I met Jenny at the wedding of Diane and Joe in October 06, she was sitting next to me and I got a real kick out of it when I asked her what she does for fun, "oh, I mountain-bike" was her reply and I was thrilled for that.
So, we lost touch a few month after that, exchanged a few stories and photo-albums of our adventures and then it faded until the end of last October when I got an e-mail form her. She was telling me how she re-found Stew and that they want to get merit in March of 09 and she wants me to take the pictures of the wedding... woau, thats heavy, me as a wedding photographer??? I heard about the nightmares and mishaps and stress of such events through my friend Angelika Rappe and through couples that went through it... but somehow the pictures I took "for fun" at Diane and Joe's wedding were highly appreciated and apparently much better then the ones by the official photographer, which by the way, they just got their pictures a few month ago and... well all in all not a good story... and so Jenny thought that I should capture their big day!!!
I agreed with the condition that I'm not held responsible if they are not happy with the pictures and that I am not a professional. I also mentioned that for better pictures I would need a better flash and a tripod, "go ahead and buy what you need to buy and we'll reimburse you for that." is what Jenny said. And I did buy some goodies to get better results. Now lets pack them all up and see what I can do with them.
For dinner I made plans to meet with Pei and Chris... yes, those two again... they are still talking to me after the fiasco on Sunday night.
"Lets have dinner at Indus Village" says Pei, "Lets have dinner at the Kabana" hears me... and then I'm teasing Stuart at home for going out with Nancy instead of joining us at Kabana's for delicious Pakistani food, a favorite place of Stuart, and also Chris and Pei.
Lets meet at 8, it is ten before now, I hop on my bike and race there. Got there early enough to take a few night-shots of the place and still they did not show up. So I sit down and order a salty Lassi, a very liquid yogurt drink, I like them. It takes forever until that drink finally showed up and it takes even longer for my dinner-partners to show... ahh here is the phone-call from Chris... "are you alright???" well, hell yes, I've been waiting here since 20 or so minutes for you guys... "what, where are you, we are here at the Indus Village waiting for you since over 20 minutes"... what, you guys are at the wrong restaurant, wait, maybe I'm at the wrong place... I pay for my Lassi and change restaurants, the Indus Village is just around the corner from the Kabana, it takes me longer to unlock and lock my bike than to get there... boy oh boy what is going on between Pei, Chris and me???
Waiting at the Kabana...
The food was delicious, we had lamb, okra, beef curry, rice and nan, a balanced meal and we left the place stuffed like Turduckens!!!
After saying good bye and all I met this driver in front of the restaurant, might as well make an appointment with him so he can pick me up in the morning to drive me to the airport. He promises to be at my house at 7:30, we agree on a price and I bike home, trying to peddle some of that lamb off.
Finally dinner...
Before I could continue to read the book of Kitchen Horror I had to do more packing, making sure I have all cameras, clean lenses, flashes, charged batteries and empty memory-cards, tripods of all sizes, its kind of like going on a safari maybe a one of a lifetime chance to catch a leaping Leotard or a rear flying Bra, you just never know what happens on trips like that.
All my photo-gear...
At home I got a call from Susan and she offered to give me a ride to the airport in the morning, she has an appointment in Point Richmond at nine and so there is enough time to be at my house at 7:15 then drive to the Oakland airport and back to Point Richmond. I like this much better than the Pakistani guy giving me a ride... and so I agreed, even though it is a big detour for Susan to do all that driving. But this way we gat to see each other and that is the biggest bonus.
I'm not sure if I slept very good, started to dream about wedding and mishaps with camera or who knows what, all I know getting up at 6 was way too early. But all worked out, Susan dropped me off at the airport the flight to John Wayne Airport in Orange County was eventless. Picking-up the rental car was a bit of a challenge and after that I had to stop to find some to eat. The weather here is overcast as it was in the Bay Area. Not very inspiring to hang out a beautiful beach but it was my next mission. I find the road that brings me to the PCH, Pacific Coastal Highway, or Highway 1. I turn left to head south to the town of Laguna Beach. It is gorgeous here, can't imagine what it be like here with blue sky, too close to paradise, the houses are stacked high into the hills lots of Palm and Pine trees, Magnolias and many other exotic plants cover the landscape, you can tell it is rich-mans land here, movie stars, high power attorneys and plastic surgeons rule this land here.
I have to look for some time to find parking that does not cost anything, I wanted to stop at one of the State Parks for a walk on the beach but it cost 10 bucks to park your car, forget that. In a residential area of Laguna Beach I park and get a little walk on the beach and then stroll back through town. At the local cafe near where I parked the car I ask if they have a wireless network and the kid behind the counter says yes. So I go get my computer, order a coffee, yes I know it is not 3 o'clock yet, but please I need to wake up today somehow, with that something sweet, you betch'ya, and with that I was hoping to catch-up with this blog here... but reality is different, the network signal was too weak and therefore the connection unreliable and so I had to write stuff off-line. I did that until about 2 then it was time to head further south.
Laguna Beach beach did not look like I want to go into the water...
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| From Trip to San Clemente, CA |
Just as I turn into the street to the Casablanca Hotel I see Jenny and two guys on the parking-lot, but by the time I parked there they were gone. I called her and they were just on the way to check-out the location. I joined them and get introduced to Stewart and her brother Josh.
We walked a few blocks to the wedding site, chatted, and exchanged some thoughts about what kind of pictures they imagined. We ended up at the railroad tracks near the beach when the alarm went off to remind me that it once more it is 3 o'clock... lets go and get a cup of coffee at the nearby coffee-place before I have to start to work... the rehearsal starts at 4...
Now what kind of a photographer am I??? I didn't even had a camera to take the 3 pm shot!!!
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