“Rocks in my path? I keep them all. With them I shall build my castle.” – Nemo Nox
“Occasional showers possible. Highs in the mid 60s and low in the low 50’s”. Shit. It’s going to rain. So like any professional photographer would do, I panicked and quickly texted Lydia. “It’s going to rain. Buy umbrellas.” But I shouldn’t say I panicked. More like sprung into action. One thing about this business is it’s important that you are flexible and are able to adapt to any situation at a moments notice. A sunny day can turn into rain. A happy bride can turn into a bridezilla. And all the pre-planning that you do can be for naught. But on that day in Calistoga, CA., Lady Luck decided to cast her smile upon us and gave us just the right amount of clouds and sunshine. So Lydia and Tessa finally arrived. I could tell they were nervous. Heck, I was nervous. Not because of the fear that I might botch-up their esession, but because Lydia and I went to nursing school together. I guess I always put more pressure on myself when it comes to photographing friends and acquaintances. Especially nurses. They always come in with an inquisitive eye. It comes with the job I guess. Nurses need to be on top of things. And they want to be informed of every little thing you do. But there was none of that. Lydia and Tessa were so easy to work with that I found myself grinning from ear to ear every time I told them what to do. Not because I like telling people what to do, but I just appreciate couples who are fearless and trust in our vision. They didn’t try to anticipate what was going to happen next nor question what I was doing. They just happily went with the flow. Walk over there. Look that way. No this way. See that hard slab of a rock? Yea sit your butt down there. Oh you’re afraid of heights? Ok. Just climb on top of that pillar. But whatever you do don’t look down. In short, there was no direction that they didn’t follow. And even if they found a pose that was a little bit on the side of “awkward”, they still did it. So with the sun hiding behind the beautiful Castello De Amorosa, we decided to finally conclude the shoot and go downstairs for some actual wine tasting. I mean besides the beautiful castle, wine-tasting was the second reason why I chose this particular location for. And what better way to end a photoshoot but with some wine in the system. Benjamin Franklin said it best, “The discovery of a wine is of greater moment than the discovery of a constellation. The universe is too full of stars.”
