Pattifogalife

How I Met Patti

As a fellow photographer and blogger I am always attracted to other photographers outstanding work. I started following Patti’s photo blog in 2013. I was quickly attracted to her type genre of photography. I had never done street photography and Patti’s images on her site inspired me. As 2013 went on I had an idea to start a photo blog that featured photographers from around the world whose work I admired. Patti immediately came to mind as a candidate but I was a little hesitant to email her and ask her to jump onboard with this crazy idea of mine. I finally got up the nerve to email her and to my delight she said yes. After I contacted several more photographers and got them on board we were off to the races and Monochromia was launched in July of 2014. Patti was scheduled to post every Monday morning and her initial post titled “Passing Through” just blew me away with emotion. You can click this link to view that post. Patti was not only a great photographer but also a great writer.

After reading Patti’s first post I was on a mission. I had to meet her in person. On one of my trips into NYC I emailed Patti in advance and asked if she would like to meet up. We met at a Starbucks in Columbus Circle and talked for little over an hour about photography, politics, music and everything else under the sun. Patti was very easy to talk to and I came away from that initial meeting feeling like we were old friends for years. While we were discussing music I remember getting punched in the arm by Patti every time I mentioned where I saw Led Zeppelin perform live in NYC (which was 3 times and I might still have a knot on my arm from those punches). Who knew that she adored Robert Plant so much ?

I am so glad that I reached out to meet up with Patti because a beautiful friendship was the end result. My wife Theresa absolutely adored Patti. Now I have to give you a little background about my wife. Any time I would ever want to come into NYC and would ask my wife if she wanted to join me she would say “well I really don’t like the city, its so crowded”. After she met Patti for the first time and hit it off with her she would jump at any chance to come into the city with me if it involved meeting up with Patti.

I along with several other photographers on my site had so many great times when we came into the city to shoot some street images with Patti. She was an inspiration to all of us. Thats why we were all devastated when we learned of Patti’s passing.

To quote a friend of mine “Its always hard when a friend passes on, but some people burn brighter than others and they are the hardest to let go”.  My wife and I will always remember Patti’s kindness, sense of humor, and the friendship we had. We are grateful for the years that we knew Patti and will cherish them forever.

Thank you so much Mark and family for letting me contribute in some small way to your site.