Monday, June 2, 2014

Sarah Weissbard - 20 Years of Friendship

This is one of those postings that I find pleasant to write about because it involves someone that not only became a client of mine 20 years ago, but in turn she has become a dear friend.  The story behind this friendship is that Sarah Weissbard is an accomplished accident & personal injury attorney and manages her own law firm in South Florida.  I got to know Sarah when her secretary contacted me about photographing Sarah, the staff, and office operations for a full color advertisement brochure.

As I look back on that portrait session a lot flashes through my mind.  1)  My photography studio business was in its fledgling years; 2)  This was going to be a significant job that would showcase my skills and abilities, 3)  I had to capture the images on transparency film (digital photography equipment wasn't invented at that time) which required precision in exposing and the results could only be reviewed days after processing, and 4)  Could I handle the business pressures of dealing with a high caliber client. Not only did I nail the photography and the posing, but Sarah was quite pleased with the results, she paid me a handsome commission, and the brochure was a success.  Here are images from that 20 year old advertisement piece.





 
However, the real story is that Sarah gave me something that I never expected to received from a client.  As a young businessman, by her giving me the opportunity to be her photographer, she instilled in me a new sense of confidence and a belief that my photography studio could compete with some of the big name photographers in the area.  Since then I have always been grateful to her for being not only an "outstanding" woman and a superb attorney but a person with a heart of equity.  This particular quality about Sarah is one of the reasons I've stayed in touch with her over the years.  

The last time I spoke with her she reminded me that she was still using the same pictures on her brochure because she liked them so much.  Wow!  So I promised her a free portrait session the next time I was in town. Well, recently that opportunity came up and I want to share some of the images I created of this amazing woman.  Sarah, you haven't aged a day and I promise you that my gratitude will never fade.  We will always be lifelong friends.

Enjoy!
Willie


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