Mustache Cam

Mom and Dad always come through with the good stuff... even when you're 40.  After they watched our video of Jasmine's maiden voyage, I guess they identified a need; and then they delivered with a GoPro in my Christmas stocking.  Awesome.

Well, it's been a while (i.e., 3 kids ago) since I've had a fancy new gadget, and it's funny because now I find myself asking: Where do people find the time to figure out how to use these things? Truth be told, that's probably a product of my lack of free time these days AND my age.  Wow... It's amazing how quickly we become that grandparent we used to make fun off because they wouldn't use a cell phone or a microwave oven.  I would make a joke here about needing help programming the VCR clock... but I don't think they even make those anymore.  Wow.  I'm old.  Okay... back to the point.  Our birthday bowling trip gave me my first opportunity to take the GoPro cam for a test drive.  In case you're wondering, it's the contraption strapped to my head in the image below this paragraph. I've included a video sample too in order to give you a glimpse of how it went.  In short, let's just say that I may need a few more minutes with the instruction manual. But I'm getting there.

Family Footprints

I love going through pictures, and I especially love going through them with Venesa and the kids. Without that deliberate time to reminiscence and reflect, life can start to seem like this big race to nowhere. But pictures help bring it back. They bring back all of those fantastic moments that we somehow forget about even though they shape our lives. They remind us of how awesome our lives have been.

Anyhow, the point is that I'm up to my usual post-Christmas chore of compiling our year in pictures. 
Usually our blog and the photo archive overlap in an obvious way, but my blogging in 2014 dropped off enough to leave quite a few holes in our digital shoebox this time around.  Our June trip to Florida with the 'rents, impromptu labor day (anniversary) trip to Virginia, and the Collier's November visit to Hartsville are a few things that come to mind that somehow flew under the blog radar.  But by the end of the week (fingers crossed) it'll all be in the photo archives... cataloged for posterity, ready and waiting for our next family stroll down memory lane.  Here's the link. 

Backyard Colors

The grass is always greener.  And the trees more yellow.  And the flowers more vibrant. I started to hop in the car and drive across town to take pictures of the fall colors... until it occurred to me: what's wrong with the trees on our own property? And so I looked up, and what do you know; it was fall on this side of town, too.  Unfortunately I missed the sweet spot this time around, as the leaves had already gone from vibrant pop to rusty dull.  But there's always next year.  And I'll be ready this time around.  If we stay here long enough, it ought to make for a nice collection of (homegrown) images. It ought to be fun.

Kid Cam

Between iPads, iPods, phones, laptops and desktops, its seems that every device around the house has a built-in camera.. not to mention that we also have a few actual cameras (because rumor has it that they still make those).  While I was putting together the 2013 photo archive, I decided to tour the house and collect the images from all of our different devices.  In doing so, I came up with a gallery of photos taken by the kiddos that I've been meaning to post since December. So, without further ado, here it is: click here.

While I was putting the photos together, I was already thinking ahead and wondering if we'd have another such gallery for 2014. But, as I'm writing this, it occurred me to that two of the three devices that they use the most (an old phone and a toy camera) have been either missing or out of commission for most of the year.  Plus, Justin (lover of special effects and the biggest selfie offender in the house) doesn't seem quite as infatuated with himself or the camera as he was 6 months ago (well... at least not the camera).  So we'll have to wait and see.  I suppose we do still have 6 months to make up for lost time. The image capturing love affair can catch fire again at any moment.

This is so last year

I don't know if doing something two years in a row is enough to constitute a tradition, but December and January have become my photo archive update season.  I used to update the photo archives at the end of each month, and that had it's advantages (it made the task much more manageable, for one). However, doing it at the end of the year adds a more interesting element.  Waiting for the year to close allows just enough time for the memories to start getting foggy; but not to the point where they've totally slipped away.  It's just enough distance for the buzz of short-term nostalgia to kick in, but not so much that the details have been totally forgotten.

Every year, I inevitably forget how much we've done from one month to the next; and so compiling each month's gallery becomes similar to putting together a jigsaw puzzle without the box top for reference.  It's not exactly a cliffhanger (my memory isn't that bad... yet)... but it sparks enough interest and anticipation to make the exercise less of a chore than it used to be with the month-to-month approach. 

Anyhow... here's our 2013.  Over 3000 photos, edited down to a few hundred, divided into twelfths; and archived for the next time one of our kids has thought that starts with the words, "remember when...".. because chances are I won't remember, but at least we now have digital proof.

Here's the link to our Family Photo Archive

PS
As an interesting technology side note, this year's collection has far more mobile phone snaps than previous archives (I honestly don't know if the previous archives had any).  That's partly due to me becoming less of a photo snob in my old age and being able to live with having lesser quality photos in the archive.  It's also partly due to the fact that technology gets better every year (in terms of image quality and the ability to manage those images).  Two years and an iPhone upgrade later, those cell phone snaps suddenly don't look so phone-like anymore.  Either way, it definitely added a new layer of spontaneity to the gallery... capturing those moments when it just wasn't practical to have an SLR slung across my shoulder.  It also meant the inclusion of images that I'd personally never seen before (from Venesa's camera).  And at the rate that Justin and Jasmine are going, I wouldn't be shocked to see two more photographers in the mix for next year's archives.  And then the eventual passing of the torch. Now that will be exciting.

