Boat Shoot

This morning, before departing for work, I shot a boat.

Not just any boat. A very special boat.

This boat belonged to Zoe's great-grandpa, my grandfather-in-law, M and Steve's grandpa, Carol's daddy, Michael Joseph's father-in-law, Ann's husband. From what I understand, this boat was as loved by Grandpa as he was loved by all the people listed above. He was happy when he was out in the water in his boat, "Livin' it up!"

Zozo hasn't gotten to meet her great-grandpa yet, and hopefully it'll be many years before she does, but when she does, boy is she in for a treat. I only knew him for a relatively short time, and he was a character. You could see that signature white flat-top coming from miles away. M inherited many good traits from him: being able to fix/rig anything, a love for all tools, and a penchant for rip-roaring fires. Grandpa had a little sign in his shop: "Candy is dandy but sex won't rot your teeth." M has it now.

Our little family has heard my "Grandpa Stories" many times, but I'll post 'em here for the rest of ya'all to enjoy.

M and I had been dating a very short time when I was invited to attend a family reunion on his mom's side. We all had nametags, and I was sitting at a picnic table enjoying the company of M's immediate family when I saw Grandpa squinting at my nametag. "Z-I-E... Huh. You'll be moving back in the alphabet." M cringed, turned 40 different shades of red, and said, "Grandpa!" Guess you could say Grandpa knew before anyone else that we'd end up together.

Sometime later, I went with M when he dropped in on his grandparents to visit. We found Grandpa puttering around in his garage, and he was so excited to show M his new "find." "Look! Look what I have here! I got this jack for $30...and I think I can fix it!" I remember thinking, "He paid $30 for a broken jack?!" What I didn't see then was that it was a dandy of a jack, and he could fix it, and he did, therefore making his purchase quite a bargain.

Grandpa was a good man, and I was lucky to know him. It was great to hear more stories about him this morning while making images of his beloved boat.

I'll try to get those images processed quickly so I can get them up here as soon as possible. Now that my house is clean, I just might be able to do that tonight!

P.S. This is the first "art" shoot I've done in ages, and it felt really good to be back in the saddle. Popped off a few of Zozo, too, of course. Wouldn't be a shoot without making photographs of my favorite model!