June 16, 2009
I always chuckle when Gringas come here and try to debate with me the wonders of Chilean healthcare. “The U.S. should be based on this system, how amazing that everyone is covered,” and blah blah blaaaaaaaah. I always want to ask them, “Have you ever tried getting care in a public hospital here versus a private one?”
Please understand, as with most of my posts, I am in NO way shape or form saying that the U.S. is better. Remember…and this is key….the U.S. and Chile sucking is not mutually exclusive. I will continue to repeat that on this blog over and over until everybody understands. 
I am totally fuzzy on the details because after the part where I actually stepped into the street, I remember nothing about my accident. But, S. tells me (and this is only what he’s pieced together via other accounts, like the one from the guy who hit me), that after I was hit, the driver of the car called the ambulance. The ambulance company HELP came. They stablized me and then left because they didn’t know where or if I had insurance and I was unconscious so I couldn’t tell them. Then the ambulance company SAMU came and they transported me to the nearest public hospital, again, because they didn’t know if I had insurance, and a public hospital was better than leaving me bleeding from the head on the street.
They took me to Hospital Salvador, a public hospital, and I regained consciousness after a while enough to give S.’s phone number to someone who called him. They told him that his wife had been hit by a car and he was sleeping so he thought someone was just calling to have him let me in downstairs because I forgot my keys.
He came to the hospital once he comprehended what was going on and when he arrived he found me screaming and still bleeding from the head, just now I was in a hallway instead of the street, with no one even attempting to treat me. S. says that I was also shivering terribly and that he kept asking for a blanket but no one would give it to him. One of the doctor’s actually told him that I was just shivering from shock, which meant a blanket wouldn’t help and therefore they weren’t going to bother to get me one. Then, when S. continued asking if I could be put into a patient room, as I wrote about, they put me in a room with someone who had Swine Flu because they didn’t have enough beds elsewhere. S. wanted to have me moved immediately to the hospital Clinica Santa Maria where we have really fantastic insurance because we signed up for a plan that gave us a convenio with them or an agreement that gives us lowered rates there and better coverage. But, Salvador wouldn’t release me to be transported in a regular car and for some reason we couldn’t find an ambulance to get me there. Finally, one Dr. at Clinica Salvador got on S.’s side and convinced one of my original ambulance driver’s to take me to Santa Maria simply because of the facts — Salvador was severely understaffed and overbusy and they don’t have the same kind of resources that Santa Maria does. Once we got to Santa Maria, I was immediately taken into a private room, hooked up to an IV for pain, examined by a traumatologist (who I love and think I am going to bring some kind of present because he was amazing!), given a full cat scan and X-rays of my entire body– the full work up.
So laying in the hallway screaming bloody murder, or getting treatment from some of the best docs in Chile — that is the difference here between being rich or poor, insured or uninsured. Before you go talking about how wonderous it is in Chile that theoretically anyone can have access to good health care, think about realistically how that actually ends up working out. It’s the same as in the U.S. If you’re uninsured you’re effed big time.
In other news, I was back at the hospital again today. I am starting to feel like I live there. My throat started closing up and we had to go get treatment for another allergic reaction complication. They think it’s being caused by an infection that I picked up while I was staying at the hospital but tomorrow I get more tests to find out. If you thought these pictures after I got run over were pathetic, you should see me now. My face and entire body are a swollen mess. Yesterday I was totally fine, then today I just decided to wake up and almost die again. Could I STOP doing that now?!? The rash is so hideous, my eyes are pretty much shut and OMG I ITCH SO BAD!!!!!!!!!!! I’m just feeling a little miserable because I’m sick and tired of being in and out of the hospital, I’m ready to be recovered and move on with my life (and not blog about this subject anymore, much to my readers’ relief) but it feels like two steps forward and then one giant step back every time.
However, this does confirm our decision to delay our trip, which I had been agonizing about. S. is right, now just isn’t the time we want to be hanging out in a far off foreign country.
