2011 September | Kyle Hepp

September 16, 2011

I know I’m a little behind on blogging this week but I needed a break to let my brain rest. I normally blog 4-5 days a week, almost every single week. That’s 200-260 blog posts a year.

And even though it may not always show, I really try very hard to make each post a quality interesting post. A lot of times I spend hours writing a post before publishing it. Or I spend all day talking with Seba about different potential topics that would make for an interesting discussion on the blog, trying to figure out what angle I can write from that’s a unique take on a subject. As any blogger will tell you, it’s a lot harder than it looks.

So for now, let me just point your attention in the direction of a guest post I wrote for Nomadic Matt’s website, called How to Spend 24 Hours in Santiago.

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September 14, 2011

We were on a flight today from Los Angeles to San Francisco when a man started talking loudly. He had a strong speech impediment, as if he’d had some kind of stroke but hadn’t recovered full use of his mouth muscles.

He spoke loud. Very loud.

And as he spoke, more and more people began to put down their Kindles (me), wake up from their naps (Seba), take their earplugs out, stop what they were doing and listen.

The whole plane could hear him.

It started because he was trying to make friendly conversation with the couple next to him. They were from San Sebastian, Spain, and he tried to ask them why they were going to San Francisco. They couldn’t understand a word he was saying, so their answer was to smile and nod…smile and nod. When they didn’t reply, the old man was not deterred. He started telling them why he was going to San Francisco.

He had hopped on a flight to say his goodbyes. His buddy from the Vietnam war was living in the Bay area. His buddy saved his life. The way the old man stated this was straight out of a Vietnam vet stereotype in a movie. “I owe him MY LIFE. We were out there together. All we had was each other. I would LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR HIM!!”

With his shaggy beard, scruffy hat and heavy limp, he looked the part too.

Someone asked if his friend was sick and he replied, “Nope. I’m the one who’s going to die. I have a heart condition. I’m having surgery for it in three months but it’s time to say my goodbyes.” The old man then proceeded to explain that his next stop was to visit another friend in Chicago after this and he was flying around the United States to tell all the people he cared about, one last time, that he loved them.

The old man’s daddy had been a coal miner. Then the old man was the first in his family to go to college. He became a math teacher. At one point in the conversation he responded to something another passenger said by saying, “But I LOVE applied mathematics!”

Then the old man was drafted. He fought in Vietnam. He came home. He was a math teacher for many years. He worked with young kids trying to keep them out of gangs.

The old man lived a great life, he said. And now his heart condition will be the death of him. The doctors say it’s caused by exposure to Agent Orange and that the surgery probably won’t be able to fix it and in that case he most likely doesn’t have much time left.

At this point the man sitting directly behind me was completely absorbed in the story. He leaned over to where the old man was sitting and very seriously, “I’m so sorry.”

The old man started laughing!

He said, “I don’t mind. I’m old. I’ve had a great life. No regrets.”

He spoke with such sincerity (and happiness) that there was no doubting his words. The old man wasn’t sad to know that he probably was not much longer for this earth.

As we stood up to deboard the plane, he continued chatting with anyone who was still listening. My gaze crossed with the girl in the seat in front of him and she rolled her eyes. I just looked away and smiled at the old man. I felt bad. I didn’t want him to know that someone was disrespecting him, even if he hadn’t seen her.

He touched me. I hope when I’m old, I’m not said to die because my life has been so amazing that I won’t feel like I’ve missed out on anything. I hope that at that age I’m still making friends. I’m hope I’m traveling the world to tell people I love them.

As we stood up to leave he individually thanked everybody around him for listening, for hearing his story. I don’t even know his name but I have a feeling he’d be proud that I was interested enough to tell his story to you on this blog.

My only regret is that I didn’t take his picture.

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September 11, 2011

Adam likes awkward moments in elevators. I LOVE awkward moments in elevators. Val is forging her own path in a new country, enjoying the challenge. Me too.

Val and Adam are mega-smart…waaaaaay smarter than us — doctor + lawyer as opposed to…photographer + photographer But aside from that minor detail, we have a lot in common.

And our session this weekend was SO fun. Meeting new people is by far my favorite part of this job. We are incredibly lucky that only cool people book us. I know that sounds like an exaggeration, but it’s really not. I feel like my webmaster Jennette must have put up a subliminal message somewhere on this website that says, “If you are not awesome, do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars, do not hire Kyle and Seba. Go directly to jail.”

Val and Adam did not go to my metaphorical website jail. They hired us for their wedding in Feb and I’m pumped because I feel like aside from shooting them we also made two new friends. They are such interesting people to talk to, they’re both engaging and happy. They’re funny, they love each other , they have strong opinions. They’re the exactly the kind of people that I’d hang out with even if I wasn’t photographing them. Heart.

PS. Gorgeous makeup by Rodrigo Farah. Boss. He has such a gift for making sure people look like the best version of themselves.