Tag Archives: friends

The Wedding Part 7: The Ceremony and Beyond

For “The Wedding Part 1,” click here. For “The Wedding Part 2,” click here. For “The Wedding Part 3,” click here. For “The Wedding Part 4,” click here. For “The Wedding Part 5,” click here. For “The Wedding Part 6,” click here.

Due to the unfortunate fact that a bridesmaid isn’t allowed to prance up the aisle with a camera and large external flash strapped to her neck, I was unable to capture a single photo of the actual ceremony. Next time I’m purchasing a high-tech spy camera that I can strategically place in my flower, and which will silently snap high-res pictures when I crunch my back righthand molars together (that’s where I’ll conceal the shutter release mechanism). I’ll just have to make sure not to crunch down my other molars where my emergency capsule of cyanide lies hidden, just in case . . . but I guess I’m not allowed to talk about my secret government missions on this blog. It’s too bad, because it’s quite a story, involving missions to outerspace, secret caves where the Knights Templar left us important clues, and underwater trips to scavenge the remains of the Titanic and uncover important evidence. But I’ve already said too much.

Today is the last wedding blog post. I feel like we’re at the end of an era. In fact, I’m starting to wonder what the heck I even blogged about before the wedding! Did I say anything at all, and more importantly, do I have anything left to say?? Erica, could you and Dave please reenact your wedding every year so that I have something to share with the world?

This final post has a few pictures of the reception, though I was so tired by then that I couldn’t bring myself to snappity snap away at the speed of yore. For example, when Erica and Dave made their way over to cut the cake, I realized I had no energy left to lug my camera across the room and take a picture. I’m sorry, guys–that’s why I’m not a real photographer. I got no stamina.

The reception was lovely. Lovely food, lovely speeches, and both lovely and hilarious dancing.

Here’s Dave commanding Erica to give him a kiss. Erica appears to be about to swoon. Or something.

My ISO, exposure, and white balance were all over the place, man . . . but the exhaustion was setting in, and as I gazed at all the funny little buttons on my camera with a foolish grin on my face, I realized I didn’t care anymore. If people came out looking yellow or green, well–it was all starting to seem quite hilarious. That would explain why this last installment has the worst picture set of the entire wedding series. It’s called photographic/emotional overload, and one day it’s bound to be my downfall.

To conclude, we all danced around. This dancing session turned a nice respectable couple like this:

into a frenzied, over-exposed dancing machine:

I won’t tell you what else Charles and Rachel did at the reception . . . it’s so good it’s going into a separate post. Wow.

Aunt Jessie also let loose and hopped around:

The groom did some kind of amazing little number here:

. . . and that’s all I have to say about that.

The wedding story is all over, but thankfully I just remembered that I do have things to say that don’t involve Erica and Dave making sacred promises, sharing snuggles, and hobnobbing with relatives. So unless you were only here to gaze upon Erica’s lovely bridal countenance (in which case I understand completely and it’s goodbye forever), see you back tomorrow for “the regular fare”: things involving spinach, Penne Rosa, mosaics, and family vacay. For now, I leave you with a picture of the cheesecake dessert, which may or may not cause your arteries to clog if you look at it for more than 10.1 seconds. Hey, the clock is ticking! I’d navigate away from this page as quickly as possible if I were you.

The End!

Photo adventure in Lincoln Square

*The last two posts chronicling the Erica/Dave wedding extravaganza will be coming Tuesday and Wednesday. Come back tomorrow for some gorgeous pictures of some gorgeous people, but in the meantime . . .

For those of you who are into (or want to get into) photography, I highly recommend that you take advantage of the beautiful weather and go out on photo adventures. Experimentation is crucial to the learning process. Every minute I spend dedicated to seeing the world through my lens is adding to my knowledge and experience, essential qualities of the Good Photographer I eventually aspire to be.

The beautiful weather is a huge enabling factor, because when I tried to have a little picture-taking adventure on the lake this past February, the cruel Chicago winter winds ripped the skin off my face and I lost 100% of my body moisture in the tears that were pouring out of my pain-ridden eyeballs. It just wasn’t working. I got about 6 quick shots and I was outta there, headed straight for Metropolis cafe and their promise of hot lattes. Also, please don’t mention the fact that my face no longer has flesh on it–it’s still a sore subject for me. Though I’ve been told I have an attractive skull. Here are a couple of those forlorn shots–’twas the beginning of my DSLR love story:

The contrast in temperature was so gargantuan that as soon as we walked into Metropolis, my lens fogged up.

Forgive me my son, for I knew not how to set my white balance. Or how to meter.

Aye me.

I was young and inexperienced.

Yep, there I am right before my skin fell off. It’s nice to have a photographic record of what I used to look like. At least a record of the bottom half of my face.

This May, my friend Jamie from church and I decided to hit up the Lincoln Square neighborhood here in Chicago to see what we could see and take many, many pictures. Here is Jamie:

She’s a Canon girl. I’m a Nikon girl. But we managed to put aside our differences for the afternoon.

There’s nothing like shooting with a friend who’s also interested in photography–it’s motivational, fun, and you can bounce composition ideas and camera settings off each other. Mmm! Plus, 2 people with large cameras strapped around their necks look more legitimate than 1 person with a camera around his or her neck. This was convenient since I was snapping a lot of pictures of random kids playing baseball. I figured that being accompanied by another human being made me look less like a stalker (always a plus).

Here are some of the shots from that afternoon out and about, starting with the door to the café where we took refuge from the heat and cooled off with some iced drinks. Hmmm–I’m starting to detect a pattern involving extreme weather conditions, photography expeditions, and the amount of business I bring to my local cafés.

We came across a cute little sale happening on the sidewalk.

Everone was eating outside. . . I imagine they got caught up in the excitement of the first hot day of the year. The buckets of sweat pouring from their underarms may or may not have dampened their enthusiasm into more of a soggy placidity.

Is there anything more quintessentially American than a row of baseball bats?

I love the different expressions on the boys’ faces. It’s a fascinating study in concentration and focus.

This poor little onlooker is probably the bored sister of one of the boys playing.

I love the colorful advertisements plastered all over this store front:

Having a camera in hand really makes you open your eyes to what’s around you. Like this sad piece of . . . of . . . of something round stuck on a fence.

I know I just overloaded everyone with images . . . but let me know if you have a favorite, one that said something to you. Or if you thought they were all butt-ugly–I want to know that, too. I think my favorite is this last one of the bike, with Jamie in the background messing with her camera. Or the row of baseball bats? I feel wholesome just looking at that one.

Find a friend and hit the streets with your camera! And if you decide to share these pictures via the internet, send me the link! I’d love to take a look.