Mariana and Everest

In this photo business, there are days when you feel like you've been tossed into the Mariana Trench and forgotten about, having never existed. Yet, at other times, you feel like you are atop Mount Everest, highest being in the world at that pont. Such are the emotions evoked in me in just the past one week.

For the first case, I was so happy and all set for a big budget wedding I had gotten work for. Everything had gone well, the deposit had been paid, and we were discussing album options. Then one day, out of the blue, the wedding planner calls me and tells me not to bother. Some family members (not even the couple, mind you), thought I was too expensive, and so they didn't want to use my services. Ouch! After having beseeched another friend who had been contemplating that date for her own wedding to move it to another one that she and her beau were also considering! Hmm... next time I'm not even going to bother. Once someone has booked me, that's that. Good thing the deposit is non-refundable, as per my conditions when doing a booking. Otherwise this would have stung even more. So much for that.

Well, over the course of the week, I put that behind me slowly. Figured something else would come up, and even if it doesn't, I can have another studio session for more practice photography. No point in dwelling on this and missing out on other things. Good thing I did that. I ended up enjoying the weekend greatly. Good stuff all around, including my first evern ngurario. I had been asked to go do photography for this event, as some sort of interview. The first part of doing the actual photography seems to have gone well, in that folks were happy with my conduct. The next part, of the actual product itself is still in the oven getting ready. I'm sure the pictures will turn out great. My hope is that they will be great enough to get the actual wedding come October. Sunday was spent with good friends catching up over some good kuku after a long time without meeting. What a way to decompress!

Then the Everest moment. Remember the month of photography? Part of that exercise was having photographers submit 5 images from their work which would be curated by Gerard Planchenault (the Nikon France trainer who facilitated the workshop), and out of those he would select a few for printing and exhibition. In talking to some of the organizers of the event, my understanding was, about 40 people submitted their work. That's 200 photos. Out of those, only 50 would be selected. Which means, at best, about 1 photo per person for the 40, then maybe those that got lucky, a second image. Today I learned that the original exhibit area had already been booked by someone else, so now they have to use a different location, which fits just 35 images. That means, with just one photo per person, 5 people would miss out. So you can imagine my Everest moment when I learned that 3 of my images were selected! Ah, talk of a reversal of fortunes within the space of 1 week!

I am stoked! Big time! The opening was set for today, but has since been postponed to Thursday. I am okay with that. So if you find yourself free Thursday evening, drop by Alliance Francaise first floor at 6.30pm. If you can't make it that day, the exhibit runs for the better part of this month, so just drop by and see the pictures. I saw thumbnails of some of the others selected, and they all look great. So you should be in for some good photography!

To close, I leave you the three images that were selected from my submission.







Have a nice day!