We’ve have photographed several of fun events throughout the years, but we had one of the most interesting this past weekend. I had the pleasure and privilege to photograph a musical play!

I (Mitchel) have always loved the theatre. It was something my mother enjoyed when I was younger and something we both shared together (I was one of the three little pigs, if you didn’t catch my performance, you missed out).

Ever since then, I’ve been captivated by theatre. Growing up, I’ve seen countless plays, and I’ve always wanted to be a part of a performance. The problem is, I have terrible memory and zero acting ability. Both of these factors combined have severely limited my changes of acting.

Photographing the play this weekend was unique for several reasons:

• It was of a musical

• The play was produced in 24 hours

• I wasn’t the second shooter, I was the ONLY shooter. Katie enjoyed the play from the audience and gladly edited all the photos after the play.

Here is a little background info about the play. On Friday night, the 24 Hour Musical has a kickoff party. This is where they eat some food and then figure out what character they will play. Not only do they learn which part they will be playing, but they learn which musical they are going to be performing. This year the choice was between Beauty and the Beast and Footloose. The cast has 24 hours to produce the whole thing! Everything from costumes to choreography.

Watching all of this happen was amazing. Katie and I both got to watch a group of volunteers and actors come together and create this magical show (Beauty and the Beast) in one day. It took me much longer than this to memorize my PIN for my debit card, and that’s only 4 numbers.

How did we end up here? Katie was kind enough to go to a Shakespeare in the Park showing of Hamlet several weeks back. I fell in love once again and decided to research the acting troupe and see if they would be in need of any extra photographers. It wasn’t Katie’s favorite idea, but because she’s wonderful and supporting, she was excited for me and tagged along (not to mention she culled and edited the 600 pictures I took from Friday and Saturday).

When it was show time, the play wasn’t perfect. There was a missed line here and there, a couple of forgotten dance steps, but these people memorized 95% of a classic musical in 24 hours. I think we can forgive them. In fact, it made the whole thing more unique and charming. The crowd loved it. Nobody judged them for the forgotten lines, they praised them for the remembrance.

If you’re like most people, you’re probably wondering why in the world would people want to stay up all night long to memorize lines or paint sets? To raise money for a good cause. All of the donations from the night went to the Anderson County Foster Parents Association. They want to encourage more people to become foster parents and to assist parents who are already fostering.

In 24 hours, the actors, volunteers, and board members raised over $3,000 to help the Foster Parents Association. It took a lot of snack food, caffeine, and very little sleep, but I’m sure they would say it was well worth it.

From our standpoint, it created challenges we haven’t faced as photographers. We’ve never shot a wedding where there were simultaneously green, red and purple back lights and spotlights and really harsh highlights and shadows. Most weddings also don’t have choreographed dances, 7 foot tall beasts, or fighting scenes.

It had a lot of challenges we haven’t had, but it stretched us and was an incredible experience to watch it come together.

It’s always fun to try and branch out and try something new, but Katie says from now on, she’d rather plays be my area of expertise, and she much prefers to sit back and enjoy rather than take photos.

Check out all of the photos here.