Shooting in Charlotte

Today, I went on a photo shoot. A non-organized kinda thing, "organized" by an instructor who believes in everyone, and who openly gives of her time, talents, and gifts. I am amazed by her generosity, kindness, openness. She showed me how to use my camera, an old fashioned analog Pentax that my dad bought me when I was maybe 10 or so. I never really grabbed hold of the fever, and dad didn't have the energy to do much more than place it in my hands and show me the basics. Over a cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich I got a mini lesson in photography. Amazing. Learning how to meter, focus and adjust the shutter opening. Beginning to understand the concepts of these three - wow.

The group, six of us, squeezed into her station wagon, and off we went. We went to scrap yards and old delapidated buildings. We took shots of funky metal mounds of aluminum, and mountains of metal shavings, and tornados of coiled copper tubing. We shot buildings, and signs, and doors, and manhole covers, and broken out windows in abandoned houses, and wildflowers growing beside metal fences.

We spent time in silence, and time all talking at once. We ate lunch at a funky little market on a back street in Charlotte, and grabbed an ice cream at the Smelly Cat Coffee House. It was a day well spent.

Leaving was hard. Everyone wanted the sempatico to continue on throughout the night. But, alas, life calls, school calls, work calls, pets call, home calls. And this evening, as my energy wains, I crave genuine creative companionship and communication with like-minded people, and a tall glass of fine wine.