Maybe I'm doing something right...

**BE FOREWARNED! This blog was written because my friend begged me to... ok, maybe not begged, but asked very nicely for it. It is also VERY LONG. If you don't have the time to read everything, I don't blame you... but I can gurantee there are good stories. Some will make you chuckle, others will make you go "WHAT!?" so. go ahead & enjoy!**

SO! Something has happened. Something exciting. Something that makes me want to dance, and sing, and shout, and lay on the floor kicking my legs around like a 6 year old from pure excitement!

A few weeks ago I got an awesome opportunity. On Nov. 15th I got to photograph Wynonna Judd for the ANASAZI Foundation. That was a very exciting opportunity. The following day I got to photograph the Osmond Brother's at a concert they were doing in town. My friend asked if I could come and 2nd shoot because she knows it's one of my specialties. After shooting the Osmond Brother's, I was having a conversation with my dad. I was telling him that Donny & Marie were going to be in town the following week and I was wondering how I could use shooting the Osmond Brother's as leverage for getting into the Donny & Marie Show.

I ended up learning that we personally knew who Marie's manager was. My dad sent me his contact information, and I sent off an e-mail explaining that I wanted to build my portfolio and would be willing to shoot for free. I had figured that they could already have photographers lined up, but I just had to take a chance and ask anyways. I also knew the possibility of getting an e-mail back was slim to none, but hey... everyone has to take chances right?

The following day I had just put Olivia (the baby I nanny) down for her nap and checked my phone. I had a missed call from a number I didn't recognize. Who ever it was had left me a voicemail and so I started to listen to it. It was Marie's manager. The very man I had e-mailed the day before!

His voicemail was short. He explained that they didn't have any photographers at the AZ show, but that they would have plenty of photographers at their show in Hollywood the following week. He said that none the less, he would love to help me out and do what he could. He asked me to call him back when I had a few minutes to talk.

I was speechless.My jaw dropped. I just stood there starring at my phone. Had that really JUST happened? There was only one way to find out. I called the number back.

He was very excited to talk with me. He had seen some of the work that I had sent him and was VERY impressed. Not only was he Donny & Marie's manager, but he was also producing the shows. He said that Donny & Marie would be more than happy to help me out and build my portfolio. They liked my work as well. He invited me to come down to the show and would arrange for me to get an ALL ACCESS PASS. He said I could go wherever I wanted. Audience, side stage, backstage... wherever my little heart desired, I was free to go! All I had to do, was pick a night. I mentally scanned through my schedule that week. Wednesday (that night) I was free, Thursday I was suppose to go to a highland basketball game, Friday I was watching Olivia, and Saturday & Sunday I was free. I knew I couldn't wait till Saturday.... so I blurted out "How about tonight? Can I come tonight?" 

He chuckled at my eagerness and told me to come on down whenever I wanted to. I was told to be there at 6:30 so that I would have an hour before the show started.

I got off work, ran home, got changed, grabbed my equipment, and headed off!

I got to ASU Gammage about 20 minutes early. I decided that I would just go in early. It would only help my case that I was early! I was told to go in through the back door... I just had one problem... I had NO idea where the back door was. I started asking around and finally found a door that looked like it went back stage. 

The door led me straight to the back of the theater. I quickly started asking around for the manager. One of the band members led me straight to him. I walked up, stuck out my hand and said "Hi! I'm Leavitt." He looked at me and said "Hi Leavitt! I don't do hand shakes. We're like family!" and he stuck out his arms in a hug. I quickly embraced it. 

He and I talked for a few minutes. They were running through sound check with the band, dancers and of course Donny & Marie. He took me backstage, handed me my pass, and gave me a quick tour. I was given an office right in between Donny & Marie's dressing rooms. I could hook up computers and import pictures, store gear, whatever I needed, that was my room.

I got my camera out of my bag, packed my other spare bag with things I thought I might need... my external flash, my other camera, expo disc, extra batteries, gum... the things I personally need to keep going. Haha.

Then I walked out into the audience and started scouting around for good locations. Where did I want to shoot? How did I want to do it? I turned around and Donny was standing behind me. He looked at me and said "Hi. I'm Donny. I haven't met you yet." I stuck my hand out and quickly answered back "I'm Leavitt. I'm the photographer tonight. I know your manager." He shook my hand, smiled and said "We're glad to have you here to night and we are more than happy to help you out." He then walked towards the sound booth which was right behind me.

I then walked to the stage to see what shots I could get. What shots I wanted to get and how I wanted to go about doing that. That's when Marie walked out. She was just in jeans, a plaid shirt, and boots, but she glowed. She radiated with smiles, love and excitement. She started doing part of her mic check with Donny. Part way through she turned to me and said "Hi. I'm Marie." I stuck my hand out and said "Hi. I'm Leavitt. I'm your photographer tonight." Almost mimicking what Donny had said before, she said "I saw your work. It's good and you're young. You'll go far. Keep shooting. You're headed in the right direction. Have fun tonight and welcome!"

That's when this hit me... this production, they were like a family. A very warm, welcoming, tight knit family. They were willing to welcome me in and help me in whatever way they could. 

