Christmas is for children… learning the art of giving.

The pretty lights and excitement of opening brightly wrapped gifts are not the only things that provide joy and delight for children. It’s also about the giving. How many of us remember toiling over a project at school meant to be given as a Christmas gift for our parents?  The pride attached to the process, completion of the task, as well as satisfaction when the recipient expressed sincere appreciation:

Oooooh…. an angel made from the Readers’ Digest. It’s perfect and I LOVE it!      

Third grade was the year of the Readers’ Digest Angel.

Let’s see… second grade found me tying plastic strips (school received a supply closet full of plastic products donated by 3M that year) onto a coat hangar bent into a circle shape in Mrs. Butzer’s class.  We started well before Thanksgiving since we were tying strips the day the announcement came over the loudspeaker that President Kennedy had been shot – November 22, 1963.

Everyone can use a decorative pencil can. This project worked for multiple Christmas seasons.

My mouse traps never looked this cute. I recall spray painting them gold, probably before they banned lead in paint. Maybe that explains a few things, huh!

Weaving  pot holders kept me busy and was  yet another practical item. My mom liked practical items.

Felt, glue and hair clips were the essential materials needed to make handy bookmarks and were given to the piano and Sunday School teachers.  Those were the days we all read books that we held in our hands rather than electronic tablets, Kindles, Ipads and the like.  Again, mine weren’t this perfect but did include sequins so they sparkled.

These memories from childhood that pop into my head seem trivial, at best, but must have made an impact since they are still there. The feeling of pride from making a gift with my own hands and satisfaction with the process of giving apparently made a lasting impression on me.

Maybe it IS better to give than receive…?

It’s all about the energy

The energy of the mind is the essence of life. ~ Aristotle

I love life.  Life is up… life is down…  Images can reflect that emotion with a little planning.

Long beautiful hair lends itself to the movement of the image above as does the fun, playful personality of the subject.  I focus on the subject, subject turns to the back, swings hair forward and just feel the fun.  I played with the cropping until I decided that this was the most pleasing angle.  Focus is tricky and the shutter was as fast as my flash sync would allow – 1/200. If using a darker background I back light the hair to show separation and depth. 5.6 ~ 1/200 ~ Canon 5d mark 2 ~ 70-200 L lens

Back light from the sun gives extra “spark” to the image as does the athletic pose of a volleyball player.  2.8 ~ 1/1000  ~ Canon 5d mark2 ~ 70-200 L lens

It’s Photo Friday… travel cameras?

Jamaica is well known for its beautiful beaches with many tourists photographing beautiful sunsets along with frolicking in the surf and white sand pics. I observed a pair of teenage girls spending at least 3 hours posing and taking pictures with their phone of themselves in their little bikinis as though they were Sports Illustrated swimsuit models. On a morning walk along the shore I looked to the left and discovered that I had found a nude beach of primarily senior citizens. Hmmm… I decided that was NOT a photographic opportunity, but it certainly was an eye opening experience! Oh, to be so comfortable in your own skin.
I was trying out a used (but new to me) point and shoot camera, but was disappointed in the features not available (like RAW only in low ISO’s, focus was so-o-o-o frustratingly slow, settings were buried so deep into the menu and slow to access). We have been searching and analyzing on the internet and comparing models vs. price.
My question is: What is the best, yet small travel camera for photographers who like to manually control settings and have fast, spot focus? Any thoughts out there???