chookooloonks life list update: number 16, photograph 1000 faces (the gilligan edition)

Josh, aka Modern Day Gilligan

I don't remember when I first came across Josh -- or, for that matter, when he came across me.  I know we first learned of each other several years ago, when Marcus, Alex and I were still living in Trinidad.  Josh is an American photographer from Minnesota, who fell in love with a Trinidadian woman, and they eventually moved to the Caribbean island of Grenada.  

Avi, Josh's lovely wife.

I do know that once I discovered Josh and his blog, I couldn't get enough of his images, and he quickly became a source of photographic inspiration for me.  Eventually Josh and I became online friends, emailing and instant-messaging each other often, discussing camera equipment, sharing photography tips and gossiping about island life.  I came to really like Josh, and have even featured him and his work here on Chookooloonks -- even though we'd never met in real life.

Then, early last week, I received the following email:

So, I'm taking a little vacation.
I'm going to head to Minnesota for the first time in six years.
Annnnd...  The layover in Houston is from 12:00 to 8:30pm on July 1st.

Are you kidding me?

I immediately emailed him back, and we made plans for me to meet him and Avi for lunch at the airport hotel, to actually lay eyes on each other in person.  It was so great to meet him, finally, after all these years -- he's calmer than I expected (I'm not sure what I was expecting?), and just as warm, friendly, open and lovely as I imagined he would be.  Such a great guy.

And his wife? ...

... is awesome.

Me and Avi. Photographed by Josh.

Safe travels, friends.  So great meeting you both.

Images:  Top 3 images photographed with my Nikon D300, and the 50mm lens that Nikon so generously lent me.  The bottom image was taken by Josh with his Canon. 

Song:  How many of us have them (friends), as performed by Alana Davis