He'd Rather Have Nothing Than Have It From Someone Else.

I sent David a message on Instagram back in high school. Something like, I think your work is incredible, I'd love to be friends. I didn't know him yet. I just knew I wanted to.

Years later, we were working together, serving the same clients, learning from each other, becoming the kind of friends who actually know each other's lives, not just each other's reels. David went on to do incredible things in this industry. He knows more about cameras than I probably ever will, sensors, resolution, glass, the kind of technical depth most people never bother learning. If you want to talk gear, David's the one who'll out-class you every time.

So when he told me about Christa, I was paying attention. The first time around, it didn't work. They dated, it ended, and that was that, or so it seemed. But some stories don't stay finished. Fast forward, and they found their way back to each other.

Early in 2025, I got the call. David was getting married.

There was no version of that conversation where I said no.

Here's the part that still gets me. David could have shot his own wedding. He has the eye, the gear, the technical knowledge to do it better than most people who do this professionally. But he didn't want to. He told me, flat out, that he'd rather have no content at all than have his wedding shot by anyone other than me.

And he meant it. He planned to bring his RED camera, on a tripod, to his own wedding, just in case something happened and I couldn't make it. Not as a backup plan for the day. As a backup plan for me.

I don't think I've ever felt more trusted in this work than I did standing there knowing that.

The wedding itself was everything a wedding should be. Vows that meant something. Family in the room who'd watched this whole story unfold over years. A friend marrying the woman he was always supposed to end up with. Happy tears, the real kind, the kind you can't fake on camera and don't have to.

A story that almost didn't happen. Thank God it did.