The Power of Love

Oh Huey Lewis, how I still love thee. The end of the 80s did not stop you. You even played the Orange County Fair this year, a mere 24 years after Back to the Future and Marty McFly transported us all back to the year 1955, and oh, I SO wanted to go see you play! I asked friends to join me, but no one seemed to want to go. (and yet, one friend ended up going... with her new boy. Such is life! :-) This is why I often end up doing things on my own! If I wait for everyone else, life is gonna pass me right on by... and I don't want to live life with regrets. And I regret not seeing the supporting star of "Duets" this summer when I had the chance!).

The Power of Love
Is a Curious Thing
Make One Man Weep
Make Another Man Sing

How much do I LOVE this song? If I'm ever in a funk or a bad mood with need of a pick-me-up (or even if I'm just in a peppy mood with a need for a ditty that reiterates my joyous state), I keep this song in my car on a custom CD I've created. It's instantaneous joy, sunshine, pure and simple. It's happiness incarnate (to me, at least!).

So... if I had to SUBTITLE this post, it would be "Blogging Rights." (Get it? Instead of Bragging Rights? Hello? **cricket, cricket** Is this thing on?)

Blogging Rights

Okay. I've been wanting to make this an official post for something like 2 weeks now! I could make all sorts of excuses and I've written bits and pieces of this in my head over those last 2 weeks, so I hope I remember it all. Better yet, maybe it will come out even better than it sounded in my head! **crossing fingers** Here goes (no more putting it off)!

So, I want to talk about the Power of Love. Here, I'm gonna give a run-down of the Power and its many forms of love wrapped up in social-media goodness:

Twitter
Who knew 140 characters or less could impart such joy, pure and simple? For example, I've posted things just because. Just because I believed in them, whether about the awesome products/service from McKenna Pro or WHCC... or maybe I'd tweet a shout-out to Scott Bourne, Terry White, Trey Ratcliff or Mike Wong (of onOne Software) for their inspirational posts, their ability to change my attitude/way of thinking for the day with a blog post of their own, their reviews/tutorials, etc... these are the people/companies on Twitter who took the time to either retweet me, stop and say THANK YOU for my post/response to something they tweeted (whether publicly or privately in a DM [Direct Message]), or even recommend me for a Follow Friday (FF).

Without a doubt, I of course appreciate the love from my professional and personal friends on Twitter, but when it comes from someone who literally must be receiving tons of @mentions/@replies and DMs, I am honored and touched when they take the 60 seconds (give or take) it took to stop, read, and respond. (Truthfully, I'm honored ANYONE takes time to listen to anything I have to say!) It doesn't matter to me the vehicle/package it comes in, just that someone was thoughtful enough to say "Thank you". (I'm thinking this appreciation comes of my upbringing from my ultra-thoughful and giving mom, who was born and raised in London... the English are famed for their manners, are they not?) To me, that translates to such an odd little bipolar-like lift. Is it crazy to be so honored by "the big people"? ... To be acknowledged by the idols I follow? Maybe I'm TwitterStruck! (you heard it HERE first, folks! Can I coin that phrase??)

I just sometimes feel like my own lowly little self, trying to become a great wedding photographer and "rubbing TwitterShoulders" (Twoulders?) with Da BIG Peeps is something that previously would have been so unattainable. It's like the line in the song from "Cheers": Makin your way in the world today / Takes everythin you've got. Ain't THAT the truth! I love this new era of sharing, not hoarding, information. It's amazing!

And the most incredible thing about Twitter to me is how easy it is to forge these new pathways to new friendships. (Quick story, cause I just thought this was soooo cool: last week, I was at the OC SmugMug, hosted by Jasmine Star, and Jeff Jochum of SmugMug was there as well. I follow him on Twitter, and a couple of days later, he tweeted about being at the Vancouver, BC SmugMug. He retweeted something from Jen Bebb, who retweeted another photographer named Katya Nova. I was curious about the subject of this particular tweet I'd read, so I followed Jen's link to Katya's blog. I LOVED Katya's post and images, and immediately began following both Jen and Katya on Twitter. Katya must have seen me as a new follower, because the next day, I got a DM from her, saying that she loved MY blog and "voice". How freakin honored was I??! Things like that put me on a little high, I swear it does. Maybe I'm too reliant on these little victories, but they're what I live for. I'm so happy when I've made a positive impact on someone ELSE'S day, you know?

