos for her wedding.  OMG!  I hadn’t considered shooting her wedding and in fact other then me asking her what her wedding colors were like 3 different times, we didn’t talk too much about her wedding.  Boy what a difference a little confidence in knowing my equipment could do because now I am super chatty and I try and learn as much as I can about my clients in the 90 minutes we’re together! The one thing that photographers know is that it can sometimes be extremely hard to book a wedding without already having wedding images in your portfolio and here I was with an opportunity that landed in my lap.  Now while I was happy with her photos way back then my styled has evolved a lot, so I would shoot her wedding totally different today.

I’ve learned in life that if someone believes in you enough to give you that first opportunity you should cherish it completely and bring your ‘A’ game.  Because my dad was/is a wedding photographer I asked him to come up to Virginia and shoot the wedding with me.  He happily obliged!  My dad was a film photographer first so this concept of 1000s of digital images was new to him.  He likes to get the shot and nail it, and meanwhile I was shooting any and everything.  I’m no longer as trigger happy as I used to be now that I’ve learned what to look for and to plan my shots.

One of the things that made Michelle and Rock’s wedding day interesting is that he had a broken leg on the wedding day, so for my very first wedding I had to figure out how to capture a groom that had on a brace and was walking (barely) on crutches! Any and everything can happen on a wedding day, or leading up to one, so you have to be prepared.  I think Rock was attempting to be Lebron James (or somebody) the week before the wedding and let’s just say that he wasn’t drafted!  Because he could barely walk, the bridal portraits were minimal and the first dance was short.  Given that exact same situation now, I’m pretty certain I could still get the same number of images that I could if the couple were healthy, but I’m still praying that none of my grooms challenge me on this!  It’s also for this reason that I don’t do any strenuous activities, other than working out, the week of a wedding.

Thanks Michelle and Rock for trusting me (and my dad) with one of the most important days of your life!!!  Thanks for leaving a Watermark on my Soul and jump starting my complete love of shooting weddings!

Watermarks on my Soul Series:

• Watermarks on my Soul : The Why
• Watermarks on my Soul : Day 1 – My Parents
• Watermarks on my Soul : Day 2- Rae Images
• Watermarks on my Soul : Day 3 – Quad and Keisha Smith
• Watermarks on my Soul: Day 4- Laura Huntley Photography
• Watermarks on my Soul: Day 5- Mark Baskin
• Watermarks on my Soul: Day 6 – Andre Dalton
• Watermarks on my Soul: Day 7 – Leroy Walker, Jr.
• Watermarks on my Soul: Day 8 – The Champions