12. August 2008 by Max.

My friends Lauren Kirkwood and Jonathan Fournier decided they wanted to grow up and get married.

For some odd reason, they asked me to photograph their wedding. I told them, “You know I don’t like shooting weddings, right?”

They acknowledged and still didn’t care. They wanted me to shoot it. How could I say no?

A few weeks before the wedding, I went over to the Kirkwood/Fournier household to get a feel for the event. They were telling me how it would be very non-traditional. It would also be entirely outside.

This meant a few different things.

1. The weather could do anything it wanted to
2. There is no way for me to know what my shooting situation is going to be like
3. I am probably not going to be able to use strobes (other that my speedlight) to illuminate

So on August 8th, my mothers birthday; the start of the 2008 olympics; and the Kirkwood/Fournier wedding, I packed my car with everything:

• Stabilization devices such as a tripod and monopod, along with other stabilization mounts that would be classified as “specialty items”
• A camera
• An extra camera
• MANY extra batteries
• All of my memory cards
• Various other odds and ends

I headed down to the wedding in Farmington, MO. I had my trusty TomTom GPS and the safety net of a Google Maps printout. I drove. I switched roads. I saw state road Y. I passed state road Y. Thank god for automatic re-routing.

I finally got there. There was about an hour and a half before the wedding. Time to take some photos! At that point, we knew the family portraits would have to be done after the ceremony. We decided to take some fun shots of the bride and groom with their maids and men.

I’ll admit it. I had fun. Not only was it a tremendously fun to be there as a friend, I really enjoyed shooting it.  Being immersed in their joy made me so happy. I was working but I was really just playing along with them! It didn’t hurt that we had the most ideal weather conditions imaginable!

As the night wound down, I ran out of memory. Cards that is. I filled every single card I had. All nine gigs. Go figure. I knew they would want them fast so I just uploaded my cards onto their laptop before I left that evening. I figured it also helped save the environment. After all, a few DVDs is practically an entire tree…

Lauren and Jonathan, this is a very public congratulations. I know that you two will enjoy the rest of your lives together, for better and for worse. Although it will probably be 80/20. The odds are on your side.

It also is very heartwarming to know that among all of your photographer friends, many of which enjoy shooting weddings, you chose me and pressured me into doing it! I don’t regret it one bit. I am truly honored.

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4. August 2008 by Max.

No. Don’t worry. I didn’t ride naked. I just made my first multimedia piece.

My friend, Stew Smith and I collaborated on a photo/video/audio project. It was a first for both of us.

We decided last minute to cover this bike ride. It proved to be a challenge because the light fell quickly. We worked with three video cameras: 1 HD camera; 1 standard Mini-DV camera; 1 night shot Mini-DV camera.

The two Mini-DV cameras were attached to my bike. One was mounted low on the front fork and moved with the turn of the wheel. The other was on the front of the frame and moved with the motion of the bike.

We conducted interviews to find out a bit about the event and its participants. We mixed photos and videos to tell the story. It was definitely one of the most interesting events I have ever covered.

• 1.5 hours of footage
• 3 gigs of photos
• 11+ hours of editing

I hope you enjoy our presentation. Let me know what you think.

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