We celebrated one of the other producer's birthday backstage and I got right into photo mode taking pictures. The crew and dancers got very excited as I was taking pictures. I didn't understand until later, but apparently, he had some how gotten away without being in ANY pictures for years. And yet, here I am and I get the picture with him Donny & Marie. 

I made friends with the dancers. They seemed to really like me and loved having me around. I've always loved dancers and I've always been envious of the way that they can move their bodies. I always think I can... and then I take a dance class and I'm reminded that I am NOT a dancer. But anyways... more important things to discuss!

The show starts, Donny & Marie come down the stairs and they start to sing. It's amazing. It's beautiful. Their show is breath taking. I get giddy and excited for them. I run from side to side of the theater to get pictures. I go backstage. I go everywhere. People try to stop me, see my badge and then just wave me through. It was pretty amazing. Intermission comes and goes. I'm standing off to the side of the stage right up front. The show reserves a few seats in the front row and the staff tells me to take some of the seats and get some good pictures.

I sit in the seat, and my feet are grateful for the break. The lights darken, the curtain goes up and the show starts again. Donny & Marie start singing, dancing and teasing each other like they did in the first half. It's fun! Then they start a new number. Donny walks across the stage, sees me, and points at me! He smiles and sings right to me!

It looks something like this! Ok... it is this! haha!

It was so fun to have him play to me and the camera! 

After the show I was showing some of the raw images on my camera to some of the staff and everyone seemed to just LOVE them. 

As I was getting ready to leave, the manager approached me, and asked if I could come back the following night to get some more pictures. I immediately decided I would rather be at the show than at the Highland basketball game (sorry boys!) and said yes.

The following day I got an interesting phone call from Donny & Marie's manager. He said that there was a magazine that wanted to send in a photographer to take images from the show that night. Immediately my heart sank... thinking he was going to tell me that I couldn't come or wasn't needed again that night. But instead he said that the show had their own photographer (ME!) and wanted to use my images! He asked if that would be ok. UHM. Do you REALLY have to ask me that question!? Of COURSE it's ok!!! He told me to come up with a rate and that they would see me that night. I still had no idea what publication it was, but I was excited for the opportunity to have some of my images printed!!

The show was amazing again! After the show I had a great conversation with Marie about modesty. She told me how important it was that I keep myself modest. I'll never forget that. That's one lesson that will always stay with me!

Marie's publicist, Darla, talked with me a little bit about the procedure for sending pictures to the magazine. Everything needed to be approved by Darla, Kim or Marie's daughter Rachael. Rachael is also the costume designer for the show, and she's AMAZING! To get the images approved, I needed to pick my favorite ones, clean them up as best I could, and then send the images to Kim who would do all the touch-ups. I needed to have those pictures to him on Friday night.

Friday all day was spent editing and organizing the pictures. After Olivia's parents got home from their date, I drove down to the hotel and dropped off the hard drive. 

I also had to take a math final before Saturday afternoon. It was 11:45pm. I went home and after taking 2 practice tests, decided it was time to do the real thing. At 3:00 am, I took and passed my math final with a 90% (HECK YES I DID!) and went to bed.

I got up again at 5:30 to be to my other job for a few hours. My thought process was that I would go to bed after my morning job. 

At 11:30 I got off work and started the long drive home. I stopped at Cafe Rio to get some food. That's when I got a call from the manager. He sounded urgent when I answered. He said "Leavitt, do you have your camera on you right now?" I almost said no, but realized my camera was in my car. I said "I actually do! What's up?" He said "We LOVED your shots from the other nights, but we need head on shots. We've got seats reserved for you in the audience to get them. Can you come to both the matinee and evening performance?"

I gluped. I hadn't slept in almost 2 days at this point. My body was exhausted. But my mind wasn't. "YES! I'll be there!" I answered excitedly! I ran home, took a shower, got dressed, grabbed a blanket in the event that I could sleep in the dressing room or in my car during the break, and some other gear I needed and dashed off to the show.

I got there just in time. The lights started to darken and I jumped into my seat. I got some of the most AMAZING pictures of my career sitting in that seat. It was a whole new angle and so beautiful!! 

During the intermission, I had to run backstage and get my computer because I had filled my memory cards full! All 24,000. Yes. You read that right. 24,000 images! I started importing pictures, but ended up having to take my computer back to the audience with me to keep the work going so I could have memory cards!

After the show, I went back to my office. I immediately started looking for the images I wanted to keep and get rid of the images that weren't even worth my time to edit. Pretty soon, it was 5:30. The evening show was about to start in 2 hours. So much for possibly getting that nap. Meh.

