A long time ago...

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately.  I suppose what got it all started was the fact that I want to upgrade my camera.  Not that I don't love my 20D (which would become my backup).  It has certainly served me well in the nearly three years that I've had it!  But I've been doing a little research and I've heard oh-so-many-wonderful things about the 5D, one of which is the fabulous clarity.  And if you read down a few posts, I'm a sucker for clarity.  (among other things!)  :) 

But all of this has gotten me to thinking about photography and me and how we came together.  I was at my parents' house the other day looking through old high school stuff.  I found some pictures of me and a few friends...  we actually did our hair and makeup and went outside and had a little photo session.  I set up the shots and my brother clicked the shutter for us.  It really kind of amazed me to think that I had been posing people even then... nearly 15 years ago!  Well of course that got me to thinking back even more and I remembered having a little pink 110 camera when I was about 10!  I've been taking pictures for 20 years.  Wow.  That's a crazy realization for me.  I've gone from the pink 110 to a polaroid to borrowing my Momma's 35mm to my own Fuji digital after Savannah was born.  And from there, I went professional... to the 20D and soon to the 5D.  Wow. 20 years.

So then I start thinking about my most favorite quote ever!

"Happiness is a butterfly which when pursued is just out of your grasp... But if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."   ~Nathaniel Hawthorne This gets me to thinking about my jobs in the past.  I started out in management as a teenager!  I went to college having NO idea what I really wanted to do.  Business seemed like a good start.  I sold real estate (briefly) while in college and I graduated in December 2000 and went to work for MSU within the Department of Financial Aid.  My children were young and I felt as though I were missing their childhood.  Savannah was about to start school and I had dreamed of being a homeroom mom and being involved.  The spring of 2004, I was outside with my FujiS5000 and I got this shot... It was a sign from God, I knew it. I had been chasing happiness thinking that a new job... whether it was real estate, an office job, a management position or whatever was going to finally BE what I was supposed to be doing.  I had started to realize that photography was what I loved sometime in 2004 and in June of that year I quit my job at MSU and started learning.  I was also homeroom mother that year... and every year since then.  :) And as I sit here entering my monopoly codes at playatmcd.com, I realize that if I won a million I'd still be clicking the shutter.  I'd move my studio outside of my home... build something with lots of space.  But you couldn't keep me away from the camera...  and people! By the grace of God, happiness has found me. You always hear "let go and let God".  It's so true... you just need to sit down quietly.  Your butterfly will alight upon you.  Mine has.