Week 22: Indignities Suffered

This week I’d like to give a mini dissertation on why I loove photography....But first I give you, Week 22: Indignities Suffered.

This photo is a shot of my foot as I crossed over a small stream. I was taking photos of the gorgeous Almarez family in a gorgeous garden on a gorgeous autumn afternoon...and I was wearing tennis shoes and jeans (my favorite)...To get the shot I wanted, I had to be across the water from the family who was sitting on a big rock. I balanced myself on another large rock and dangled over the water somewhat precariously...but I got the shot I wanted.

As I crossed back over the stream, I looked down and marveled at my dry shoes...because it doesn’t always turn out dry. In fact, earlier that day, I had kicked off my skimmers and waded into a pond in an attempt to shoot over the water. Even though I may end up looking a bit crazy, I can usually explain it away as dedication to my craft. People are almost always kind enough to nod and smile even if they have no idea what I was doing or why I was doing it...

So now I’d like to tell you a few things that may have happened in the name of trying to get a good shot...

1. I may have sat (and even lain) in mud.
2. I may have crouched in water on more than one occasion.
3. I may have had people whisper behind me: “What is she looking at??”
4. I may have hung over rails that threatened to impale me.
5. I may have made my father wonder where the park rangers were when I was pushing through thickets and analyzing mud and ice.
6. I may have exasperated more than one person while I was trying to get one more shot in.
7. I may have been yelled at by a park ranger for having been inside the gates after closing time...I may have actually forgotten there was a closing time, though.
8. I may have slipped, tripped or fallen.
9. I may have been so oblivious of everyone around me that I didn’t realize someone had called paramedics for the girl lying motionless on the floor...until the paramedics were standing over me asking me if I was okay...and it may have happened in a very large, very beautiful hotel in Las Vegas.
10. I may have taken 100 photos to get the one good one I wanted.
11. I may have photographed a stranger without their permission or knowledge.
12. I may have trespassed.
13. I may have introduced myself to a total stranger with the intention of being invited into their garden or home...it may have worked on countless occasions.
14. I may have gotten a sunburn or come close to frostbite all the while being nearly oblivious because I was so consumed with the goings on.
15. I may have tumbled (rather gracefully ...and in late November, I might add) into someone’s waterfall in their front yard with only the thought of protecting my baby from the water...and I may have continued my two hour contract with no mention of just how cold my backside was from the wet pants I was wearing.
16. I may have made a mental note that the photographer has every right to bring a change of clothes and use them.
17. I may have surreptitiously plugged my battery charger into a hidden socket at a major bookstore and left it to charge while I went to eat lunch.
18. I may have been willing to forgo my spare clothing on a delayed flight in order to keep my camera within sight at all times.
19. I may have been (happily) sore for 3 days after a successful wedding shoot.
20. I may have been soaked through and through while keeping my camera almost perfectly dry.
21. I may have found myself in a terrible predicament without a camera and conned a friend into taking a shot for me or lending me their camera. And I may have had a friend take a shot for me that I later framed and displayed proudly in my bathroom. And that picture may have been of an unknowing stranger.
22. I may have made a bride do something they thought looked crazy or weird...And it may have turned out to be one of her favorite pictures.
23. I may have enjoyed every minute of my work and marveled that I am doing what I love and getting to wear cute clothes...not stuffy corporate wear and working from a small desk with nothing to distinguish it from any other desk.
24. I may have congratulated myself on quitting a job I hated and going back to school (again) so I could realize how photography makes me feel alive.
25. I may have taken my father’s description of me (“fanatical”) as a huge compliment. :)