about right.

This is about how I roll...

I love this ad :)

shorter = better

for real?  I'm still wondering who taught
this kid to booty dance.  (bagamoyo, tz)

My favorite subject above all others is kiddos.  And already I feel like I sound like some kind of a super creeper (which is partially true, just not that way).  But unfortunately, my absolute fav pictures can’t really be put on a blog (again- not for some super creepy reason!) but because they were from my different work sites, and I’m pretty sure that it violates HIPPA and other such nonsensical shenanigans (and occasional sensical shenanigans too, I guess) to post them.  You’ll just have to take my word for it, that some of them were pretty cool.  I had gone to an in-service while working at a group home in NZ, and a comment by one of the teacher stuck in my brain:  “Often times, many of the residents in group homes can live their whole lives without leaving behind a photo album of any kind.”  I found it massively depressing that there was an entire group of people whose lives were deemed so unimportant that no one really ever took pictures to remember them.  It’s been some years since then, and there’s definitely been a change in most people’s mentality, but at the time it sparked an interest in me to make sure that the kids I worked with in homes, residential settings, and schools always knew that they were so important that someone would want a picture to remember who they were.  But it’s not that I’m cruising around thinking this will save the world - I also just think kids make way cooler photographic subjects because they don’t try so damn hard- and end up looking way less ridiculous than most people.  But for the sake of this blog, I just have a few images from my non-work kiddos…  and wow, there haven’t been all that many. 

And I’m not going to put a quote in this one, because childhood quotes are so damn cheesy…. Screw it, maybe just one:

Women gather together to wear silly hats, eat dainty food, and forget how unresponsive their husbands are.  Men gather to talk sports, eat heavy food, and forget how demanding their wives are.  Only where children gather is there any real chance of fun.  ~Mignon McLaughlin

I think col huge cameras make kids look all big eyed and full of awe.  supercute.

This is one of my fav kiddo pics...  not the most artistic and whatevz, but he looks so happy :)

Singing to the shower thingy?

It'll be awhile before I get any closer to a baby to take their pic.  They scare the CRAP out of me!  I'm convinced I'll somehow trip and land on the baby and skoosh 'em.
But I love that Sweet Dee is rocking the sprinkler already.

I'm Dutch!  He was such an oddball kid.  Like every kid.

The baby's name is Barrack Obama.  For realz.

This little dude joined us on our way to a tutoring session, and just hopped on in to the classroom like he belonged there...  even though it was for secondary school kids.

How the hell do people take good class pictures?!?

Maybe baby pictures are okay as long as someone's holding them and there's no chance of my klutziness resulting in squashed little dude.

I miss my students.

Scratch'n Sniff

Oregon, Wisconsin...  and totally not flowers.

I am following Nature without being able to grasp her, I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.

Claude Monet

I really like the above quote… although I’m not a painter, and I’d say it’s a stretch of the truth to say I’m a photographer.  To be honest, I’d say I’m more like an observer of pretty things that occasionally documents the prettiness.  So, flowers it is.  And if you thought it wasn’t possible to get more cliché than sunsets and iconic locations- apparently it is.  Woo!  I do love nature up close and personal.  And I’ve found that tiny little bits of color that we kind of take for granted have had the most incredible impact on my mood when I slow up enough to appreciate ‘em.

Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light.

Theodore Roethke

Forests, lakes, and rivers, clouds and winds, stars and flowers, stupendous glaciers and crystal snowflakes - every form of animate or inanimate existence, leaves its impress upon the soul of man.

Orison Swett Marden

On the edge of the driveway at my parents place.  Little bits of pretty stuff everywhere :)

Also not flowers.  But another impressive display from the show-off Mother Nature

On the side of the highway in NY.

The thorny un-fun bit of some real purdy flowers.

ferns always make for a good time.

I kind of wanted to climb into this tree and live forever. 

I like how the up close bit puts the rest in perspective and how pretty the whole area was.  Pix never really do reality justice when it comes to naturey shenanz, but sometimes they get close.

One of my few pics on my puter from the days of film.  This was when I was dinking around Kaikoura (NZ) during some cold weather, trying to keep myself occupied.  A random pic that's still one of my favorites.

More classy Sconnie.

In my fam's backyard just before sunset.

I wasn't able to get in the right location to get as close to these flowers as I wanted, but I thought it still helped make the gorge look as big as it really was.

On Zanzibar.  Tropical paradisey fun.

A flower only found on Kilimanjaro.  How cool is that?!?

doesn't pollution make 'em even better?

In a parking lot at some mall in NY.  A pretty nice sight after
not finding anything that fit in the stupid store.

