She’s A Beaut

You know what time of year it is.

Time to drive out to the country, pick the best of the best, shake it off, wrap it up, and drive it home to decorate.

It’s Christmas tree time. Red and green time. Fresh air and pine sap scent time.

We finally got some snow time.

Shot on the Canon M6 and EF-M 22mm f/2.


Austin, Texas: Street Photography

Here’s something I don’t usually do: some street photography around downtown Austin, Texas.

With all my work travels this year, I’ve had the chance to do more of this style of photography: Philadelphia, Mexico City, etc. And even with my recent practice, I still find it hard to do well.

But there’s nothing like practice. Austin’s perfect weather, manageable downtown, and good light all around helped.

One challenge was focal length. Either I wasn’t close enough, or my 22mm and 32mm on the Canon M6 didn’t get me close enough. Another challenge was traffic blocking some key shots.

Still, a good photowalk out and about, exploring the city.


Austin, Texas: Shapes and Shadows

I’ve traveled a lot this year. 

On the way to the airport, this time to Austin, Texas, for a conference, I thought, “I’ve used this parking garage an awful lot lately.” 

It’s not a bad thing. I love to travel, and these trips have allowed me to try out more street photography than I usually do.

Back home, my pictures are mostly people-less. A city like Austin, though, lets me walk around an urban environment and practice in the streets.

My Austin trip was so inspiring (and warm – it was a perfect 70-80 degrees and sunny in mid-November, much warmer than Michigan) that I went out to shoot every chance I could. That gave me a ton of photos to select, organize, and process.

Consider this the first post in a series of albums from Austin – this time focusing on light/shadow, my usual go-to when out shooting. Look for more traditional street shots, with people, and others from around Austin in the next few weeks. 

Shot on the Canon M6 and EF-M 22mm and 32mm lenses.


A Good Case for the Everyday Carry

Ali from One Month Two Cameras discusses her needs and wants for her everyday carry camera—the one you use for just about everything.

For 12 years, that was the Canon M for me. Earlier this year, I upgraded to the Canon M200, but I’ve had second thoughts. And those thoughts came right as Ali’s video went live last week.

Put shortly: she’s on to something…


Take Me to Church

I attended a Methodist college, worked at a Methodist college, and orbited around the Methodist community over the years. 

Now, my wife is working with the First United Methodist Church in town on a music therapy program. It’s the church where she grew up, and her grandmother still attends Sunday service, so we have joined the worship service the last few weeks.

There’s something to be said about a classic pews-and-steeple church. New churches look more like warehouses or coffee shops. I prefer a church that looks like a church.

Hymnals backed by a legit organ – as opposed to a praise band – help give that old church vibe, too.

Church helps build a routine, encourages service to others, and fosters community. All of those things are precisely what we need right now.


Encouraging Creativity

It was a rare moment of sibling collaboration—when all the kids put aside their squabbling, grabbed their markers, and made something.

This scene used to happen more often, especially before Aiden became a teenager. Our kitchen table was the family art studio, and the kids would take on a three-marker challenge or create handmade birthday cards for friends. 

Early on, we encouraged creativity. My wife is a talented musician, and I have a background in music and photography, so we made sure to give our kids a solid artistic foundation. All the kids took early childhood music classes, and we enrolled the girls in the local art school’s preschool program. Aiden is a talented musician in the middle school band, and the girls are musical theater performers

We know it will do them good. Art for art’s sake is a perfectly fine goal to me, but there are other benefits—like civic engagement and writing skills. And the arts are social: most of Aiden’s friends come from marching band (so did mine, back in high school!). The arts, combined with a love of reading, an appreciation of the outdoors, and a bit of Midwestern kindness, are a pretty good recipe for an enjoyable childhood and a successful adulthood. 

For some families, it’s all about sports and competition, or pure academic achievement.

Our kids? They were cursed with art lovers for parents. They didn’t stand a chance. 


Ex Social Media

Family Friday: Rainy Season

With Tweetdeck’s subscriber-only model comes the death of Twitter for me. 

Yes, it was long in the tooth. Yes, it hadn’t been updated in years (until recently). But darn it, Tweetdeck was my version of Twitter: comprehensive, time-based, multiple accounts on one screen, and so simple to use. 

Up to now, all the drama around the sale of Twitter and its loathsome owner hadn’t affected me. I built a comfortable corner of the platform – full of photographers, Mac enthusiasts, and funny Simpsons accounts. It was quiet, and I only saw what I wanted to see. My Twitter break last February helped even more because I eliminated a lot of political Twitter that affected my mental wellbeing. 

Now that Tweetdeck is paid-only, I don’t see much value in the platform.

  • I want to see posts in the order they’re posted.
  • I don’t want to see random posts from accounts I don’t follow.

Those two simple requests alone leave much of Twitter useless to me now. And the lack of third-party clients, establishing some order and preferences, makes it worse.

For so long, I got Twitter. Unlike many of my IRL colleagues and friends, it seemed built for people like me. I built up a lot of good online relationships on Twitter. I shared my photos, got great ideas, and “met” tons of people with similar interests. I don’t know where those will go now, but maybe it’s back to following blogs and email newsletters exclusively. Another social media network isn’t what I need.

I need a good, reliable platform. Twitter’s not that. Not anymore. 

See you somewhere else.