In my last blog I ended by saying I was a people person. Let me give you an example. A good number of years ago I was taking my oldest son around to help him with some errands he had to do on the day before his wedding. The first stop was the bank. As I pulled into a parking spot he asked me. "why aren't we going to the drive-up?" I looked at him and responded, "I don't do drive-ups." I continued with, "Life is about relationships so I always go inside and talk with the gals." He teased me about that, but he was missing the point so I let it roll off of my shoulders and did my thing. Later we stopped at Block Buster (A store where you could rent videos and CD's before streaming happened.) He and his wife to be wanted to watch a particular video while they were on their week-long honeymoon. He found the video, but also found out the store policy was they could only have it for 3 days. Lucky for him I had gotten to know the store manager while I was renting a series that the family was binge watching. Because I had developed that relationship, the store manager was more than willing to let my son take his video for the entire week. My favorite is to walk up to a mother who is struggling with a tamper throwing toddler and in a quiet voice say to her, "my kids never did that!" When they look up to see my smile it seems to take a little weight off of their shoulders. I guess liking people is why I enjoy portrait photography. I love people and enjoy photographing them. When I'm done photographing a wedding I feel like I have two new families. Our Storybook Santa Experience sessions are a complete joy as I photograph children spending time with Santa Claus. I love talking to high school graduates about their plans for the future. There is so much to learn from others and so much to share. Slow down, take your time, and be a people person.

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