[Leica] Meet and greets.... :-)

[Ted Grant <tedgrant@shaw.ca>]

Meet & greets. :-)
The LUG once again proves it's more than just a screen of type and pictures.
It's a place to bring people close enough to feel the warmth of a smile, a
solid hand shake and hug! :-) I've enjoyed many of these during the past
half dozen years and each one is a renwal in my belief, human face to face
beats the heck out of the screen any day. :-)

My good fortune of the past couple of weeks was the pleasure of two "Meet &
Greets" both wonderful get to-gethers. With warm and friendly hand shakes
and hugs from the women folk. :-)

The first during a "shoot & run" in Phoenix, Arizona, where Lugger,
"kiddidoc" Steve Barbour arranged access to the new Phoenix Children's
Hospital allowing me to photograph a woman pediatrician for "Women in
Medicine, " a new book in progress.  Not only was the day well spent
photographing a caring and dedicated doctor, it allowed for my wife Irene
and I to meet Steve and his charming wife Dominique.

We develop acquaintences on the screen and discover there are folks we'd
like to meet realtime chatting human to human.  Our short time with Steve
and Dominique was one of those wonderful evenings at their home sharing a
meal and enjoying warm conversation. A first class meet & greet, the kind
that creates friendship. Thanks Dominique and Steve.

Over this past weekend here in Victoria, a meet and greet where old and new
friendships were renewed and made. Saturday afternoon enjoying outdoor
weather and single malt scotch or liquid of choice on the back deck, while
many topics of LUG and life, and obviously the M7 were discussed.. :-)

This socializing was followed by a wonderful dinner of Japanese where the
table was not only loaded with great amounts of food, it was also a wash
with Leicas and other wanna be's! ;-) Possibly somewhere along the way a
picture may appear on the screen.  It was sort of a Leica stacking with
chopsticks and tempura. ;-)

Dr. Joseph and Sarah Yao (Hong Kong), David & Roxallanne Medley (Whidbey
Island, USA), T&T  (Tom &
Tuulikki Abrahamsson), Henning & Tanya Wulff (both of Vancouver B.C.) as
well as locals, David Young, my wife Irene and myself. A meet and greet of
fun magnitude that extended to Sunday morning when brunch was had and good
byes said.

As I've said in the past, sometimes we go head to head with folks on the
screen, however in real life bonds are made more often after the hand shake
than all the hours on the screen. The screen just brings us together, the
hand shake seals the bond that becomes a lifetime friendship! Thank goodness
for face to face Meet and greets. :-)

ted
Ted Grant Photography Limited
www.islandnet.com/~tedgrant


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