My best friend I've never met

Velvet self-portrait, Death Valley 2008

My best friend I've never met has a tumor, and she'll travel. Well Doug, that's not vague at all. OK, OK. Let's back up here for a second. First off, that's the name of her blog - "Have tumor, will travel." It's worth reading for tales of her adventures alone, like the time she made friends with a homeless Navy vet in San Francisco or the time she witnessed the apocalypse.

My best friend I've never met...where do I start. Well her name is Velvet. Yes, that's her real name and yes, we're moving on from here.

We've never met because Velvet lives pretty much as far away from Boston as you can get in this country without going to Hawaii. She dated a buddy of mine from umpire school for years and years and we "met" through him.

A few months back, after much, much, much persistence on my part (and her dad's (he takes pretty cool photos too, btw)), Velvet bought her first camera. Sadly, it's a Sony, not a Nikon, but hey everyone can't be perfect. (But if I win that $207 million Friday, she's getting a D3, like it or not). I think you'd never know it unless I told you (hey I'm all about dishing secrets here), but Velvet's only been shooting for a few months - I mean are you kidding me?

Since JUNE of 2008 alone, she has managed to more or less hit the Outdoor Photographer dream list of national parks, becoming the poster child for why a national parks annual pass is a good idea. Not to mention that one could most likely devote an entire career to shoot in any of these parks, but check out this list:

Crater Lake National Park
Death Valley National Park
Joshua Tree National Park
Zion National Park
Grand Canyon National Park
Kings Canyon National Park
Sequoia National Park
Yosemite National Park
Lassen Volcanic National Park
Petrified Forest National Park
Redwood National Park
Saguaro National Park

Jealous yet? Yeah. Exactly. Talk about taking your new hobby (and car) hobby to heart.

By this point you're probably wondering about the "have tumor" part. Well unfortunately not everything is not all sun and surfing in Southern Cali. A few months back Velvet was diagnosed with a non-malignant brain tumor. She's doing ridiculously well (I mean, if I had a brain tumor I'd probably, well, I don't know, be curled up in a ball somewhere. I sure know I wouldn't be able to function anywhere nearly as well as she has).

I'm often asked about sources of inspiration, usually as it pertains to my photography. In this case it's just Velvet. If she can somehow manage to teach herself to shoot, walk abandoned dogs every week, make it to more national parks in six months than most get to in a lifetime and still manage a "regular" job. (I say "regular" because well, nothing about her is regular) with a brain tumor, it kinda takes any excuse the rest of us might have right out of the equation, doesn't it?

I will say there is one (selfish, I know, I know) thing I'm hoping for in 2009 - actually meeting this girl in PERSON. I don't think that's too much to ask.


For more Velvet - check out this kickin' video of her pet turtle, Yertle (how cool is that?), her Flickr stream or her blog.

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Of Love & Discounts

I think that at any time in business, but especially with new businesses, there's a temptation to giving into our friends when they ask for discounts/freebies. This is a mistake I have made, and I'm just as guilty as everyone of this, to this point. We love our friends, we want to keep our friends and make them happy. BUT. And here's the kicker - love will not pay for my new 17-55 2.8, or, metaphorically speaking, feed the kids.

Also, I should say right off that no one, not even family, gets freebies from me on photos (unless they're a gift, but that's different), but even family pays my costs. My list of those who will continue to get items at cost is itsy bitsy, and if you don't already know who you are, no, I will not add you to the list.

Why am I blogging about this? Because this is not a conversation I wish to have with every friend who thinks, "I love your work," means, "Your prints should cost me the same as they would on Snapfish." Because, well, I don't print with snapfish, I print with a high-quality professional print-house and especially in the print market I've found, you get what you pay for. Now, I do offer discounts from time to time, and those are available to everyone, but discounts do not equal free/at cost.

For more on this, check out a recent discussion thread on Flickr.

And for those of you who asked/wanted to know about my blind date last night? (First in two years (blind, not date that is)). Well, you'll just have to ask me later, because I'm just not going to blog about that kind of stuff.

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