Since we have so many new Facebook business page members (WELCOME-WE ARE THRILLED TO HAVE YOU!), I will give Throwback Thursdays! a little background. Every Thursday I post a picture from our archives with a story or an explanation to the image! My goal on this new blog is to show an array of photography and to allow you to get to know us on a more personal level!
.jpg "Boy jumping final copy")
The image you see above is the image we use for our business logo. Not just because we like it but because it holds some extra special meaning. When I created this image I had an epiphany about myself as a photographer. I know, it sounds all very dramatic, but it’s true!
The truth is this, I was hungover- very hungover when this all happened. It was a Sunday and my husband, then boyfriend at the time, was DJing the night before on Fire Island. For those of you that may not know Fire Island, it is a small island with no cars, beautiful beaches, restaurants, bars and ice cream shops located off of Long Island New York. To us it’s pretty much paradise. And that Saturday night on paradise I had a very good time! Sunday I did not.
The day was gorgeous but I passed up the beach and laid in bed with an ice pack on my head swearing up and down that I would never, ever, EVER have another drink again. Greg left for the beach early and then came back around mid day and told me I had to get to the beach because it was probably THE most amazing beach day-ever! Uh hmmm, heard that one before. He continued to describe in detail that the waves were insane and that they were creating a cliff in the sand and blah, blah, blah. He said I must get my camera and take pics. I said you must use a quieter voice. He left for the beach once again without me.
I laid there with a now lukewarm ice pack on my throbbing head and felt terrible. Not about the hangover but about myself as a photographer. And right there and then I asked myself, “what kind of photographer are you?” I thought about this for awhile and decided I did not want to be the kind that would not seize an opportunity, especially because of a hangover! One foot out of bed, very slowly the other and eventually down to the beach with my camera.
What I saw was amazing. The beach was alive with an energy that was indescribable. The best I can do to describe it is to say that there was storm energy, and there was! The day was August 28, 2005 and Hurricane Katrina was hours away from hitting New Orleans. Even far away on the shores of Fire Island, the ocean was reacting. Huge waves were coming onto the beach and cutting away at the sand like jaws. The result was a cliff that ran along the ocean’s edge. The other result, children playing and squealing with delight as they ran and jumped off the cliff into the water in auto pilot circles – over and over again. Let’s just say that a whole bunch of children slept very well that night!
This image represents so much to me, and that is why we use this image as our logo, as a reminder. When I look at this image sometimes I think of the joys of childhood in the simple things and the freedom in the boy’s spirit as he leaps off the sand cliff. Sometimes I think about the beautiful day Fire Island was given as tragedy struck elsewhere- the unfairness of this world and how we need to open our hearts to others in pain and be extra appreciative when we are shown good fortune. And mostly I think about the decision I made with the encouragement of Greg and how grateful I am that I decided to get out of bed that day and be the photographer I wanted to be. I consider that boy doing that jump to create this image a gift that I will always cherish. A gift that constantly reminds me to stay on my path, no matter how trying that path sometimes seems and how much my head might be throbbing!
We hope that you too have found your path or that you are searching for it, for life on your path as hard as it might be at times is also the most rewarding thing in the world!
