too much dutch tilt...

My wife and I had a few hours yesterday to share together while our two children spent time with family. So, we grabbed our cameras and headed downtown to Riverside. We both needed photos for our websites, and it sounded like a fairly easy concept--you know, one of those you shoot me, I'll shoot you kind of deals.

Well, let's just say that Gina and I are pretty stubborn by nature, and when it comes to our artistic visions, we tend to protect it even more. Wholeheartedly. Now don't get me wrong. We love each other tremendously, and I am the luckiest guy in the world (I always tell me friends I overachieved in the wife department), but when it comes to photography, she knows what she wants, and I know what I want (we both have two different shooting styles) and thus began our photo shoot.

Did I already say how much I love her?

The funny thing about Gina is that she prefers to be the one taking pictures, not the one being captured, so it was quite the undertaking. (Did I say undertaking?) Before every camera click, she set out to give me a full dissertation on what she wanted and what angle at what f-stop and reminding me to warm the white balance and how this and how that...

I realize I might be painting Gina in a negative light, but it's quite the opposite. I think that's what makes my wife such a wonderful photographer. She has an artistic vision that she is determined to capture and paint with her lens. In short, she doesn't settle for anything but the best. I have known many artists in my life who were always so quick to just shoot, run, and collect a paycheck.

But the line between Gina' passion that goes into each shot and the need to run her business on a day-to-day basis is extremely fine; I am positive that is why she has such an excellent connection with all of her clients.

Back to Riverside: She was driving me crazy in a loving, endearing, been-married-for-almost-five-years sort of way, and I have to admit, I kind of milked the situation. She didn't like NOT having the camera in her hand. I had the power. I could click and change the shutter speed to my own liking even if she was sitting there helpless on the steps urging me otherwise.

But as every loving husband knows (but never admits to his friends), those chance moments that we are able to feel powerful are only temporary, because at the end of the night, we would do anything for our beautiful wives, and that means doing whatever it takes to make our wives happy--so I just kept snapping the camera, taking her direction, loving her, and realizing that, as a director, it was just going to be one of those moments I would laugh at later. After all, the moment we switched and I was on the other end of the lens, I began barking my own directions.

She had the power.

So here I am...LOL. Thanks for the pics, Gina, and for two beautiful children and for loving me every moment of the day. I know deep down that even when you're telling me to back off on the Dutch tilt, it's really your little way of saying "I love you."

"I Dutch tilt you, too."