The Waiting Game

"They're comin'...no, never mind. Wait, here they come now...no, that's someone else."

That's a drill that most news photographers go through multiple times a day. Perp walks, press conferences, ribbon cuttings, parades, you name it--they ALL involve waiting.

I have been waiting for years--for the Governor to get to the podium, for the bad guy to get out of the police car, for the President's airplane to show up, for the Secret Service dogs to sniff through my camera stuff so I CAN wait for the President's airplane. That one always seems to take the longest, by the way.

I've probably spent at least half a dozen years of my TV career just waiting. In the snow, in the rain, in the heat, in comfortable chairs, and on back-spasm-making benches.

I've gotten very used to propping myself up or sitting just about anywhere. Matter of fact, when there's a high profile court case going on, you can catch 4 or 5 TV photogs lounging in all sorts of creative ways in the Oklahoma County Courthouse hallways.

Some guys read books, others play games on their cell phones. Some guys get brave and go get lunch or visit the bathroom. Those can be risky moves, though. I can't tell you HOW MANY TIMES I have made a bathroom run, just to get back and have to fight my way into the media scrum just to get a profile shot of the guy I waited all stinkin' day for.

Man, I HATE when that happens.

And even though I've been out of the day-to-day news mix for a little while now, I STILL find myself waiting with camera in hand very often.

Most recently, at a wedding I was shooting for a good friend. You see, every event has certain shots that you absolutely must get. Just like you've got to get the bad guy being walked out of the courtroom, you've got to get the new couple walking back down the aisle. Now that's not really a wait, because you're shooting the ceremony anyway. But...

WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

The new couple walking into their reception to all the cheering, the cake-and-punch stuff, the garter coming off, throwing the bouquet--now those are real waits. And the piece de resistance-the walk out of the reception, complete with rice being thrown, or bubbles, or whatever.

Now THAT'S a REAL wait.

And it's one you cannot deny. No matter how much you anticipate it, it will happen in its OWN TIME. It's not your day anyway, you whiner, it's HERS.

Now THAT'S one to remember.

Maybe I should change this blog to "Waits With Cameras."

CONGRATULATIONS RACHEL AND BLAKE!