Recent Ramblings and a Missed Shot

What a crazy past 24 hours! It's funny how little things like your email crashing can completely throw one into a frenzy. (Okay, really it was a big thing. I cried when customer service told me yesterday there wasn't much they could do and how sorry they were!) Not to mention, these speed bumps can really make one evaluate the need to become more organized and thorough when dealing with client/ business info! Good news is that thanks to Jeremy, the friendly tech guy at Suddenlink, my emails, client folders and contacts have all been recovered. Jeremy is now my new BFF and I'm sending Suddenlink my highest accolades and a Best Buy gift card. Poor fella spent hours over here fiddling with my computer/ email settings and finally figured it was code issue and he recoded it (I think?). I still don't understand, but am just thankful for smart people in this world. And thankfully, I had an incredibly sharp friend give me pointers on how to cover my tail in case something similar was to ever happen again!

Now that I can breathe a sigh of relief, I can focus on some upcoming events I'm looking forward to! Entries for the High School Senior Give Away  are still continuing to trail in and I can't wait to meet the winner! I've managed to cry reading every entry! If you haven't nominated a senior yet, you SHOULD! I'm going to Indianapolis later this month to be the second shooter at my niece's wedding. I'll be focusing on capturing the candid moments (my favorite!) and... it looks like I'll be jet setting to NEW YORK CITY with the ever so talented (and FUNNY!) singer/songwriter Karen Fisher  for a shoot! Logistics haven't all been worked out completely, but it looks like January! WOOT WOOT! I've always wanted to see that city! And Ooh la la! I'm currently tossing around ideas for a special for Valentine's Day Boudoir Package in mid January for those wives looking to give their husbands a little something special this Valentine's Day. Details to come!

And now, for some rambling rambles... I've been thoroughly enjoying meeting every week with my photographer friend/ teacher Benjamin Blackketter at Harvest Cafe for a "creative pow wow" to encourage each other and bounce ideas around regarding photography and our businesses. This week our videographer/ producer friend Josh Brown of JBrown Productions joined us and it was equally entertaining as it was productive! As we were wrapping up, my eyes were drawn to an elderly man standing patiently in line wearing a well worn, black fedora hat. I told the guys, "I want to take his picture ...and sit down and drink coffee with him!". Unfortunately, it was an odd day for me and I was without my camera which is normally glued to my side or at least in my car. (Funny thing is, I backed out of the driveway and realized I didn't have it. I stopped in the middle of the road and looked at the clock debating whether or not to make the effort to go grab it. In fact, probably enough time that I could have gotten it! A neighbor pulled up behind me, so I opted to skip it this once.) As we were leaving, I noticed him sitting by the window eating some soup and peering over his bifocals at the newspaper. Oh, how I wanted to capture this man! I raced home, grabbed my camera, and sped back up to Harvest Cafe to find this:

Sigh. I even went inside to see if perhaps he was just away from the table.  One of the chipper baristas I've friended saw me enter and asked if I'd forgetten something. I explained to her why I came back and how bummed I was. She said, "OH! You mean Jack!" and then gave me a little run down about him. From her description, this regular sounds like a character! I gave her my number, and she promised to let me know the next time he returns.  I'm hoping I can soon be posting giving you the full introduction to Jack!   In the mean time, I'm going to let this shot be a personal reminder to take the extra 60 seconds to grab my camera! I'm becoming more and more aware that beauty is all around us in the strangest, most mundane places. I just have to be expectant (and prepared!) to capture it.

Enjoy your Wednesday.