New Photog Friends!

A couple weeks ago, Dane Sanders--an amazing photographer and mentor--hosted a Q&A on his blog via UStream. He was live through video and was able to read and answer the questions we submitted through his blog. It was really cool and so informative! So I'm on there, thinking I'm probably the only photographer from Gainesville. So Dane is reading our comments, and answering our questions, and asks me where I'm from. I say Gainesville, FL... next thing I know, another photographer says THEY are from Gainesville too! I'm thinking, that's so cool! I wonder who it is! Before I know it, there are not only two of us, but FOUR of us! We all exchange emails and plan to be in touch. So I email all of the other ladies, saying how cool it was that we met on this international video session, and that we'll have to get together. Cindy, one of the other photogs, and I started talking about meeting for lunch. We decide the day and then try to determine where to meet. Because neither of us wanted the other to have to go too much out of their way, we start telling each other the area in which we live. We figure we can meet somewhere in between. If we had done that, we would have met in the middle of a road in my neighborhood. YEP... that is the kicker! SHE LIVES IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD--ONE STREET AWAY!!! How crazy is that? But I know in my heart that it wasn't coincidence... it's been in God's plan all along. Cindy, Kara, Laurel and I were supposed to meet. This kind of thing doesn't just happen. And how cool to be part of something... something that I hope will be so much more. I am gaining so much knowledge and inspiration through a group of photographers in California... Dane Sanders, David Jay, [b]ecker, Jasmine Star and Jessica Claire... a group of photographers who have made a point to be a mentor to new photographers, helping them learn from the mistakes they made when they first started out. How cool would that be to be that for someone else in the future?? I feel like I have such a long way to go before I can even compare to them, but WOW! What an awesome goal. They really are a great group of pros. I know... I probably sound like a photo groupy, but I feel like I know them through their blogs and can see how genuine they really are. I can't wait to actually meet them some day. And thank them in person for all they are doing for the "little people" in this business. =)

Back to the story... Once we realized where we lived, we started to realize even more about each other... like how she was the woman who met David Jay in Tampa at Imaging USA (click here for the story) and bought him and Allie breakfast. So I write DJ and tell him the story of our meeting, Cindy writes Dane and tells him the story, DJ then tells Dane the story, Dane tells Cindy that I told DJ the story, and then Dane realized how our little circle connected and emailed me... Anyway, it was crazy. So he asked us to give him info on the group... names, websites, etc. and LOOK! We're on his blog!!!

So we had dinner at Macaroni Grill Wednesday night (Laurel, we missed you!) and talked about all sorts of stuff--definitely looking forward to getting together again! That's us in the pic (L to R... Me, Cindy (CU4 Photos) and Kara (Kara Pennington Photography). I can feel it...this is the start of something fabulous!!!