"Is there anything more beautiful than a beautiful, beautiful flamingo, flying across in front of a beautiful sunset?  And he's carrying a beautiful rose in his beak, and also he's carrying a very beautiful painting with his feet.  And also, you're drunk."
-Jack Handey

There really isn’t a more generic subject for pictures than sunsets, but I don’t really think a picture has to be the most original shot ever taken to be something enjoyable...  Which if you look at a lot of my pictures, you’ll notice originality isn’t really something I’m dripping with…  However, the sun sure makes for some real purdy colors.  And on the occasions, I’m lucky enough to actually have my camera with me when the world graces me with something prettier than I can create on my own, I let it’s gaudiness take the show.

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.”

-Rabindranath Tagore

You can't do better than a sunset over a lake.  Ever.  Which is one of my favorite things to photograph, since summer life used to revolve around sunsets and beautiful lakes.  Oh, Minocqua, I miss you. 

While driving into Chicago...  I'm pretty sure it was Chicago?...  At any rate, I need to stop taking pictures while driving.

Madison area, at the end of a 12 hour drive.  Surprised myself by having the energy to pull over and take a quick shot.

Do sunsets still work in sepia tone?  I can't detach from how fun it was to row around on a beautiful summer night, so I think I'm a bit biased about the picture.

On a wine tour somewhere in NY.   Still wishing I was rich enough to get a home somewhere around the finger lakes.

SMOOOKE ON THE WAAAATER.  scratch that, I mean sun on the water.

Celebrations during a Bills game in Buffalo.

I think bare trees are amazing.

Right after we got off a ferry to Zanzibar.  I didn't think I could love Tanzania any more, and then walked by this. 

Again on Zanzibar.  Beautiful Kendwa beach, and my beautiful friends.

I used this pic on my first post.  Still one of my favorites :)

Oh, Look!  Zanzibar again.  This was coming in from a dhow ride, and the weather, sun, and water were beyond amazing.  The picture actually doesn't quite do the memory justice.

Sunrise!  Occasionally I'm awake for these.  In this case, I'd been awake since 10pm.  This was at Stella's Point on summit day on Kili...  something I have quite a few pictures of so far on this blog.  It was so damn pretty there.

Sunrise number two.  The first full day of descent on Kili...  and after what was probably the best sleep of my entire life.

I took this with my camera phone on my way to a soccer game (just outside Madison)... the pink sky with the super white clouds was too cool to pass up.

At one of many super swanky hotels we stayed on while on safari.  Life has some super amazing moments.

I always seem to see the most incredible sunsets while driving, and often try to snag a shot.  Usually they don't totally work out (and I drive all over the damn place), but I like how this turned out.

The amazing thing is that it was actually night when I took this, but a huge storm was coming in- and I kept the shutter open for awhile, and it turned out looking all Eden-y.  Lucky shot.

Lake Minocqua.  Can't have enough pictures of this lake.  Especially at sunset...  I think there's some kind of beautiful sky/lake monopoly thing going on.

I'VE BEEN THERE, TOO! WOOO!

Iconic places don’t always lend themselves to the most creative photography, since the urge to snap a single shot and be content to have proof that you were there (and then get the F out of the crowds to go find some ice cream) is sometimes too strong.  It also becomes difficult to navigate the waves of people taking multiple lame pictures of themselves hamming it up for the camera and screaming to each other “OMG I can’t wait to upload this to facebook.  AAAH!” or some other such nonsense, I don’t know, I’m usually the jackass ruining everyone else’s pictures and yelling inane things.  So here’s a sprinkling of a few pics from iconic locations I’ve been lucky enough to see the last couple of years…  Unfortunately I took way too long to jump on the digital bandwagon, and some mediocre shots I have from amazing locations are still on film.  And will stay that way because I’m crap at taking care of negatives.  My bad. 

"When setting out on a photographic holiday, always provide yourself with two cameras, one to leave in the train going and the other to leave in the cab coming back."
W.C.Sellar & R.J.Yeatman

 Chicago.  From my experiences in the windy city, there is nothing to me that represents it better than traffic.  Hours and hours of traffic.

 The slightly more cliche icon from Chi town.  I was probably far more jazzed by the bean that a person really needs to be.  But it was so neat!

 Niagara Falls :)  This picture involved my poor camera getting totally soaked.  I was pretty lucky that it still worked afterwords...

 Okay, a garbage plate isn't a location, but it's pretty representative of Rochester, NY.  and the dinosaur? only iconic of awesomeness.  enjoy.

 Hey look, there's Rexi again!  Just chilling out in the subway, NYC style.

 Niagara Falls again... this time from CANADIA!  woo.

 Classic eastern university...  aaahhh....  purdy.  University of Rochester.

 Wine country in upstate NY.  I spent quite a bit of time touring around here, having a few too many test tastes of the classy bevies, and getting a bit silly.

 Switzerland!  From an airplane...  you get the idea.  Sweetness.  and I happened to be sitting next to a woman from Switzerland who was so proud of the view I thought she was going to start to cry.

 Zanzibar, and the beautiful, yet completely unsafe dhows...  

Summit day on Kilimanjaro...  yay.