What Am I Doing? (Presidents’ Day Edition) [2.21]

Holy. Crap.

I’ve been dancing around with happy feet like Steve Martin for the past week. Why, you may ask? Not because I want to recreate any of his routines in the privacy of my own office building. Allow me to explain in a long and drawn-out blog post.

I arrived to the Wounded Warrior Regiment on Tuesday and had a meeting with their PR department. There, they had a discussion with me about a future project for the National Museum of the Marine Corps involving telling the story of wounded and injured Marines who are in rehabilitation and working on recovering to participate in the Warrior Games. The idea is that there will be a display that includes what is used to help them on their path to recovery, and with this display will be images that go along with their stories. And I will be the one photographing these stories. What the what??

I’m incredibly honored and flattered I was even approached with such a proposal, and the fact that my images are going to be displayed in a museum. This is ridiculous! So, I will be stopping by Walter Reed hospital and capturing the moments throughout the year. The exhibit will go on display from April 2012 until October 2012 and then the images will be moved to the Wounded Warrior Regiment headquarters. I’m still wrapping my head around how crazy it is this opportunity nearly dropped into my lap, and I’m completely stoked! DAH!

I’ve always wanted to have a chance to do something photojournalistic, but I never could find a subject I was completely sold on doing. It felt like every other photographer had a project they were working on, but I could never figure anything out. I’m not some do-gooder that wants to change the world with every image I take (plus, do-gooding doesn’t pay the bills like it used to), but I always thought it would be wonderful to tell a compelling story through images. And then this happens. Woah. Sure, having my photographs appear in a national museum is pretty epic (let’s not kid ourselves – that part is amazing!), but I think the real astonishing factor in all of this is that I finally have a subject I’m passionate about and willing to show. I feel like so many stories have been told over and over and over again, or they’re just… not interesting. This has the potential to be something spectacular, and I’m still waiting to wake up from this dream state I must clearly be in.

Just don’t pinch me too hard when you attempt to awaken me – my skin is sensitive.

Besides that thrilling news, Andrew and I finally got our pictures did, and MAN! Getting your photo taken is awkward! I’ve always preferred to be on the opposite end of the lens, but at least having our photos taken wasn’t strenuous by any means. I had Andrew and my other photographer friend, Alicia Griffin, take our photos in Old Town Alexandria. For those who don’t remember, Alicia primarily does food photography (and wrote about it in my blog), but has also shot engagement sessions in the past, and shot a wedding with me, and Andrew and I liked her work so much, we asked her to take our images. The photos came out great and we all have a new band name (sorry – inside joke), so I would say it was a very productive day! Being amongst friends the entire time definitely made it easier, but something tells me I’ve got a blog post to write about the entire ordeal. Hmmm…

Besides that thrilling news, this whole Presidents’ Day thing is pretty funny to me. All these paid government holidays are freaking me out! You know how I found out I didn’t have to work today? I told somebody at the WWR that I’d see them on Monday and they said, “No, you won’t.” What? You mean, I don’t have to work? But… in the restaurant industry, I celebrated the holidays by working them. How do people live like this? This is normal?! I could get used to this! So, I’m spending the holiday working on images and reliving the past week while getting excited about the week to come. It’s been a fun past week catching up with friends, and the upcoming week will be more of the same.

I hope all of you out there had a great weekend and are off to enjoy your Presidents’ Day in the best way possible: sleeping in, followed by a nap!

Until next time,

- Patrick

This entry was posted on Monday, February 21st, 2011 at 1:41 pm. It is filed under personal, updates and tagged with Alicia Griffin, Andrew Markowitz, National Museum of the Marine Corps, personal, photo shoot, photography, United States Marine Corps, Weekly Update, Wounded Warrior Regiment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.