Giving back, Remembering Monte and Heading home-

It’s 9:30 PM EST as I sit here at the hotel room desk in New Hampshire.  This is it- the end of my traveling for teaching this season.  (well... almost the end- I have about 12 hours of traveling to get home tomorrow) This is the most traveling I have done in the past couple of years.  

These last few weeks have been rewarding, tough, stressful and wonderful all at the same time. I love the teaching part - the giving back what was given to me.  Passing on to other photographers what was taught to me by my mentors. I don’t like the traveling part.  It’s really hard to be away from my husband, kids and business.  Being away from my gym and my kitchen has become a struggle as well.

I have been in Las Vegas, Minnesota, Ohio, San Antonio and New Hampshire in about a 6 week span of time and each trip required a bit of travel.

I was in San Antonio for 5 days and then flew to NH.  In order to get here I flew to Washington, then Manchester then rented a car and drove more than three hours in a snow storm to arrive at about 11 PM and start a full day class at 9:30 the next morning. 

I was finished teaching around 4:30 today and two of the attendees who had previously studied with me bought me a much needed glass of wine.  

It is a great honor to be asked to teach and I am so grateful that I am asked.  Teaching workshops is a gift and a responsibility.  I am blessed that I can teach and that someone did it for me.  Monte Zucker, my greatest mentor taught right up until his cancer no longer allowed him to.  Without him and what he contributed to the photographic industry - Well, I don’t know what kind of photographer I would be today. I feel a tremendous tug on my heart to continue teaching.  It’s what Monte would want.

The overwhelming emotion I felt at the end of the last 4 programs I gave took me by surprise.  As I said thank you to my sponsors, the person who invited me and the audience that attended, I had a hard time holding it together. Tears filled my eyes and I choked on the words I was trying to say.  

There is no doubt that traveling to teach is a strain on me, my family and the rest of my life but there are moments when I see the light go on in someone’s eye or the end of the program when someone hugs me and tells me that I have really inspired them.... Those are the moments when it is all worth it and all the struggle just fades away.  It’s hard to put into words but those moments really are worth it.  I love to teach - I used to love the traveling.  I think the traveling used to be an escape for me.  An escape from a life I was not that happy in.  Life is so incredibly full now and I am so deeply happy in my marriage, home and family that I no longer want to escape.  I do however feel that when asked- I must do what is right, and what is right is to give back what was given to me by an amazing industry that has blessed my life in more ways than I can count.  The lessons I have learned, the friends that I have made, the life that photography has given me and the images I have created for endless clients that hold them as their most treasured possessions. 

After seeing how haggard I looked upon arriving at the hotel last night the check in clerk was kind enough to upgrade my room to a king with a jacuzzi.  I sat in that hot bath tonight reading the “Runners World” magazine Paul put in my luggage feeling emotional again.  I’m going home tomorrow- I have been home 2 days out of the last 12 days and I am ready to be in my own bed, my own kitchen and back at the gym.  It has been my privilege to teach and give to others.  I have made so many new friends but I am ready to go home now and focus on the task ahead - training for the July figure show and studying for my ACE certification.  Knowing I will be getting serious when I get home I treated myself to my last “not so good” dinner.  I sat by myself in a small mom and pop restaurant in the White Mountain Region of northern NH enjoying a glass of wine and a steak.  I ate less then 1/2 of it but that was plenty.  I sat in the hot jacuzzi grateful for the experiences I have had over the past few weeks and mostly grateful that I am headed home.  Paul took the day off work tomorrow so he could pick me up from the airport (I am very grateful for that).

Thank you to my Monte who I think about everyday and who instilled the gift of teaching  in me. I teach today because of you.   Thank you to all of you who invited me to teach, to those who sponsored me and most of all to all of you who took time out of your busy life to listen to my message.  I truly hope that I have in some small way taught you something valuable that you will use to improve your photography, your business and maybe even your life.

Thank you to my family who patiently allows me to just be me and do what I do.  

I am on my way home and ready to get back to my life and to my family- 

Ciao-

Michele

Here are a few of the images I created this weekend at the Precision Camera University workshop-

The three classes I taught there were some of the most rewarding to date.... I just had to share some of this amazing session with you-