Being a fly on the wall { San Francisco City Hall – Film }

A month ago I pushed myself out of my comfort zone. It all started with a few hours to kill before getting on our flight back home. Jay and I were driving around San Fransisco in our “too nice” rental car (I’m the type of girl that likes her car to be at least 15 years old – makes you less afraid to merge in LA) and I turned to Jay with big puppy eyes and asked if we could check out City Hall. The San Francisco City Hall has been one of those places that I drool over whenever I see photos online, and I always secretly wish someone would contact me about wanting to elope there.

Luckily, we safely made it and found some way to park without taking out jay walkers or driving the wrong way on a one-way road.

While we were trying to find parking, I gave myself a challenge – to only shoot film and to not even take my digital camera out of the car. This guys is huge, because I’m ghetto-fab and use my digital camera as my light meter.  So I was walking around blind…trying to figure out the math in my head and trusting the years of shooting to figure out my exposure.

It was kinda fun.

So…I couldn’t help myself. As soon as Jay and I passed security, we saw this: a newly married couple running across the main staircase. Without thinking (of how creepy I must of looked), I lifted my camera, dialed in settings and took a shot. It was a natural reaction from years of watching wedding couples…I couldn’t help myself.

And then this cute couple kept on doing more cute things. I couldn’t help myself…even though I felt like a true creeper.

After hanging out in the main area for a few minutes and watching people run by, three people started a ceremony right in front of me. It was a cute couple with big smiles and excitement surrounding them.

The moment I truly realized what was happening my stomach started doing flips. Even though I wanted to not make a scene or add to my creepy photographer points…something told me to take a few photos. I tried to tell that little voice no, but it got louder every second I fought it. So I very cautiously did, and kept my distance as much as possible.

After the ceremony was over, I did something that made me feel so uneasy and pushed me out of my comfort zone: I gave them my card and said that if the film shots turn out I would love to give the few photos to them. I really thought I would never hear from them again – but at least I took the chance.

But…A few weeks later I received a very sweet email from the couple where they told me their friend messed up his camera settings so they didn’t have a single photo from the ceremony. My few, far away film shots were the only photos they have of their small intimate ceremony. It made my heart happy that I took that step and pushed myself out of my comfort zone.

<3
Candice