it’s a longtime friendship. she’s the kinda friend that raises you up. that makes you search for how you can better yourself. we talk deep whenever we’re together. so much so that we freak ourselves out. we soul search over sushi. every time i go to d.c. i stay with tiff. because that’s just the rules. and she brings me into her life for that weekend. she’ll drop everything to share time with me.
we sang a cappella together in college. i tried out once and didn’t get in. tiff coached me for my second audition. we picked the perfect song to audition with and she pushed me to consider trying out again. like i said, she’ll do anything to raise you up. to make you feel like you belong. it’s important to surround yourselves with people like tiff. except- there aren’t many like her. she’s a rarity, that one.
she pushes me in photography. she’s always encouraging my art and we like to scheme up ways to play around with shooting. sometimes i need to take a break from what i usually shoot. sometimes i need to explore and just shoot free so that i can replenish the creative. i’ve got a good group of willing guinea pigs who will scheme with me. we’ll bounce visions off each other. i think the ability to take a break and just have fun with the camera is just as essential as my client work. it’s essential for me. when i can take my time and explore my camera and go crazy, just for the sake of creating. it always carries over into my client work. always shooting. always practicing. it’s how you define your style. it’s how you refine your style.
tiff’s leaving the country to put her gifts to the test and to share her goodness with others. she’ll be moving to a little rural town in northern ghana where she will be primarily living and volunteering at a small home for orphans and needy children. she’s also hoping to help out with an HIV/AIDS prevention and advocacy organization. she’ll be there for a year. i’m so proud of her. so so proud.
this time while i was in d.c. a few weeks back, and in an effort to keep our minds off of her upcoming departure, we goofed around with the camera. as a last hoorah for a while. to create, to make some art, to have some fun, and for a little something different. we wanted to pull together a shoot that was a bit dramatic. something a little out of bounds from what i usually shoot. but beautiful. lots of beauty. we threw around woods, creeks, getting messy, gollum, woodland creatures, etc. and this is what we came up with on a hot morning, in a creek near her house, that smelled not so awesome, hunter boots included…
something striking & wild.
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