Friend, inspiration, and mentor Lani Randall of Rocking Horse Jewelry passed away today after a long battle with cancer. Lani is the lady that made Caroline’s and my wedding rings. Over the years we helped Lani with her website and in return, she lavished us with gifts, from handmade Buffalo moccasins and jewelry for Caroline to a Navajo drum for me. Lani will forever be in our hearts.

It has been infrequent during the last 918 postings of my Photo of the Day entries that the focus of my photography has been on people. Typically I enjoy photographing landscapes, with skies coming in a close second. As a matter of fact, other than turning the camera around and taking the shot myself of Caroline and me, I don’t much like taking pictures of people. Occasionally though, when someone asked if I can take some photos at an event, I have agreed reluctantly. The results are hit and miss, although some might say the same about my nature photography. Photographing this Arangetram has been an exception. With the help of a faster lens and a slightly higher megapixel count, courtesy of Nelson Tello, I achieved results that I thought were finally worthy to be proud of and hence the photos of the past seven days. I now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

My final photo from the Arangetram of Hemangi, Poorvi, and Sachi features them performing the Varnam. The girls are depicting a scene from the Bhagavad Gita or Song of God. The festivities of the Arangetram began at 3:00 p.m. with a brief intermission before continuing the show until 8:00 p.m. Afterwards dinner was offered to the more than 450 attendees. Our friend, Sonal along with the parents of Poorvi and Sachi sponsored the event, the work they put into this was incredible. Not only did the parents support these young ladies for the seven years of preparation but for nearly three months prior to the Arangetram these parents worked hard to put together placards, invitations, programs, decorations, catering, musicians, auditorium, photographer, videographer, and all the other little details that were required for such an exquisite event. Congratulations to Hemu, Poorvi, Sachi, and the parents for an excellent Arangetram.