Bridges

I learned a very valuable lesson recently about bridges. Without giving away too much information about the situation, a few years ago someone asked me to do some photographs during an event. I happily did this for them. The event director did not know that I was taking behind the scene photos and had wanted me to take actual photos of the event that was going on, which was a runway fashion show. I was not the only photographer at the event and so I thought nothing of taking behind the scene photos. The event director saw it differently and was very upset with me when I did not have photos of the runway scene. This is in spite of the fact that I was there on a volunteer basis. The old me in the past would have burned both bridges, both with the person who asked for the photos and with the event director. However, this time I did not burn either.

The bridge with the person who asked for the photos recently became one which I would cross again. Pittsburgh has a pretty tight knit fashion community and thus keeping strong connections with the leading models and designers in the community is a good idea for a photographer. You never know where those connections will lead you. Such was the case with this particular bridge. And so I remind you, as I remind myself: Be careful which bridges you burn when you feel your ego bruised. You might want to cross those bridges again in the future.