I am sitting in the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (crikey, that’s long) waiting on my connecting flight home. Since I have this awesome husband who encourages me to do cool stuff and awesome parents who take care of my girls and a teen awesome enough to take care of himself, I get this annual blessing of going to California to spend four excellent (awesome) days working on creative projects and soaking in the encouragement of these other beautiful women. I heart them.
This year my focus project was to learn as much as I can to improve my video skills. I have never considered myself a “self-taught” photographer. Although I have never taken a real class with a real teacher I certainly did not figure this out on my own. I learned from books and blogs and practicing until my left eye squinted involuntarily when I got downwind of Canon anything. But video is different. I have learned by doing, and not much of that. So I decided I needed to “do” some more. A lot more.
The days we spend annually working on our projects are such a treat that I hate to discount their value, but after this my third year of attending I have to say the biggest benefit I get the chance to just be around these other wonderful ladies. I cannot even describe how encouraging they are. The words and the prayers and the wisdom and the genuine caring they give so freely make me feel like a kid getting spoiled rotten by her Heavenly Father. I go home feeling like a completely different person.
This year my focus project was to learn as much as I can to improve my video skills. I have never considered myself a “self-taught” photographer. Although I have never taken a real class with a real teacher I certainly did not figure this out on my own. I learned from books and blogs and practicing until my left eye squinted involuntarily when I got downwind of Canon anything. But video is different. I have learned by doing, and not much of that. So I decided I needed to “do” some more. A lot more.
The days we spend annually working on our projects are such a treat that I hate to discount their value, but after this my third year of attending I have to say the biggest benefit I get the chance to just be around these other wonderful ladies. I cannot even describe how encouraging they are. The words and the prayers and the wisdom and the genuine caring they give so freely make me feel like a kid getting spoiled rotten by her Heavenly Father. I go home feeling like a completely different person.
Okay, well maybe not completely different. Because I did behave in my usual manner and rescue a very large beetle from the pool. Actually, I thought it was dead because it had been floating there for at least one day and I wanted to do some macro shots of him on the concrete so I plucked him out and placed him on a chair until I could grab my gear.
It was early in the day and I got all distracted and when we set the table for dinner later the NEXT day Wendy asked me to move my “roach” somewhere so I took him inside the (her) house. I set him down on top of my sound gear and went out to eat. When I returned much later for bed I could not find Boris (yes, I name everything) anywhere. I thought maybe I was imagining that I had placed him on the recorder but then I started looking around and found him on the floor. On his back. Flailing his little (actually, large) legs. Had I not been so impressed by his resurrection I would have freaked out. Boris was promptly and lovingly placed back outside.
I am on my way home now without Boris, looking forward to seeing my family and head-butting my cat and editing the video projects. Apparently our pilot and crew are in a hurry as well because they stuffed us into the aircraft in under 15 minutes then the pilot practically did a doughnut on the Tarmac when lining up for take-off. I'm not kidding. He roared away from the gate, broke new speed records while taxiing to the runway, then gunned it hard before completing the turn. I think that is the sort of pilot I would be. But I digress... thanks to his heroics, tonight I will sleep in my own bed, rested, refreshed and thoroughly encouraged by my tribe.
-Jenni
It was early in the day and I got all distracted and when we set the table for dinner later the NEXT day Wendy asked me to move my “roach” somewhere so I took him inside the (her) house. I set him down on top of my sound gear and went out to eat. When I returned much later for bed I could not find Boris (yes, I name everything) anywhere. I thought maybe I was imagining that I had placed him on the recorder but then I started looking around and found him on the floor. On his back. Flailing his little (actually, large) legs. Had I not been so impressed by his resurrection I would have freaked out. Boris was promptly and lovingly placed back outside.
I am on my way home now without Boris, looking forward to seeing my family and head-butting my cat and editing the video projects. Apparently our pilot and crew are in a hurry as well because they stuffed us into the aircraft in under 15 minutes then the pilot practically did a doughnut on the Tarmac when lining up for take-off. I'm not kidding. He roared away from the gate, broke new speed records while taxiing to the runway, then gunned it hard before completing the turn. I think that is the sort of pilot I would be. But I digress... thanks to his heroics, tonight I will sleep in my own bed, rested, refreshed and thoroughly encouraged by my tribe.
-Jenni