In bad news, while I wish I could keep updating on life in Chile like normal and photography stuff, I’ve been trying, but honestly, right now my life just consists of doctors and hospitals. I don’t have much else to write about! In good news, I’m walking sort of more like a normal human being now and my knees don’t keep me up at night hurting anymore.
June 15, 2009
There are a lot of things that go into choosing a wedding photographer. A few important things that you should (duh!) make sure of before you hire someone is that A. You love their photos, and B. They have backup equipment.
And, then of course, it could be helpful if said person has had experience shooting weddings before, but that’s not necessarily a requirement. My first wedding was just over a year ago, and the bride and groom hired me with no prior wedding experience. Yet, we still rocked it out You can see the photos in my wedding photography portfolio under Amanda and Waffle. But, I also wasn’t a total newbie photographer in general when I first shot a wedding. I knew how to pull a good photo out of low light, I knew how to use a flash correctly and I knew my camera inside and out. When Amanda asked me if I did weddings I told her, “I never have before, but I can do yours if you want. And I wouldn’t say that I could do something if I weren’t 100% sure that I could.” Thank god she decided to give me a chance and start a whole new career for me!
Now, a little over a year into the game, and a wedding or two under my belt, I think I can safely say that after loving your photographer’s photos and making sure that he or she has back up equipment, the next most important thing is how well you get along. Because honestly…honestly…that person is going to be with you the entire time on the most important day of your life. And if your photographer loves you and you love your photographer, your pictures will be better. Trust me on that one. You can see a different kind of intimacy come through in the photos if you are comfortable and genuinely like the person capturing your day. I’m serious. That’s a big part of why I include a “Getting to Know You Session” in all my packages because it literally lets me get to know my bride and grooms and make sure that come time for the big day we will all feel good around each other. They won’t have problems being themselves around me and that I won’t have problems talking to them if I need anything on their wedding day in order to get the shot.
I’ve never photographed the wedding of a bride and groom that I didn’t totally love. And I think the feeling is actually mutual, so woohoo for that! When I was in the hospital after getting run over, I got phone calls, care packages, emails, facebook messages and even a hospital visit from a lot of my brides. They all went above and beyond!!! I am so grateful to know that not only am I lucky enough to photograph these amazing people’s weddings, but that they stay a part of my life even after the dust on their big day has settled. I hate to be that corny, but I say it because I’m really happy that it’s true. I am blessed to love what I do and to love the people I do it for.
On some weddings, I am simply an unobtrusive photographer. I stay out of the way and capture the day as it unfolds. The bride doesn’t need or want anything from me other than to photograph her day, which I am more than happy to do. In other weddings, the bride will ask me to help her zip her dress, I’ve searched for missing members of the bridal parties, and I’ve wiped tears off the cheeks of a bride right before she walked down the aisle, and I’m happy to do that too. It all depends on what each bride wants. But because I love them all in their own way, I’m willing to do whatever that woman needs from me to help make their day go as smoothly as possible, whether that’s to simply be the photographer or to be there as a friend too. On one hand, as a photographer, I’m just a vendor, sort of like your florist or caterer. On the other hand, I’m just a vendor who will be there for your most intimate and most important moments. Your flowers and food will be gone by the next day, but you’ll have your pictures forever. I don’t overestimate my own importance, it all depends on what a bride and groom see as a priority. People who hire me are generally people who value photography over other aspects of the wedding day, but I’ve also been a part of weddings where the party was most important to the couple! And that’s cool too. Like I said, I’m there to click my shutter as anything and everything goes down however you want it to go down
I’m not saying this so that you’ll hire me. In fact, I’m saying this so that if you love my pictures, but are so annoyed by the way I come across on my blog, that you don’t hire me. I’d rather you be with someone you love love loooooooove for your wedding!
I just wanted to put this out there because I’ve met with couples who clearly want to ask the right things. They’ve done their homework, they’ve been on websites like The Knot and they’ve read up on articles like What Questions to Ask a Wedding Photographer. They’ll come ready to bombard me about with questions about what kind of equipment I shoot with and how long I’ve been doing this and where did I get my training from, etc. Which is all well and good. I know people are curious and I don’t mind answering their questions.
