The history of the shovel is really quite simple. The first day it came into glory was on a windy Wednesday afternoon, in the dusty desert of Las Vegas. Joel and I were attending the Digital Wedding Forum (DWF) convention being held in Vegas. One of the scheduled seminars was a live photo shoot in the desert with John Michael Cooper and David Beckstead. (Two uber talented photographers!) The shoot was based around a bride and groom, and a convertible – well as always, John had his own thoughts for how to put a spin on the shoot. (Check out the first entry of the travel log for his story and photos.) Once John was finished using the shovel in his shot, he approached the crowd and jokingly said something to the affect of, "Used shovel, 5 bucks?!" Joel jumped on the opportunity and pulled a 5 out of his pocket and yelled for John to come over. John handed over the shovel, took the 5 bucks, and the rest as they say is history... I will elaborate a bit more and let you know the series of events that happened after that. So we are in Las Vegas, and we have a shovel. How are we going to get a shovel to Pennsylvania? Should we ship it, break it in half and shove it in a suitcase, carry it on board – we went back and forth. Finally it was the morning we were to fly home and we had not come up with anything yet. I urged Joel to just try to check it as baggage. He was determined to try and get it in the suitcase. So on the curb in front of the hotel as we waited for a taxi, he was jumping and stomping on the handle to try and break it in half. Poor shovel. Finally a taxi came and I told him to stop and he did (thankfully) and we took it to the airport in one piece. At the airport we got stared at – hard. What are those people doing with a shovel? I could read the thoughts going through everyone's minds even at 5 AM. We get up to the baggage counter and Joel asked, "So what can I do with this?" And we had to explain everything. The nice woman at the counter said, "Sure, no problem, just check it as baggage." So that's what we did. We had to sign a form stating that the airline wasn't responsible if it arrived damaged, they stickered it up with baggage labels, and off it went down the conveyor belt. We were anxious for it to make it to Philly Airport in one piece. Fast-forward 6 hours later. We go to baggage claim, anxiously waiting to see if our poor little shovel made it. There it was, rolling around on the baggage carousel! It made it!! We photographed its arrival of course, and posted about it on our blog as well as on the DWF – everyone LOVED the fact that we flew a shovel home. Someone came up with the idea of shipping it around the country and having everyone take some photos with the shovel. Joel liked the idea; so much so, that it grew to immense proportions and is now the site you are viewing. He worked out the logistics, came up with guidelines and did most of the work on the project so far. The idea is simple, photograph the shovel however you wish; just try to be as creative as you can. A fantastic idea for photographers to get the creative juices flowing, to look at an inanimate object in a new light, and to do something fun that is just for us. The shovel gets to spend a week at each location and then that photographer ships it off to its next destination. Lastly, I would like to give credit where it is due, as we had a lot of people helping us out to get this project off the ground, so here goes: John Michael Cooper: For having the crazy idea to use a shovel in a bridal shoot. Lorenz: Who came up with the title, The Traveling Shovel The Digital Wedding Forum: The wonderful professional forum we are on, which really propels photographers to a new level. If it were not for the forum, this whole project would not even exist. Brock Martin from Infinet Design: Brock is the best ever, and without him, well I don’t want to think about what we would do without him. He did all of the web work on this site and worked with our insane requests. We love ya Brock. The shovel is now famous, and is on its journey around the world. Please check back often to see what it is up to, we are hoping to have it in a different location every week or so. The creativity of the photographers involved is unparalleled; I am so excited to see what each person comes up with. Joel and I have heard several of the ideas that people are coming up with and it makes us really excited. I am sure the body of work at the end of the journey will be outstanding to say the least. So enough of my rambling, enjoy the shovel. -Rita Wiebner digit@thetravelingshovel.com