It seems like a very long time ago, that Jeanne Beker presented her new fashion line at The Bay in downtown Victoria, but it’s actually less than a month. And at the same time it seems like only a few days ago, that I arrived in Victoria for the first time, but in fact almost 16 months have gone by. Strange thing, time.
Speaking of Jeanne. I arrived at The Bay in good time to talk to my contact there, just to get an idea about how things would be running (I was shooting for Victoria News). A fairly large crowd, mostly (though not entirely) made up of women, gathered to see Jeanne and hear what she had to say about style and fashion. Some of the women there seemed almost awestruck.
Me, I didn’t have a clue.
To me, this was just a middle aged woman giving advice on how to dress well to a group of people. I gathered from what she said on the stage, that she wasn’t from Victoria. And I slowly began to realize (one hint was the big lineup to get Jeanne’s autograph) that she wasn’t your average middle aged woman. She was actually a ‘somebody’!
Now, I’m not big on fashion (just ask my wife or my mum), but at least in Iceland I would have recognized someone of that stature (remember to divide by 100). I’ve heard the ‘big’ names at home, and I even know some of the faces. But here? Nope. Not a chance.
I guess it shows me how much I have yet to learn about this new country I live in, even after 16 months.
I might have to start watching more Canadian television, read more than just the local papers, check out Wikipedia whenever someone starts namedropping around me.
Until then, I guess I’ll just have to be ignorant and not starstruck. I’ll have to ask those around me how well-known or famous the person I’m photographing is, instead of thinking ‘Oh, wow, I’m photographing [insert Canadian celebrity here]”.
But I’ll learn, bit by bit. I’ll have to, because ignorance isn’t bliss. Not really.
