This past Wednesday, Joe Photo & I visited our old high school to speak at the photo class. When I first met Joe, one of the things that we realized right away, was we both went to the same high school and had the same photo teacher... Jay McIlwee. We were both so profoundly impacted by this man and because of it, Joe & I became fast friends.

Mr. McIllwee is retiring at the end of this school year after 39 years of teaching (just about a week left). I found my love of photography in his classroom. I can remember back to '89 when I developed my first roll of film and made my first enlargement. There was something about putting the photo paper in the developer and watching the photo appear before my very eyes. It was like magic. I was very easily entertained.

Believe it or not... I was also really shy in high school. Mr McIllwee helped me come out of my shell and my camera became my security blanket. I felt so confident with my Minolta X-700 in my hand. I would go up to the prettiest girls in school and ask to take their photo when before, I wouldn't even dream of trying to talk to the popular, beautiful people.

Also, growing up, I never excelled at anything. I was a C student, I was an okay baseball player, and an okay volleyball player, but I never excelled at anything. When I started taking photos, I don't really know how good I was at it, buy Mr. Mac was always an encouraging voice and told me I was doing great. It felt good and my passion for photography grew. I often think back to those days in the darkroom, and shooting for the school newspaper and yearbook and I realize that I am very fortunate to have figured out what I wanted to do for a living at such an early age.

When we walked into the classroom the other day... it was amazing. It looked exactly the same. It smelled exactly the same (mmmm D-76!). So many memories rushed back. Like the time a girl named Alison & I made out in the darkroom. I guess that could be the real reason I started liking photo class so much!

Anyway... I am so thankful to Mr. McIlwee for introducing me to photography. Thanks Jay... enjoy your retirement!