125 years

A Night of Happiness

My Images of the opening night party at National Geographic Musuem    

Last Friday was the opening night for my show at National Geographic Museum and I was excited nervous and numb with anticipation. The night was great fun and I wanted to thank all of my peeps that could show up to give me a big hug and a whole bunch of love.... Jaime, Cynthia, Theresa, Erin, Sue and Mitchell. It was very special to have you there to enjoy my special night. We laughed, we danced and gazed in amazement at all the beautiful work on display. Thanks to all of you that sent me love notes and well wishes I felt your presents there with me.

I wanted to give a shout out to FotoWeekDC for another great event. They have classes and exhibits happening all week long. Check out the schedule here.

Above is a slide show I took of the 4 different exhibits that were there that night. If you have a chance to stop by the National Geographic Musuem you will not be disapointed. 

Here are the links in case you wanted to learn more about the exhibits.

FotoWeekDC celebrating its 6th year of displaying the works of photographers from all over the world.

The National Geographic Museum is celebrating 125 years  which is an amazing display of all of their cover designs over the years. The first generation of covers did not even have pictures ... hard to believe.

The Women of Vision  exhibit is a stunning multimedia exhibit that engrosses all your senses.

Lions, Tigers and Bears .... Oh ... my ... I did not get to see all of these photos, but they looked amazing.

A Reflection on a Journey

Visiting my aunt Jeanette and uncle Tom's house when I was a young girl meant I could sit and look thru their huge collection of National Geographic magazines. I would look thru them amazed by the wondrous places and photos. I had not gotten the photo bug yet, but I do think it planted a seed. That seed sprouted and began to blossom in college where I took some black and white photography classes. It wasn't until I got my first digital camera as a Christmas present (thanks Sue & Mitchell) which was a point and shoot Kodak that I truly got the photo bug. I took it everywhere and shot everything. I loved the instant gratification of digital. Then thanks to Canon and their affordable rebel line of DSLR cameras I got my first creative digital camera. I say creative because you could adjust the settings and take any kind of picture you wanted. I was curious about everything after that and had to learn everything I could about how to take photos. So with the help of Flickr, which is an online photo community, I fully engrossed myself into learning how to use my new camera. It was a game changer because I could see the results instantly. Digital meant I could take as many shots as I wanted or re take them until I got it right. 

This new media in my life of digital photography helped me express myself to the world. I have always had a fear of expressing myself thru words because of my dyslexia. The insecurity and shame that comes along with having a learning disability often kept me from sharing my thoughts in written form. I always thought I had something to say I just never had the courage to share it. With the encouragement of some amazing women in my life I have decided to put aside these fears and express myself with both words and pictures. This blog is the start of that new journey. Sigh .... being honest about your fears can be very freeing and very terrifying. 

I think it is important to stop and look back at your journey, because some very small things in your life can add up to big important moments. Take time to listen to your whispers they may be ushering you into a new destiny.