Letter #92 - Jim

I am a photographer.  I haven't formally studied photography, but I have had the great privilege of having some fantastic mentors in my life who taught me a lot, and who encouraged me on my journey, and critiqued my work.  About 5 years ago I decided to launch my own photography business, as a side job.  The intent was always to make a little extra money doing something I love, but not committing to it full-time.  Photography is a creative outlet for me, and if I'm relying on it solely for my income then it becomes more of a job, and I don't love it as much.  I didn't want to force myself to fall out-of-love with my passion, so I've never pursued it full time.  Even since I've been laid off I have amped up my efforts, but am still seeking full time employment that isn't photography.

Jim was one of my photo-mentors.  I met Jim by accident, because he happened to have arrived early at a worship service, and I was standing at the podium with my father, hyperventilating and sobbing my heart out.  I had agreed to say a prayer at the opening service of our church's world conference, and was the opening prayer before our President-Prophet preached.  There were about 5000 people in attendance, plus it was being broadcasted on many of the local tv networks, and world wide on a live streaming webcast.  The reality of what I had agreed to do had just sunk in, and my poor dad was trying to get me as settled as he could before the service began.  I was freaking out.  Jim witnessed all of this (unbeknownst to me).  When the service began and I settled in my seat (alone on the rostrum with the top 3 leaders of our church at the time... no added pressure!) - I discovered that when they tell you the lights will be so bright you won't hardly see anyone, they're lying.  I felt my heart catch in my throat again, and tried to look down without looking as though I was looking down.  That's when I saw Jim.  He gave me the biggest smile and just nodded at me.  The rest of the service, I just focused on him, and his smile never broke.  He got me through the entire thing and I had never even met him before.


That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, and once he discovered that I had a budding interest in photography, he jumped on it and offered to critique some of my work.  From then on, he would take me around church events as his assistant, until he eventually promoted me to staff photographer (a very exciting day!).  He would invite me to come stay with him and his wife for a weekend to tour me around and take photos.  He taught me how to use photoshop, and how to better frame a shot, and gave me tips on shooting portraits.  He introduced me to his brother-in-law, another excellent photographer who also took me under his wing.


Whenever I hear from Jim I am always anxious to see what he has to say about my latest work, and eager to hear how life is treating him.  He recently contacted me and asked if I would be willing to share a testimonial that he could put on his website, so I decided to send it to him long hand along with a letter.


I may not see Jim as much as I like, and I may not keep in touch as much as I used to, but he's with me every single time I pick up my camera, and I am forever grateful for that smile!

Letter #82 - Alexei

When I was in college I worked in the cafeteria in my dorm for a couple of years.  My first semester I met Alexei, a Russian grad student who was also working in the caf.  Alexei and I hit it off almost instantly, and truth be told I had a big crush on him until we discovered he was 10 years older than me and that was just too big a gap at that life stage.  Age and crush aside, we had SO MUCH FUN working together, he has an awesome sense of humour and we would just laugh and laugh through our entire shift whenever we worked together.  We would also try to get our breaks together so we could keep the conversation going.

Before I even finished my time at school Alex and I lost touch.  When I moved off campus and he stopped working at the caf we drifted and lost track of each other.  Until last month.  I received a message in my inbox on Facebook asking if I was the same Rachel from Case Hall Caf... I was floored.  Here was my crazy Russian again, I was so excited to hear from him!  Alex is back in Russia now and I was glad to hear he is doing well and updates on his life.  I asked for his address (snail mail) so I could make him a part of this project and today's mail is carrying off a letter to Russia with greetings, updates and photos!

I look forward to hearing back from him, whether online or via snail mail, I hope the letter arrives alright, he said Russian mail service can be pretty shady sometimes.  In any case it's been very cool reconnecting with such a cool old friend :o)

Letter #81 - Granny

When I met my husband I was so excited to also meet his grandparents.  I lost both of my grandfathers by age 10, and one of my grandmothers when I was in college.  I never really lived very close to any of them for long so I always felt as if I got a little gypped when it came to having a relationship with my grandparents like some people do.  My husband had those relationships and when I met him he still had three living grandparents.  By the time we got married her had lost two of them and is now down to just Granny.

Granny is simply awesome.  She is fiercely independent (slowly less so as hip replacements and knee surgeries slow her down) and has a fantastic sense of humour.  I decided to send her a note because I would like to continue to develop my relationship with her.  She adores her family (4 sons, 3 daughter in laws, a dozen grandkids plus their spouses and a couple of great-grandchildren...!)  I sent her some photos from our wedding, from our honeymoon, and of our kitties, along with well wishes and some updates on things going on in our lives right now.  I actually hesitated before sealing the envelope, thinking I should let my husband add his own stuff too, then decided he really didn't have to and this could be allowed to just be mine.

Letter #73 - Aunt Pam

I've mentioned that I'm not always the best granddaugher.  I'm also not always the best niece.  My aunts on my mum's side of the family got my grandma's writing gene.  They send cards at least monthly (often times more frequently than that) they send little gifts with each holiday, they drop things off for me that they were getting rid of and thought I may want, or things they just happened to see out somewhere that they picked up... they really are great at keeping in touch and letting me know how much they love me and that they think of me often.  I am not good at returning the favour.  I almost always get a thank you note in the mail for gifts or unexpected hand me downs, but beyond that I'm not usually good at just popping a note in the mail to say hi.  Today I decided to work on that.  So Aunt Pam gets letter #73.

Aunt Pam is sister #2 of 5 in my mum's family.  She loves dogs and used to take my cousin and I shopping all the time.  She is an incredible bargain shopper and would get us the best deals on really great clothes, jewelry and makeup.  She would always be giving us these goody bags of freebies she would get places, and shared her fine jewelry collection with us.  Her husband passed away a few years ago and life changed dramatically.  As a result, I've been even worse at keeping in touch with her, something I feel badly about but haven't really known how to remedy very well.

I sent her a note today pretty much just to say hi.  I included some photos of our kitties as she often sends us treats for them, and a photo of my husband and I from our honeymoon, since she hasn't gotten to see any of those photos yet.  I really hope the letter catches her on a good day, and brings a smile to her face to know I've been thinking about her.  The anniversary of my Uncle's death is coming up soon, so I know that's weighing on her.  It has been extremely difficult on her coming to terms with losing him (understandably so!)