And... I wish I could SAY things succinctly like I want to, yet Twitter forces me to. (Have you had to put this blog post down yet and come back to it? MAN, I'm verbose. This is why I need to blog more often, maybe I won't write so darn much in one sitting!) Becker just made a tweet today that his OCD keeps him from posting anything other than the 140 character limit lets him. I'm SO the same way, but only because I write so much that I have to keep editing down til I get back to 140 characters. :-)


Facebook
I can keep this one short, but I don't want to ignore it... FB has been an AMAZING resource for me, and a way for free marketing and a way to promote my shoots, my work, etc. (Although, HELLO, Facebook: Get a CLUE! Get rid of the Live Feed/News Feed thing, put back the recent links on the right-hand column on the homepage... plus, this new News Feed is screwing up my live feed on my iPhone version of FB. If the wheel ain't broke, don't fix it! Or maybe... let the user customize their homepage as it works for them?? Argh. Okay. Soapbox: done... **Deep breath... Zen moment... and... Done**). Anywho, something as simple as getting a shout-out from someone I've done a shoot for, or compliments on recents shoots I've posted (even the "like/thumbs-up" thing brings a smile to my face)... or seeing that tons of my friends use my pix as their profile pictures. Better yet, I've made new friends from FB and found new photog shootout groups. And I love that it's easy to follow "fan pages" and find my fave software is on sale, or there's an impromptu shootout going on, who wants to meet up? LOVE the power of Social Networking Media!

Blogging
OMG. This is the huge one, and yet... probably the shortest paragraph. Last year, my friend Courtney got married to her re-acquainted high school sweetheart in upstate Washington. It was supposed to be a small affair, low-budget, DIY-rustic gorgeous touches that Courtney is fabulous at and known for (she's an AWESOME hair and makeup artist too!). I told her I HAD to come up to WA and take pictures of the magical day... I knew in my heart it was going to be incredible. And it was. Courtney just submitted her beautifully-written love story to two nationally-recognized wedding blogs (you have to read her story, she tells it so well), but my pictures were also included! What a RUSH, to be part of someone else's feature on a wedding blog! I felt kinda famous, even if just for a day or two. :-) Check out the posts on Wiley Valentine and 2 Sisters Blog. (**HOORAY!** Okay... I might have done a little jig in place just cause I was so happy.)

Networking (aka NetMAKING, per J*)
Last week, I attended the OC SmugMug. Jasmine was the presenter that night, and talked about a new phrase she'd just coined. I'm afraid I don't have the EXACT wording right, but netmaking is where you strive/aspire to do things for others without the intent of personal gain (I tried to encompass the essence of the message, but I just found her exact definition she gave, per her post: "The desire to put one's needs before your own as a way to help, invest, and grow another business.").

So, as it turned out, the very next day (Friday), I got a call from a photographer in San Diego who needed an assistant for a wedding he was shooting that day (he was referred to me from another photog friend of mine). I was absolutely unable to go, so I referred a name of a new friend and aspiring photographer to him that I was sure would be free and able to do the job. She's new to the industry and hungry for any assignment she can go to and learn from. I gave him her name and number, and 10 minutes later, I got a wonderful post from Jen, thanking me for passing along the job... she was on her way to SD to assist! She was beyond ecstatic, and I was thrilled to help make someone else's day (2 actually! The SD photog and Jen as well), with no intent to gain anything of my own. And just then, I remembered Jasmine's speech the night before, and thought: You know what? I did something good today, with no ulterior motives for personal gain (except maybe to make MYSELF feel good). And it DID feel good.

This is what I'm good at: connecting other people and putting them in touch (I think I get this trait from my Dad, he's amazing at connecting people in the professional world). I'm really good at connecting with people myself. I keep up with people I meet in random places. (My ex-boyfriend was always amazed and would joke that we could be in line for 5 minutes somewhere and by the front of the line I'd be their best friend. But it's so true... I connect to people fast, because I find SO MANY things about so many people just so darned interesting. I love to learn, whether about people, photography, business, life. Bring it on! I never want to STOP being a student!). Life is all about the connections we make.

And now, in closing, a big SHOUT OUT and THANK YOU to those of you who stuck it out and read to the end.

And I'll be back to posting more pix in just a day or two ... or three... at most! Cheers!

It don't take money and it don't take fame
don't need no credit card to ride this train
Tougher than diamonds and stronger than steel
you won't feel nothin' till you feel
you feel the power, just the power of love
That's the power, that's the power of love
You feel the power of love

Oh Huey ... I couldn't have said it better myself. At least, not in 140 characters or less.