A face in the crowd..

I am not a professional photographer, and I don’t even play one in my imaginary games, but that didn’t stop Judy from asking me to take pictures at her birthday party last… no, it was 2 weeks ago now (where does the time go, for cryin’ out loud!)

Because one never knows where the flying fickle finger of fate will point next, I recruited Richard to bring his camera and also take pictures in case something went wrong with my camera. And it was a very good thing I did. Both of us ended up making mistakes with our cameras in some of the pictures, but because there were two of us, she got a good selection of pictures to remind her of her birthday.

There were several groups of people at the party, and with the exception of her family who came from Indiana, I had seen nearly all of the same people at the party she gave last year for Charlie, her husband. It was the fact that she got very few pictures of that party that reminded her that she needed to document this party.

A certain woman ended up in a lot of the photographs from both of our cameras.

Have you ever been in a small crowd where one person seemed to draw you to them? Something about them that made you want to be with them? They aren’t necessarily the most beautiful or the most handsome, in fact, often times they are neither one. It’s happened to me a few times, and it happened at this party. Donna. There was just “something” about her. I wanted to throw my arms around her and hug her.

She seemed so relaxed and comfortable in her skin… and just plain “happy.”

A few days later I took the flash drive with the photos from both of our cameras to Judy’s house. Their precious friends who had driven down from Michigan were still there – ever noticed that the friends of people you really like tend to be people you like as well? The two couples are the sort you could sit up all night talking with and not be bored for a second.

I apologized for the mistakes in some of the pictures but pointed out that one of my favorite photos of the group happened to be a mistake caused because my camera’s shutter speed is so slow. They all laughed...

Don’t say it’s a mistake – say that’s your “art photo.”

And then the topic turned to Donna, who attends the same church as Judy and Charlie (the man standing in the background with the friends from Michican).

He said he felt exactly the same way about her. Besides, he said, she is the only one who laughs at my inane jokes.
What is that certain “something” about someone that catches your eye… these “ordinary” people with something extraordinary about them? I dunno, but I am sure glad they are in the world...