You may remember my runin this past weekend with a priest and a woman overseeing a wedding I helped shoot last Friday. I followed up with an email to the church in which I wrote:
Hello St. John Neumann Catholic Church,
On Friday, Sept. 28, I assisted another photographer on a wedding, in which the ceremony took place at the chapel in your church.
I have photographed weddings since 1998, and in no time during my career have I encountered the disrespect, antagonism, and dehumanization as I did working with the staff officiating wedding.
Both the priest and the woman overseeing the event were far from professional. Many of the wedding guests approached me after the ceremony to say how poorly the priest acted toward us.
I’ve shot at many churches with far more rules than the ones laid down by yours, and I’ve never had any run-ins as harsh as the ones I had with both the woman and the priest.
Both used inexcusable attitude and angry behavior, and I’m appalled that these individuals are trusted as ambassadors for your church and for faith.
Sincerely,
Jeremy Witteveen
Any followup emails will be posted below.
We’ll see what happens.
