Ok, so a client whose family I have photographed several times through the years contacted me and asked to book a session for her significant other and his kids because he hadn’t ever done one! What a sweet gift! Since so many of my clients these days are repeat clients, there are always some extra nerves when meeting new clients. “Will I be able to find them?” “Will I walk up to a random person who is NOT my client and make a fool of myself?” “Will I forget all of their names as soon as they tell me them?” These are the things that run through my head. (I see all my fellow family photographers nodding their heads.) So, imagine my surprise when this delightful family walks up and I RECOGNIZE them! Instead of saying something normal and professional like, I dunno, “Hi,” maybe, or introducing myself, I blurted out, “Hey! I know you!!!” It was just as super cool as you’re picturing, especially since it’s DISTINCTLY probable that none of them knew who I was. See, my sister and I do school portraits at our kids’ school. …but their school only goes up to 8th grade and that young man there is in COLLEGE, so you do the math on how many years it’s been since he’s seen me. BLANK STARE from him. Understandable. His younger sister is only a little younger, so it’s ALSO been SEVERAL years since her last super memorable 2-minute school portrait session with me. And the dad I’d legitimately never met, so his blank stare was very understandable. Luckily, I explained myself quickly (and most likely awkwardly), and the kids, God bless them, nodded and smiled like champs and claimed they remembered me and didn’t run away screaming. It all worked out despite me being my often unfortunate self. “I SWEAR I’M NOT A STALKER!,” may have been stammered as well. *sigh*
