Composing the Vision

This past weekend I got the priviledge to shoot a wedding, and it just happened to be a Mexican wedding! The wedding was very fast paced, as I just found out that I was the photographer 9 days before the wedding. But the couple, Gaby and Fernando, were very fun to work with and it was a fun wedding. Some would say that there aren't a lot of differences between Mexican and American weddings. Of course they have a lot of the same things: a church, a bride, a groom, a priest. I mean there isn't much to that. I have never been to a Catholic wedding, so I don't know the differences and similiarites there. But let me just say that I think there are a lot of differences, Mexican weddings are crazy (good crazy)! After the bride finished getting ready, we headed off to the church. They didn't have a driver, so I quickly switched from photographer to chaufer in a matter of seconds. So I drive to the church with 15 minutes until the wedding. I was worried about getting t...

Sorry I've been a while getting these last pictures up from Colombia! Coming back to Mexico has been crazy. When I got back to Mexico, I found out I had a wedding to shoot...next week! Apparently, when it comes to parties and weddings, that's how Mexicans work--who cares about details, let's just have a party! sheesh! So I've been frantically trying to pull together loose ends. I'll let you know how it goes. Meanwhile, check out the pictures from Colombia! Gallery 1 Gallery 2 Gallery 3

And so today I am leaving Colombia. It has been quite an adventure and this is an experience I'll never forget. I feel almost like a cop-out, as I have only been here a week. I have done very little with regards to helping out the orphanage. I have fed some mouths and I have given some hugs and I have carried a few kids with dirty diapers to be changed, but I have only been here for a few days. I will leave today but the workers who slave away for 40+ hours a week will stay and will continue to do ten times more what I have done. Though we have loved on some kids, they and Sister Valeriana are the ones who truly care about them and sacrifice their lives to create an environment for these kids where they feel loved and accepted. In comparison, we have done nothing. But we have done something, for we did show love to these kids, and it is awesome (and sad) to see these kids cry when they know that we are leaving, for I suppose we accomplished what we came to do and that perha...

I think the incredible thing that has struck me these last few days is the workers who work there. See we are only a group of 10 going for a very short time. There are so many workers there. Saints. I have talked with them and some of them have worked there for years. It has been incredible to me because even after working there for 3 hours in one day, I have become absolutely exhausted. And all we have done is feed the kids and play with them (as that is what they have requested). But these workers, every...single...stinkin...day. Have come to this place to care for the kids, love these kids, feed these kids, change dirty diapers on 15 year olds, have put up with there screaming, have taken them through therapy, have put up with the emotional drainage of seeing the state of these children--every single day from 6 in the morning to 6 at night. It is incredible and I don't know how they do it. I don't know how they wake up in the morning and continue to do what they do....

You never know what to expect when you walk into situations that are extremely uncomfortable and not ordinary. Such as walking into a special need orphanage containing mental and physical disabilities you have never encountered before in your life. Of course you always first walk in and act like nothing is wrong with them and that you can talk to them like they are normal, but the fact of the matter is, you can't, and that isn't to discriminate but is just a fact. You walk in and you are totally shocked that actual disabilities like this exist. You wonder how they can live like that, for that is all they have ever known. Luz y Vida is enormous. They have like 5 levels of bedrooms and rooms with various rooms equipped to handle the various needs of the children. They have the biggest kitchen with vegetables that they grow from a farm that they own. They have all these tunnel ways that weave to and fro throughout the place taking you around like a maze. They have a courty...