I’ve written this post for a couple of reasons, both of which have been prompted as a follow up to a picture that I took of my wife Anne with my iPhone and posted up on Facebook and Twitter towards the end of last week:
- To say a HUGE thank you to my good friend Matt Kloskowski.
- To give you an explanation as to why.
The photograph you can see Anne holding is of a Lighthouse in Portland, Oregon USA taken by Matt Kloskowski; Professional Photographer, Photoshop Guy for the N.A.P.P. Photoshop Instructor, and owner of a VERY big heart.
So what’s the deal?
Not wanting to go into too much detail, on a personal level this year has been quite tough for my wife Anne. My Mother in Law’s need for closer supervision and care has accelerated at what seems like an alarming rate with short term memory problems and a generally confused state getting progressively worse. Clearly seeing your own Mother in this state by itself is stressful and upsetting enough but that combined with what I shall only refer to as ‘family issues’ where your siblings let you down on a mammoth scale could have very easily been ‘The straw that broke the Camel’s back.’
So why a Photograph of a Lighthouse?
A few weeks back, Matt posted a series of photographs on his very popular Lightroom Killer Tips blog asking for feedback; one of those photographs was of a Lighthouse. Naturally I left some feedback saying that my favourite of all the images he’d posted was in fact the Lighthouse and went on to tell Matt the reason why: With all that Anne has gone through over the past few months she very sweetly calls me her Lighthouse; keeping her safe and protected when it feels that all around her is harmful…just as a Lighthouse does to passing ships. I went on to explain to Matt that Anne had asked me to photograph a Lighthouse and was so planning to make a trip to Portland Bill along with my good friend Noel Hannan to do just that, so that we could frame it and have it on display in the house.
Matt’s response to this has blown us away; friendship and kindness that knows no limits, as I received an email from him saying that ‘something’ would be arriving in the post. Well, you guessed it…Matt sent us the very same Lighthouse picture that he’d posted on his web site, printed at 24″ x 16″ on Foamcore, and it’s absolutely stunning. Needless to say, we’re now sending the print off to be framed by a company we use on a regular basis for our clients, Kaleidoscope, so that we can then hang the photograph on the wall taking pride of place symbolising “Safety, Love and Friendship“.
Becoming involved in the world of Photoshop and Photography, I’ve received many benefits and apart from the obvious, the biggest of all has been the friendships that I’ve gained, and continue to do so, along the way; friendships that I may never have experienced and it’s during this time I’m constantly reminded of the phrase ‘You can choose you friends, but….’ well, you know the rest.
I speak for both Anne and myself when I say that we feel extremely blessed for the friends we have in our lives so here’s raising a glass to many good times ahead spent in very good company
Finally to you Matt, ‘Thank You’ just doesn’t seem enough but I guess from what you already know, we are so incredibly grateful for your friendship and your generosity. Needless to say a return trip over to the United States is in the pipleline and the drinks are definitely on us
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by Glyn
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