Monday I received a call asking if I would be willing to take portraits of groups of contributors with the speaker for the United Way's 7th Annual Women's Power Lunch. Their guest speaker, Naomi Judd, had agreed to have a meeting before she spoke and have group portraits taken. (For those of you who have recently joined civilization, Naomi Judd is the part of the duo the Judd's, a country western duo who won many, many awards in the eighties and nineties. In the mid-nineties, Naomi became ill with Hepatitis C and she retired from singing. Wynonna, the singing Judd, performs and records on her own now with great success. Naomi has another child, Ashley Judd, who is an outstanding actress in her own right.) Of course, I was writing down details and pointing out Naomi’s name to Chris when she realized I was discussing taking portraits with our local citizens with this celebrity. She was bouncing up and down with glee as I agreed to help, saying I thought if I didn’t, I was going to be killed by my intern! Eric and I had both done work for United Way before and are always happy to help. It is truly our belief that when you live in a community, you give back to the community, so to take portraits of volunteers, women volunteers, who give so much is a great HONOR and taking them with Naomi Judd, that is just icing on the cake!
Ms. Judd talked of gratitude and growing old gratefully (gratefully, not gracefully, although she is the essence of the Southern belle). She is sugar and spice, full of “piss and vinegar”, as my mother would say, otherwise known as humor and spirit, but that is a wonderful for a lady who has not always had it so easy. Through her life experiences, she says she has experienced “Aha” moments that made her think about her life choices, making bad ones and figuring out why. As a communicator, she feels the need to tell her story so she can help people find choices, good ones.
Naomi Judd made quite an entrance at the Sioux City Convention Center. I had just taken a shot of her coming into the door when, upon seeing the flash, she stopped, placed her hand on her hip, Ms. Judd looked up and yelled, “Well, good morning!” to me from below. I could not resist the opportunity!
