A Very Lucky Day

Kids Together Playground Cary NC, 16 October 2010

I was floundering in the Spring of 2010 after an earlier than planned exit from a corporate career (as Yogi so eloquently expressed, we “agreed different”). I was trying to figure out my place in the Sun. Got a Wake County “Certified Pool Operator” Certificate and earned a modest paycheck, running our HoA Pool that summer. But it was sort of a “Lady of Our Perpetual Responsibility” guilt avoidance – “Yes, I have a job.” Another I/T job would’ve had me in counseling.

Money wasn’t the immediate issue, we’d put away enough acorns in mast years to get along. The real issue was, I was 60, burned out on corporate I/T (IBM/Lenovo) and had no clue about where I’d lived for a dozen years. Life had been commuting on I-40 to RTP and conference calls. A highly paid bubble.

I’d been learning the craft of photography since a Parisian pickpocket boosted an obsolete Point&Shoot in 2007. That was my “justification” to buy a robust DSLR and a good, non-kit lens. The Art part or “Why” was latent (wife #1 did not want to be married to a Painter & Teacher). I was learning the Craft of Photography or the “How” part. Read the manual until I understood the tool. But I had zero clue how to make any kind of business from that.

Looking for kindred spirits, I joined Cary Photographic Artists. Which led me to a new, hyper-local, online publication where they advertised their Open Competition – “Cary Citizen”. Which led me to a coffee at La Farm with the Editor, Hal Goodtree, where I pitched me being a “Contributing Photographer”.

So armed with a legitimate Press/Media Pass, I asked to cover small events, with heart. It was a raison d’être to explore my community. And I’d have to figure out how to tell stories with photographs – no excuses.

The above photo is from my very first assignment at Kids Together Park “Fall Foliage Walk”, not five minutes from my house and which I didn’t know existed. I began to learn about where I lived. That was Saturday morning.

That afternoon was my second assignment, “Children’s Celebration of The Arts” at Cary Ballet Conservatory. Which I also didn’t know existed.

And there, I found what I was looking for. My photograph, below, had nothing to do with the event. And everything to do with the next dozen years.

Until I wore out. But it’s a really good worn out.