Still, she would make do. When the first snows of the season started, that would make for a lot of magical photos. Snow would come back to this pine and do a few more photos. Maybe she could have her mother and Bluebell in a few of them to add a family tone to the cards.
Next, she photographed a bush with bright orange berries, followed by a perfect red-orange oak leaf that had fallen to the ground. Snow’s eyes were drawn to the playground. That would make a perfect photo, but she didn’t take photos of people without their permission. Most people didn’t want to be photographed by some stranger, especially since those photos would be going on publicly available gift cards.
Snow spent a total of three hours in the park before heading back home. She got a few good photo opportunities on the way back, too. The clouds shifted just a little to allow a ray of sunlight through to the ground. Snow got a good shot of that ray, already planning how she was going to incorporate it into her greeting cards.
When she got home, she sat down at her computer and opened photoshop. She had several new gift cards in the making. This was always her favorite part—designing the gift cards. Getting them printed and selling them was important, but she didn’t particularly enjoy the business aspect of her job.
Photography was her passion, but Snow needed to earn an income, so she did what she had to by getting her cards printed out on high-quality paper and managing a Facebook page where she did her best to promote her products.
She was immersed in designing the card with that beautiful ray of sunlight when her phone rang. Snow answered it immediately out of habit. She got a lot of people calling to ask about her greeting cards and didn’t want to miss a potential customer.
She was also part of a freelance agency that interfaced with clients and assigned photographers to clients for once-off jobs. This could be a client calling who had gotten her number from the agency. Snow hoped so. She always loved finding out what ideas other people had and bringing them to life.
“Hello?”
“Hello, is this Snow Willows?”
“Yes, it is. How may I help you?”
“This is Jake Mason from the National Photography Foundation. We’re pleased to tell you that you’ve won our grand prize for the best nature photograph of the year.”
Snow’s mouth popped open. Her mom had encouraged her to enter that contest, but she never dreamed in a million years that she might actually win.
“I—I won? You’re sure you’ve got the right person?”
“Quite sure. Your photo of that sunrise was captured perfectly; all of the judges said so.”
Snow couldn’t believe it. She knew that she had a great eye when doing nature shots particularly, she could look at any scene and her mind would easily pick out the bits that would make the best photographs, but she had never thought she was good enough to win such a prestigious award.
“I—thank you. Thank you so much.”
“We’ll need you to come down to headquarters to collect your trophy and cash prize.”
Snow choked on saliva as she swallowed wrong. She’d forgotten all about the cash prize—the ten- thousand-dollar cash prize. She gasped for air, trying to at least sound like she had it together.
“I can do that. When is good for you?”
“We’ve got someone there during working hours, so whenever works for you.”
“Thank you. I’ll be there by one, then.”
“Great. Oh, and there are some reporters who’d like to interview you about your photos. I’ll let them know when to expect you.”
Snow’s face hurt from smiling. She’d never imagined, even in her wildest fantasies, that people would like her photos so much they wanted to interview her about them.
“I’ll be happy to talk to the reporters.”
“Excellent. Well, I’ll see you soon, then. Goodbye, Snow.”
Snow hung up with trembling fingers. Then she leapt up, punching the air and letting out a whoop of triumph.
“What are we whooping about?” Daisy wandered through with blue paint smudged on her nose.
“Mom, I won! I won the award from the National Photography Foundation!”
Daisy’s face split into a wide grin. “I knew you could do it, Snow! That’s fantastic!” She threw her arms around Snow and the two of them hugged fiercely.
“It’s got a huge cash prize too.” Snow’s mind was already spinning ahead. With such a large cash prize, she could afford to buy her own high-quality printer. It would significantly reduce the running costs of her greeting card business, as she wouldn’t need to pay for the printing company to print out all of her cards.