It's all related, folks. All of it.

The second thing I'm going to write about on my New Orleans trip is a session on photography that I attended.

I'm going to preface this by saying that I'm a pretty decent photographer, but I'm not great at it. I'm not even the best photographer in my family, because my brother and my Dad are both pretty stellar at it.

I went to this photography session at the last minute when I decided to change my schedule up.

That was a wise decision.

Writing will always be my first love in life, but photography is in second place. 

The conference speaker was a local New Orleans photographer who mainly shoots landscapes. His introduction was down to earth and humble. 

What the heck is he going to talk to a bunch of school district public relations people about? After all, he didn't even know that this profession existed until he got the phone call to speak at the conference. 

I can describe the happiest moments of my personal and professional life. In my professional life, the time spent in that session has to be on the top five list. 

The session started like this: By the presenter saying that to be a photographer, you have to be comfortable and confident with your body.

Let that sink in for a minute, folks.

After I thought about that, the session just kept getting better and better. Suddenly, in a room states away from my home, in a room full of strangers, I started to tear up.

The talk shifted from photography to music to mental health, to anxiety and depression, and then amazingly shifted back to photography after each of those topics was discussed. 

In fact, the topic of photography was never really left behind.

Like I said on social media after the session: That moment when you’re at a professional conference, attend a session on photography, and end up discussing mental health, art and music. 😍 It’s all related, folks. All of it. (Insert corny ‘Do I actually get paid to do this?!?’ joke here.)

I wish I could describe the magic in the air during this session. There are times in my life where words fail and I'm rendered speechless, and this was definitely one of those times.

A room full of artistic, creative people discussing art, mental health and music?

Sigh.

It was perfect.

If my cards fall where I want them to, I'm going to Uber to the photographer's art gallery before I leave town. 

There's just no way this can wait until my next trip to New Orleans. 

No way.

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The cool thing about attending a session on photography is that there were exactly zero tips on what to do with the camera and its settings.

People who aren't photographers are intimidated by large cameras (and by large, I mean cameras that aren't iPhones.) So many times in my life, people have told me that I take good photos because I have a good camera.

Yeah, that's not how it works. Placing a photographer's talent on the brand of their camera is like comparing an NFL kicker's talent to the brand of socks and shoes that he wears.

Yeah, the brand is there, but that's literally not the reason why something turns out good. 

So, there's perspective. There's creativity. There's getting down to a child's level, and looking through the lens to see from their perspective.

It's an art.

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I was in 4-H when I was little, and I always took part in the photography portion of the county fair.

When you look at the photos at the fair, you see photos of cool vacations that kids took with their families. There's the ocean pictures, Walt Disney World photos, some pictures of overseas (Eiffel Tower). Things like that.

The thing is, growing up, I did not go on those vacations. 

And to be honest, I kind of.hated the kids who did.

I remember being frustrated with life when I was little, because in my little brain, I didn't think could complete in photography with kids who went to cool, exotic places.

I remember my parents teaching me to look through the lens of my camera to find beauty. I remember them telling me that you don't have to travel to find it. They told me that if I looked close enough around me, I'd find the beauty that I wanted so badly to photograph for the county fair.

And then one. year, the universe aligned. After my Dad grew some impressive morning glories in our backyard, my childhood dog, Patches, a Collie and German Shepard mix, sat down in the middle of the morning glories and looked off to the side.

I don't remember telling her to sit in that spot. (Although, she was totally a kid dog. She would have juggled standing on her back paws if my brother and I asked her to do it.)

And boom, because I was in the right spot at the right time, literally in my backyard, that picture won Grand Champion at the county fair that year. 

I still have it in a frame at my house. When I get home, I'll snap a photo of it and include it on thishereblog.

I was so damn proud of that trophy I got for that picture, that I probably still have it somewhere.

I remember thinking when I was little, ha! Take that, you losers who get beach vacations and Disney World every summer.

There's beauty in your backyard if you just stop and look for it. 

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I'm just going to throw some quotes out there that I wrote down on my iThing during this session.

• "If you have permission to take a photo, you have permission to cross the line."

• "You cross the line. You insert yourself."

• "I"m so glad I have this moment. It means something to me."

• "It was an image that says you're struggling and your hurt is real."

• "I never read the lyrics, even though I recited them thousands of times."

• "I have days when I'm really happy, and I have days when I'm struggling."

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I waited to write this blog post until midnight the day of this photography session. I'm kicking myself for waiting to write about it, because I don't think I accurately caught how magical this moment was.

It's always wrong to wait to write. 

You'd think I'd know that my now. 

Oops.

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I wrote this post before I went to that art gallery.

I Ubered my way there one night. In that Uber, the driver and I had an excellent discussion of real estate, and how much it sucks when the sellers back out at the last minute.

(You mean that happens to other people, too?)

This might have been my favorite part of the trip.

Wow.

I don't know if it's socially acceptable to take photos in an art gallery, so I did not. I did, however, take a photo of the quote that was written on a blackboard.

I loved this place. 

In case you're wondering, the photographer is Frank Relle, and here is his website.

And no, I did not get paid to write this post. It was just that amazing that I felt like I had to write about it.

:)