forward I THINKING I back

Lately I have been doing a lot of forward thinking. Setting some well thought out, attainable goals. Taking as clear of a look into the future as I can. Dreaming a bit, if you want to call it that. I like to dream. I think its good for the soul.

Inevitably, however, whenever I find myself dreaming of the future, I always find myself looking back. Thinking about just how I got to where I am today. I have been looking through some of my images from the past, and came across these again. Willie Nelson. Willie Nelson! He's a legend to many. At least those who enjoy the rich history of country music. Even to those who don't, its Willie Nelson.

While I was working in minor league baseball in Nashville, TN, we got word that Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan would be doing a tour stop at our home field, Greer Stadium. At the time I wore many hats for team I was working for, one of which was the role of "staff photographer". I spent many of my nights running around taking photos of anything that was going on at the ballpark. Mostly to document for our sponsors that their money invested in our team was actually being put to good use. But every so often I was able to do something that was really fun...to take advantage of the perks of the job.

This was one of those times. I got the opportunity to be in press row for the first three songs of Willie Nelson's set. I can look back and chuckle quite a bit now. I was one of the only girls in the row, which actually worked out to my advantage (I got quite a few more glances than the men in the row). Here's the kicker though. I snapped all of these shots with a video camera...yep, a video camera! Why you may ask. Well at the time, logic told me that it had the strongest zoom, so that was the obvious choice. Needless to say, everybody else had their big fancy cameras, zooms, and flashes, so next to them I'm sure I looked pretty ridiculous. I can admit, it must have looked silly!

To me at the time, that didn't matter though. It was all about the experience. The rush of being in front of the entire crowd...a position that thousands would have killed to be in. I had the time of my life. And in the end, I had picture of Willie Nelson in concert that were taken by me. A proud and exciting moment.

Why all of this you may ask? Because, I think it is healthy to remember the exact time when photography became the thing that I wanted to do for a living. I mean, I had always enjoyed having a camera in hand. Loved it in fact. But I had never had a burning desire to eventually do this for a living until that night. Every time I think about those three songs I get excited again.

So, what does the future hold? I can only dream and continue to work hard. The rest I believe is not entirely up to me. Do I have a long way to go? The short answer...yes I do! That is the most exciting part. I can't wait to learn, grow, and embrace the times ahead.