One thing I have difficulty with at times is the ability to multi-task. (I’ll try to explain this with as little “geek speak” as I can – I promise!) In the course of a single hour, I can literally take 2 or 3 dozen calls (we call them tickets) all about something completely different than the previous calls. It means that I have to continually switch gears in my mind often mid-stream on solving another problem. Imagine having 3 different problems all in various stages of solving and as you get about half-way through each one, another few come in and you have to leave those first couple and fix the new ones as quickly as possible and then remember where you left off on the previous problems. Then you get a few more minutes into those before another half-dozen calls come in and you start the process all over again. Yeah, that was my week. Then I volunteered to work the weekend to help with an upgrade of hardware at one of our centers and although it went very smoothly, my brain decided it was done – in fact at one point earlier in the week I believe I saw it get up and run screaming out of my office, down the hallway and out the back door to who knows where. It finally returned later that day… I think…

Anyway, back to my day off. I decided that Melissa and I were in need of some quality time together today and use some vacation time to take the day off. It was amazing. It’s proof like I spoke about in my previous post “Connected or Disconnected” that reconnecting does not require anything elaborate or expensive. We asked my mom if she’d come over and watch Caleb for a few hours while we got out of the house together and just hung out. It wasn’t anything spectacular (other than Melissa looked AMAZING because she got all fixed up and was stunning! Excuse me while I wipe the drool off my beard ) We got a cheap lunch at Whole Foods, went on to look for a new purse for her at Ross, went to Sunflower market to get a couple things, went to Starbucks to get a couple drinks, picked up a laptop from another blogger who was having trouble with it to help her out, and finally to Wal-Mart to return a duplicate gift and get Melissa some makeup.

You wouldn’t think it was a date, but for us it kinda was. It was special to just be together doing something that for us is relaxing and enjoyable. I loved every moment  and cherished the time together without Caleb although we both missed him and loved coming back home to his grins and giggles.

There is nothing like being a parent. You can never get enough of your children and yet you need time away too just to reconnect and remember what being married is all about. It’s not always sunshine and roses and candle lit dinners but even a trip to Wal-Mart can be fun when you’re together. So I urge fellow parents out there – get out of the house together this week, just the two of you. If you can find a babysitter do it and even if you just go to your favorite coffee shop and get hot tea (the cheapest date you can get at a coffee shop!) just sit and chat or play one of the many board games they have there… or bring your own…. or go to Wal-Mart and buy your wife a tube of lipstick… I promise she’ll love it!

I would define it as “The art of capturing light”.

A photographer does not have to be a professional with thousands of dollars in equipment. When you capture a moment of time with any camera – be it a disposable camera from Wal-Mart or a $3,000 Professional DSLR, you have become a photographer. I’ve been around cameras for most of my life. I can remember the first camera I ever had as a child was a fisher-price toy with a rotating cube on top. I believe it was supposed to be emulating a 110 camera. Then I was given a nice collection of antique cameras, none of which worked to my knowledge, but I loved playing with them.

Years passed and around the age of 16, my parents bought me a Pentax 35mm SLR camera. It was the basic model but had all of the features I needed to start experimenting. But it wasn’t until about 6 years later when I got my first digital point-n-shoot camera that really started to fall in love with photography. For the first time it didn’t cost me $10 per 2 dozen images to see what I had taken. I could see the image at that moment and even delete it if I didn’t like it. Now I will never begrudge someone their film camera, but I will never go back.

About 4 years ago I purchased a Nikon D70s DSLR camera. For the first time I had a camera that was capable of tackling far more complex scenes. It came with 2 versatile lenses and I started playing and learning. I soon began taking lessons from the father of my brother-in-law’s wife. Does that make him my father-in-law-in-law-in-law? No, but he’s a brilliant professional photographer who has won international recognition for his work. I learned about what Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO meant and how they all interact and affect your image and your ability to capture an image effectively. I’m not what would be considered a professional photographer. I haven’t achieved perfection in all my shots. And I don’t take pictures for a living. But I am passionate about photography and every pro that I know says they are always learning, always growing, and always looking to improve.

Photography is a living breathing organism. It cannot be fully known to anyone because no one person could ever be at every event, every sunrise, every wedding, and every moment in human history. Thus, from someone learning more every day about the world of light and how to capture those moments of wonder and excitement, welcome, and enjoy!

About my equipment:

Camera: Nikon D90
Lenses: Nikkor 50mm AF-D 1.8, Nikkor 18-70mm AF 3.5
Filters: Tiffan Circular Polarizer
Software: Adobe Photoshop CS4

See my photography page for the same article and my gallery.