I feel great. I love being able to move better without huffing and puffing. I love being able to bend down and tie my shoes. I love sitting down on a couch and being able to get my body to a standing position without falling over or being out of breath. I feel great that my weight is not an issue any more when I am photographing.
The worst fear for me as a photographer is not being able to do my job. I photograph a lot of high school seniors and I am always getting down on my knees or laying down on the ground to get a great angle. In my heavier days, I feared when I got down, I would never be able to get up again. But getting the shot was more important to me. So I would gingerly get down on the ground, get my shot – while doing a lot of huffing and puffing – and attempt to get up. I would have to roll over, get on my knees and push myself up. I am sure that I looked like a beached whale. And then even more embarrassing was when the senior I was photographing – God love em – came over and offered me a hand. There was no way I could maneuver my body up with help. It took me a while to get myself up but eventually I did. You would think that I would not get down on the ground with such physical limitations but I was always so excited to get a shot that was somehow different than other photographers. Now in my slimmer body, I can get down and get up very easily. That is a great feeling.
My past overly endowed body got me in trouble on a few occasions but one instance really stands out. And I never want to go back there again. This was in my 200 plus days – actually at my heaviest. I photographed a lot of weddings back in the day. I had a wedding client that was what I thought being quite difficult. They came in to pick up their wedding album and upon viewing it they wanted to rearrange the album I had designed. I had spent hours putting their album together and to pull it all apart would be a difficult task. When I balked at what they wanted, they started to complain about other things. It was one of those instances that I should have just shut up, done what they wanted and gone on with my life.
I was sitting on a couch, a very comfy one. My weight was making me sink down into it. I was getting angrier by the minute at these unreasonable clients and I was trying desperately not to show it. I kept smiling and tried to reason with them but they were not having any of it. They wanted what they wanted and if I would not comply they would complain to the Better Business Bureau. Oh, how I love being threatened. And then I saw on a table near the couch an wedding album, I thought they would love and would be less work and expense for me to redesign the album.
I tried to get up off of the couch. I was kind of stuck. I could not get my fat self up. I tried and struggled and finally made it to my feet. By the time I got up, I was literally huffing and puffing. The client said to me in a very angry voice “You need to do what we want. And you do not need to huff and puff at us.” I was stunned. I was not huffing and puffing at them. I literally was huffing and puffing because it was a lot of work to get out of that couch.
I looked at them in astonishment. And said “Look at me, I am fat. Fat people huff and puff. Did you not see me trying to get up off of that couch?” I really thought they would laugh, calm down, feel sorry for me but they were convinced that I was huffing and puffing at them. So when I finally caught my breath and settled down, I agreed to everything they wanted. I redesigned their album and even upgraded it at my own expense. The Better Business Bureau was not called and I never saw those clients again.
I am very thankful for my slimmer body. I can now get down on the ground get my shot and jump right back up. I am not afraid to sit in a chair because it will be uncomfortable. I am confident that when I sit on a couch I can easily get up. And there is no more huffing and puffing.
Pants Fallin Down 