MayorMcT
Really Experienced
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2014
- Posts
- 111
"Smile for Daddy"
Richard Davis spread his course work out across the coffee table in his den. He stared at it for a long moment, then started laughing.
Maureen, his wife of twenty years, came to the open door and smiled. "What's so funny?"
He gestured toward the Beginning Photography texts and work booklets. "This! Did you ever think I'd be back in school again?"
Richard had graduated from college almost two decades ago. He'd gone immediately to work for an accounting firm and made a comfortable living, affording them a beautiful home in which to raise their little girl.
Life was grand. But, times change. The banking collapse eventually brought down the firm, and Richard found himself standing on the street corner with a pink slip, a box of personal items, and a half dead philodendron.
He'd spent the next nine months trying to find work in his field but there just weren't any jobs to be had by a 42 year old man with minimal contemporary computer experience. Maureen had gone back to work full time just to make the house payment, and they had just about burned through their savings.
That was when Richard learned of a retraining program that would pay for a year's classes in any field he chose. And he chose photography. He'd always liked taking pictures: hell, the walls of the ranch style home were covered with their weekend, vacation, and party pictures.
But he'd never really known how to take pictures, good pictures. Richard wanted to be able to sell photos to greeting card companies or internet sites; or maybe shoot weddings or parties or senior portraits.
Maureen dropped into the chair opposite him and looked over the syllabus, assignments, overviews, and more. "Are you sure this is what you want to take on, honey?
"Yes," he said firmly. "I think I have the talent. I just need the education."
She rose and kissed him on the cheek, then turned and headed out the door. She stopped at the sound of their daughter's car pulling into the driveway. "She's home. What was it you needed from her?"
He looked up with a sheepish grin. "A model. This particular class is called 'The Human Form'. I have to take pictures of faces, hands, feet, whole bodies."
He picked up the syllabus and read, "And I quote, '...to learn how light and texture vary in different ways when...' yadda, yadda, yadda. Pictures of toes."
He laughed, just as his daughter entered the room, her mother immediately giving her a light hug and a peck. She chuckled, "You're gonna be a star, sweetheart."
Richard saw the expression his daughter gave to the odd comment and waved her over to him. "Sweetheart, I have a favor to ask of you..."