But, I think sometimes people miss the overall point. Do you love your potential photographer’s pictures? Do you really like hanging out with him or her enough that you’d want him or her alongside you on your wedding day? And then of course, does he or she have proper backup equipment because you do not want someone’s camera dying right before you say, “I do,” and that photographer not having a way to capture the moment! NIGHTMARE. Unfortunately, I’ve heard of that happening to far too many people.
Packages are usually customizable to add in things that you might want, you can usually prioritize price if you really want to make it work, but those three things I mentioned above are the biggies to me. So hopefully this article was helpful to any future brides out there when it comes to choosing their photographer. I hope you all learned a very important lesson…love your photographer’s pictures, love your photographer as a person and love your photographer’s backup equipment…or else don’t hire that person
June 14, 2009
A lot of people have been asking if my accident was going to affect our trip plans in any way. I couldn’t answer because I wasn’t totally sure up until now.
We had originally decided to fly out of Santiago to Lima, Peru and spend the month of July in the country there, including trying to do Machu Picchu at some point or another during the trip. As you all know, we’ve been saving for our big trip for about two years now and I’m more than anxious to get it underway.
However, clearly, that is not going to happen. I am rapidly improving and can walk better every day. On Monday I get my stitches out and the bandages come off my knees, which should definitely help me be able to bend. I even booked a wedding for the end of the months and I’m confident that barring no major disasters, I shouldn’t have a problem shooting it, which entails a lot of running around. I may bring an extra assistant just in case, but either way, I’ll have it covered. But, that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m ready to hike up a mountain or walk all over a foreign city with a giant, heavy backpack.
Plus, yesterday I had to go to the emergency room. AGAIN. I had a severe allergic reaction to the bandages on the wounds on my knees. I got a horrendous rash, my legs were all swollen up with bumps and welts and my eyes started swelling closed! It was really scary and S. rushed me to the hospital where they gave me some anti-allergic reaction medicine I guess, and something else that calmed me down and made me sleep FOR EIGHT HOURS during the day, then get up for two hours and then go back to sleep for the night. Kind of ridiculous. I sent my mom an email to tell her what was up and then she responded to ask, “Did you fall asleep while writing this?” Sure enough, I had written half the senten
And then it just ended.
Tomorrow I have a neurologist appointment to find out if my memory loss will be long term. Because I may have just fallen asleep writing the email to my mom or I may have just forgotten to finish it before I hit send. But things like that are happening with frightening frequency. I’m to the point where I have to write every little thing down because otherwise I know I’ll forget it.
Anyway, getting back to the reason we’re not going back to Peru, we want to be in Chile where we have insurance, know my doctors and have a car to rush me to the hospital in case there are any more complications from the accident. I’m not anticipating having anything else come up, fingers crossed nothing does but you never know.
Of course, I’m a little upset. But, I was being overly ambitious in still thinking we would be able to take off and travel the world just a month after getting run over. This wasn’t a little love tap or something. As much as I think that I’m some kind of Superwoman and am totally able to just shake it off, this was a pretty big deal and while I was SO lucky to walk away with minor injuries, they’re still not quite so minor that I can just pretend they never happened…then let’s not even talk about the stupid head trauma.
So, we will be staying in Chile one more month, but we had actually already put in our 30 days notice on our lease before the accident since we were planning on leaving on July 1st. So we’re going to go to Algarrobo to stay at S.’s family’s beach house with Papito until we leave to go photograph a couple weddings and a bunch of sessions in the U.S. on July 21st! I’m very excited to spend a little more time with our dog and although Algarrobo may not be an exotic destination, it will still be a nice vacation, plus we won’t have to spend much of our savings since once we’re there, life is pretty cheap. Plus, I’ve been meeting with a lot of potential clients for this summer (November-February in Chile) so that way I’ll be able to continue to do so, and take good care of the clients we have right now before we go. This enables us to fit in a few more shoots before we leave too, YAY!!!! There’s always a bright side to everything.
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