From Crime Scenes To Weddings!

Instead of waiting until Monday, I decided I'd tell the story of how I got into wedding photography while I had some time!

Back in 1990, while working for the San Diego District Attorney's Office, I was asked by the Questioned Documents Examiner to photograph her wedding. I had never photographed a wedding up to that point, so I was rather reluctant in accepting. But, after some nudging from everyone at work, I decided to do it.

I did a lot of research before shooting that first wedding by reading everything I could on the subject matter. Photographing crime scenes is not quite the same as shooting an event like a wedding. But I had some experience shooting events for the DA's office before and also while I was at the Chula Vista Police Department, so I figured it couldn't be too much different. After a lot of study and a lot of test photos, I felt ready for the job. Overall, I think I did rather well at my first wedding and really enjoyed it too! It gave me the ability to take some more "artistic" photos rather than the precise documentary photos of forensic photography.

About a week after that first wedding, I was assigned to photograph a home that had been burglarized. The pictures were to be used to help illustrate areas of the home during witness testimony in court. While taking my photos, the owner of the home started talking to me about what had happened and he mentioned that he was a full-time wedding photographer! Well, we got to talking about my first wedding and he asked me if I would be interested in shooting some weddings with him on Saturdays. I said, "Sure... give me a call if something comes up!"

That Saturday, while still in bed, I got a phone call from him asking if I would like to shoot a wedding. I said, "Sure, when is it?" To my surprise, he said, "In about two hours!" Apparently he had double-booked a wedding and totally forgot he had to be in two places at the same time! Well, I jumped out of bed, grabbed my cameras and went to the church and shot my second wedding! Talk about diving right into something!

I continued to shoot weddings for this other photographer and did so on the side for about a year before deciding it was time for me to "do my own thing" and so I went off on my own, booking my own weddings.

I found I really liked shooting weddings as it gave me the flexibility of doing some creative photography and I actually like working under the pressure of a typical wedding! I think my training in law enforcement helps keep me calm during most of the chaos.

After leaving the DA's office, I continued to work on forensic cases with my own company doing everything from photography, videography and audio work but I continued photographing weddings on Saturdays. Although I am still sought out for forensic work on occasion, I concentrate my full efforts today on wedding photography. I can't say that I don't miss shooting crime scenes as I really enjoy doing that as well, but working with my wedding clients today is just as rewarding. I still get excited on the day of a wedding and have that same enthusiasm I had when I shot my first wedding. Not many people can truly say they enjoy their jobs, but I'm among the lucky ones that can!