8/23/2008
taken : 8/23/2008
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Castle Pines Country Club.
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Scott and I headed down to the Castle Pines Country club to do a wedding.
It was my first time being at a country club. I was amused.
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After a few quick shots of the girls getting ready Scott and I headed out back to check out the area and set up lights for pictures of the parties. We ended up just doing them at one site a short walk away from where the ceremony was.
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The weather was going to hell, and the light was horrible. It was windy so I decided to forget the umbrellas. It's the same basic setup I always do: Vivitar 285hv via PC cable and Sunpak 383 via cactus wireless...all the same minus the umbrellas. I placed the flashes a little further away than usual as a result of no umbrellas.
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(the setup...and Scott doing something back there...)
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The problems started almost immediately.
First of all...we were supposed to be shooting the groomsmen and groom...but they were still inside...but that worked out because I use cheap ass shitty equipment.
The cactus trigger WOULD NOT fire. I couldn't figure out what the problem was. I started going through a checklist in my head:
Battery: Put a new one in this morning.
Check frequency on receiver: set.
Check frequency on transmitter: same as the receiver.
Flash power : ON. New batteries.
Receiver/flash connection: check.
Fuck.
After messing with it for a while (luckily no parties had come for pre-ceremony photos yet) I finally figured out that if the battery cover was off, and I balanced the radio trigger on it's side (resting on a knob of the light stand) it would fire. Good.
Then to test it out.
The radio trigger fired, but the flash that was being fired by the PC cable wasn't working. I could only get 1 or the other to work. I turned EVERYTHING off...then powered it all back on...that seemed to help for some reason. In business.
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Eventually the guys came out and we took the standard photos. They hung out for a while taking in the view...so I snapped a few candids...Scott did the same.
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The whole day was a pain in the ass because of my equipment. It started to rain a little bit, and we were still waiting for the girls to come out for photos. So I decided to break down all the equipment and place it in the bags until we were ready to go (mostly because none of my shit is weather sealed and the radio trigger now had the battery cover off and all the electronics were exposed). This was risky because of how much I had to fiddle with all that shit before. I had to break that shit down a few more times throughout the evening because of rain during down time, and every single time I was worried that when I set it all back up again, nothing was going to work.
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Anyway
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The girls finally came out.
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The bride. Natalie Johnson.
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Like I was saying, the light was bad...dark and stormy...but I got it to work. Normal deal...underexposed the ambient by about a stop or 2, and then brought some fill light with the off camera flashes.
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During dinner Scott and I just sort of hung outside the tent and drank. I am never going to pass up free G&T's.
...and every once and a while someone would come talk to us.
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Scott and I were standing outside when an older, slightly drunk guy came over to talk to us.
Drunk ignorant conservative guy: "You two brothers?"
Scott : "not even close."
Me : "Scott is Thai...I am Korean."
Drunk ignorant conservative guy : "You're Korean?! (turns directly @ me) kamsa hamnida."
Me : "kamsa hamnida." (which is funny for two reasons. First, he assumed I must speak Korean. Second...I don't think he knows he just said thank you to me.)
(the conversation went on a little bit...Scott abandoned me to deal with this guy on my own...)
Drunk ignorant conservative guy: "Are you glad to be in America?"
Me : "I guess so."
Drunk ignorant conservative guy: "You're living the dreamn."
Me: "uhhh...yeah I guess so." (What? I mean it's not like I moved here seeking a prosperous future and a good job to support my family...and he knows I was adopted by two white people when I was 6 months old...because I told him earlier)
Drunk ignorant conservative guy: "You speak good English."
Me: "Thanks."
Drunk ignorant conservative guy: "I mean...it's like this... you're oriental." (slightly offended now)
Me: "uhhhhh..."
Drunk ignorant conservative guy: "You're Asian."
Me: "Yes." (but not really...I look Asian...but I grew up in Littleton...which, according to the US Census Bureau is around 98% white...so I feel white."
Drunk ignorant conservative guy: "...and you speak good English. These fucking Mexicans come over here and take our jobs, and they don't even speak English. When you say something to them they just give you that dumb look like they don't know what you're saying...but I know THEY KNOW what I am saying to them. If they are going to come here and take all of our jobs they should speak English. If I moved to Korea I would learn Korean." (yet he didn't have what he said to me in Korean right in the first place).
The conversation carried on like that for a little while longer...I eventually left.
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What an asshole.
Later in the night he came over to Scott and asked, "Hey...you aint queer are you?"
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Anyway...
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After all the jazz with cutting the cake and the first dance it was party time.
Everyone danced and in general had a good time...Scott and I mostly drank and took some pictures here and there.
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It was a long night.
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(and this was long post..)
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Good gig though.
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P.S. The first picture on this post was taken later during the night. At this point in time everyone was inside the reception tent eating and drinking (...Scott and I were outside the tent drinking)...and then the sun came out and there was totally amazing light...it's too bad we did all the party pictures earlier...that shit would have been perfect...
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anyway...thanks for reading.
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