Here in Arizona, the governor recently announced that public school buildings are closed for the rest of this school year. (Schools aren’t closed; the buildings are closed.) Teachers and principals are still working. I’m sad for all of the kids and teachers and parents who had something in the fourth quarter to look forward to. … Read more
Taking photos is a good way to spend some time in normal times, and it’s been good in these weird times as well. I’m pleased to say that I’m fully in manual mode now and am getting many shots that look good. (And the ones that aren’t good are less often setting and more often … Read more
Kids work through stress and unfamiliar situations through play. (This is why play therapy is very effective with littles.) The last play date we had (two weeks ago?), the kids were playing “corona zombies.” Since play dates have ended, The Kid was playing a robber/spy game by himself where he had to steal and avoid … Read more
Well … I’ve done a lot of academic learning this week, with just a little photo-taking. But I’ve graduated to all photos being taken on manual mode, which is exciting and yields only marginally more failure than other not-fully-manual-but-not-point-and-shoot-either settings. Getting there! Here’s what I have to share with you, all from the yard or … Read more
Schools across the country are closing in an effort to help contain the pandemic. This post is intended as a living resource for parents and other caretakers for online learning resources for kids. They should all be free or temporarily free. I have not checked every one. If you find any of these to be … Read more
Joshua Tree! It’s such an amazing park! We’ve been so many times in recent years and I don’t get tired of it. We were there for just a couple of days. The last day, there was mist and fog and light rain (and not-so-light-rain) and I didn’t get photos of that (I don’t have rain … Read more
Half a year ago, we made plans to go camping in Joshua Tree National Park over spring break. Plans rounded out with two other families in three sites side-by-side. The Climbing Daddy, The Kid, and I have camped at Jumbo Rocks campground before, and the site we happened to be in had some great scrambling … Read more
Well … I didn’t make time for photography this week. (I won’t bore you with all the things that happened instead. Leave it at: onslaught of work- and child-related obligations.) But I did learn a few things about landscape photography, including a trick for sunset shots, and I have opportunity to experiment and learn this … Read more
Adults often reference the awkwardness of growing up, of adolescence. And sure, that’s a weird time in life because so much is new and we have no choice but to muscle through the weirdness, surrounded by other people who are in a similar position, led often by people who are condescending and dismissive. We have … Read more
Last weekend, I took a portrait photography class at a local park. We were asked to bring a model, and a friend volunteered. We had a fun time (lots of silly faces), I learned a few things, and I got lots of practice with some feedback. Inching closer to comfortable in manual mode… The lead … Read more