In the beginning . . .

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” ~ Lao Tzu

Many years ago, in another galaxy, just kidding! Really though, many years ago, I embarked on a journey called photography.  I didn’t know then, that it would become a hobby that would encompass my entire being, but it has.

On this journey, I met someone while taking an online class, who has become such a close friend, even though we have NEVER met in person.  I guess you might call her my pen pal, or in today’s world it’s more of a phone/Instagram/blog relationship.

Carolyn and I met while taking an online class at BetterPhoto called Understanding Digital Photography.  It had received my first digital camera for Christmas, and didn’t have a clue what I was doing, I thought this was a logical  place to begin.  During the class Carolyn posted a photo of a dead flower, and for the life of me I could not understand why anyone would photograph a dead flower. From this photograph would bloom an amazing friendship that I’m sure neither of us could have imagined! Today, I completely understand why she photographed this dead flower and I’ve been known to photograph a few myself.

It’s been nine years since Carolyn and I became friends and this month we will finally get to meet each other in person.  My husband I will be traveling out west and one of our stops is California.  Carolyn, and her husband Jim will meet us for a day of photography, lunch and an afternoon of conversation.  I cannot even begin to explain how excited I am to finally meet her!

Maine 2010

We both thought that posting a blog about this encounter and our journey would be interesting.  We agreed to post photos we’ve taken along the way to show our progression from where we began in comparison to where we are today.  Looking back was sort of fun, to see what I loved photographing eight years ago in relation to what I love to photograph today and how far I’ve come in so many aspects of photography. Time has a funny way of changing you, making your grow and looking at things a bit differently. During the past nine years, I’ve lost my job, had cancer, my daughter got married, and I became a grandma in April.  Quite a bit of activity going on and through it all our friendship has become stronger.  We speak a few times a week, consult each other on photographs and life in general.  We bounce ideas off of each other, we are very honest with our critiques of each others work and ideas.   It’s so nice to have someone who can be completely honest with you, knowing that they are doing it out of friendship and love.

After we have met in person, our intention is to post a blog about our encounter, our photographs and our meeting in general.  I hope you will have a look later in June once we have had a change to edit photographs, write our blogs and relive our “in person” day together.

Until next time, thank you for stopping in . . .

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