My New Bio

This morning I wrote a new bio for Saturday's cafe grand opening. I know that bios are usually written in the third person, but I also know that the bio-ees are usually the ones who write them and to me that adds a layer of mystery that seems counter-intuitive to helping people get to know me. Maybe I will change my mind when the editor of National Geographic writes a third-person bio about me to go with my one-woman spread!

Anyway, the bio I wrote follows. I hope it's ok.

Can you tell my daughter
 (used to my camera)
 from my niece (not so much yet)?

 Do you have teenagers? I do. Actually, my oldest is turning 21 in a few weeks. When kids are little, they love being photographed. Get them little enough (as we often do) and they have no say in the matter. But have you experienced that turning point where they suddenly start to put their hands over their faces, turn away, or, if caught by the camera, give you the eye-roll? It can be frustrating, but I have learned that persistence helps. Simply keep shooting. Eventually, they have to come out of their rooms or their teachers will start to miss them.

"Is she shooting?" "Yes,
she has been all day. Who cares?"

That's what I did. I have taken well over a thousand (according to my directory) pictures of each of my six kids. What is interesting for people outside my immediate family, though, is the other photos I was shooting in between, during photo sessions that still managed to get on my kids’ nerves. Imagine happily riding down the road, minding your own business in the backseat, when the brakes come on for no apparent reason and you have to sit by the side of the road for 10 minutes, or, in winter, until Mom can’t feel her fingers anymore.

Willington, CT. No kids in the
backseat that day, but you get the picture.

Taking this many photos, I have been able to capture a few good ones that I love to share. Despite how much I love the challenge of capturing what I see and being able to show it to others, I love even more to have conversations about photography. That’s how we all learn. And when my 12 year old asks if he can take some pictures with my $600 camera, I say yes. He has earned it.