weekend recap and perception collection, april 14

1. lunch these days | 2. new toy | 3. happy place | 4. someone's happy again | 5. also, happy place | 6. test shot

My friend Christine and I emailed a lot this weekend (you'll see why in a minute), and by the end I had to tell her that our weekend was pretty lame. Sometimes lame is the best, right?  Errands, yard work, lunch out. It takes up all the time. It was gloriously beautiful here, finally spring like, and Neel's garden is in full spring flower. We have this path of phlox that is just to die for. Like walking through a wonderland. But it's so hard to figure out how to photograph. I'm working on it. I'll report back.

And of course I'm dying to talk to you about my new toy up in photo #2 there. I have a lot to say. Because of that, I'll save that conversation for another day. In the meantime it's enough now that Neel and I took a walk in a pretty neighborhood by the beach and put our toes in the sand.

In the meantime, I have some exciting news to share!

As you guys know, photography is much on my mind, and as I've said before, Instagram is often where it's at for me. I get asked regularly for prompts and challenges, and when I went scouting around for some collaborations to challenge me, the idea of working with my good (but too far-away) friend Christine from The Plumed Nest came to mind. Christine is a stunningly talented artist and a stellar photographer. Just emailing back and forth with her to brainstorm this little project has me excited and inspired.

So Christine and I are joining forces on a wee photo-a-day challenge, and we'd love you to play along with us! This is a no-pressure proposition, simply let yourself be inspired by the prompts as we've laid them out and have some fun. We're starting this Friday, April 18, and we'll hang together for the next two weeks at the hashtag #perception_collection. Join us for the whole smash, or drop in and out whenever a prompt strikes your fancy. The prompts are designed to be wide ranging, and the goal is to focus your eye and have some fun. You can follow me on Instagram here and Christine here, and at the end of the two weeks she and I'll feature some of our favorite photos on our blogs.

I love using the challenge and structure that daily prompts can give you, and I hope you'll consider playing along for at least some of our suggestions. Added side bonus? You might stumble upon some inspiring photographer and make some friends. That's always my favorite part! Hope to see you on the 'gram over the next few weeks!
 

weekend recap, april 7

1. Friday hike | 2. Finally! GBH | 3. Studio time | 4. Ballpark Saturday | 5. Spring, springing | 6. Instagram Cookbook Club | 7. Unexpected Treasure

Hello my dears. How did your week and weekend treat you? I, of course didn't get nearly as much done during my week-long hiatus as I needed to, and now it's raining, so instead of knuckling down to meet some deadlines, all I want to do is crawl back into bed.

We (a portion of my photogroup, at least) finally made it to The Grand Budapest Hotel. All I can say about it is this: go see it. I actually need to go again. The story is so captivating that I want to go back just to pay attention to Wes Anderson's spectacular imagery. I'm in love.

Our days as parents, our family life these days, revolves around the ball field. Cal plays on two teams this year, and that's kept us hopping. He plays for his school and for a rec league team. One team brings him great joy and the other, well, less so. It's a tricky balance right now. Careening from success and exaltation to frustration and dejection. Is 14 too young for a sports psychologist? (Wink) We remain ever hopeful that one will spill over into the other, the success, that is! Not the dejection. Never that. At last week's game, Neel told me about an article he saw (and heard) on NPR about the concept of hustle. It was by noted sports writer Frank Deford, and you can hear the audio here. What he says is that hustle, a word that in regular life has no real good connotations, means nothing but good in sport. That guy was a real hustler? Not good, right? The team that lost, but showed real hustle? All good. Last week, Neel counted the number of times he heard the word hustle (eight). This week we forgot to count. Our kids played a bigger, better team. They got down early, by a lot, but you know what? They stayed focused and kept their heads in the game and won. Showed a lot of hustle. High praise indeed.

Before I go, I want to draw your attention to the last picture in my collage. It's Neel, as a tiny baby, only two weeks old. He's cradled in his mom's arms and surrounded by two family friends. Neel's mom died many years ago, when he was just 14. The age Cal is now. Neel's brother got his hands on some photos and texted them to us last night, with the hard copies to follow. With his mom gone, each photo like this is an unexpected and priceless gift. I find the look on her face so serene and moving. I can't stop looking at it. Neel quietly looked at it for a long, long time last night. "She was taken away too soon."