Yesterday, the entirety of parking anywhere within a mile of the Tidal Basin was shut down. Really. During the peak weekend of the blossoms, when DC has more tourists than locals. No access to the main attraction. In fact, at 6:30am, the closest parking was in Baltimore. True story. Ten families were scheduled to join me for a quick and easy photo shoot. As in, quick and easy after you search for parking and your sense of direction for 45 minutes, then walk an hour in Sunday's finest to find me somewhere on the bank of the tidal basin. Oh, and did i mention the 10-miler? Try to cross in front of 10,000 runners with a baby stroller...
I am not sure I have ever wanted to turn back the clock with more passion than I did yesterday morning.
But then I learned what I learn every time I work with a family...that it's all unpredictable and it's all an adventure. Julie calls me from the Inlet Bridge to let me know she's close, after literally turning her baby stroller into a jogger, and running the mile from where her husband dropped to her to meet me (breathless, she says - "it's great exercise!"). I start to apologize profusely to her over the phone, when she interrupts in the most cheerful voice "look for me coming over the bridge...i'm behind the lady with the purple jacket...but it'll be easy to find me because I have the cutest baby on the bridge."
And sure enough.
She was right.
So despite the hassle and the unpredictability, the families that could reach me did so because they wanted to capture, forever, where their kids are right now. They reinforced for me what my job is all about. It's helping people capture the adventure of their lives. The good, and sometimes, the not-so-good. I, for one, will have the memory of yesterday and the families that I met with me, for a long time.
A few families just couldn't make it .. and I guarantee ... I would have been in that group. I so look forward to meeting them under easier circumstances soon.
And a few from a weekend Batmitzvah....look at that light!
Lilly and her grandmother.
more to come...sv
1 comments:
I love this one of the laughing baby in the blue shirt with his curled-up tnogue! Great portraits.
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