Trip to Virginia

I went to Virginia last weekend for a few reasons. First, my sister was having a party to celebrate her new life as a single (recently divorced), available person. She had the party in the clubhouse of her condo and other than having enough food and drink to feed 10 times the 26 people who showed up, it was a great time. My great friend Mike Ault played guitar while legendary Al Williams played sax and flute. Sis had many of her old friends there as well as our whole family. No fights broke out, no arguments ensued and nobody got pissed. Everyone seemed to have a good time. I tried to play photographer but the room was a bit dark and I really don't like shooting "events". I always feel like my flash is an intrusion. Afterwards, we all cleaned up the post-party mess and had a nice family gathering until 2:00am. It was really nice getting everyone together. A rarity these days.

Killing two birds with one trip... I also did some photos of Mike Ault for an upcoming CD he's producing. We took a trip Sunday out towards Leesburg on Evergreen Mills Road to shoot him with his guitar and amps in a large field of golden grass. Unfortunately it's spring... not as much golden grass as I was hoping for. It was overcast, the wind was blowing about 30 mph and Mike isn't all that crazy about having his picture taken. Oh, he's photogenic enough but he gets a tad stiff when I aim a camera at him. Hey, I totally understand, I hate having my picture taken. I generally feel pretty young and vibrant until I see a snapshot of myself. Then I stare at the photo and think,"Who is that middle-aged guy?" The big ugly slap of reality. Anyway, Mike was a trooper and sat there plinking away on his guitar while I snapped away. I'm sure the residents of Leesburg, Virginia, driving by wondered what the hell we were doing out in this field with strobes going off.