Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

My favorite thing about being a wedding and portrait photographer is meeting and getting to work with wonderful people.  Like, seriously, I LOVE people!  Whether it’s capturing the love of a family on their 50th Anniversary to the young love of a couple saying their vows to each other on their wedding day-it’s all so special and dear to me.  I had the privilege of flying out from San Diego to Vermont to capture an AWESOME wedding for a super fun couple (more about them later) and decided to fly into New York to capture the beauty of the city since I would be so close to it, well, 8 hours away, but close.  I was going to meet up with a friend on the night I flew in but there was a last minute change and I ended up alone.  Did I stay indoors to view the city from within?  Hecks NO!  Mind you, I’m not the best at being alone but felt I couldn’t miss out on the opportunity that was just a couple blocks away.  Not only did I want to view the city, I wanted to find random, cool couples venturing the area and do ultra mini sessions with them.  This was my challenge as I had never done something like this but felt I was in the perfect location to do so.  At first I was a little shy and walked around asking some, got turned away a couple times and questioned myself on whether this was a good idea.  Then I saw these two!  They were so cuddled into each other and felt their love so I walked over and let them know what I was doing.  They thought it was cool and let me take a couple shots.  We kept going, went off of each others energy and were having a super fun time.  Before we finished the session, Vega stopped me and told me, “Can I tell you something, you are our Angel!”  I was like, what?  They said they had been arguing and had decided to break up but couldn’t let each other go.  Something was holding the other back from walking away.  Then I came around and told them how I noticed their love, had them cuddle some more, and with the kisses they realized they couldn’t walk away because they were meant for each other!  They both said, “you made us realize how we need and love each other and we’re going to stay together and get married!”   Awww…. I wanted to cry and was on such a high!  I love you guys!  Can’t wait for the wedding as I’ll fly out there in a heartbeat to witness your love as your wedding photographer!  I’m beyond grateful I took the risk and challenged myself to photograph random couples.  We crossed paths and made an everlasting friendship.  I stayed on this high all night and made more friendships, captured amazing couples and didn’t want the night to end.  I also didn’t want the night to end as I had to take the subway back to the Bronx, where I was staying and it was midnight with only 5% on my phone!  I’ll write about that experience next!