Look What I Made

Continuing my review of some of the highlights of 2007, in June, we hosted a party at Look What I Made, an arts and crafts play space in Long Beach. It is a great space with lots for kids to explore and create, all at their own pace. There are four large craft tables, each with a different project, three easels, and a dedicated play area.

Aviss (the owner) and Eva were great at making everyone feel comfortable, assisting and encouraging the children, ensuring the materials were available when inspiration struck, and carefully packing up all of the art for the children to take home. Everyone had a great time!

One of the things I love most about Look What I Made is that there is lots of room for creative exploration and expression, without all of the set up and clean up. Look What I Made is open for parties on Saturdays, or you can drop-in any weekday that you and your child need a break from the daily routine.

Baking

I have photographed the Bachman's every year for the last seven years. Our portrait sessions usually include spending some time at their home and some time playing at a local park, but when rain forced us to stay indoors last year, they rolled up their sleeves, got out the mixer and made chocolate chip cookies. The kids loved it and mom and dad got great pictures of their children enjoying a rainy day at home together.

There are many ways to say I love you

There are many ways to say I love you,
There are many ways to say I care about you.
Many ways, many ways, many ways to say, I love you.

There's the cooking way to say I love you,
There's the cooking something someone really likes to eat.
The cooking way, the cooking way, the cooking way to say, I love you...

In this simple song, Mister Rogers talks about a few of the things parents and children can do to show their love for each other.

I sing it to myself when I am performing some of the more mundane (or challenging tasks) of parenting, and am reminded why I am doing them. You can easily substitute nearly any parenting chore - "there's the changing diapers way to say I love you", "there's the driving you to soccer practice way to say I love you", "there's the disciplining you way to say I love you", "there's the potty training way to say I love you", "there's the spending time with you way to say I love you", "there's the packing your lunch way to say I love you."

While photographing at Great Beginnings preschool last year, I was fortunate to spot the scene above, demonstrating the care with which the teachers set out the children's lunches each day and the love of the mom who packed one with a special note.

Here is a link to the song, with slightly different lyrics than the CD version.

Girl Scout Cookies

Ahh! Thin Mints. The perfect balance of chocolate, mint and cookie crunch. So refreshing, direct from the freezer on a warm spring day...

Somehow last year I missed Girl Scout Cookie Season. No one ever called, e-mailed or came to the door asking if I wanted to buy some. I never saw the familiar boxes on tables in front of the bank or the grocery store. I even photographed at the Girl Scout house in Seal Beach (Sun-N-Fun Preschool was temporarily meeting there), and still the season came and went with nary a care for my Thin Mint craving.

To make sure this does not happen again, I will give the first person who sells me a new box of Thin Mints a free portrait session!

UPDATE: I have a box of Thin Mints chilling in my freezer and one lucky girl scout has won a free portrait session for her family.

Caleb

One of the biggest highlights of 2007 was also one of the smallest. Our new nephew Caleb was just 3 lbs 14 oz when he was born in October. "Small" does not adequately express the size of this sweet little guy. One of the first photographs his proud father took was of Caleb's tiny hand grasping his wedding ring - it looked more like a large bracelet in his hand than a ring. Caleb is doing very well and we are in love with this new addition to our family.

Looking Back on 2007

Is the end of February too late to look back on the previous year? I hope not, because there are many things that I wanted to share last year, but did not have the time to post. So, in the next few days and weeks, I will post some of the highlights of 2007.

Photo Tip: Include Yourself in the Picture

One comment I hear a lot when photographing families is that mom (or dad) is never in the family's pictures, because she is usually the one taking them. If you are that mom (or dad), give your family photographic proof that you were there, by employing these suggestions and including yourself in the picture. I would love to see and hear about the creative ways you've included yourself in the picture (e-mail me or describe them in the comments).



Do It Yourself:

Arms Length - Have everyone gather in close, hold the camera out as far as you can with it pointed back at you and shoot. It takes practice (learning where to point the camera and trying not to scrunch your chin into your chest - unless you want a lot of extra chins), but can be really effective at capturing spontaneous moments of everyone together. Digital cameras make this easier than ever because you can see if the technique "worked" or if you need to reshoot.

Timer or Remote - Most modern cameras have a self-timer, which allows you to put the camera on a tripod or other solid surface, compose the picture (leaving some space for yourself), activate the timer and quickly move into the picture. Read your manual to find out more.

Reflections - Capture your reflection in a mirror, window, or other reflective surface. Remember to turn off the flash (or angle the camera) to avoid the picture being of a bright white spot.

Shadows




Accessorize:

Combine the versatile GorillaPod with your camera's self-timer or remote, to get the shot just about anywhere.





Involve Others:

Appoint an assistant - Assign another member of the family to take pictures for a while.

Ask a passerby - People are very friendly and generally willing to help out.

Hire a professional - Photographing families is what we do. We will travel nearly anywhere to capture your family in action and guarantee that you will love the results.

Annual Retreat 2008

At the beginning of each year, Judy and I set aside a weekend to reconnect, to reflect on the previous year and to plan for the future. It is a great tradition that has helped sustain our business, our marriage and our family.