Marie happend to walk passed my office and saw the images on my computer. She came in and started looking at the pictures over my shoulder. She said she needed to smile more and that she would hold poses longer for me to get them. As she was walking out, I just turned and I said "Marie... I have a question for you. You've been in this industry for a long time. How do you stay clean and not get caught up in all the crap?" She just looked at me and said something very profound, and something that will always stay with me. She said "You either do it, or you don't. What will get you back to the celestial kingdom? You have to remember to love yourself. That's something that is often forgotten about, we forget to love ourselves." She then said something else that just took me aback. She said "You've been hurt, I can see it, but you have to love yourself. Remember that. Love yourself." I again looked at her and said "Wait. What? How do you know?" She just laughed and said "Leavitt. I'm a mother. I can see it. It's in your eyes." She gave me a hug and then walked away.

I turned back to my computer and just started thinking about everything she had just told me. It was all true. I had been hurt and hurt badly. I needed to remember that I was good and that I really did love myself.

I soon lost myself in work. An hour and a half later my mom called me. I had made arrangements for her to come watch the show and watch me work. She was going to be my assistant and help me out. I was so excited about that. I walked outside and got my mom. It surprised me when I went out that it was dark. The whole world had escaped me while I was in my little computer editing photo world. My mom and I went in and I started introducing her to people. People kept saying how much talent I had and that they were so glad I was there.

We watched the show (my 7th show at this point!) and got some other great shots. Both Donny & Marie were playing right to the camera. They held poses. They pointed at me. They saw me and knew exactly what to do! That made everything SO much better!!

Before the show started though, we sat next to this little girl and her family. They had a towel they wanted to throw on the stage. The mom leaned over to the little girl and said "Ask her! She would know. Look at her badge. She's with the show!"

I just looked at her and said "ask me what?" she said "I heard that Donny will use a towel if you throw one up. When's a good time for me to do that?" I thought through the show... I told her about one key point when it would be good because Donny would be REALLY sweaty and it was just perfect. That time came and they threw the towel up on the stage. There's a part in the show when Donny will invite a lady onto the stage and sign a picture. In the last show, girls had been hearing about this and would rush the stage before Donny invited them up, and unfortunately that happened again. 

This lady ran up to the stage and took the towel with her. She dabbed his head. The little girl was heartbroken. She just wanted to be recognized. Donny couldn't hear her yelling because he had his ear monitors in and they can't hear anything when those are in. I just felt SO bad for her.

During intermission I went back stage and found the towel. I put it in my dressing room and decided I'd figure out what to do with it later. It was more important for me to get images imported because I had again, taken 24,000 pictures (I know. I know. I have issues with that...)

The other half of the show went off without a hitch. I got great images of them singing directly to me, smiling... everything! 

After the show, I told the family to just wait and I would see what I could do. I got the towel and asked if Donny could sign it. He did and I took it back out. She was very excited about it. It just made me feel good knowing I could do something she couldn't do.

After the show I had to sit and go through all the images again. It was going to take HOURS to import these pictures and then get them to Kim who was going to do the touch-ups. Not only did I have to get these pictures to the editor, but I also had to get them to the Magazine before my monday deadline as well. And to top it all off, I was suppose to give the Relief Society lesson in my ward the following day. Things started to look bleak for me. I was already exhausted physically, and now I was about to exhaust myself mentally. I just didn't know how I was going to do it. My mom heard my woe's and said that she would teach my lesson. My heart was lifted and so grateful that she would do that for me.

She went home after an hour and I stayed until I got the job done around 12:30am.

The following morning I got a call from Kim. I needed to give him pictures (yes, just for clarification purposes, Kim is a guy) but also, Marie had just gotten a hair cut and they had changed some of her outfits and needed more pictures from that show. 

I jumped in the shower, got dressed and got to the show just as it was starting. I found some middle seats that weren't taken and started shooting pictures up a storm! But then one of my other favorite moments happened. Donny will come down the isle and play with the audience. He'll sit on people's laps, hug them... all that kind of stuff. Well, he happened to pick the isle that I was in and came down. He saw me sitting in the middle of 4 empty seats and came and sat on my lap. It was so funny that he would do that. Why didn't he pick the woman sitting next to me? I mean, wouldn't that have made more sense? He's seen me practically every day for the last week? We've had short conversations. He knows me. And yet, he sat in my lap. It was very sweet... but no, I didn't get any pictures. haha!

After the show was over, I sat and went through the images I thought were good with Kim and Rachael Lauren. We ended up with over 100 images to send to the magazine, which by the way, is a major publication. Something you find in a grocery store :) 

I then got to work sending the pictures to Kim for him to edit and send back to me. He and I worked for HOURS and HOURS through the night to get the images correct. Finally on Monday morning, I sent all 100 images off to the magazine making my deadline. 

I don't know where things stand with this magazine. Sometimes they print things, sometimes they don't. It just depends. 

SO! Sometime next week or month I could be a published photographer! But I'm not going to hold my breath!

I figured I would share just a few more images from the show. I can't share much... but I can share a few :)

 yup. I got my own pictures with both Donny & Marie. Again. This NEVER happens and I don't ever expect for it to happen again... so you take advantage when you can :)

I've written ALOT, so if you've read this much... the reward is sweet! I wont try and explain the title, but just know it has a purpose!!

You are all great. Sorry it's taken me so long to update the bloggity-blog. You have my friend Christa to thank for this :) Enjoy!

<3 the girl who must be doing something right