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Just married on Sunday of last week and winding down the honeymoon. We’re both photographers, but our honeymoon gave us both a chance to put the camera down for a while. Turns out, it’s not so bad.
Photographers Without Cameras
If you don’t take a camera on your trip, did you really have a vacation?
We both left our DSLR cameras at home, but there was a small sense that we ought to take something with us. I brought along our Nikon P7000 point and shoot camera. Not a bad little thing. Â Manual controls, goes up to ISO 6400, built-in VR, and a 28-200mm range.
Never used it a single time.
No complaints. It was a honeymoon, not a photo trip. In fact, this is the first vacation I can remember in years when I wasn’t on some kind of photography tour or workshop. We had no schedule. Didn’t scout the area for photo opportunities. Never had to set the alarm clock until it was time to fly home. The only shots we took were some snapshots with our iPhones.
Mostly food, which was both glorious and abundant.
Somehow, we survived an entire week without a DSLR. It’s a miracle. When you’re forced to exist without a camera, some hidden part of your psyche comes alive.
Suddenly, you see things you never saw before. Instead of looking through the narrow viewfinder point of view, it turns out that our sense of peripheral vision reveals stuff happening nearby.
That’s both good and bad. During an evening at a Las Vegas show, it was pretty good. We saw things happening all over the stage that you would miss while looking through a viewfinder. There were times that peripheral vision was bad, though. We also saw some tightly wrapped fashions on people that probably should have gone with something less form-fitting.
Our week ended as the Electric Daisy Carnival started and….well, let’s just say that I’ve seen enough homemade thongs to last the rest of my life. You don’t need a camera for things that can’t be unseen.
Just Married: Wedding and Honeymoon
Lee and I married on June 14. The day started in the morning with a family breakfast. I took Lee and her daughter to my mother’s house after that to get ready while I had things to do.
- Took the dogs to Pet Paradise for boarding
- Washed the car
- Picked up cupcakes from Sweet by Holly
- Spent my last time as a bachelor sitting on the couch in my underwear
Before you get married, you can’t help but ponder some of the big questions of the day. For instance,
If a bride wears a garter belt, are you supposed to tip her?
Our ceremony was small and lovely. The folks at Winter Park Wedding Chapel did a wonderful job and coordinated everything for us. That was no small feat, considering we had to change our wedding date a few times due to the US Immigration process. We watched our May wedding plans flitter by as the government minions conveniently delayed us every step of the way.
We have family heirlooms for our rings. Lee wears my maternal grandmother’s wedding band and I’m wearing the one that belonged to my father.
Our honeymoon was in Las Vegas and we stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel. Lee had never been to Las Vegas before, but she absolutely loved it.
She’s a city girl. She’s happy with tall buildings, city lights and lots of activity. She also loves the heat after spending years in Scotland. I love air conditioning, so we both got what we wanted.
We ate some awesome meals, enjoyed simple entertainment of the Bellagio fountains and watching bizarre people, and took some time to see Rock of Ages. No tours or usual tourist stuff. We just spent the rest of the time in our room behind a locked door.
After all, it’s a honeymoon.
We haven’t received our wedding photos yet, so I can’t show you my startling turn as a male model. Our friends John and Susan Francis of Catchlight Studios attended our wedding and took some lovely images for us that are tagged on Facebook, and we’re very grateful.
Getting Back To Normal
Now that my family is here, I hope to get back to normal in a number of ways. Lee and I have spent the past year on the phone every night, which took up a lot of time that I used to put into this website.
No doubt having a family brings a new set of time management challenges, but it also means that we can do things together and share them here with everyone. I’m looking forward to writing about the results of our combined energy and love of photography. I hope you enjoy it, too.