This year we went to downtown Los Angeles. I love cities - the scale, the activity, the diversity and the opportunity for discovery. While L.A. is no San Francisco or New York, it has a lot to discover within a few city blocks. We packed our backpacks and rode the Metro Blue Line in from Long Beach to our hotel. This helped put us in "traveling" mode and insured that we would have to rely on public transit or our own two feet to get around. Travel advocate, Rick Steves refers to this as "becoming a 'temporary local' to get a break from our cultural norms" and it helped set the tone of reflection - about our city, our friends and neighbors, our family, our values and our future.

Our time in downtown L.A. was a wonderful mix of work and relaxation, of reflecting and reconnecting. We rode the Metro Red Line (yes, L.A. has a subway) to Hollywood to see Wicked, did some research and writing at the beautiful Central Library, ate dinner at the wonderful Ciudad (I can't believe we have never eaten there before), had refreshments at the rotating Bona Vista Lounge atop the Bonaventure hotel (I don't know if it is tacky or kitschy, but the view is amazing) and discussed plans in the many great public spaces.

I highly recommend that you set aside some time every year to step outside of your normal schedule and surroundings and reflect on your family, your community and your life.

If you decide to take an adventure downtown, here are some great resources to help make the most of it:

Deciding What to Do
Huell Howser - a California treasure who helps locals and visitors discover what makes our state so great
Interactive Downtown Map
Downtownla.org
Take a Tour of the historic theaters on Broadway and other buildings
See a Movie in one of the historic theaters

Getting Around - though I encourage you to use your feet, these alternatives are much better than a car
Metro - L.A. County buses, light rail and subway
LADOT - L.A. city bus system

Where to Stay - we've stayed in the first three and want to check out the others on future trips
Millennium Biltmore - get in the mood of historic L.A. by staying in a piece of history
Omni - a great location next to MOCA and California Plaza (which has free outdoor concerts on Fridays in the summer)
Sheraton - right across the street from the Metro station
The Standard
Hilton Checkers

Dining - there are lots of great places to eat, but many are closed or have limited hours on weekends, so check before you go
Clifton's Cafeteria
Grand Central Market
George's Greek Cafe
Ciudad


A view of the city from our room.


I recently posted about creative reuses for cardboard tubes. Taking "reuse" to a new level, artist Nancy Rubins sculpture using old airplane parts at MOCA.


The unreal Disney Hall.


"Wicked" at the amazing Pantages Theater (not actually in downtown L.A., but a short subway trip away)

Reduce, REUSE, Recycle

Having a four year old in the house, one cannot help but be creative. Ethan easily switches from being a dinosaur to a fire fighter to a hockey player. Having the right props to go along with the current "characters" can make it even more fun.

With a little imagination, and a few cardboard tubes (from wrapping paper, paper towels, and toilet paper), it is easy to come up with creative reuses for our refuse. Aside from the typical uses, a telescope, microphone and sword, we've made a Matchbox Car Launch, Hockey Stick, T-Ball Tee and Bat, and Bowling Pins. Ethan's friends, Nathan and Arianna made a doll out of cardboard tubes and duct tape.

You can even make a camera. Learn how to make a pinhole camera out of two cardboard tubes and a few other household items, or out of an empty Pringles can. For a more advanced camera with film, go here.

What creative uses have you found for cardboard tubes? Share your ideas in the comments?

More Ideas:
We were inspired by the recent cold weather to have a fire in our fireplace and created the kindling by stuffing some junk mail in a cardboard tube (just remember to take out the fake credit cards first)

Even More Ideas:
Napkin Rings
Ukele and Costumes
Families.com (including lots of other creative reuse ideas)
Make-stuff.com

Reduce, Reuse, RECYCLE

Digital photography is great for many reasons and printing your own photos at home is certainly one of them. But, if you are anything like us, you go through a lot of ink cartridges. I have been looking for a place to recycle these for a long time and have now found a few options:

Staples accepts any type of ink cartridge and will even give you a $3 credit good toward your next purchase or will donate $3 to the school of your choice for each eligible used ink or toner cartridge you bring in. Even if your brand is not on the list, they will still accept it, just not give you or your school a credit. You can also recycle computers, monitors, fax machines and other e-waste materials through Staples (there is a $10 fee for larger items).

Best Buy has recycling kiosks just inside the door at every store in the U.S., where you can drop off old cell phones, rechargeable batteries, and ink-jet cartridges at no cost. They also offer appliance recycling for a fee.

I ran across Enviro Solutions when I was at the Long Beach Museum of Art. They had a box of envelopes in which you can send an ink cartridge (free of charge) to be recycled. You can order collection envelopes/bins from their website for your home or office. Once the envelope or box is full, just schedule a UPS pick up or drop it off at UPS facility. They will pay cash or make a donation for used ink and toner cartridges on their list, as well as used cell phones.

UPDATE: Here's a government website that lists lots of locations for dropping off ink cartridges, toner, batteries, computers and other electronic waste.