Gaby + Dan • Wedding

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One of the most risky things I've had to do with the start of The Orchid and me as a self-proclaimed newbie photographer, has been to get out there and shoot at real weddings. I've always been in love with weddings, even outside the photography realm. There's nothing like that one single day of two people's lives that changes them forever and marks the start of something completely unknown and beautiful and exciting to them. I've always enjoyed witnessing all the love, happy tears, and the countless smiles that happen during wedlock. Those smiles are particular, and they never happen the same again. As unique and special as I know that day is to a couple and their families and friends, to me being the one to capture those priceless moments during a wedding felt like something completely out of reach-- ever. I lacked the experience, the knowledge, and perhaps even the skill to even think of undertaking the coverage of an event so personal and meaningful. Not to mention weddings are most of the time huge social events, and I'm not a fan of crowds and loads of people watching me work. But I've always been devoted to capturing details and candid moments through my photographs. Be it through nature shots, photojournaling my personal life moments, or just impromptu portrait photoshoots, detail and spontaneity have always been my favorite things to photograph, and what involves more detail and candid moments than weddings? 

I've been following tons of other photographers' work for several years now, and I've slowly found myself become more and more interested towards portraiture and especially weddings. The keenness hasn't come to me that easy, though. I clearly remember the words of my friend Juan Gamundi (photographer), asking me a year ago, "So, Joan Hidalgo, I am wondering that... what are your concentrations of photography? Portrait, Architecture/Landscape, Conceptual art, etc..", and me not having a clue. I simply responded "I'm not sure. I like portraits."  Finding one's true vocation is something that starts coming to light through time. It's always like that with everything else. You never really know what you wanna do right away, it simply starts growing on you. Its been like this for me on the matter, and ultimately I armed myself with a little boldness and said to myself, "this is it, and I'm gonna do it." So hello to wedding and portrait photography!

I started looking for opportunities last August to work at actual weddings, and it filled me with joy when someone finally accepted to trust me with the job. I will never forget my first wedding gig. It was the greatest learning ground for me as a wedding photographer and for The Orchid's team members involved who were shooting video. It made our plans more real then they were before, and it was an eye-opening experience as to what we were getting into with working at weddings. That's why I will never forget our first wedding job, and I will be forever grateful to Gaby Sanchez for letting it be hers.

When I first met Gaby in person to talk about my interest in her wedding I was a little nervous and did not know what to expect. As I mentioned in and earlier blog post on The Orchid, at the beginning of my plans I still wasn't even sure what I was doing. All I knew is that I saw an opportunity to do what I wanted to do, and I went after it. As shy as I felt at first, I was immensely relieved when Gaby didn't flinch at all to agree to have me and the team at her wedding. She said she's always been a fan of my work and that she followed my blog, and the moment she spoke the words "I trust you", I gave myself the go, too. With great power comes great responsibility, but the excitement always overcame the fear and pressure!

The initial settlement was for The Orchid to produce Gaby and Dan's wedding movie only, since they already had a hired team of photographers that were going to take charge of documenting every special moment in pictures of the whole day. However, I couldn't resist the slightest opportunity to photograph as much as I possibly could before I was an intruder in the other photographers' territory. I asked Gaby if she could give me the chance to take pictures of her dress and wedding preparations earlier on the day of the wedding, and let me keep snapping photos every now and then in between video shots. As I wasn't the only photographer around, I felt -of course- intimidated and I also wasn't able to make as many pictures as I would have loved to. But I understood that this time it wasn't going to be my job to capture absolutely everything. I was still able to document many other details that were special about the wedding both on video and photo, and I'm more than happy with the results.

Thank you Gaby and Dan Ackerman for your help and appreciation. All of these photos have a little piece of my heart.

Make sure to Like The Orchid on Facebook if you haven't yet so you can be aware when Gaby & Dan's wedding short is up on Vimeo!

xx, J.

The Orchid: Eat. Sleep. Create.

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At the beginning of this year, I was determined to make the most out of myself, my tools, my talents, and life itself. I felt the urge and need to commit and let myself be inspired by anything that ever moved me to become a better creative. As the introvert type, any form of art has always been by best tool for communication and expression, but it doesn't mean its always easy to do. I've shared before that I'm a perfectionist and have always held back of taking risks. It's part of who I am. My tendency to overthink has been my worst enemy, and all my life it has affected the way I've made decisions. However, all throughout this 2014 I've helped myself mature on this, and although its been a rough and slow process, I've finally pushed myself ever than I have before. The best part is I've actually moved! After a long process of getting my ideas together and setting up real goals and aspirations, I decided to act upon a vision that I could actually work for to make true. Even though this is still walking in baby steps, the goal is to do more of everything I have a passion for, because ultimately, it makes me happy. 

