love affair continued…

Remember the love affair I mentioned a few posts ago?

If you would’ve asked me a year ago if I ever thought photography would become such a driving force in my life, I’d say you were c-r-a-z-y. Yes, I’ve very much enjoyed walking the city streets and shooting, but never did I think I would be so consumed. I really didn’t see it coming. I thought, oh how nice to capture my “dream come true” of living in NYC and sharing my experiences with friends and family. But it has become more. Way more. It’s as if I’m looking through a keyhole and there’s a totally new view and a new meaning of life out there.

So where am I in this affair and where is it going? I’ll soon be finished with my course work at the New York Institute of Photography and continue to click, click, click and practice, practice, practice every day. I’ve discovered some incredible photography books, internet sights, photographers whose work I adore, and have even found a couple of mentors along the way. (You know who you are.)

Who knows where this will all end up, but I do know I have some once in a lifetime opportunities coming up that will provide an open canvas for this new found love.

In just a few weeks, I’ll be heading to Morocco! Think snake charmers, souks, camels, tagines, mint tea, and mosques. I’ll be reporting direct from Marrakech, Essaouira, the High Atlas and Sahara desert in addition to a little peek of Madrid as I make my way home. My excitement builds daily as I think about the incredible scenery and colors to be captured in this fascinating country!

in June, a very special family that I’ve known for many years will be visiting NYC for a week to celebrate their daughter’s high school graduation. Now this isn’t just any trip or celebration. This is a first time visit for a beautiful, brilliant teenager who lost her eyesight to cancer when she was a toddler. This is a celebration of years of hard work for everyone in this family. Can you just imagine her hearing the hustle and bustle of the city for the very first time? The sirens blaring and the taxis honking? Can you imagine the first time she eats a Nathan’s hot dog from Coney Island or smells the candied peanuts roasting, hearing the horses drink water from their trough in Central Park and yes, even smell the piss and garbage on the city streets? How about the experience she will have when she rubs the bull on Wall Street or walks across the Brooklyn Bridge with cars whizzing by underneath? She may not have a visual experience, but she will probably see more than many of us with sight. Along with her daily journal, I hope to add photography and recordings to enhance and who knows? Perhaps she’ll have an opportunity to educate others who will never have the opportunity to visit the greatest city on earth..or educate those of us who can see, to show us what we’re missing on a daily basis because we take it all for granted. Hmm…could there be a book in her future?

Then in August, India! Still working on all the specifics, but of course plans to visit and photograph the Taj Mahal in Agra. A stay in Hyderabad will provide me an opportunity to visit the Joy Home for Children, an orphanage there as well as their HIV and Aids Centre.

Added to that is the incredible opportunity to have the best of both worlds by living in NYC and Arizona, plus visiting my beautiful parents and sister in the land of lovers, Virginia.

So here’s to an exciting and promising 2011, sharing and living my life in such a way that when my feet hit the floor in the morning Satan will shudder and say…”Oh shit, she’s awake!”

* BTW, this just so happens to be my 500th post here at Gotham Girl Chronicles! What a milestone!