Wedding Day
The not having Internet access has finally caught up with me. I was not able to upload yesterday’s post “Las Vegas (Part 2)”. I finally missed one day. In a certain way I feel relieved, it was too much pressure. For so long I had been so determined but then I just relaxed. There are these rules that I make up in my mind about my life and I follow them religiously. I do not even ask why they are there and I forget that I came up with them myself.
Yesterday I was still determined. I left the karaoke party and made my way back to the hotel I was staying in the night before on an ego mission not to be defeated and to find a way to upload my post to the blog. It did not look good at the beginning. To have access you had to be a hotel guest. The friendly guy at the reception desk made me a key for the “business center” where he said I might find a way to connect to the Internet. When I got there all I found was a few PC’s but no possibility to get online with my Mac laptop. I was determined; I knew that nothing would stop me from doing what I wanted to do. At that moment this couple walks in and tries to figure out to use one of the computers. They speak German this was my "in".
I start to talk to them, ask where they are from. I tell them that I am trying to get my blog online and that I have not missed one day this year. Then I just said. “Why do we not go to you guys room, use the connection that is available there, you write your e-mail that you have landed safely using my computer, I upload my post and we share the costs”. That was of course a bold move since I just met those guys five minuets earlier but I was desperate. And as usual when we are out to get something and there is no doubt that we can’t get things work out. They agreed. We went up to their room and did what I had suggested. After that we did hand out a little bit in the casino and gabled and I lost $ 25.00 in the process. Then they said good-bye and I made my way back home to the house. Mission accomplished.
But today would be much more difficult. Today is the day of the wedding. I got up pretty early and Ming, the groomsmen and I went for breakfast at “Benny’s”. I loved that place because there is a Starbucks right next to it and I was able to follow my main addiction, Soy Chai Latte.
After breakfast we rushed back to the house and started to steam our suits to look sharp at the ceremony what we of course all did.
I still remember when I met Ming the first time. It was about 9 years ago when I was Peter Arnell’s assistant. Peter at that point owned his own advertising agency but also shot most of the campaigns himself. My job was to assist him on shoots and shoot smaller jobs and still-lifes that would not allow him to charge his day rate.
One day Ming did show up at the studio I ran for Peter in Soho that was located across the street of the advertising agency. Our mission was to shoot still-lifes of a new Samsung phone that ended up to be part of an ad using the track athlete Michael Johnson that ran during the Summer Olympics 2000. We have been friends ever since. Ming never forgot to think about me after he left Arnell and worked for other agencies when they needed somebody to shoot something and I am very thankful for that.
It was a beautiful wedding. I always told Ming that I would shoot his wedding when he gets married but they decided to hire another photographer to make sure that I do not have to work and can enjoy myself. I ended up shooting b-roll what was a very wise decision because I had five gin and tonics that night and was already drunk after the second one. I totally missed the first dance and cannot remember what I was doing during that time. I shot a few hundred images and cannot recall what I took pictures of.
I had so much fun that night. It was another night of crazy dancing, great food and way too much to drink. After the party I went to the Vegas Strip and did not get back home until 6 AM in the morning.
When I woke up the next morning I realized that I completely forgot about the blog. I was too busy having fun. To make it possible, to get the post up on time I would have to had followed the blog and not allow myself to flow with life. That would of course have eroded the main purpose of life, living life fully and enjoying every minuet of it.
This is why not uploading the post on time is a victory to me. It shows me that following happiness and joy is more important to me then blowing up my ego by writing and posting this blog on a daily basis.
"Wedding Day" Las Vegas 03-30-08 at 04:05 PM
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