Collaboration
September 12, 2011 * * * * * Posted by: Ginnie 
col·lab·o·ra·tionNoun/kəˌlabəˈrāSHən/
1. The action of working with someone to produce or create something.
Remember when Astrid and I had the good fortune to meet up with Vision and Verb cohort, Petra, back in February? Well, chalk up another one: our own virtual reality named CherryPie becoming real in England!
Just before that time in my life, I had been typing away day after day on my other blog, documenting all the traveling I was doing with my ex-partner. Half of every month we lived in Atlanta. The other half we lived first in Hannover, Germany, and later in Amsterdam. Because of all the pictures I was taking, I wanted to start highlighting certain images in a bigger/better space for just one image/day. Bigger images, fewer words.
That's when I picked Shutterchance (SC), at the end of 2006, a photoblog originating in the UK. By the time Astrid joined the same photoblog and found me in 2007, I was already pretty "established" in the core group of Shutterchancers, building a sweet little community. In just a matter of time, Astrid, too, became part of the core.
Within 3 months of our first comments to each other, we had the chance to meet while I was in Amsterdam...and, well, you know how they say the rest is history! By 5 February 2010 we were legally married, living together here in the Netherlands.
That was last year, and for our honeymoon, we flew to England to be with Shutterchance friends, meeting up with 14 of them. THIS year, in celebration of our 4th anniversary of meeting virtually, with those first comments, we flew back to England and had another meet-up.
And this is where CherryPie comes in!
Our SC friends collaborated and planned a meet-up at Dudley's Black Country Living Museum on Sunday, 4 September, while we were visiting. CherryPie, from England, who visits and comments regularly on my SC blog, read about the meet-up and wrote me that she would like to join us, even though everyone else was from SC. She was willing to brave the unknown...just so we V&Vers could meet! And we did.
Are we happy or what?! (Astrid collaborated by taking the image.) Two women of a certain age met each other virtually on the WWW because certain other women conspired and collaborated to make a blog called Vision and Verb. Within a short matter of time, BINGO: they too/two were able to meet in real life.
My guess is this is not the last time it will happen...for me or for the rest of us. Don't you wonder who will be next? (Yes, Astrid and I are taking reservations should you like to make it to the Netherlands!)
Bloggers, England, Meet-ups, Shutterchance
Reader Comments (22)
You amaze and impress me with how you've turned these connections from 'virtual' to 'real'. How wonderful that this 'world-wide' web has changed your life. And thanks for the open invitation to yours and Astrid's home in the Netherlands. You may someday be sorry you opened it up!!
So glad that you and Cherry had the opportunity to meet....and love the picture of the two of you (thank-you Astrid!).
Delightful warm story you tell Ginnie. I wish you all the best and who knows one of these days I might pop down to the Netherlands knowing that I would have a great tour guide.
Amazing! Simply amazing what collaboration accomplish or where collaboration can lead. And, how delightful to see you and Cherry together!
I know how you feel Ginnie except, obviously, my opportunities to meet people via Shutterchance have led to a slightly different result than yours. I regard all these people I have met either in person and /or via the WWW, my second, if not my first Camera Club, you know I have belonged to one of those for many years. We have a wonderful hobby in our photography pastime and long may it last for us all. The opportunity to meet some of the other members never even crossed my mind on 29th.December, 2007 when I posted my first picture, I hope that more of us may have the opportunity to meet again before we all get a little too long in the tooth as they say.
I still don't know what shutterchance even is!!! i must of the stone age...that's for certain :-)
ginnie, your voice in prose has become recognizable to me without needing your name. it is beautifully brief, unbelievably upbeat, and a terrific treasure.
thanks for this morning's ginnie smile.
Earlier in the summer, I met a couple virtual friends and I know how fun it is. It's also great to have a photography group to communicate with and to meet in person too. I haven't been to Europe for twenty years. I keep hoping... It's great to see two V & V's together.
Great collaboration on the photo and the whole story...there is something wonderful about the internet that allows us to meet and form lasting relationships that we might otherwise have missed out on in life. Love both of your smiling faces!!
Great story Ginne,
It is great to see when the virtual connections can move into "in person" connections. Beautiful smiles on you both as well!
One of these days Ange and I will actually renew our long defunct passports and come to the Netherlands. After all you have now seen Droitwich !
Great shot Astrid. How wonderful that you two met. I am hoping to see you again soon. I am planning an exhibition of my paintings and will invite you as soon as I am ready.
I've been lucky enough to meet a few of my "Virtual Friends" in real life and it has been a wonderful experience so it is lovely to read of your experience too.
Perhaps we should have a V&V version of a UN meeting one of these days?
After I bought my camera and wanted to have my own website, my brother suggested Shutterchance, I never could imagine that the internet would change my life. I always had to laugh when I heard 'they met on the Internet'...... erm.... now I am can say... .. We are married because of the Internet.
We met many wonderful people because of it, it became a small world, it became 'Family'.
It was a delight to meet CherryPie and Mark, they felt at home with 'us SC-ers'...
Every day I see what joy the blogs give to Ginnie (and me).....
A wonderful post and I think we will meet again some people soon :)
@ Marie "Perhaps we should have a V&V version of a UN meeting one of these days?" Love the thought and perhaps it will come through some day.
It must have been lovely to meet all your friends IRL, I'm a bit envious ;-)
It was so wonderful to meet you and Astrid and your Shutterchance friends. It was a wonderful day, I will remember it for a long time :-)
@Astrid I think the look of our faces in this photo sums up how we all felt about the day.
I think the WWW makes the world a smaller place and enables like minded people to meet and make friends more easily. It is quite special when you can turn the virtual meet into a face to face meet :-)
How inspiring to read that virtual and real worlds collide from time to time resulting in such meetings :-)
How fun! It is so wonderful to see both your smiling faces, and it just makes me think how truly the web keeps making it into a small world after all...
Ginnie, this is so delightful. It shows how friendships in the blogosphere can turn into "real" friendships and aren't superficial at all. I love how you meet up with your virtual friends and let us know about it. I hope that one day we at V&V will meet as well.
One day Ginnie, I will come visit...
So wonderful. You know that some of my closest friends are bloggers, some whom I've met (like Susie) and some I may never meet (like rauf in India). It's like meeting someone in online dating, you can cut to the important stuff that connects you.
Out in the wild west, finally getting a chance to visit V&V and comment... your spirit and beauty shines through your writing so I can totally understand why friends you've met in the virtual world would want to meet IRL. As you well know, I hope to visit you and Astrid in the Netherlands and you should certainly feel free to visit me whenever you like. Since I only visit my Montana home once a year, that would require more advance planning should you want to meet up here in the wonderful beauty of Montana. I'm home in Bethesda more often! (once I get my personal life sorted out, I'm sure I'll have more energy for EVERYTHING and I've actually been considering lately that I should sell my house, downsize and travel more, not less.... owning a home and all that entails can get in the way of other things)
What an absolute delight. When I think of all the warnings that circulated when I began blogging - "Don't let people know your real name! Never post a photo!" I just laugh. While I've had to miss a few meetups over the past couple of years, life has changed, and it might be more possible now. Even so, I've become such friends with some bloggers that we chat regularly on the phone, exchange Christmas gifts and so on. The days of pitting the "real world" against the "blogging world" are long since gone!
I'm late to the party, but was just saying on Cherry's post that Sherry and I are so close that it we need to have our "first date"!