Sorry for the delay in adding text to this blog post, there was a lot of emotion surrounding this wedding for me, so it's taken me some time to step back and think about what exactly to say. One month ago I flew to California to attend/ shoot one my dearest friend's wedding. Danielle and I met freshman year in college at San Jose State, yes long before my Art Center days. She lived down the hall in the dorm and was nothing like me. We were a seemingly unlikely fit as friends but once we got to know each other we were inseparable. We used to say, we only ever made plans on the weekend with other people in case one of us was busy--- everyone else was a back-up plan. Danielle is from San Jose and I was about 5 hours away from home, so naturally Danielle's family became my surrogate. I went on family camping trips and dinner at their house three to four times a week. As the end of 2005 came around I began to realize I needed a different education than San Jose State could give me. So I packed my U-Haul and headed to Los Angeles to start college yet again. When I was in LA Danielle met Martin. The intensity of our friendship had most certainly calmed so we talked much less and saw each maybe only once a year.
When Danielle told me she and Martin were finally going to tie the knot I was soo excited. I knew I had make the trip out to California for the big day. Let me just say, I'm so glad I did. From the night before all through the wedding day emotions were running high, as they tend to on wedding days.... As for me, I'm used to being, for the most part, calm and collected, just happy to see people happy. Except for the occasional heart-felt speech, which always gets me! God I love weddings! But this day I'm pretty sure I almost cried a dozen times. Danielle was so happy, so beautiful, and her family- sooo much love. I guess that's the thing about weddings... you realize how important family is. Weddings are the birth of a new family.
As for the photos, I used one camera and my 50mm 1.4 lens. I love to shoot wide open as much as possible and I shot jpg for the latter half. I know, I know, a big no no. But I was creating a stop-action movie for nostalgic purposes. Danielle and I used to make the drive from Nor Cal to So Cal every now and then. On one particular occasion we made the entire trip about making our stop-action. We pulled over everywhere, we ran through orange groves, jumped through fields, and danced for no reason other than to shoot it. When it's done it will be in honor of our past and to her future. I love you Danielle and I wish you are Martin a happy happy life together! :)
