Like I
mentioned in last week’s Thankful Thursday post, I couldn’t have done Kim &
Mike’s wedding in 2008 without the help of a second shooter. When Gerard told his best
friend, Nathan, that I’d officially been hired to do a wedding, he jumped in to
offer assistance as an excuse to hang out with his best friend.
Nathan
is probably one of the most secure people I’ve ever met. The phrase, “Marches
to the beat of his own drum” actually rings true for this band and orchestra
director by day and French horn performer by night. (And photographer by late
night.) Nathan convinced Gerard to join choir their sophomore year of high
school and somehow that transformed into such a love of music that Gerard now
does it to provide for our family. Nathan lives roughly 30 minutes from my
parents in California and since we usually hang out with him while we’re there,
it was only natural that he travel to Iowa to visit us (and then drive to
Wisconsin with us) to photograph Kim & Mike’s nuptials.
To do some research before we traveled, he
introduced me to a photographer who has become one of my favorites to follow online-
. And this introduction to her blog, led me to viewing an incredible online course from creativeLIVE when she photographed an
. This later experience in 2010 taught me how to shoot everything manually, totally turning what I knew about my camera on its head and making me so much better for it.
But, I digress. This
definitely wasn’t Nathan’s first go-round on the wedding photographer wagon and
he guided me gently, offering suggestions and teaching me about the best
lighting. I didn’t even know the term “buttery light” until he offered it to me
on a silver platter for the photos I posted last week of Kim & Mike. Not
only did he lend his expertise but he offered me all of his equipment for use
as well to help with family photos (Remember, I still had only a kit lens at
the time!) and he edited all of his own images post-wedding day. What a champ.
Nathan’s
sense of humor kept things light the entire weekend despite my stress level as
is witnessed by this extra shoot that Nathan did with Gerard during the
rehearsal in the organ loft:
And
during the rehearsal dinner:
And
after we’d used the “buttery light” for Kim & Mike, while guests ate
dinner, he used the buttery light on us for our Christmas card that year:
This
photo session is a stark contrast to how I was actually feeling physically at
the time. Kim & Mike’s wedding was a mere 2 weeks after my
and even if I’d had more than my kit lens, I probably couldn’t
have carried it around. The road trip drive to Wisconsin had been brutal to my
back and though Kim had been a gracious host, and I truly appreciated the air mattress provided us, my back did not.
It didn’t really appreciate anything at that point-no kind of touch was welcome. No hugs, no massages, only ice packs. But, somehow, Nathan was still able to pull smiles out of me that weekend and
he can make Gerard laugh like no one else on earth. This not only attests to
his skills as a photographer, but as a friend who helps you smile and see the
good in life, even when you’re literally broken inside wondering if you’ll ever recover.
So,
Nathan, THANK YOU. Not just for teaching me about wedding photography and how
to roll with the punches of a wedding day. But defining “buttery light”, making
me smile, and even laugh, despite pain, for being a hero to my husband and
helping him climb mountains whilst remembering: if a 6 year old girl with a
Barbie helmet on can do Mt. Whitney, so can he.
(Taken with a phone’s camera: Chris, Nathan, Mark & Gerard from L to R on top of Mt. Whitney)
