welcome home, jon

Several months ago, I was contacted by Alexandra about photographing her husband's homecoming. She had asked me about it quite a bit in advance, so I said to keep me in the loop as she got any new information, as I always do. Well, she got new information alright. She sent me an email telling me that she and her husband, Jon, had been selected by Lifetime's "Coming Home" to have their homecoming filmed for the show. I was pretty sure they would not be needing little, old me to be doing any documenting, in that case.....I was sure they had it covered.....But, Alexandra said she would still like to have me there, and so I was......after a majorly traumatic shopping expedition for something to wear that I would not make me look like a hippopotamus, should I be captured on camera, for a millisecond, while shooting. Never mind that no one would be seeing me...I would know that black blob, in the background was me.....and I didn't want to my crazy mind to imagine that black blob with muffin top showing. I showed up and it was just like any other homecoming......only with cameras and microphones....and producers.....and media representatives. Interesting. The plus side was, they had everything so well monitored, that there was very little of the waiting around that usually happens. Alexandra had her sister, Amanda, with her, and they were both mic'ed up and being filmed "casually" chatting while we waited. :)  I was amazingly thankful that I was finally getting to photograph a homecoming during the day, for a change. It was a little awkward, waiting on the outskirts, and trying to keep out of the way, but soon, we heard the rumble of the motorcycles of the Patriot Guard Riders, and I went into to my homecoming zone, tuning out the rest of the chaos, and focusing on Alexandra and Jon.

The young man in the above images is Jon's brother. The lady with the sign is Jon's mom. Alexandra reuniting with Jon was not the main focus of them being on the show. The surprise was actually for his dad. I was lucky enough to photograph that as well, but will not be posting any of it until the show airs, so stay tuned for part 2. Also, Alexandra wrote about her experience on her blog here and here.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/22772168 w=900&h=600]