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Sherelene and I were talking the other night and I commented to her that at 78 years of age, I simply can’t believe how my life has turned out! \u00a0I’ve been blessed beyond measure! \u00a0She said why do you think that is so? \u00a0Of course she knew the \u00a0answer to that question but it allowed me to go back to near the beginning and think of all the people that have a profound affect on my life! \u00a0First I am sure that were it not for my Heavenly Father<\/strong> all the blessing and people would never have come into my life!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I have to start with my family; \u00a0Sherelene, Scott, Wesley and Catherine<\/strong>. \u00a0Each have been a huge part of my success. \u00a0They have all supported me, loved me and allowed me to go out and pursue my dreams! \u00a0After along times on the road they were always waiting for my return and have been the greatest blessings of my life!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Early in my photography career the late Don Nelson<\/strong>, one of Nikon’s greatest sales reps took me under his wing and opened countless doors for me that allowed me to meet and work with photographic luminaries I would have never otherwise met! \u00a0He also became one of my best friends!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Because of Don I met Bill Pekala<\/strong> the long time head of Nikon Professional Services who. also became a great friend and later hired me to be a NPS tech rep for 11 years with Nikon! \u00a0Bill also assigned me to countless exciting events across America once again leading to my meeting and working with hundreds of leaders of many fields! \u00a0I got to be part of a extraordinary team of professionals who taught me so much!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n While teaching and running the Great American\u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n While on an assignment in Nashville I met and got to know country music legend Ricky Skaggs<\/strong> and we went on to become great friends and brothers in the Lord!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n While living in Harlan in the 70’s Dr. Jerry Bryson<\/strong> and his wife Pat<\/strong> led a home Bible study that ended up being a pivotal part of mine an Sherelene’s growth as young Christians, we owe them a great debt gratitude! \u00a0Their lessons live with us everyday!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Four other men that have had a profound affect on my walk and are dear friends; left to right Dr. Chuck Summers, the pilgrim, the late Dr. Charles Stanley and Ken Jenkins<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n While getting to know Charles Stanley I met one off his very best friends Carl Turner,<\/strong> once again, God placed him in my life as a dear friend and valued encourager and great friend! \u00a0He inspires me everyday!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The late Bryan Jolley<\/strong> was an incredible inspiration to me in so many ways, especially his enormous faith and compassion!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n When I retired from Nikon a very long time friend, Jack Graham <\/strong>and I deepened our friendship and he invited me to teach workshops together with him! \u00a0Over ten ten years of working together we have cemented a great friendship! \u00a0Jack is a great photographer, leader, friend and brother!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n While teaching with His Light Workshop I met and became close friends with Jim Begley<\/strong>, a dear brother and friend and a great shooter! \u00a0In an early workshop in Savannah with Scott Kelby<\/strong>, another wonderful friend\u00a0I met another very dear brother and friend Jim Haverstock<\/strong>! \u00a0Jim has become a very dear mentor to me spiritually! \u00a0I seek his counsel often!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I am very sure that someone who deserves to mentioned in this blog is not here, remember, I’m 78, pleae forgive me!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I count all these people as real blessings from the Lord!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In Him,<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n the pilgrim<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sherelene and I were talking the other night and I commented to her that at 78 years of age, I simply can’t believe how my life has turned out! \u00a0I’ve been blessed beyond measure! \u00a0She said why do you think that is so? \u00a0Of course she knew the \u00a0answer to that question but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28195"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28200,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28195\/revisions\/28200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPhotograph Weekends programs I worked with Cliff Zenor, Mike Ellison, Tony Sweet, David Akoubian<\/strong> and R.C. Concepcion. \u00a0<\/strong>They all were great friends!<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/The-guys-960x580.jpg\")
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