Hello. How are you?

Had to run to Walmart this morning to pick up a few things. I ran out of ribbon for my boxes, but that’s not why I’m writing this post. On my way into Walmart, I said “Hello. How are you?” to the greeter there at the door. He said hello and thanks for asking. That concluded that conversant. While looking for my ribbon I started to think about what just happened. I mean, I asked this gentleman how he was doing but did I really care or was I just spewing  out verbal garbage?  On my way out, I wanted to change that.

I learned that Sam is turning 80 this year. He retired 25 years ago at the age of 55 at Caterpillar. He was a foreman and worked there most of his life. He looked extremely healthy for an 80 year old man. I asked him his secret. He told me to eat healthy and keep doing what I’m doing. We chatted for a few more minutes before I said goodbye and wished him a good day.

I always ask myself every time I see an elderly person working. How did you get here? How did you get to this point in your life? Are you working because you have to or because you want to? These are questions that I ask myself frequently. Not only with elderly people, but with all my clients. What’s you story. Who are you? How can I capture who you really are? Let’s face it, with technology today and cameras being pretty intelligent, ANYONE can take a picture. What makes me different is that with every push of my finger, I look for that storytelling moment. I look for that split second that is going make people ask themselves, “Who is this person? How did they get to this point of their life?” So with that, I’m leaving you with two things:

1. Take the time to get toknow someone today. Even if it is only for a few minutes, you can really brighten up someones day just by ACTUALLY talking to them.

2. When you are taking photographs, look for those storytelling moments. Look for that split second that is going to tell a story for generations to come. Don’t just make the camera click. Make the camera tell a story.