An evening with J*

I was sitting at my computer editing photos as usual. Baby Joey was running around, making his infamous truck sounds and at times, pretending to be an airplane. Big Joe was training client after client, so time was going by pretty slow. I decided to break and check out Jasmine Star's photography blog, a blog I've been following for nearly a year now, to discover she was going to be guest speaking here in Northern California.

At first, I thought, "yeah right, there is no way I'll have the opportunity to listen, nor meet her in person." But then the more I thought about it, the more I considered making the one hour journey with absolutely no regrets.

Since I wanted to arrive before traffic hit, I was the first one to arrive. For a moment, I thought "what if its not tonight?" The room was completely empty and only one another individual, the bartender, was present. I politely asked him if I was at the right place and luckily, I was. I just so happened to doubt myself due to my "baby brain."

Within minutes, several aspiring and professional photographers began to arrive and the room filled quickly; thankfully I reserved a seat right in the front row. I met some wonderful people and had a chance to chat with others about their experiences as photographers. 

 Jasmine appeared at the front of the room, prepping her laptop for her presentation, situating herself with the hands-free mic, then quietly waited next to her wonderful husband, JD, for the presentation to begin.

The president of the PPSV approach the "stage," introduced himself, talked a little about their organization and finally made his way to introduce who we've all been waiting for.

She approaches the "stage" and she took off from there. She shared her past as an aspiring lawyer, her mom's battle with cancer, her beautiful marriage and her dream as a photographer to be where she is today.

Jasmine Star. A beautiful, talented, amazing individual with a unique passion for wedding photography. An inspiration to many photographers worldwide. A heart of gold. And a fabulous personality!

Thank you, Jasmine (& JD), for a wonderful, memorable evening! And of course, for the awesome photo op!

-Jihan Cerda