Corbyn and Michael Engagements
I usually like to ask how people find me if they aren't responding to an ad or contacting me via facebook. I wish I was smart and asked how Corbyn stumbled across my site, but It was a very busy weekend and I am going to blame my slight head cold for the lapse in business savvy etiquette.
That being said, I received an Email from Corbyn asking if I was available the date they were hoping to do their engagement photos. Luckily they wanted photos in the morning and I didn't have plans until 1.
Corbyn finished his email asking me if I was comfortable photographing same sex couples.
With it not being even slightly an issue and being as sarcastic as I am, I was half tempted to jokingly respond: Only if are you comfortable working with a late twenties chubby straight white girl. ;)
But, also because my mom somehow dug below the thick blanket of sarcasm, I also know how to respond correctly and not let my oddities take over for me. HA!
I found myself thinking a lot about character traits vs. character because of this inquiry. By definition, the word character means "the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual." Whereas a character trait is more adjectives used to describe an individual's personality or appearance.
Me being straight, white, chubby, blonde, 27, female, etc. doesn't effect my abilities to be a good wife, mom, photographer, friend. Those character traits are just pieces put together by lots of lived life and a little DNA. My character traits have nothing to do with my character.
Corbyn and Michael were some of the best clients. They took care of booking, paid on time, took care of all the location reservations, were polite, personable, friendly and responsible. They were on time, respectful and from the 90 minutes I spent with them, I could tell they were both men of good character. Yet because they have the character trait of being a same sex couple, they felt the need to ask if it was something I was comfortable with.
I got thinking, apparently I thunk a lot this last weekend, about how amazing this world would be if we could take more time looking at peoples character and less focus on their character traits. Being a little odd and kinda funky looking doesn't make me a bad photographer, but what if Corbyn and Michael had based their decision on that and not examples of my work? What if they looked at my mostly messy hair and my unremitting love of yoga pants and decided that was enough to not hire me to capture their love?
So look at this beautiful couple, who love one another so much, and choose to look at character, because character traits have SO little to do with anything.
Corbyn and Michael, thank you for being you and allowing me into your life for a day! It clearly was a very edifying and enjoyable session!
