Barns Are Hard
Had another crazy week. I'm going to do a day-by-day breakdown of what I did this weekend.
Thursday
I had an engagement shoot booked in Gloucester, Massachusetts Thursday night. I had never been to the location before and I had never met the couple before. It was a stand-alone engagement session, I'm not booked for their wedding because they live outside of New England. Shooting with people you don't know in locations you've never been to is always a little stressful but sometimes really exciting. I left early because wanted to get there to scope out locations, plus Gloucester is over an hour away from me and I wanted some cushion in case something came up...and something came up!
On I-95 South, less than 5 miles from my house I ran over what I assume was a broken off section of a fence post in the middle lane of the highway. It was just a big, dumb piece of wood. My two passenger-side tires blew instantly and my metal rims were both heavily dented. I knew I wasn't going to make the shoot so I called AAA and while I was on hold with them made a desperate plea to all of my secret wedding vendor channels. Someone responded before I could even get the tow truck scheduled. I called the couple to tell them the bad news/good news. Instead of saying "Are you okay?" or "Thanks for heroically finding a replacement for us" they said "Why can't you just get an Uber?"
Friday
I got a ride to the garage my car was towed to and miraculously everything was fixed in time for me to drive out to Sebago Lake to hop on a weird river-barge-ferry thing to shoot a wedding on Frye Island. It was the first sunny wedding day I've had in weeks and I hate to complain but it was maybe too much sun...
Oh well, it was a mellow, fun wedding day but I was still rattled by the previous day's drama.
Saturday
I got up bright and early to shoot another wedding in Fryeburg, Maine at Barton Family Farm. The rain was back and made everything more complicated. Everyone loves to have their weddings at farms and in barns, and yeah, I get the appeal. From a photographer's standpoint barns are hard! Lighting in a barn is difficult. The natural light is fine if you are standing in the small sliver of outdoor light coming into the barn from the big open doors. Usually the "Sweetheart Table" is set up right next to the back door, so the detail pictures of that table are great. The further into the depths of the barn you go the darker it is and then you have a gross combination of clashing natural light and interior incandescent light, all bouncing around wooden walls and ceilings making everything kind of drab and yucky looking. Often times you have to set up off camera flashes, hoping that no one trips on them.
Since it was raining everyone was going to be forced to stay inside the barn for the ceremony, again not usually the best scenario. Fortunately the rain stopped moments before the ceremony was supposed to start so everyone rushed out to the original, outdoor ceremony location and we all crossed our fingers. It was fine but the rain started up again pretty quickly and the rest of the night was spent inside the barn. Because of the rain things moved pretty efficiently, there was less time for guests to wander around during cocktail hour and no one could wander off and go missing (people always go missing at weddings. "Where's Aunt Barbara?" is the #1 reason why most weddings run behind schedule) Because of this efficiency people stayed in the barn drinking so dance floor time was extended and it was very lively. Bottles broke, a lady slipped and threw her wine glass across the room, and a bunch of maniacs danced on the back porch for hours getting drenched. It was my kind of scene, but man, afterwards I was exhausted.
Sunday and Monday
I spent the next two days recuperating and solving a bunch of computer storage issues (apparently I've been taking a lot of pictures lately).
Tuesday
I had a little sliver of good weather again Tuesday afternoon and did really fun pre-wedding shoot with a couple from out of town and it was so great! Some couples are just fun and unique and make the whole process so easy. With couples like this I could just go on shooting for hours.
Basically all of my shoot plans are up in the air for the next two weeks because the weather has been and will continue to be to unpredictable. Might climb a mountain tomorrow, might drive to a big lake instead. Then there will be another barn wedding on Saturday. I hope all of it is a little more boring than last week. I need LESS excitement in life, lol.