When the lens was turned on me....

I was living across the bay from San Francisco. I enrolled in a summer class at Cal State Hayward to hone some of my digital photography skills. As I was waiting in the assigned classroom, because of course I was early, a young college boy walked in and asked if I was the instructor. That was the first time I realized- I might be the only 'old' person in this class. The young college boy was then followed by even younger college girls. Until the room filled up completely. I eyed the door. I considered bolting. But I paid for the class already- and my husband had agreed to babysit so I reconsidered and waited for the instructor. Eventually he came in- also young, disheveled and because I judge and asses people immediately...I decided he was unorganized and unprepared. I was right.

I attended those Saturday classes for 6 weeks. I learned very little. And second to the last week we were put on teams (the very concept of a creative team makes me cringe) to.....get this.....photograph each OTHER. This put me in a tail spin of panic. I am really only comfortable BEHIND the camera. And I was sporting about 40 extra lbs at the time. So my self image was pretty darn low. SO the following week arrives and all the little young co-eds arrived in the skimpiest, tiniest and sexiest outfits they owned. You know- to be in their own fabulous 'photo shoot'. Obviously they were hoping to parlay the photos of themselves to use on their MySpace profile. I however, arrived with a coat. A huge coat. and A scarf. A hat. And a big ol flower. Time for my close up? I decide to block the majority of my face with the flower. I got an A+ in the class. But certainly not for my modeling choices....those need a lot of work.

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