Day 414 - Portrait of Alan

ISO 800, 27mm, f/4.0, 1/60 sec

Our assignment this week for portrait photography was to create an image of someone we respect and treasure.

The very first person I thought of was Alan. He was responsible for giving me my job at the college almost 11 years ago and then he retired just two short years later. He is kind and gentle and someone that I have always looked up to.

Alan and his little dog Maggie live in Portland, about an hour from my home. We picked the time and I took a vacation day so that I could go up to Portland and not feel rushed. My arrival time was set for 8 am.

It was an early day for us, we were up at 4 am. Since I love the evening skyline of Portland, I thought I would get there early and take advantage of some shooting time in the early morning. Despite all of the rain we've gotten this week, the morning looked promising.

As I crossed the river, I plotted my course of shooting in my head. I parked my car, put on my warm clothing and opened the back door to get my camera and tripod. Or not.

Yup, in my blond, senior moment this morning I walked out of the house without my camera. Tripod, light stands and light modifiers were all loaded, but no camera.

I didn't panic, but I was pretty happy I had gotten up there as early as I did. Drove the 60 miles home got my camera and drove back up.

I never even used any of my other equipment, I just used the available light from the window.

Sheesh.