The Payoff

I'm sitting here feeling rode hard and put away wet, every muscle in my body hurts, but I wouldn't change it for anything.  You see I'm sorting through the eight hundred shots I took at the wedding  I photographed on Saturday.  I'm listening to the wedding music and planning how pictures will fade into each other in the slide show.  I'm reliving the joy and the love and every beautiful thing that happens when you're invited in to chronicle people's joy.  The way the bride and groom looked at each other when they took their vows.  The groom's parent's joy. The precious baby girl taking her first steps in her fancy dress.  The teenagers flirting with each other.  How the bride's older brother cried when he danced with her.  The photos of the bride's deceased parents on their table.  It was just wonderful.  Don't get me wrong, the check that's earmarked for Kitt's stud fee and vet visits is nice, but that's not the main reason I do it. The joy and the ability to create beauty is.  It made those years, when I was struggling to learn, and felt like I was the slowest learner on the planet, seem like a small, very small price to pay.

This is my wish for you, that someday soon you will be sitting where I am, and say to yourself, the joy that I get from creating beauty made all the pain and frustration of learning how to do it worthwhile.