A Celebration of Friendship

"Friends are the family you choose!"

by Skip Cohen

It's Sunday, and when it comes to writing, I'm always off the topic of business and marketing. Years ago, I decided that one day a week, I wanted to share something a little more personal and step away from the business of photography.

If you're lucky, or maybe "blessed" is a better word, you've got a couple of friends who, over the years, became family. For me and Sheila, that's "Hoss and Melissa." I've written about time with them a few times over the years, and as I write this post today, I'm sitting at their kitchen table. Here's the short backstory:

Sheila met them thirty years ago. They were already good friends when I came into the picture in 2008, and it's been one reunion after another, catching up on the phone regularly and in person, often twice a year. So, while they're in Ohio and we're in Florida, nothing ever slowed down the growing friendship.

In my program at ClickCon last week, I talked about how our lives are made of stories. Whenever somebody clicks the shutter, each photograph or video becomes another chapter in a new story. To celebrate the anniversary of when it all started with the four of us, Sheila and I did a collage on a fleece blanket pictured above that now covers the couch in Hoss and Melissa's living room. True to form, each picture is its own story and a reminder of the pure wonder of the career path so many of us chose in imaging.

Here's my point this morning—there's so much in life we take for granted, but photographs help us remember those unique moments that deserve to be in the spotlight. They highlight great memories, and if you're like us, they represent poignant markers in a timeline of love, friendship, and a whole lot of laughs. If a picture's worth a thousand words, then our "family" album with Hoss and Melissa has surpassed the works of Shakespeare. 

Wishing everybody a day ahead with time to appreciate great friends. Savor each moment and remember to click a shutter a few times in the process. Today's snapshots become tomorrow's memory-markers, and together, they tell the story of our lives.

Happy Sunday...or Monday on the other side of the world!