This is one of my favorite images from my brother’s wedding in Houston. It captures the emotion of the event perfectly; and the movement of the falling flower pedals adds just the perfect touch. However, despite the amount I planned for this event, only God could have set this one up.

A week before the wedding, I purchased a lens and a speedlite on the same day, Friday. The lens was a 70-200mm f/4.0 L IS. The speedlite a 580EX II. Kerzdenn, brother of the bride and main photographer for the wedding, highly recommended I get the more powerful flash and I added the lens knowing that I would need a telephoto lens sooner or later.

The arrival date, Tuesday, was the same for both packages. Because I was leaving West Virginia on that day, I shipped them to Chicago so my brother, Daniel, could bring them down with him on Thursday. It’s wise to give a little time for padding, you know.

On Wednesday, I received the expected e-mail from Daniel about the packages. However, one thing was unexpected: only one package had arrived. I frantically searched the tracking information to see which package had not arrived on time. To my relief, it appeared that the lens was the late one. The flash was more important, so as long as Daniel brought that with him, I would be fine.

Late Thursday night, Daniel brought me the package. It was exciting to open, but I was quite surprised when I found that it was not the flash, but the lens. Of course the lens was great, but what had happened to the flash!

After this discovery, I immediately acted on my emergency plan. A fellow from Chicago, Barak, was flying down Saturday morning, the day of the wedding. I shot him an e-mail asking him to diligently search for the late package and bring it with him on Saturday. It was my last ditch effort.

Friday swept by quickly. During the rehearsal, I realized more and more that my 430EX simply wasn’t going to make the cut, even with the camera set to 800 ISO. I was comforted by the thought that the more powerful flash would arrive the next day. An e-mail from Barak confirmed my solace: the package had been found; Barak was bringing it with him on the plane.

But alas, I could not even count on my own emergency plan. Saturday morning came and went. 2:00, the beginning of the ceremony, came and went also. The plane had been delayed. The flash arrived 3 minutes before the ceremony ended.

Despite the unfortunate circumstances, I shot as best I knew how for the ceremony, often resorting to my wide angle, f/2.8 17-55mm without flash. And that’s how I ended up with the above photo. It is the only way I could have captured the movement of the falling flower petals; I would never have thought to shoot at 1/30th of a second with the speedlite!

Looking back, I see that this is only one of many hidden blessings God gave me as I lived through the story of the lens and the speedlite. I am learning to never give up. God will work all things together for good to them that love Him—those who fulfilling His purposes.

You can view this album for more pictures of the wedding.

I wondered what the advantages are to having AA batteries vs. a battery pack, especially when traveling overseas. –Barbara

First off, whether you are in the States or traveling abroad, you still need to recharge your batteries somewhere. As long as you have the appropriate converter, it doesn’t matter what kind of batteries you are charging up.

Personally, I believe the advantage is to the battery pack. From my experience, AA batteries do not last as long as a battery pack and are not nearly as efficient. My AA batteries last for about 1 hour of shooting and take 4 hours of recharging. A battery pack on the other hand, lasts for 4 hours of shooting and only takes 1 hour to recharge.

However, if you have a camera that takes AA batteries, make sure to buy some good rechargeable ones. I have three sets of 4 rechargeable batteries for my two flash units. I will probably end up buying more. Having an extra set of batteries handy assures that I have plenty of juice when I’m shooting a large event like a conference or wedding.

As for what kind of charger to get, I highly recommend NOT getting a Quick Charger. Get a Ni-MH. I have a Sony CycleEnergy, easily (and cheaply) purchased from Amazon. It’s not the best in the world, and some folks complain about it, but I have not had any trouble with it from day one. It takes a few hours to recharge (unlike my battery pack for the camera), but it saves the life of your batteries by a long shot.

In closing, never leave your batteries on the charger for more than a few hours longer than it takes to recharge them. I haven’t had a set of AA go bad yet.

A timeless image of my brother and sister-in-law with Elisabeth Elliot,
a photo taken late in the day of the wedding and thus only possible due to a few extra sets of AA batteries for my speedlite.

It’s hard to believe I’ve been unable to post for over two weeks! With very little Internet access during the trip to Houston for my brother Robert’s wedding, we returned home to find that our Internet here at home was out for another week due to an electric storm. Praise the Lord it’s working again.

For now, to pick up where I left off, here’s a photo from southern West Virginia, an area we traveled through on our way to Houston. The mist obstructed a multi-ridge vista at an overlook, so I played around with a landscape in the valley. It’s around 7:30 in the morning, an hour after the sun had risen.

I stopped at my cousin’s (and 2nd cousins!) place in southern West Virginia yesterday to spend the night. It was a delight taking pictures of my special relatives!

Just outside of Knoxville, an overpass crosses Interstate 75 at the top of a very large hill. Because I had been on the road for several hours, I decided to take the exit, stop on the overpass and see if it was high enough to see the mountain ranges in the surrounding area. Yes, it was high enough, but there wasn’t much of a view.

I put on my flashers, jumped out of the car, and walked around looking for a good overlook. The mountains were there, but it just wasn’t the right spot. That is when a Jeep drove up and the window rolled down to reveal a friendly local who had evidently seen me carrying a camera. “If you drive up the road over there” she said in a southern accent pointing to the small road that wound up beside the highway, “it’s a great spot for pictures.” This was a friendly surprise! I thanked her and hopped in my car to drive over to where she had pointed. What a vista it was!

This occurrence was a good motivation for me to be specific in giving the location of where I find good pictures. Who knows who will be blessed, as I was, by taking a little extra time to give a friendly piece of experience!

Appalachian Sunset

Have you ever become frustrated with imperfect equipment during an otherwise perfectly wonderful photoshoot?

During my recent trip through the Blue Ridge mountains I experienced these feelings as I attempted to shoot the beautiful scenery along the charming route. Early on in the day, it wasn’t a problem to spend a little extra time to switch a lens . . . again, or set up a tripod . . . for the tenth time, or switch to Automatic Exposure Bracketing . . . and back again.

But as the day progressed, and as I began to realize that my time was growing short, these extras became less and less ordinary and more and more annoying. Instead of enjoying the particulars of the trade, I had let my focus deviate toward satisfying my desire for having a beautiful picture more than enjoying the process of taking it. 

Photography is not about having a collection of images. Photography is about glorifying the Creator both in using pictures and creating pictures. He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit, exalts folly. Plan plenty of time for your photoshoots, but don’t let acquisitiveness spoil the true reason why you are behind the lens!