wild west days

Naomi and I ventured out to Boerne (pronounced Bur-nee) today for Wild West Days. It's about a 40 minute drive but not a bad drive at all. Wild West days is held by one of the local rotary clubs at the Enchanted Springs Ranch. This is a 36 acre ranch with many animals and many old west looking buildings. It was a great place to spend a couple of hours. We saw some bison, longhorns, gun fights, gun twirling, and lots of people dressed in period costumes. We had a great time...it was a little warm but we survived. It would have been more fun if Greg had been there but he had something at church. We got an old wild west photo taken of the two of us and I had fun shooting (no pun intended) all the old buildings.

There was a reason that we went to this Wild West Days thing. It wasn't just to take pictures of old buildings, spend some time outside, show Naomi something new or to just check out something new in San Antonio. Although those are all good reasons they are not the main reason we went. In fact, I wouldn't have even gone if I hadn't been somewhere else on Monday and Thursday.

Sit back and enjoy a quick story time. One day while sitting at home and thinking about what I wanted to do with my future (besides being a mom) I was thinking more and more about my photography business. I have been getting very excited lately about the possibility of becoming a "real" small business and working for myself! What a concept! So I decided that I needed some work before I could really go out and get this business thing underway. So I googled "Photography classes in San Antonio". Many different websites came to my attention and many of them I quickly disregared. I did not want to go to the local college and take classes, not my thing and I've already done that. But one caught my eye. It said that Landers Photography offered one on one classes. A little more digging and I found out that this person would eventually take me to get my tax liscense and all that is necessary to be a "real" business. I was excited. Then I looked at the price. Too steep for my budget, but I didn't let that stop my excitement. I looked for a couple of other options but kept coming back to Landers Photography.

So, being the brave person that I am not I sent an email. I told Jim Landers that I was very interested in many of his classes and wondered if we could combine the classes. I also told him that my husband was a pastor and that I was a stay-at-home mom with a tight budget. I told him that I'd love to take his classes but that it would take me a while to get the money saved to actually take the classes, I also shared with him my website. Imagine my surprise when I got an email back telling me that my photos were very good and that we could work something out as far as payment goes. I was exstatic! So the emailing and phone tag began. It finally worked out that I was able to meet with Jim at his studio this past Monday. We sat down and talked for an hour. He told me many things about San Antonio and what he does as a photographer. I shared some of my history with him as well. He also shared with me what I could do to help him and his business in return for some classes. I was so excited to hear about this opportunity. We decided to meet again on Thursday to iron out the details.

So, here are the details. I will be an Intern for Landers Photography. I will do a lot of marketing and advertising and most of the work will be done from home. I have committed to three months and then at that point have the option to stay on or go my own way. I will be able to start the classes in a month or so. And I will also get a commission for the work that I bring to Jim and his business. It is a sweet deal and I am so excited. I will be learning so many things without even taking the classes. I am starting by contacting businesses about "Holiday" parties and other opportunities that Jim can photograph! I am so blessed that Jim is allowing me to help him out in this regard and is going to teach me many things along the way. Thanks Jim for taking a chance on little ol me and teaching me many things, and allowing me to be your intern. I am excited for this opportunity and know that God had this all lined up from the get go!

So, that is why Naomi and I went to Wild West Days. Jim, his wife and two others were there taking the old time photos. It was great to meet his wife and to see them in action. I am excited to be able to be working for such a great company!

Jim has photographed President Bush, President Gerald Ford, Vice Presidents, many big name businesses and even Kodak has used some of his images for their advertising! So I guess I get to learn from someone who knows what they're doing. Thank you God for this great opportunity! Please help me not mess it up!