How cool is this?

So it's a wedding day, which means I sleep as late as possible! Right after my eyes opened this morning and I stumbled towards a toothbrush, the phone rang and caller i.d. indicated "Dentist Nard" was trying to reach me. Even in my sleepy state I knew that Dentist Nard was actually Rich Dennard, an old high school friend. Apparently when he called last to update me on his contact info, I hastily typed his name, totally butchered it, and decided ok, well I'm never going to confuse that with anyone else. Aside from being one of my best friends in HS, Rich married a beautiful, smart young lady- Jennifer Wheeler- he asked me to introduce him to after seeing her walk down the hall in a hip vinyl mini skirt. Their first date was a trip to the High to see Basquiat. I tagged along as well as Lucas Clyde (if memory serves) to make it seem less like a date. Flash forward to Nov 2, 2002, Rich & Jen exchange vows at the Classic Center in Athens, GA. I was their photographer, of course.

Rich called today to tell me about his new business, an art gallery and urban lifestyle boutique centered around his passion for hip-hop, break-dancing, and graffiti. A few minutes into our conversation I was out walking the dogs in the sunshine, but I got chills hearing him describe how he got this dream off the ground. The space is called the Atlanta Bench; Rich explained the Bench concept grew from, where else, a spot in the New York subway tunnel where artists and admirers would go to watch new graffiti speed past. Every major city has a similar hub and Atlanta's is near King Plow. I'm really excited to visit the space Rich has created, and honored that he asked me to show a collection of photographs there in the near future. Check out the site here. Gotta run!