Mary Chapin Carpenter

At the risk of sounding like a lame college application essay I always say one of the best parts of my job is the awesome people I meet and the cool places I get to visit. I know, I know, I hated to even write it, bleccch, but when your assignment is to get a shot of Mary Chapin Carpenter in her beautiful country home, then bazinga, that's a job perk!

So I'm in her office doing my camera things. She's holding her favorite guitar telling me this great story about how she came to own it, a testament to the goodness of people and their faith in her obvious talent when she was starting out. Her sweet animals, her pack, surround her as she starts to play on my request (because, you know, to hold a guitar naturally you should play it, right?). I involuntarily stop what I'm doing. I listen. I want to sit on the floor in front of her and hang out, but I don't since I'm a professional and all, and I pinch myself (not literally, that would have been weird) then start snapping away.

She is such a gifted artist with a row of Grammys to prove it (which I did NOT touch even if maybe I wanted to hold one for a quick sec and pretend to give an acceptance speech), and an incredibly humble, super nice person.

Yeah, I really do love my job. And the awesome people I get to meet.