Wait Wait!

The past two months have been very busy with several different projects. Of course, there have been some beautiful weddings in some great locations, which I will talk about soon, but the focus of today's blog is something a bit different.A few weeks ago, Molly Davis, a friend from back in the nights when I was taking a lot photos of bands coming through The Garage (a great local Winston-Salem music venue), called me up to help cover a big event coming to Winston-Salem. Molly, who is now with local NPR affiliate WFDD 88.5 FM, informed me that "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!" was coming to Wait Chapel at Wake Forest University for a live taping of the show.

Being a long time NPR/WFDD listener, and Wake alumni, I jumped at the chance to photograph what turned out to be a very fun, funny and interesting night. I was amazed at how packed Wait Chapel was, and how long the line was to get in (all the way across the quad). Once the show started, hosts Peter Sagal and Carl Kassell came out, brought a huge round of applause and did a great job with the show and the laughs. It was also interesting to learn that Carl is from Goldsboro, NC and can bring back his "southern twang" at will.

The only person able to bring a larger round of applause and cheers was special guest Chris Paul. Chris is a Lewisville, NC native, Wake Forest alumni and this years NBA Rookie of the Year. Chris did a great job as the show's first ever professional athlete getting all three of his questions right. I never figured out if he's going to get Carl Kassell's voice on his answering machine or not - then again, probably doesn't have an answering machine!

Here are some shots of the show, and give it a listen sometime. Its on Saturday mornings. You can also catch a podcast of this show on ITunes or the WWDTM web site.

The Music of the Night

I was chatting the other day with a couple who stopped by to talk about the photography for their upcoming wedding, when we started talking about the music for the night. Is there going to be a band? DJ? Ipod?

I always like to know this partly because I just love music and I like to know what I'm going to be listening to that night, but mainly, it offers great insight into the couple's personality. It also helps me think about the tone of day, and in planning the manner in which I will shoot the wedding so I capture the tone and mood the couple has worked so hard to create.

All of this reminded me of a great little bit I had heard on NPR about a month ago. It was a fun piece about a reporter having to put together a mix CD for his niece's wedding and the challenges of picking just the right songs. He talks about the challenges of finding just the right song, and also plays a few examples. It also reminded me of staying up with my friend John at 1am the night before his wedding as we tried to print cool covers for his mix CD at Kinkos. He ended up giving those CDs away as part of a gift basket for the guests. A very nice touch for sure.

There is a small recap in print on the link, but its well worth it to listen to and hear the report. Its only about 2 or 3 minutes. You'll see the "listen here" icon under the headline "Wedding Day Blues". Click here to get to the story