I'm always amused when someone tells me that my job is "easy"...HA! I LOVE my job and wouldn't trade it out for *anything* else in the world. I LOVE the people I meet. I LOVE the love stories I hear. I LOVE being able to take part in telling the story of a wedding day. But what I don't particularly love is the way I felt after shooting my very first 10 hour wedding. The next morning I. Couldn't. Move.
Photographing weddings has to be one of the most physical things I've ever done in my life. Ever. I've been a nationally ranked tennis player, danced for about 6 years, lived and worked on a farm with horses, ducks, dogs, chickens, and a cat, but Wedding Photography definitely takes the top spot!
One of my goals for 2014 is to become physically fit for photography - I want to be able to roll out of bed the day after a wedding and feel like I could go shoot another one immediately. That's a huge "want", but worth a try I think! I have several different things that I'm working on to help with my goal and I'll be sharing everything with you over the next few weeks.
For starters, I knew that I needed to strengthen my back and core. I don't know about you, but my back doesn't think that carrying up to 50 pounds of photography gear is very easy. The solution - Ballet. Now, I'm not talking about just walking around gracefully on a stage in a pink tutu. I'm talking about real ballet. The kind you don't see at a recital. The every day workout that makes you sweat like crazy and feel like your legs will fall off if you do one more jump. The kind of ballet that we are taught to "make look easy". It's not easy folks, but it's a lot of fun! If you don't believe me, just try this ballet workout - it's one of my all time favorites!
(I absolutely loved ballet when I was younger... I've been everything from Little Bo Peep (top right photo) to an Oyster in an underwater themed production.)
I ran across some things from when I was in the Nutcracker ballet in 2001 with the Fort Worth Dallas Ballet Company at the Majestic Theatre. My sweet parents had to sit through 3 performances that weekend and watch me battle mice (I was a soldier and my little sister was an angel...seriously, she auditioned and got the part of an angel). I can still remember the first part of the dance and some hilarious accidents that happened during rehearsal (like a poor little soldier girl tripping over the King Mouse tail - she was fine and laughed through it all). So much fun!!
This Fall I started taking ballet again to help strengthen my back and it's REALLY working! I find that I don't have to go to the chiropractor as often and every now and then I find myself standing up straight! :)
The best part of dancing again is being able to participate in the recitals. There's something about applying a pound of makeup, getting dressed up, and being on stage (with blinding lights) in front of an audience that makes all the hard work worth it. At the very end of my recital this year *all* of the dance classes got together on stage and danced to "The Fox (What Does The Fox Say?)" by Ylvis. Yes. I now know what the fox says. If any of my 2014 brides want to play The Fox at their wedding I will be the first to hit the dance floor and show you how it's done. :)
Happy Wednesday!!
~~le
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