The other day while I was taking photos at the birthday of a two year old I stopped to talk to the little girl's great Aunt.  We were talking about different jobs.  For instance, alarmingly, dentists have a high depression rate.  We figured it is because people greatly dislike going to the dentist. That's because there's often pain involved and having someone poking around your mouth just isn't any fun.  So dentists have higher than normal rate of depression because of all the anxiety they are around.

Then we talked about how enjoyable it is to be a photographer.  We get to see some of the happiest moments in people's lives. Birthdays, weddings, christenings, graduations, holidays - it's all so uplifting and gratifying.  I fully realize how fortunate I am.  Photography is something I've become more passionate about as each day passes.  With every click I learn and improve - and the more fun I have.  

Within days of taking photos of this birthday I had the opportunity to take photos of a beautiful 92-year-old woman and her two daughters.  The women were super excited and I felt that this was such a privilege to take their portraits.  The images came out super-dee-duper and they had a hard time choosing which prints to get.  That's the best.  Knowing I captured the shots they wanted.  Yay! - with a sigh of relief.  It was also wonderful to talk to this family after our shoot was done.  I learned that the 92-year old mom was married on December 6, 1942.  The day after they were married they were in their car driving toward Palm Springs for their honeymoon.  They turned on the radio and learned about the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Her husband made her turn around so he could report for duty.  While he was overseas in Manila, she learned she was pregnant.  The husband bought a beautiful silver bracelet and had it engraved for his yet to be born child.  In the photo of the hands is the daughter wearing that bracelet.

Before I was a photographer I spent years working at Hewlett-Packard.  I have a computer science degree and spent time in sales and marketing. I spec'd out diagrams of networks, gave technical presentations and worked with corporate accounts.  But when I had daydreams of life outside the corporate world I never would have imagined how enriching it would be.  I made many friends at HP and best of all I met my husband there.  But to be a photographer has been so great for my soul.  To experience this in the second phase in my life has been incredibly rewarding.  

For my husband music is his passion.  He's taking guitar lessons and I have to say he's getting pretty good.  He's inspired my 3 daughters to take up the guitar too.  Our eldest daughter is even in a band now and plays guitar and sings.  Wow. (When all three of my girls sing they have perfect harmony.)   And maybe that's the most rewarding thing of all, to see how we as parents can rub off on our children.  My second daughter has a strong interest in photography too - Yay!

Here are some shots from the last 3 sessions I had.  I love what I do.  I love being a photographer.

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