surprise surprise

When I woke up yesterday, I didn't expect to be riding in a helicopter. In fact I didn't even think I'd be shooting since I wasn't assigned anything and was occupied with studying for an upcoming test. However, Rob texted me and told me one of the staffers had called out sick, and so I was assigned two things: 1) to photograph an open house at the local hospital because it is getting a new helicopter, and 2) to photograph Jennifer Derby, a cancer survivor, unwinding with her two-year-old daughter, Sophie, after a day's work. While at the helicopter assignment, I jokingly asked why the photographers weren't allowed to ride in the helicopter. I didn't expect they'd actually let us! But sure enough they were really nice and took us for a ride. It was the first time I have been on a helicopter and it was a fun and unexpected surprise. When we were landing I noticed a mirror by a parking lot across the street, and so when I left the helicopter hangar to head back to The Sun, I walked over to the mirror and waited for the helicopter to land again (it had, since our landing, taken up another group of important people for a ride) and snapped a couple neat frames in the reflection of the mirror. After that exhilarating experience I got to photograph a super cute and energetic two-year-old running around the yard, drawing on the fence with chalk and climbing up the slide instead of sliding down. It was also a fun assignment, and I got to meet a really nice family. Today was full of fun surprises, and it was really nice to unexpectedly get a couple fun assignments to fill my time (even though now I have to really cram for my test). But it was still totally worth it.