I have this amazing friend, Cozi.
You know how I’m always complaining about how no one in L.A. makes time for anyone else, and everyone is so flaky? Cozi is the antithesis of all my complaints – yet, one of the most genuinely busy people I know (which makes it all that much more impressive).
So, when I found out that as one of my volunteer activities, I could help him, I was all over it!
He suggested if I was looking for an activity that I could photograph a show for him. I was especially happy to do this because I had yet to see one of his shows! (I know, that’s being an awful friend – made even more awful by how wonderful he is to me. Hence, why this was such a necessary volunteer act – really I should do this for him about a million more times.)
The only hurdle was that I didn’t have a digital camera – and neither did any of our friends (as far as we could find), or any of his other actors in the show, or basically apparently anyone else on the planet as far as we were concerned.
It’s interesting to me that we’ve all become so reliant on our iPhones/iPads that no one has a digital camera anymore!
Every once in a while, the thought crosses my mind that perhaps I should get one. But genuinely, when I am ever going to use it (other than apparently for this)?
Since we couldn’t find a camera, I did the next best thing I could, and grabbed my mini iPad.
I had no idea how well pictures would turn out in stage lighting with my iPad, but they weren’t too shabby!
It’s funny to me to watch improv shows now – especially for newer troupes. I sometimes still tense up into flight or fight mode as all the rules we’re given in a Groundlings class spin through my head, and I think about what I’d do if I were up there.
I never think about it in a sense of “what would I do better?” It’s more just “what would I do to try to survive up there?” (Improv is terrifying!)
It was interesting to me that having not taken a Groundlings class in almost 2 years(!) (Where has the time gone, by the way?), I can hear my teachers yelling “space work!” and all the other rules even still.)
But enough about my time in improv. I was there to take pictures.
I took so many – almost 1,000, ’cause I was so afraid of missing anything! Then I went through and got rid of everything that was blurry or so similar to the one next to it. Then, I went through again to try to make creative decisions to dwindle down choices even more. And then I still ended up giving Cozi I think a couple hundred (which was perhaps still too many…).
I told him if that was too overwhelming, I’d chop through ’em some more, but I know for me I’d rather have too many than too few choices (though I know sometimes that can be too time consuming and overwhelming).
But, he seemed happy to pick what he wanted. Granted, he’s so positive that he’d probably seem happy no matter what – even if not a single shot was in focus.
But overall, I think it went well. Pictures exist. I got to see him act. Life is good.