School pictures. That’s how it all happened. That’s how this whole adventure got started.
Amy, fresh out of college, was teaching fourth grade at a local elementary school. It was a great little charter school with small class sizes and limited funding, so big photo companies like Lifetouch were out of the question when it came to yearbook photos.
As Amy stood in line for her first portrait as Mrs. Demos, she paid special attention to the photographer. He was cool. He was organized. He was really good. And as a father of a student, he generously volunteered his time and talent so the kids and teachers could have professional quality photos.
Amy’s mind began to buzz.
She had fallen in love with wedding photography one year earlier while planning our wedding. She had read blogs daily, researched as much as she could, and used all of her spare time soaking up as much as she could, but the one thing she desperately wanted was some hands-on experience at a real wedding. To see what it’d really be like.
So, she went out on a limb and asked him, “Do you by any chance shoot weddings?”
He did.
Amy quickly offered to do just about anything to be able to tag along with him.
Work for free.
Get water.
Carry bags.
And so, he decided to take a chance on the elementary school teacher with a dream. A few months later, Amy’s stomach was dancing with butterflies. It was the date that had been circled on her calendar for months. Her first real wedding. She didn’t even own her own professional camera. She didn’t even know how to change a lens. But she was determined to learn everything she could.
She arrived at the photographer’s house a few hours before it started. He took her through a mini, fast-paced Photo 101. He showed her how to focus a camera, how to change a lens, and how to insert a memory card. He used words like “aperture” and “ISO” and her head started to spin. He hit a few basic lessons in the short time they had. Nothing more. A crash course, really. Which was perfect, because she was just carrying bags and getting water, right?
Wrong.
When they arrived at the venue, something happened that changed Amy’s life forever. “The bride doesn’t want a man in her ‘getting ready’ room,” he said. “So I need you to go in there and shoot.”
What!? No!? I’ve n-never… I c-can’t! she thought to herself. But she didn’t have a choice. The bride had started coming down the aisle.
Time to sink or swim.
So, just like she’d done in that bridal suite, she shot for her life. She did the best she could. It was an absolute rush, and she couldn’t get enough of it.
That night, when she got home, Jordan had never seen her so excited. She was coming off the best kind of high. She was euphoric. She was given the opportunity to sink or swim, and she hadn’t drowned. In fact, she was swimming in a pool of dreams and puddles of adrenaline.
As she walked through that door, she looked at Jordan and said the words that changed the direction of our marriage forever:
“I know what I want to do with the rest of my life.”
Want to catch up on The Pink Slip Files? You can read them all right here:
Intro: What Are the Pink Slip Files?
No. 1: Failing Pre-Marital Class & Otter DNA
No. 2: Sink or Swim
No. 3: Turning Off the Lights
No. 4: Leave a Message at the Tone
No. 5: Chocolates, Mystery Shows & Honeymooning
No. 6: Cutting Coupons & Wal-Mart Jeans
No. 7: Paper Chains of Memories
No. 8: Dancing on Bar Tops
No. 9: Man’s Best (Feline) Friend
No. 10: Confessions of a Waffle Fry
No. 11: What’s So Important About Shoelaces?
No. 12: Breaking Records… Like It’s 1924
No. 13: Why We’re Not as Classy as We Thought
No. 14: A Letter to My Only Starbucks Lover
No. 15: The Night We Killed Someone (Kind Of)
No. 16: Lord, It’s a Fire!
No. 17: 6 Words We Never Thought We’d Google
No. 18: How Jordan Convinced Amy… To Take Her Clothes Off. Every Time We Walk in the Door