I stood there and stared at it for a moment.. I looked at my mom with a terrified look in my eye as I was in the middle of an engagement session (Hi Melissa & Thomas!).. I plastered on a smile and a giggle as I slowly reached down and picked it up from the ground. Inspecting the glass as I was certain there would be a monstrous crack through the center.

I released a big sigh as my baby seemed to be okay. I took ring shots with it and it was still killing it at 70mm. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was.. A metal/glass lens took a four foot drop onto concrete and survived.. I was on top of the world.. Thanking my lucky stars convinced I should buy a lotto ticket.

Fast forward a week. I snapped on my 24-70 in a tight space (at a wedding.. Of course) and pulled it out to 24mm.. Cue a weird ticking noise and an inability to focus. I said a few choice words in that room by myself as I could feel the sweat and anxiety start to take over. It works perfectly from 35-70.. Why doesn’t it work from 24-35mm?!

For my non-photog friends.. 24mm is a wide angle meaning I can fit a lot into the frame in a small space. 70mm is a tight frame which is fortunately how I typically shoot. I very rarely use 24mm.


I pulled myself together, walked out of the room and looked at Michael and mumbled.. “There’s something wrong.. It’s not working..” I explained the issue to him and his response? “You have yourself a new custom lens..” I nervously laughed but was thankful for a somewhat positive spin on the dreadful situation.

As a photographer with thousands of dollars in gear, photographing one of the biggest days in a couples life, you have night terrors. Nights that you wake up in a cold sweat with your heart going a thousand miles an hour that you dropped a lens, or you lost the bride and groom, or your shutter somehow goes out. These are all dreams that I have had which have absolutely terrified me from wedding number one.

I’m currently living my nightmare.

Watching my focal length more careful then ever I successfully used my 24-70 35-70mm lens when I needed it throughout the day.. I kid you not it’s even more sharp then it was before I dropped it. Thank goodness for my 50mm 1.2 as it’s what I use 98% of a wedding but I couldn’t help agonizing about that lens in my bag.

That lens is my baby. It kicked off my business and what I used to shoot those first weddings all on its own. It is my comfort blanket, my go to in a tricky situation, my little chunky monkey that I have admired and loved since the beginning.

& now it hopelessly sits in my bag dinged up and semi-broken. So here I sit in an upset mess on what to do (just bought a new computer, need to purchase another external hard drive, purchased new dresses for shooting..) thank goodness I’m a saver.. I’d be a puddle on the floor if I wasn’t. I’ve prepped for days like this.

It was also humorously brought to my attention, again by my positive polly, Michael that I have insurance.. It’s one of those things that you monthly write a check for and then completely forget you have. So looking forward to what State Farm has to say (don’t let me down people…)

This Sunday has been hard, really really HARD.. With a full hard drive on my laptop/external hard drive and not being able to work on Saturday’s wedding I’m filling a bit lost. I just want to work & I can’t… So here is to tomorrow which will be better then today!

Wishes!