foolish games people play

Since I spend much of the days with our 4 year-old daughter, we occupy much of our time with various types of games. One of which is "Pictureka!". This is a game that my daughter has memorized and mastered. She has developed cognitively quite a bit over the course of the year. We are very proud of how she's progressed in various ways, but especially how she's increased her capability to grasp new concepts.

On the other hand, I fear that there is a strong possibility that I may be becoming dumber. This theory is supported by the end result of a recent spirited match between #3 child and myself. My pile is on the left. Sadly, I was trying to win. Even cheated a bit. The problem is that she's an even better cheater than me. And evidently she has a better short-term memory and vision which are both required to do well at this game. What's even more sad on my part, is that I stole one of her cards from her pile and added it to mine when she wasn't looking.

IDW marketing pics

This week I took some promotional marketing photographs for I DO WINDOWS! LLC. IDW is a service company that offers window cleaning & pressure washing. Here's a few pics from that shoot...

A family by choice

Last evening I had the opportunity to photograph something unique. I was asked to be the photographer at the Foster Parent Appreciation Dinner held by Allen County Children Services.
Roughly 20 families paraded in front of my camera, one at a time, allowing me the chance to see what foster care is all about.

I didn't engage in any in depth conversations, or inquire about the difficulties involved in fostering a child. But I could only assume that it had to be challenging at times. In many cases, couples had opted to foster several children, many of whom were of different race. Additionally, most of these parents already had their own children. It struck me that "family" can take on many different meanings and definitely isn't the narrow vision that I often perceive it to be.

For someone like me, it's hard to envision opening my home to a stranger, be it a child or otherwise. I know it's hard enough to maintain our own little hooligans let alone throw somebody else's biological kids into the mix. There's a great amount of sacrifice that goes along with that commitment from the entire fostering family. Perhaps the hardest part would be when the kids were removed from the foster home for whatever reason. That would have to be incredibly hard for everybody involved. I kept asking myself, "Could we manage this?". In all honesty, I just don't really know. I suppose it comes down to if that's your calling in life, you can pretty much tackle anything.

Having thought about the difficulties and challenges, it also occurred to me that there would have to be a great sense of satisfaction involved. Intervening into a child's life and making a positive contribution to them is just about as worthwhile as anything that I can think of. And that's what these people do. They make investments in people. As one of the keynote speakers noted, not only do the individuals who find these homes benefit from the sacrifice and benevolence of the foster parents, but society as a whole does as well. A kid who is shown some love and made to feel like they matter is probably less likely to lash out against a society who otherwise would have wrote them off.

I'm not much of one to dwell on the dramatics or to overly indulge in sappiness. That's why I can't handle watching another episode of "Extreme Makeovers - Home Edition". If I see Ty Pennington tell a slobbery hardship story one more time my head will explode. Not to mention the constant bombardment of annoying excessive product placements. Ty, I miss the days of "Trading Spaces". But in the case of the foster care families, they deserve recognition for their selfless contributions to the world. I truly am in awe by what they do.

Chuck Taylor's missing

Happy Cinco De Mayo, everybody!

I don't fully understand the whole significance of the holiday but apparently it has something to do with the fact that long ago Mexico defeated the French in an upset battle. It may not be politically correct to say this, but is it really that big of a deal to beat the French in anything? It's kind of like me playing my preschool-aged daughter in basketball and bragging that I held her scoreless. (I did the other day by the way)

This morning I added a photo of my 3 girls' Converse Chuck Taylor high tops to the main page. This photo typifies our family very well. As you may have noticed, there is 1 sneaker missing. When I saw the shoes lying there, I thought that it would make for a nice photograph. I hurriedly looked around for the missing shoe but to no avail. After having searched for an eternity (in reality probably only 10 minutes) I gave up and asked my wife if she knew where it was. She did.

"Honey, the dog ate that shoe about 3 weeks ago."

Well, of course she did. Why would I expect anything different? Why we bothered hanging on to 1 shoe that didn't have a match anymore I don't know. We're just quirky like that I guess. Or maybe my wife was just assuming that our dog would eat the other one eventually too. It's hard to say.

birds & balls

I was feeling a bit ambitious this afternoon and though I'd write a 2nd post regarding a couple incidents that occurred today. First of all, I was having my morning coffee and checking out how some of my investments were doing on the stock exchange...Ok, so I was playing solitaire. Whatever. Anywho, my 6 year old middle child (referred to commonly as "#2) came into the office accompanied by her 4 yr old sister(monikered #3).

"We have a question," the oldest one asked. "Is this a bad word?", she sheepishly asked as she held up her middle finger.

I knew that anything is possible in this house but getting flipped the bird by a kindergartner struck me as a bit unusual.

"Dear, don't ever do that. And besides, who'd you learn that from?" I quipped, still a bit frazzled by the unexpected gesture. She informed me that a neighborhood friend told her that it was a bad thing to do. #3 concurred with the explanation and tried to simulate the obscenity but failed to maneuver her fingers correctly. She ended up giving me the "peace" sign instead. I knew what she meant though.

Sadly, I suppose this is another example of innocence lost for my 6 year old daughter. And in the case of #3, affirmation that her motor skills aren't quite up to par yet to be able to manage the one finger salute. However, she did manage to display some creativity later in the day.

I heard giggling coming from outside my office window that sounded a bit suspicious. I guess being a parent for 9 years now has enabled me to perceive orneriness when I hear it. So I walked outside quickly found the cause of the excessive laughter. #3 had taken 2 tennis balls and strategically placed them inside her shirt. She had instantly become a 3 1/2' tall Dolly Parton. It was a little creepy to say the least.

#2 laughed and encouraged her sister. I was more concerned with the passersby who might wonder what kind of children we were raising. Some days I wonder myself. At the very least, they give me something to write about.

Ali's senior portrait

This past weekend I shot Ali's senior portraits. It was a lot of fun and I think we came away with some good images of her. Here's some samples of what we ended up with...

blog introduction

Welcome to my blog. I hope you find it entertaining, enlightening, and a source of amusement and inspiration. I more so hope it somehow triggers you to inquire about my photography services. I actually do prefer the latter part. (just being honest)

2008 was a year of some serious changes for our family. My wife went back to work after having been a stay-at-home mom for about 7 years. I quit my job managing a small family-owned business and decided to turn my side photography job of 10 years into a full-time gig. In addition to being a photographer, I also am a stay-at-home dad. Our youngest daughter, age 4, is my trusty sidekick while the rest of the fam is in school and at work. She is my Tanto, except for the fact that she speaks better English, and doesn’t have a horse (although she occasionally attempts to ride our dog). We have interesting experiences together. She’s a trip. God definitely gave all of our kids unique personalities. This one in particular is a real piece of work. Sweet Moses is she ever.

Being a stay-at-home dad is pretty much how most people envision it. I do the cleaning, laundry, and usually have dinner ready or at least started when the other 3 return home. I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank the person responsible for coming up with the idea of rotisserie chickens available at most grocery stores. Sir or madam, you are a national treasure in my mind.

In summary, this blog will touch on a variety of issues: family life anecdotes, domesticated issues, random thoughts, of course photography, and whatever else I care to share with the world. As far as a frequency goes, it’s hard to say. Check back periodically for updates and tell your friends as well. And if you don’t have any friends maybe just inform a family member instead.

Jason