Just Another Herd Creature

I received an email today from an old friend's daughter, Danielle. Nancy (her mother) and I have been friends since we were 13 years old. While I moved to the West Coast soon after college, Nancy stayed in Illinois, married at 21 years old and started a family. I was her wedding photographer. Over the years, phone calls became fewer and letters dwindled to the yearly xmas card. About a year ago, we found each other on IM and we've had a few marathon sessions exchanging the unabridged version of our xmas card letters; adding the "how and why" of the "who, what, when" of our lives.

Danielle is her oldest child and she is getting married in September. Her very sweet letter asked if I would photograph her wedding. I'm very touched that she would want the same person who photographed her parent's wedding about 30 years ago to document her special day. She grew up seeing my photographs on the wall and looking through the wedding album. Even if I could find a way to go to Illinois in September, I would never assume I could photograph a wedding. I don't have the equipment anymore, I don't know if I have the eye or the stamina to do a good job. Her mother's was my first wedding shoot and I only did a handful more during my free-lance days. I approached all of them as an ethnographic study, the outsider recording a rite of passage.

I haven't responded yet. I know I will decline, but part of me wishes there was a way I could do this. I'm feeling very old tonight.