That one time I was almost a professional

Some of us aspire, like an eagle, to soar above the confines of normalcy and kiss the clouds of fame. This is more of an Icarus story.

In august of 2015, we traveled to Peru to do a quick trip to Machu Picchu. Now, we didn't spend that much time, but we wanted to see the ruins of the lost city before the cut it off to tourist travel. Many of the ruins are limiting or eliminating access for normal people because of the degradation that many of these unique locations experience from the large amounts of people who want to see them.

Now, I take photos. I take more photos than is probably healthy. I love my cameras and I love HDR photos and it was an exceptionally sunny and hazy day in the mountains of Peru. So, pretty much the best photo day I've ever had.

I posted, as always the photos to Instagram and went about my day.

Weeks later, I receive correspondence from an individual claiming to be from Conde Nast Uk and that they were interested in purchasing a photo for some kind of promotional thing for some watches. Now, I'm skeptical, most of the time so I sent the email to the address that was listed not expecting a response.

But it was legit and I got a response stating that they would like to purchase the image for this branding initiative they were working on and offered my 100 British Sterling and credit.

I was super excited and replied yes!

Their reply was... crickets.

I received no reply about it, whatsoever. I frantically and obsessively checked my email and spam folders for any replies. Nothing.

I assume that they either went another direction or the deal fell through. Or, They simply didn't want my image after all.

I wasn't heart broken. I was pretty proud that something I did warranted as much effort as they put in. One day, I hope to have something I've done recognized enough to be paid for, but I'm not holding my breath for it. Lightning almost struck and it was pretty sweet there for at least a little bit.