This is me.
In extremely rare fashion, I am posting a photo of me and my cute little fam today! Dare I say this is a first for me? Wow. My good friend took this picture on an amazingly beautiful hike that put me in awe of where I live. One word: Wow!
In honor of this milestone, I'd like to share a personal anecdote.
Those who know me know I love to travel. Er...I love to visit new places (the getting there could be greatly improved, as in Star Trek beaming me up sort of improvement). There is just something exquisite about being in an entirely new environment among people of a completely different culture that gives me goosebumps. Although I'm still relatively young (relative to my parents and grandparents, that is. I do, however, keep telling my son I'm really old and that's why he needs to listen to me. :) ), I've been to many different countries and continents. I understand how rare that is, and I'm grateful for those unique experiences. One of my most memorable experiences was while I was in Ghana, Africa doing humanitarian aid work. Many of the people among whom we worked lived without our modern-day conveniences such as running water and electricity. Their way of life was so unencumbered as well as completely focused on survival. Food was for filling the belly. Work was for feeding the family. School was for a means of making a better income. Etc. While there I soaked it all in. I savored the colors and flavors (ok, maybe not all of the flavors), I loved the people and I left a different person. My only regret is not taking many photos. I was not the camera-toting girl I am today, and my scant pictures prove it. Although my memories have distinct smells and textures, I can't share them like I can photography. Something that excites me about photography is the opportunity to visit a unique place like Ghana and be able to share my experience and my feelings through photos. I want each picture of mine to always evoke a feeling. It may be a different feeling for everyone who sees it, but a sincere feeling nonetheless. People photography definitely moves me like that. In the next few days I'm going to dig through my Africa photos and post a few of those pictures. The composition and artistic elements may not be perfect, but the subjects will hopefully move you just like they moved me.