What some may call an obsession, I call a hobby

One of the best Mother's Day gifts I have gotten is my digital camera. I have used it to the fullest, literally. If you read my blog about our beach trip, then you already know that I took 900 pictures. Not 899 not 901, but 900! Some would say that is obsessive (and I would agree while "tweeking" all 900) but I say it's a hobby.

With my toddlers, I have to just take pictures randomly hoping that I get a few good ones. CB's view of the world is looking down. That child rarely looks up while walking. This being said, plus the fact that CB is rarely still when in open places and spaces, it is hard to get a frontal picture or a picture of him looking at the camera. He rarely stayed in one place while at the beach. Even so to the point that he enjoyed the "biby water" better than the beach because we weren't holding his hand. BB tends to stay in one place and look at the camera more often, though, still hard to get most pictures of him looking at the camera.

Ironically, I have very few pictures developed. As I am sure with most people (at least the ones I know), digital pictures seem to stay on the computer and rarely go anywhere else. The advantage is, when you do actually get them ordered you can order just the ones you want and you can delete those that are unsatisfactory. I did better at getting my 35mm pictures developed because it was the only way to see the actual pictures. But I enjoy the options of cropping, tinting, and converting to black and white that the digital camera gives. It amazes me what timeless memories you can make after all the tweeking.

I enjoy getting my pictures "to say a thousand words" without even having to talk. And some of those words only I can hear because I am the mother, daughter, sister, wife, or friend of the person in the picture. And only I know what they are saying when I look at it. Some of the pictures of my boys brings tears because I have captured such an innocence that will not always be there. Yet, those pictures give me that memory that will last a lifetime. Those pictures also show me that there is still joy, peace, and hope in the world. And they give me frozen memories of timeless blessings.

What these pictures say to me: "They are getting so big, yet they are still so small"

With all this being said, I have added some new black and white pictures to my present slide show at the bottom of the blog. I have also added a new slide show of just beach pictures. Now don't panic, I didn't include all 900, just 899 (just kidding).

I invite you to pull up a chair, relax, pop some popcorn, grab a coke and enjoy the shows. Admission is free.

Photographer: HB
Editor: HB
Producer: HB
CEO of "The Family Bond" slide shows: HB
Directors: CB and BB--they dictated where and how I took the pictures

Camera: 190.00
AA batteries for this trip alone: 20.00 (this cameral sucks the life out of batteries really quick)
The memories I captured: priceless

Hope you enjoy and until next time, HB