It was an ordinary day. Had just spent the morning at nearby Calvary Church celebrating this year's three Manheim Township High School Distinguished Alumni. One of the three was a former student of mine from the class of 1975 by the name of Carolyn Jones who graduated with the class of 1975. She was a photography student of mine as well as my editor of the school yearbook, The Neff-Vue. I spent the school year counting on her to do well in my photography class as well as making sure the School yearbook would get finished on time. And...she never let me down! I recently got a note from the Manheim Township Alumni Association telling me that Carolyn was going to receive one of three awards for the Distinguished Alumni Award of the Year and wanted to invite me to the Distinguished Alumni Award breakfast and award presentation. Sent a reply that I would love to come to breakfast and see Carolyn once again. The letter that invited me to the awards breakfast and awards presentation told me that Caroline certainly remembered me and credited me with encouraging her, you told showing her that a camera was a passport to a world of possibilities, and helping her to find a path forward into what has unlimatley been a tremendous, impactful career of visual storytelling. Wow! How could I not attend a breakfast and awards presentation when someone wrote that about me. Carolyn was a fantastic high school student when I had her in my photography class. She was the type of student that when you explained something to her one time, she understood it. Actually, she would question me as to how and why some things worked and happened when taking photographs. I needed to brush up on my lessons most days when I had Carolyn in class, since I knew she was going to ask me something that very few other students would have thought about when taking photographs and using their cameras. Carolyn said that I showed her that a camera was a passport to a world of possibilities, and helped her find a path forward, into what has ultimately been a tremendous, impactful career of visual storytelling. WOW! It was humbling to read what she wrote about me. Carolyn will always be one of the best students I ever had during my teaching career. I have no doubts that if all my students were like Carolyn, I'd still be teaching today. She made going to school each day fun for both she and I. And...her coffee-table book titled "Living Proof" is a remarkable piece of photographic excellence. It documents courage in the face of AIDS. And to think I had a hand in her photographic development and instruction. That's mind blowing!! Without a doubt, Carolyn Jones is a remarkable photographer and person and one of the best individuals I ever had the chance to teach the fine art of photography! I will forever cherish my book titled "Living Proof - Courage in the Face of Aids." It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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| Professional photographer Carolyn Jones |
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