Blog post number 2 of 2011.. I thought seeing as though the end of year festivities where so full on I only got to blog a few times.. I would give you a re-cap of my 21st birthday.. surprise birthday that is 😉
The story goes.. I have 2 stunning best friends.. Ipek and Hayley. I blogged about Ipek a while ago here.. and I consider myself the luckiest girl to have them in my life. We’re all different in our unique ways, so different we compliment each other to make an unstoppable trio. Yes that’s right. Unstoppable. We’re pretty dominant when it comes our dessert after a girls night out. We religiously drive to relish after we have dinner any where in the Illawarra. lol. Ok most of the time.
So early in December, Ipek facebooks me with an exclusive invitation to a dinner date with just us girls. I cordially accepted. December 28th approaches, it’s 7:20pm and the girls pull up in my drive way.
..All happy chappy I am looking forward to what was in store for dessert Ipek says “We have to drive back to mine because I forgot my house keys.”
I reply, “sure!”
..We pull into the drive way of Ipek’s house..”Pam, I will only be a second.. actually come and say Hi to my mum, (aka the Tiramasu Goddess) she’ll want to wish you a happy birthday”. Any excuse for a hug is good enough for me so I ran to the front door like a 4 year old on Christmas morning.
..”Aw hey Pam I’ll show you what I did in the back yard.. come and see!” Still 100% completely oblivious.. I stuck my nose outside.
“SURPRISE!” ..haha well at least the word was kind of in sync.. the rest of the crowd were male primary school buddies so you can’t expect too much of them :p Either way I was gob-smacked!
..And it was really weird having photos taken of me at such a moment. So here’s photo number one, courtesy of Hayley’s nifty little point and shoot..
I believe I said something along the lines of “WAHHHHHH!”
..and this shot I was like “OMG you did nottttt!” (and yes, I believe I have come to terms with my oversized smile lol)
..and this is the moment where I realised how lucky I am.
Still going.. thinking “Matty, you were in on this too??” lol. this went on for another 10 minutes lol.
Just when I thought I had let it all out I read Peki’s card.
My favourite part of the night. Present time. Here I am keeping it all together and stuff..
..and in this shot not so much lol. Look at me I’m crying and I haven’t even opened it yet. Years and years of Xmas present forensics taught me the skill of being able to tell what was under the wrapping just be feeling the topography of the parcel.. I concluded it had to be a banana bed. There’s a story behind it though. As much as I love bananas beds I can actually keep it together some times you know!
I’m kind of glad a photo can’t recreate those weird sounds I was making. Phew. “Aww Hayley! You got me a banana bed! :'(” and more sobs came for about 10 more minutes. You see Hayley and I were reminiscing what our lives would be like if we put our friendship to the ultimate test.. by moving in together. Many ideas were thrown up in to the air and brought up a Saturday morning sun bake whilst sipping Lipton tea (our fave! mmm). It was such a sentimental thing and I can’t believe I lost it over a piece of plastic.
It’s moments like these I am taken back at how powerful photography can be.. beyond the fancy-schmancy equipment and L-series lenses, beyond the photo shop effects & beauty retouching, beyond the digital perfection and beyond all the marketing a photographer can stick out ..there lies a raw image.
Straight out of the camera we paint.. 1000 words in a picture. And there it was. Me sitting with one of my best friends, warts and all on my 21st birthday party.. feeling special. It doesn’t get any better than this. These photos never cease to amaze me.
So the next time we say to ourselves “I want to be a photographer”.. just remember it’s not always about how good your camera is.. it’s about heart.
Ela.x
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