*Quick Summary: The author meets and photographs a divorced father and his kids on the beach.*
Yesterday, I met a stranger on the beach named Joe. Joe is divorced, has kids, is from New Jersey and works in Manhattan. He is in town visiting his mother, who lives a few blocks away. During our talk, I told Joe of my frustration because the birds wouldn’t cooperate and pose during my beach pictures like they do for all my friends when they take sunrise pics. We talked a bit about his life, and he told me he was going to try to take a photo with his kids on the beach during sunrise at some point during his vacation, because all through his marriage he was always the picture taker. It seems his kids have tons of photos with their mom, but virtually none with Joe, and he wanted to make up for that.
I saw Joe again this morning, and he introduced me to his son. I was touched he was able to have one of his kids with him on the beach, because it obviously meant a lot to him during our talk. I shot my sunrise pics as usual, and I saw some birds, so I made sure to take a few pics of them, even though they were just skimming the top of the waves, not up in the sky posing for me. After a few pics, I checked them to see how they looked. It was then I realized I had captured Joe and his son sitting on the beach in many of my pictures. If you look at the lower left of the pic up close, you’ll see them, and seven birds just above them. My thoughts returned to our talk yesterday, and I thought it was pretty cool that I was able to take pictures with Joe, his son and some birds in them.
When I was done shooting, I walked down, gave him a business card, and told him to email me and I’d send him the pics. I sure hope he does…
UPDATE: Joe has emailed me and I’ve sent him a couple of photos already. I’ll send him more when I get them edited. UPDATE 2: Joe and all three of his kids were at the sunrise on the beach this morning (day after I took the posted picture). I took a posed photo for them, and a few other pics that I emailed to him.
