Kodak (or Canon or Nikon) Moments

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  • Kodak (or Canon or Nikon) Moments
    Kodak (or Canon or Nikon) Moments
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There is a giraffe hidden in this paper. Well, not an actual giraffe. Can you imagine the shipping costs?!

The Fossil Rim ad in the Holiday Shopping Guide on page A8 has a picture of giraffe that is a bit more special than any other picture of a giraffe to me.

When Fossil Rim said they wanted a shot of an animal, I briefly considered getting an image online when I realized I might have access to a picture of a giraffe from the Drivethrough park itself.

It was snapped during a date with my girflriend, Wyndi.... nine years ago.

Yes, I’m talking about my current girlfriend.

We dated for several months a decade ago and it didn’t work then. In the meantime, she saw different people. I got married and divorced.

We reconnected naturally and found that the relationship seemed just as natural since we had both changed and matured. (Me more than her if I’m honest.)

I will always remember that date because Wyndi asked me to pose as a giraffe was lowering its head to get food from my hand.

I turned to face the camera and felt something slimy completely wrap around my hand and went wide-eyed.

I had seen plenty of nature documentaries of giraffe using long tongues to strip branches of leaves but feeling it first-hand was a little different.

Needless to say, the photo was awkward. Remembering this, I checked Wyndi’s Facebook photo albums and found that trip and a far more ad-friendly picture of a giraffe from before the slimey-ness.

Looking at the photo of the feeding made me smile even as I cringed.

As a photographer, journalist and editor, Wyndi likes to capture the moment and we regularly take pictures together.

When my marriage was dissolving, I went through photos of our trips together and realized that while I routinely grabbed pictures of my ex-wife, she rarely took any photos of me on o u r escapades. She said

She said it was because she didn’t feel comfortable taking photos and wasn’t good at it. That may be true, but it was hard not to feel like she just didn’t want to capture and remember times we shared.

I’ve never had this feeling with Wyndi, which makes me even more grateful that she’s re-entered my life.

The Holidays are a great time for togetherness. Capture the moments you treasure but more than that, enjoy those moments and use them to bond with the people you care about.

Gaudette is the managing editor at the Dublin Citizen and can be reached at 445- =2515 and publisher@dublincitizen.com.