February 5, 2010

Today I am Grateful for:

Miracles. Seriously, I can't call it anything but. I am being so helped along in my life I cannot call it coincidence. Being that I have changed careers I am working diligently 8 hours a day focused on my photography. Starting your own business can be lonely, especially because I know how to do the photography part of my job. But getting the business up and running and off the ground is a whole other animal.

I have been reading a book explaining the ins and outs of marketing for photographers, written by Mitche Graf. I have been sending emails to photographers offering to take them to lunch so I can ask them questions. I've managed to have lunch with one photographer and an hour and a half conversation on the phone with another.

Now, here is the miracle, which I will call it that happened yesterday. For grins I was searching for studio space on Craigslist and nothing came of it. I then went to the web and Googled a random search for "studio space in Houston." I was lead to a sight that was looking for someone to share studio space. The problem was that it was back in October. I then started looking at her sight because I liked her images. There was a picture of an Indian wedding that I found interesting because of the mans face. So I decided to write her to ask her to lunch. She didn't have an email on her website, only a form I could fill out. I don't like using forms for a lunch request. So I decide to go ahead and write an email to her and I would just make up the email address by using her domain name and her first name and hoped it would work. I wrote the email asking her to lunch, I pushed send and I didn't get an email back saying it was invalid. So I waited, still nothing. Then I went on about my morning working. Now this is the part that shows me I am so right where I need to be right now. I'm happy, I'm sober and life is good. I looked at my email and I had a reply from her. Unfortunately, she is not available for lunch for the next two weeks, but, the first Thursday of every month she has a meeting in her studio with photographers to share information and usually a topic of discussion. She invited me to come and it starts at 7:00 p. m. last night.

By 7:30 p.m. last evening I was sitting in a room with about 30 photographers. It felt just like an AA meeting to me. They even said that at one point. The connection of a miracle gets even closer. As she is talking about the topic she is talking about a seminar she went to and the person holding the seminar asked her, "what was her hook or what drove people to her as a photographer?" She gave her answer, which was "Geek Brides" and she said Mitche Graf just looked at her because he had not ever heard an answer about a bride described that way before. Mitche Graf is the author of the book I am reading. And for me to end up in a room with all these photographers, all at once. It was totally amazing and a miracle to me.

As a topper, my business cards that were suppose to arrive on Friday arrived Thursday morning, I mean, come on, Miracle is spray painted all over it.

Life is Sweet!