Late summer I started doing some serious thinking on the topic,. When I was finally able to put a finger on the exact idea I wanted to give chase to, I started working for it almost immediately. These past few months have been tough on me, because I was worried I would let the plan slip again (as I almost always do with everything else), since I didn't really have the time to work on it. Its all been a crazy juggling of tasks between college and personal assignments, which up until last week had me feeling frustrated and extremely stressed. Even so, I didn't let myself give up even if it cost me the fatigue and not give my best performance at everything else. Talk about determination! I deserve a pat of the back alright.  

Anyway, with a simple idea in mind and a slight (but assured) drive, I decided to meet up one by one with several people who I knew share the same love for art and who I admire for their talents and work. Thats really when The Orchid started. I kept thinking to myself, I am constantly surrounded by and meeting people who have exceptional talents but for some reason aren't making the most out of it, and audiences don't really know what these people are able to create and do with these skills. Most young creatives in Honduras are sitting still just like me, not knowing how to do more of what they love, share it, earn deserved profit, and be helped by others who share the same passions. So, inspired by the countless other creative communities that exist around the globe, I decided to start my own. The purpose is to build a community of young Honduran creatives who are like-minded and share similar -but in their way unique- styles in their skills towards the modern art forms. The concept? To offer our culture different and new-fashioned alternatives in services in these areas by bringing together filmmakers, photographers, designers and other creative types to share ideas and help each other create freely.

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The first meetings were somewhat informal gatherings with some of my close friends and career colleagues, where I introduced the idea of The Orchid and what the goal was into starting it. It was still a blurred vision but they all became enthusiastic towards the concept I had then and building something as a team, based on our friendship and previous successes of working together in other projects. I let them know I trusted their abilities and felt committed to help keep pushing ourselves further and into better artists.

Then I remember the impulse of texting Michael and calling up a meeting so we could talk about this idea of mine and see if he was interested in being part of it. Michael Vilorio is a graphic designer and a dear childhood friend of mine. I hadn't really seen or talked to Michael in about three or so years, and I still had no idea what I was really doing but I was doing it. I had been admiring his artistry (or "messy work" as he defined it to me) on his Instagram feed for some time and I sort of fell in love with the simplicity, cleanness and style of his work. It'd been quite a long time since I knew anything about Michael, but every time I saw a new post on his feed it just made me glad to see he had developed such a beautiful talent in the visual arts. His style doesn't go along the same lines we're used to seeing in Honduran designers, and that's what caught me. Eventually, I couldn't help myself but want to know more and feel eager to work together in some or any way. 

Michael Vilorio, 2014

We met at a café and it was funny the first thing he told me was how frustrated he felt. He had just attempted to print his business cards at a local printing service, and the printing quality was terrible. I was immediately able to relate and I said in shame, "Si, aquí es difícil". Welcome to Honduras. Hence, I knew I was about to get into business with someone who had high standards for himself and his work style, and that's exactly the kind of people I wish to start this team with. I shared my general idea with him, and asked to know more of what he was doing and his plans now that he just graduated college. It was also probably the first time I said out loud that I was truly interested in pursuing photography more, focusing on portraits and weddings. Sharing all these ideas and plans with someone new was also a breaking point for me in the starting of The Orchid and my personal aspirations. I was really doing this. 

After a long and developing talk about plans and hardships of doing what we do, I think we both felt glad to find out we were on the same page and willing to help each other. I knew I had something right the moment Michael said, "I'm actually really glad you're telling me all this. I didn't know there are people like you here who appreciate the style and recognise the struggle. Everybody's used to the same old-fashioned ways in design, and people are scared of taking risks." To be honest, I felt relieved and excited. Michael didn't hesitate to take part in this little project and also agreed to create The Orchid's logo design. I knew I didn't have to think twice to trust him with the job, and in the end I wasn't disappointed. The logo was crafted with Michael's original handlettering and classic taste, and it well resembles the vision of The Orchid's style.

Feeling that we were on to a good start, I kept searching for inspiration and opportunities to get myself and the team out there. As a result, I've been shooting more portraits and getting better at my editing and composition skills. The idea of doing portraits has always intimidated me, because working with skin and lighting on people is a mastered skill that doesn't happen fast nor easy. As a self-taught photographer, this is an area that challenges me greatly, and I have yet to explore deeper and learn more of. Even so, I am eager to keep giving it my best and slowly but surely gain the experience I need. In addition to my own photography work, we've already engaged in our first couple of wedding photo & video projects working as The Orchid. It's been a huge learning experience for the team members involved, and it keeps getting more exciting!

Whats left is say thank you to all the people who have been involved in this process and to all those special people who keep supporting me and the rest of the team. To my readers, keep waiting on several other blog posts that share about our projects and happenings. They will be coming real soon. 

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This 2015 The Orchid will become its own blog/website, but for now be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram for project updates and contact information!

xx, J.