March 6, 2026

…since I wrote in The Morning Coffee. I thought about it here and there but never found enough motivation to sit down and write. Or type? Is it “writing” if you’re not actually using pen and paper?

Currently racking my brain over where my battery charger for my Canon PowerShot point and shoot camera might be. The Oops We’re Clubbing Again dance party happens tomorrow and I MUST have my Canon point and shoot cameras present. We’re celebrating 90s and early 2000s music and club scene vibes so the point and shoot is beyond appropriate.

It’s my birthday party but really not my birthday party. I turned 40 in December but there was NO WAY I was asking people to attend another party that month. So here we are, three months later. But what else are we doing in March!? I’m happy to give the people something to do during this crummy time of year. The inspiration came from a late night at Black Bear Tavern in November. A few friends and I danced the night away post-hospital gala at this local watering hole where the DJ just rocked my socks with his playlist. So many tunes from Spice Girls and Mariah Carey took me back to the “old days”…the days when we had far less responsibility, more energy and less internet. I feel some deep nostalgia for those days so we’re bringing it back with a big dance party, 90s and early 2000s style.

Here’s a picture of me from 2006 with a point and shoot camera in my hand. It’s one of the oldest pictures I can find on Facebook. I remember being a college student when Facebook “came out”…

Okay now some photography talk…

I made some big decisions regarding wedding photography in 2025. No more Saturday weddings and no more big weddings. The Saturday decision comes from a desire to be more available for my family and friends on the weekends. Do you know how many activities happen on Saturdays!? A LOT. Birthday parties, baby showers, sports games, casual hangouts with friends…I’m tired of missing all of that. Deep Creek has also made it known that non-Saturday weddings can absolutely be a thing. I’ve photographed a lot of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday weddings. They’re usually elopements and very small weddings so let’s hope my decision to also no longer do big weddings doesn’t take too much of a toll on the bookings.

Why no more big weddings? Let’s explore that a little…

Well, it seems the big weddings are usually the traditional ones. Formal ceremony, hotel or ballroom or event space, big wedding party, tight timeline, people thinking we need to follow wedding day “rules”, and too many times just a copy and paste of the last wedding you attended or saw on Pinterest or can remember from a movie.

I’m simply uninspired by those weddings. I’m not at all knocking the weddings I’ve photographed that fit into that description because at one time, I was inspired by them. But as I’ve grown as a photographer and artist (it’s been 17 years!), I recently realized two things about being a wedding photographer specifically: I do not want to be the manager of people and I want to feel inspired so I can make art.

Big weddings means lots of people and a timeline in which to move those people. Too many times, as the wedding photographer, I was becoming the manager of those people and that timeline and I couldn’t fully do my job as the wedding photographer.

Big weddings, while not all, but most, also usually mean “traditional” and the elements that come along with that – the formal ceremony, hotel or ballroom or event space, wedding day “rules” (that aren’t actually rules!), and a copy and paste that I mentioned above – also too often don’t leave room for inspiration and excitement, at least for me. 

Wow, I hope that doesn’t sound like I’m completely putting down big weddings and anyone that is having that kind of wedding! I had that kind of wedding myself and it was a blast and I’d do it all over again! Those weddings absolutely have value too! But now, on the other side of it, as an observer and not a participant, I’d like something different.

Here’s a photo from a recent wedding that really inspired me…