Photo Archives

No one has to tell me that our lives are busy, or that our schedules are full. Words like non-stop, constant, and never-ending have a high usage rate when describing our household; as our 1, 3, and 5 year olds give us a run for our money from sun-up to sun-down every... single... day... of the calendar year. But as I browse through our 2012 photo archive, I'm reminded of one key component that is sometimes lost in the fray. Yes, we stayed busy... but man, did we have fun.

 Photos are awesome that way. They're a reminder of every moment's worth, and an inspiration to keep on truckin'. Here's last year's archive. Enjoy.

New Footprints

As if an 80% education discount on the Adobe Creative Suite wasn't sweet enough (that's a ridiculous $1600 off), Adobe also threw in a free trial month to the video tutorial website Lynda.com. Long story short, I finished my trial month and shelled out $25 more for another 1-month subscription. Love the website. Lynda's a genius. I just wish it was my idea.

Anyway, aside from the 20 hours I probably logged on the Lynda.com website this summer relearning Microsoft Access for my research project, I probably spent another dozen on there getting up to speed on the various Adobe applications (mostly Dreamweaver, Flash, and Photoshop). Hey... some people do crossword puzzles to stimulate the brain... but the true-to-form introverted over-the-top geeks? We lay in bed on Friday nights watching video tutorials for web programming.

Anyway... the moral of the story is that I am happy to announce that familyfootprints.net is back up and running. With only one entry since last August, I think it's safe to say that the familyfootprints website has pretty much been shut down for a year. But one good side effect of watching all of those tutorials is that I learned how to automate the gallery creation process... cutting my work-time by about 90%... which means I shouldn't fall behind nearly as much.

And so our photo archive (though it's still a work in progress) has been resuscitated and we are officially back on track with documenting all of life's fleeting moments. Over the next few weeks I'll continue getting the galleries up-to-date; as well as reposted the entries from 2003 to 2009. In the meantime, January through April are up and running. Here's the link again. Enjoy.

Building Community

Do you want to really get to know someone? Then watch them interact with their children. A few weekends ago, I had the pleasure of doing exactly that with one of my colleagues at work. I have always felt a certain connection with Ming since we were part of the same recruiting class by the University back in summer of '03. And so it was doubly special to spend time with him, his wife Le, and daughter Alice. I'm hoping this will be the first of an ongoing "get to know your colleague" project, as a look to highlight the other side of some of my co-workers and share the photos with the department. Colleagues, check your email for a link to the full gallery. It's funny how we can work side by side with someone for years (or decades) and know so little about what they do once they leave the office. Here are just a handful of photos from the shoot. Ming, you have a beautiful family and I appreciate the opportunity to photograph the three of you. Thanks again.

The Colliers

Last week I had the pleasure of photographing the Collier Family and their adorable 4 month old. After so much work on the real estate front lately, it was a pleasure to be back behind the camera. And it was definitely a pleasure to work with such a fun couple. Thanks for trusting me with your precious moments, guys. I look forward to working with you again soon!

Justin & Melanie

This morning's playground visit.



Click here to view the entire gallery. Scroll down to the "Melanie" gallery. The password is "Hill". Enjoy.

Smoky Emails

An email from a new friend on July 29...

______________

Jerome,
My family and I shared Baskins Creek Falls with you last week. We had a great week in the mountains, visiting a few other waterfalls off the Blue Ridge Parkway (Skinny Dip Falls, a beautiful spot, and the more popular Second Falls just down the road at the Graveyard Fields overlook). You should check out Skinny Dip Falls, its at mile marker 417. That was our third trip to Baskins. We stopped at the cemetary on the way back, and had a hard hike back to the car, very hot and steeper than I remember!

I checked out your website and thoroughly enjoyed your nature photos, especially the waterfalls. I hope you get a chance to send us some pics...

_________________

Will -

Got your email! Somehow it got lost in the shuffle, so I apologize for the long delay. I've been a bit busy wrapping up summer travel, a recent wedding shoot, and prepping for the upcoming school year. In fact, only today have I been able to take my first good look through the photos from that trip. Right after the trip I posted about 10 shots that stood out to me right off the bat, and after spending this morning at the computer I was able to come up with about 3 dozen in all that I thought were worth posting. I've also included 4 shots of your family under Baskin Falls. Here's the link to the gallery. I'll keep them downloadable for a few days, after which you can contact me if you still need copies of them.

And thanks again for the veggie burgers and orange slices. They were worth their weight in gold after a few days of hiking on freeze-dried rations. Speaking of hikes, it sounds like the hike back was treacherous. If you should find yourself back there, don't forget to try the alternate route I mentioned. It's a bit more up and down, but avoids legging out any intense elevation drops/gains in either direction. It turns out that you'll pass a cemetery no matter which route you choose, and the mileage is just about equal either way.

Happy trails!

Shenandoah

This past weekend we took our first hiking trip as a family.  It was supposed to be a camping trip (tent, sleeping bag and all) but the temperature dropped to 10 degrees below reasonable and so we ended up at the Skyland Resort both nights. We still cooked outdoors all weekend, managed to get a decent hike in on Saturday, and also trekked through the Sunday drizzle for a couple of short hikes before heading home. In all, we had a great time and can easily say that Justin's first big trip to the Great Outdoors was a success. Here's a few photo highlights from the weekend. I'll post a link to more photos once I get around to updating the archives. Enjoy!