Thursday was a big day for me. I was to have my first meeting with my new photography mentor, Gloria Baker Feinstein. I was nervous in about a million ways. How should we start this relationship? What should I ask? What should I bring to show her? Would there be long lulls in the conversation? Would I act like a moron? I admire her work so much I was partially afraid I’d just sit there panting at her feet and averting my eyes.
So, after getting my kids ready for school, my hair all piled up just right, make up on and- oh gosh, I’m embarrassed to say- at the last moment applying pink toe nail polish to match my shirt, I was ready to go. Every time I looked at those lovely pink toes poking out the end of my sandals, I thought, “you can do this.” and “you are such a moron for painting your toenails.”
I survived. In fact, I had an amazing day. I left with a lightness in my pink toe nailed step I hadn’t had in awhile and the knowledge I’d be back to meet with Gloria again in a few months. I had three ‘assignments’: 1. shoot more. go out once a week and shoot for myself. Walk around, work on my own projects. I have become so consumed with trying to make a living, I have lost touch with other things. This doesn’t mean I don’t absolutely love my job–I do! I love working with children, with families. 2. shoot less. Try to be more thoughtful in my photo sessions with clients. 3. read photo blogs. I came home with a folder full of links to great photo blogs and an intention to spend an hour a day reading different ones. I started yesterday. It was a wonderful way to start my day!
I hope to bring you the fruits of some of this thoughtfulness in the days and weeks to come. We’ll start here, at home. I had a shoot scheduled for this morning, but it had to be rescheduled. Instead we’ve had a totally lazy morning here at the VandePot (my new little nickname for our family) house. Isaac loves to snuggle in when reading stories so this is a regular moment here. He’s making a face to match that of Mrs. Biddlebox’s I left the image in color so you can see his toenails. They’re painted pink.
