Wedding Photographer and Life | The Art of Problem Solving

The Art of Problem Solving

In Life and as a Wedding Photographer

As crazy as it sounds, I like when things go a little bit awry. Not only in life, but also as a documentary and wedding photographer. Now, don’t get me wrong. There’s a big difference between “a little bit wrong” and “complete disaster”. But I’m certainly sitting on the side of the fence that loves when things get shaken up a bit.

Why?
Because victory is sweet.

The photo above is from a vacation my family and I took in Colorado with the Land Rover. As you may or may not know, I built this Land Rover with my dad from the ground up. To say this truck has emotional value is a complete understatement.

On our trip, I decided to take an off-road path to get to Crested Butte where we would be staying for a few days. All was perfect until I tried to get around an ATV. The front wheel slid off the side and I ended up semi-rolling the truck onto its side…off the mountain.

There were colorful words from my wife…

There were some “don’t let us die” pleas to the Lord from my sons…

But alas, we cooled our heads, did a little problem solving, and got ourselves out of the situation.

Once we finally made it to the summit, we were triumphant! This victory felt so sweet that I needed a photo. I wanted to always remember this day and time with my family. It’s a moment we’ll never forget and a story we’re thankful we get to repeat first-hand. It was rough and scary, but we conquered it. And that’s my favorite part.

Funny enough, working on Land Rovers with my dad at 16 years old taught me how to problem solve. It taught me how to examine a problem, keep a cool head, and figure it out. It taught me how to embrace “make it work” moments and how to celebrate when it was resolved.

While your wedding day isn’t exactly a mountain you can slide off of, things can, and will go wrong. Instead of having a meltdown and letting your “internal Land Rover” fall off a cliff, embrace it! At the end of the day, you’re just here to rack up memories. Right? And when things go wrong, you always end up with a story.

I have countless stories from my time as a wedding photographer from when things have gone wrong. And I can tell you, that they always end up triumphant. Be it weather, a planning mishap, or even the flu…there’s always a happy ending and story to carry on with you. The key is to hire a seasoned pro that can handle it and turn a negative into a positive. 

I want to hear of a time that something went a little off-kilter for you and it resulted in sweet victory! And if you’re looking for a wedding photographer that conquer the possible challenges on your wedding day, I’m your guy. Send me a message and let’s chat!