A Crazy Day...

In Hagerstown, Maryland (pretty close to where I live) there is this super awesome place called Antietam Recreation.

Every winter, they put on a super awesome show they like to call "Cowboy Christmas."

Now, in this show, they have a lot of cute cowboys. :D

They have gunfights.

 They throw knives.

 They have live horses on stage.

 They sing.

 They dance.

 It's pretty cool. :)

 Every year, I can't wait to see it...And last year, I was extremely excited about it.

 I had just gotten my D-SLR a few days before, and had high hopes of getting some great pictures with it. I didn't really know how to work my camera, but I snapped a ton of pictures during the show, and didn't look at the photos until I got home.

When I got a chance to look at the pictures, I was pretty much stunned.

 They were so cool.

 In particular, the ones that I took of Cowboy Andy and his fire-whips. 

Well, my Aunt Janice (who happens to work at Antietam Recreation) saw these photos at a family get-together.

 She really liked them.

 And she wanted me to get some printed for her. 

I'm thinking, "Why not?" :)

It took me a while, but I finally got the prints to her around Easter. :D

Below = My favorite picture I took that night. :)

Awesome. :)

Then on Sunday, My family spent the day with some friends, and watched the World Cup. (See my last blog post :D). We had been home for maybe 45 minutes, when the phone rang.
 My mom answered it and hollered that it was a call for me...I'm thinking "Oh, it's probably my cousin"...(She calls us all the time and sometimes she wants to talk to me).
It wasn't. 
I answered the phone, and I hear this guy say, "Hi, it's Andy from Antietam Recreation, I wanted to tell you that those pictures you took of me with the fire whips are really cool. I have never seen anything like that before. They said about you using a short shutter speed or something...Well, I don't know anything about that stuff, but those pictures are amazing. And I wanted to call and thank you for giving them to me." 
I'm standing in the kitchen, shocked.
 I could hardly come up with a reply. My brain was trying to process it. I'm like, "Wait, Aunt Janice gave the photos to Cowboy Andy, and he is calling me. To tell me that he likes my pictures. Wow!!!" :D 
It made my day. :)


Here is a photo taken the night we went to see Cowboy Christmas last year.

That is me on the far right, with my sisters, brother, cousin, and grandfather, with Andy after the show. :) 

It's so encouraging to hear good feedback (on my photos) from people that I admire. People tell me all the time that I have a gift behind the camera, but sometimes I doubt, and I convince myself that no one really cares about my photography. :(

But when I get feedback like that...The cup is then half full, instead of half empty. :D

 Andy, Thank you for encouraging me on Sunday. 

My whole week has been brighter because of that phone call. :) 

I'm glad you like those photos. 

~Valerie