Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Be Our Guest - Pam Donoghue



It is with a heart full of joy that I present our Guest Blogger today: Pam Donoghue. Pam is no stranger here at FOL. She has been a guest blogger before, she's a faithful reader and a frequent commenter. Many of you already know Pam from online photo classes and her Flickr stream.

Last week I had the overwhelming privilege of meeting Pam ... I'll let her tell the story of that day.

                                                                                         ~ Dotti
Friendship


In 2011 I started participating in a series of classes at Big Picture Scrapbooking, taught by Tracey Clark. I didn't scrapbook at the time. In fact, I didn't take pictures at the time. My husband did all of that. It was his idea to give me one of his old point and shoot cameras while we were fishing in an attempt to get my mind off the bugs. He said, "Shoot some wildflowers or something."

It was in these classes that I met many of you. I had no idea which way was up as far as a camera was concerned. I remember shooting the cove one morning and I had it on the wrong white balance so the cove was blue (it was in winter) and I thought it was quite miraculous. I laugh to type this. 

And there was Dotti. Present and caring and witty and wise and shot after shot, she left me kind comments. And it made me want to keep playing. The rest, as they say, is history.



This year I paced the pier and waited and miracle of miracles, Dotti came through the door as part of her cruise trip with her husband. Ask me how excited I was. I shoved my camera into a stranger's hands and said, "Shoot! Wait for the beep and shoot! Shoot lots!" Then I was hugging Dotti. Can you believe it? She said, "Do you know him?" No. Of course not. And he must have been too scared to click at all, he was probably scared stiff and waiting for the beep because he took not one single picture.


I've looked at this wharf and my cove a million times but did I ever think Dotti would be there? Never! And she was! Right there. And now, a week later, I drive by every time and grin and picture her there, shooting the boat for Carol.


Oh, take lots of pictures of the people you love. I'm sure you do. I type this knowing you all do. But get yourself into those shots. I mean it, whatever it takes, prop the camera on books, or a level rock or tables or whatever you need to capture yourself with the people who matter to you.


I can hear our laughter when I took these shots. I can feel what it felt like to be with Dotti, not in a class, not in email, not on Flickr, but real life! Voices! Mannerisms! What an amazing day.


So, I know this is not about word art but it's at least wordy. Get in those pictures, FOLers. Get in them. You look fine! Truly! Look at us, nearly blowing off the rocks at Peggy's Cove. We did not care about our hair. None of that matters. Get in the picture. My word art is this - just do it.

Thanks for letting me share this here.

Over and out,
Fishgirl/Pam
  

14 comments:

Carol said...

Awwwww! "shooting the boat for Carol…" - awwwwww! (excuse me while I make this all about me….!) SO nice!

You two look so good, and like you are having so much fun (which of course, we all completely expected)! Peggy's Cove has been on my list for years, and it looks beautiful, Lucky Pam, but the real beauty in these shots is in everyone's smiling eyes! So often people won't get in the shot because of their damn hair - can't tell you how often I've heard that (and if push comes to shove - how often I personally have said that to my father in the days before I was a photographer) But I so get it now, at my age. I look at the faces I love and see love - not hairdos. The most precious moments of all are the natural ones that show what people really look like during an average day. Thanks for the lesson, Pam - we all need a reminder sometimes!

So happy to see this trip, so happy to think of you guys together, and a little jealous. Nanook of the north no longer Fishy - you are totally in the groove now! Keep manning our northern outpost while the rest of us figure out how to get there!

Dotti said...

Thank you, Pam, for this wonderful account of our absolutely magical day together. And, what Pam didn't tell you and what I think was one of the best things about that day is that our husbands were able to get in on the act. I talk a bit about that at my personal blog today, camperky.com. But this is not only a lesson about getting in the picture, it's about meeting as many online friends as you can. It's an amazing circle we have here on the internet and getting to make an online friend a real life friend is a joy beyond description. So, dear Nanook of the North, thank you for such a magical day and for being our guest. xoxo

Cathy H. said...

A wonderful post that brings smiles this morning!

CarolHart said...

Pam, I admire you and Dotti for making the time to meet & spend time together. You will have fond memories of that day for years to come.

Viv@Thoughts from the Desktop said...

So great that you got to meet up I love all those connections firing off all over the world...

terriporter said...

You and Dotti both know how happy it makes me that you made this day happen and seeing your smiling faces makes my heart so happy! I don't think anyone who has not had the experience of meeting a long-time online friend can really understand how well you can know each other without ever having met. And then meeting, well, that's just the frosting on the cake! When Dotti and I first met, we were amazed that we started to cry, we were so happy to finally get the chance to meet, so I understand the way both of you were feeling at that moment. And how wonderful that your husbands got the chance to meet and connect! But I have to admit to being a bit envious. One of these days, Pam, one of these days.

Cathy said...

Still smiling! It fills my heart to see you here. To think of you two together, hugging, laughing, touching. Thank you Pam for this! Thank you Dottie for this.

kelly said...

this just makes me so happy. I love seeing your smiles...looks like you were having so much fun!

Anonymous said...

How exciting this must have been! When I first saw the two of you together on fb, I thought y'all were sisters lol! There is a lot of resemblance of each other in the photos! What a wonderful Blessing…a friendship forever!

Deanna said...

Oh this must have been such a fun and memorable day, one that will remain in both of your hearts forever. The smiles, the laughter, the joy seen in these photos surely does make my heart happy. Thanks you for sharing these sweet memories with us!!

Kate said...

Well, this just made me giggle. So much happiness in these photos!

Nicki said...

and THAT is the best part of this wild world of cyberspace - stepping outside our comfort zones and making friends we otherwise wouldn't - and the smiles, and laughter.

I smiled the entire way through this post.

Anonymous said...

Yes, meeting an online friend is the frosting on the cake (or as we Nonooks say, icing ;-)! What a great post. What a great day! What a great idea to meet!

Kim Stevens said...

Just love this post, and that you were able to hook up - lots of happy here!!

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