Being in this business, we’re constantly surrounded by love. We talk about it a ton, this love thing. We’re blessed to be able to do what we love, and love doing what we do around this love thing.
Love — you learn from it, you grow from it, and if you’re lucky enough, you live it.
But I don’t think we’ve talked enough about my love. No, not photography — Cindi.
5 things I bet you didn’t know about my love.
1) She’s a reformed cat burglar. OK, maybe that’s the wrong term. What I mean to say, is she’s a reformed catnapper. I’ve never been an animal person, but Cindi was a package deal with a dog and a cat. She has this affinity for animals that took me forever to quite understand. She squeals around dogs like I do around children or miniature fruit tarts. Her heart melts when we pass the MaxMobile pet adoption truck, the very same way mine does when we pass an ice cream truck.I must admit, I do now very much love hanging out with our little loyal pets, and I credit Cindi with teaching me what that is. I later learned that this love for animals started at a very young age. Once upon a time, wee little Cindi met a neighbor’s cat that she adored. So much so, she stole it and took it home. For reals.
2) She reminds me of Looney Toons. Not just because she’s constantly animated or throws facial expressions like something out of an anime. But because she also learned English as a second language at a young age by watching TV. At times, this has resulted in passing off some interesting vocabulary and phrases as hilarious proper English. My fave is when she stacks modals and says things like “I used to could,” before jumping in to the air, freezing for a second, and then disappearing out of view with a whizbang and smoke-cloud trail.
3) She ran a fashion blog. It’s true. Over at Simply Cindi. If you don’t know, now you knowww…
4) She didn’t think she was creative. When we first met, and she found out I was into the arts, she was amazed. She had always considered herself a huge fan of artistic endeavors, but didn’t consider herself a creative person. In fact, she felt a natural gravitation toward Marketing and Advertising, but opted instead for the safer Finance/Accounting route coming out of University because she doubted her ability to be creative. Mostly because when playing Pictionary her pictures looked… well, … like this:
But when she found out I had a thing for photography, she really pushed for us to pick up some pro-ish gear. In a flash she had bought us a Nikon DSLR and lenses for me to snap photos of our life away on. It wasn’t long before her appreciation of photography became a love for creating. We ditched the Nikon when we (mostly driven by her) found ourselves more Canon-folk. She started herself on a used body, which she outgrew in mere weeks, and it wasn’t too long before she had found herself with her very own overflowing drawer of pro-level gear. All to herself. I’m constantly amazed at the shots she captures, the keen eye she shares, when I think back to how black-white-and-gray her life buried in financial spreadsheets was.
5) She’s not very good at following rules. At least when they come from me, or as noted above, the English. She’s bold is all. She follows her heart and what she knows is right, regardless of whether it is “the norm,” the expected, or even the common practice. I’ve learned a lot from ever since combining efforts and deciding we’d do this photography thing together. She’s shown me how to be less self-conscious, something I don’t think I would’ve been able to pick up if it weren’t for her, and I think it’s made us a bolder, more fearless pair of photographers. She’s constantly pushing us to try harder and go further, while challenging us to evaluate how we do things — just because everybody else may do something one way, doesn’t mean it exemplifies a true focus on the client and delivers what’s best for them.
Yeah, she’s pretty cool.
