Serenity

From the minute the back door slides open, pure joy explodes across her face. Sprinting down the steps and out through the backyard, Sophie makes a bee-line for the steep pathway that leads to the pier. Her ears perk up, her eyes beam brightly as we wander down towards the water’s edge.

Occasionally, she’ll stop and pause, glancing sweetly at the birds above, before running once more.

The boards creak beneath her paws as she winds her way down the planks until she reaches the end. I follow her quietly, slowly awakening in the morning air, until I reach her at the end of the dock. One by one we empty the traps, refilling them with bait, putting our catch into the live-well.

With each movement, she jogs along beside me, her enthusiasm unwavering. Occasionally Sophie will poke her nose at the crabs, only to quickly pull away as their claws snap, reminding her to keep her distance. When we finish crabbing, I occasionally sit beside her on the dock, taking off my sandals, I guiding my legs over the side of the pier. My toes touch the tip of the waves and Sophie lays down beside me. These soft morning hours are her favorite. And I must admit, they have become my favorite as well.

Now that the seasons are changing, I have to give up crabbing for a little while… Trading in my sweet iced tea and sandals for pumpkin spice lattes and leather boots. Sophie will still run for the pier when I let her out in the mornings and I’ll chase behind her, calling her name and shivering as the wind whips up off the river.

It’s these moments that I’ve come to love the most.

In the simplicity and serenity that surrounds me, I’ve found my little bit of happiness.

This week has been anything but normal.. Tuesday I woke up to find a photographer halfway across the country was stealing my images, putting his watermark on them, claiming them as his own. Wednesday afternoon I was hit by a horrible migraine, Thursday brought a short, but frustrating, power outage that delayed my desperate need to edit, and today, in an effort to fix our well, we will be without running water for a few days… You get the idea. This is not my idea of  a good week… No… This has been more like a nightmare.

What happened on Tuesday was an outrageous and a gross violation of copyright law, but even more importantly – a misuse of the intimate memories from Suzy and Andrew’s Wedding.

We as photographers work incredibly hard to develop a style, build a portfolio, and refine our craft. We struggle as small business owners. We spend night after night editing images,  giving up our weekends and holidays to capture the most emotional and intimate moments in our client’s lives… And we do it all for the love of photography.

When an individual steals something that took years of learning and hard work to create, it hurts. It’s a slap in the face. And it goes against everything we stand for as creatives.

But amidst the anger, the tears, and the overwhelming frustration that I’ve felt this week, I have to remember to look for the silver lining. The support and love that my friends and colleagues displayed during Tuesday’s Photo-Stealing Scandal was unprecedented… So many people reached out to help me, so many voices of camaraderie, so many reminders that this too shall pass.

I absolutely love being a photographer. There is nothing else in the world that I could see myself doing. No other occupation that would fulfill me with the joy and constant satisfaction that this job does.  And even in the toughest of moments, I can’t help but feel blessed to be doing what I love. Having the opportunity to wake up every morning and create images that will be cherished for a lifetime is an incredible blessing.

I truly want to say thank you to everyone who reached out to help me this week. When I felt like David going against Goliath, you all stood up to help me defend my images and my livelihood. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU.

 

Mamiya 645 AFD | Scanned by Indie Film Lab

 

You may be wondering why I opened this post with a story about crabbing with my dog… She’s awfully cute, but doesn’t know anything about copyright laws or photography for that matter. She wasn’t even aware that Tuesday was a tough day in the office.

You see, after moving from my childhood home this summer, Sophie and I started this little tradition of crabbing in the morning together along the dock. We would get up early, wander our way down to the water, and spend a few moments in absolute serenity.

It can be so tempting for us to get caught up in the stress of our day to day, and it’s often easier to look at things negatively when we hit roadblocks or confront problems that arise. Today’s little story is a reminder that happiness can be found in the simplest of moments, even during the toughest of times. No one can make us feel inferior or unhappy unless we give them that power.

 

“It’s about living in the moment and appreciating the smallest things. Surrounding yourself with the things that inspire you and letting go of the obsessions that want to take over your mind. It is a daily struggle sometimes and hard work but happiness begins with your own attitude and how you look at the world.”
― Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project