Full Circle/Up the Mountain

This Saturday will be a big day for me. It's so symbolically important that thinking about it makes me feel a little dizzy. I am so excited and nervous at the same time. This is it! The day I shoot my first wedding as the primary photographer here in Puerto Vallarta.

It feels like both coming full-circle and reaching the top of a mountain. The circular feeling is because my friend Dean came here in Oct 2004 to work on a "destination wedding" documentary. This gave me the idea to explore the possibility of moving here and doing wedding photography professionally. I came here in May of last year to check out Vallarta. For the past several months I've been shooting at the same hotel Dean did the documentary at, but through no connection with Dean -- a series of other events brought me there. And now I will be achieving my goal and dream of doing wedding photography professionally at that same hotel.

The reaching the top of the mountain is a reflection of the feeling I have of all the work I've done for the past 6 years getting me to a "higher" place. It was in 2000 that I started taking photography courses at SVA as a way to start to get more serious about something that had been a passion since I was a teenager. Buying all my equipment, taking more classes, shooting Steven and Alba's wedding in 2002, and my personal projects (Puerto Rican Schwinn club, strippers, Reinas, dog parade) gave me the experience and added confidence. And then came the Antorcha project which fueled my desire to do photography professionally and move to Mexico.

As I approach the mountain top, I know that once I get there I will look out on life and realize that it's just the first of many mountains. But no matter what happens, it's very exciting to have come this far.

On a less lofty note, the hotel owner doesn't want to pay me what I believe is fair for this wedding. But what he's willing to pay is enough money to cover half of my total monthly expenses so I need to try to stay focused on the positive and the non-monetary benefits I'm getting from this experience.

I'm also another step closer to having a real website. If you go to my site, you will be directed to my Monkeyview portfolio. It's not a full-blown website yet, but more of a proto-site. I'm still editing photos and have started doing online Flash lessons. I'd love to find someone to actually do the site for me but that's yet to happen so I might end up doing it myself.