Getting a Photographer Part 1

Ok..it's been WAY too long and I really need to post something on the
photographer-hunting adventure that Mrs. Barber and I had on Friday.
It was a great day, and the best part was definitely spending time
together and being able to share the wacky adventures of photographer
shopping.

The trouble is, there is so much to write that it is hard to find time
to post...so, Mrs. Barber, if you're out there, I'm going to need your
help contributing to the story.  Since I don't have time right now to
write it all out, I'm going to tell the story in a series of posts,
each focusing on one particular story.

To start, I'm going to summarize the day and we'll unpack it from
there.

On Thursday, I searched through the phone book to find names of
wedding photographers in the Covina area.  I came across three that
would be suitable to visit and check out their studios and their other
pictures.

On the last one, though, Ellen Marie mentioned that she was a
parishioner at Sacred Heart. I asked "Oh, do you know the Barber
family?" and she screamed and couldn't believe it because she was just
listening to one of Michael's CDs on the Eucharist in her car and she
loved Michael's uncle and aunt, and LOVED Pat's lectoring abilities.
"He's my favorite lector!" She chimed!

Of course, on hearing that, I was a little concerned with the possible
pressure of choosing her. "Oh my gosh, what if her photographs are
terrible and I feel like I have to go with her because she knows the
family?" I assured myself, "No, this is a one-day event and I don't
care if I hurt feelings, I'm going to go with someone who can do it
right."

So Friday arrives, and after having bad luck with traffic, I finally
arrive to Covina, pick up Mrs. Barber and we head up to Arcadia for
the first photographer.  He had a nice studio with lovely portraits,
but we noticed that he had several staged shots that seemed too fake
and annoying. Like "Ok everyone, pile into the gazebo, and the bride
and groom will kiss and everyone look at them with the expression of
"aw...how cute" on your face." Or worse, "Ok bride, stand around all
the groomsmen, and guys, I want the expression on your face to be
either "that's one more girl I won't be getting" or "fresh meat!"

In the words of Tracee: "Ew."

So, though he did nice work, I just didn't want them to ask the
wedding party to be so unnatural.

Of course, a few other little details didn't escape our attention, but
the truth of that didn't come out until much later.
1) He looked like Herman Munster, and his dog, who was there, was
named Lily. Coincidence? I think not.

2) He had an unfortunate stain on his pants....which, not that we go
around look at people's pants, but....I began to envision our wedding
pictures on his lunch table while he is eating a sloppy joe, and he
careless is dripping stuff all over the pictures, or the proofs, or
something and then things are ruined.  Or, is this guy going to show
up at the wedding with stained pants?  How distracting!

3) I know sometimes people bite their nails and that is their
habit...there are worse habits.  And sometimes people bite their nails
and they still are able to have not-frightening nails. sometimes
people bite their nails and their nails are very frightening...

...and then...there is this guy...whose nails, that we saw a lot of
while he was pointing to pictures, were so mutilate, and strange
colors.....uuuggghh! It was uncomfortable to look at.

So, while neither of these factors disqualify him outright...it still,
made us less than enthusiastic about his pictures and his personality,
and let's face it, I'm paying this guy to be with us for 8 hours. I
better at least be able to tolerate his personality!

Stay tuned for part 2...