A few months ago a nice girl named Jo emailed me and asked Do you shoot weddings? I politely replied that I have never shot a wedding, and I don’t really plan to do so. Wedding photography has never really intrigued me, though one can make quite a lot of money doing it. I wouldn’t want the constant stress and anxiety, plus I like film, and I’ve never heard of anyone shooting a wedding with film anymore.

She responded kindly and said That’s too bad. I live in Edinburgh, Scotland.

I shoot weddings!

So tonight I’m flying out to Scotland to shoot my first, and maybe last, wedding. I’ve got cameras, over 20 gigs in memory cards, batteries, film, a small handheld HD video camera to make pointless little videos, and a barrage of other lenses and such. I emailed Jo numerous times to try to talk her out of it. I’ve never shot one. I don’t know how to position people. I don’t know where to be and when to be there. I’ve never shot one. I have no idea what the final product should look like. Have I mentioned I’m new at all of this? You should probably hire someone who has done weddings and actually likes wedding photography.

Nevertheless, she insisted. I’m staying with a nice family who lives near the center of town. I’ll have a few days to myself, which will be wonderful because Edinburgh is one of the most visually stunning cities I’ve ever been to, and I’m glad to go back.

Hey Jo: Doesn’t that photo of my gear above make it look like I know what I’m doing? Yeah, I know.

(Edit: If you are a wedding photographer, please know that I have utmost respect for your craft and ability to hold conflict and stress within your work setting. Truly amazing. I also admire the ability to be able to manage and edit batches of images. I prefer to work for hours on one image in the darkroom or digitally, so maybe that is why I am not as taken with wedding photography. Nevertheless, please hear no disrespect from me.)