Teach Your Kids to Play

Teach Your Kids to Play

by | Jun 3, 2015 | Children, Family Advice, Parenting Advice

I think one of the most profound ideas in child rearing was actually taught to me by my father.  Every little interaction with them from the day that they are born we teaching them how the world works, what love is, and what is important.  Playing is no exception.  Although my boys naturally play, I find that I have the ability to push what they think playing is, by showing them that they can do more. This picture you see is a perfect example of what I am talking about.  It has been raining here a lot lately!  In seeing all the rain on our dead end road, I wanted my boys to experience the same joy that I had as a kid playing in the mud and water.  So naturally, I take them out and they have no idea what to do, because rain is not an everyday occurrence here.  “You mean you want us to get dirty?”… “Yes boys I want you to go have fun!!”  But you see even, after saying that they still just walked around in the water with their boots on.  I had to take it a step further, I had to get in the water with them… run around and chase them… get them riled up… and even splash them.  Once they saw this the inhibitions were let down and the floodgates of fun were opened. We as parents have to rekindle that spark we once had when we were kids.  No, it does not feel the same… imagination bursting with emotion and the pure joy of play… but the joy that...
Images That Tell A Story

Images That Tell A Story

by | Mar 30, 2015 | Children, Photojournalistic Photography

  I find myself drawn more and more to images that are deep with story.  What do I mean by that?  Take this image for example.  The more you look at this image, the more you end up seeing.  I shot this on a missions trip to an orphanage in Guatemala, but it doesn’t really matter where it was shot because the story that is embedded into it has a life of its own. And in fact, if you look, you have three different stories taking place in one image. This is what makes it so rich.   You will notice the boys playing Uno on the bench, who are obviously enjoying the challenge and having a good time, with one of them possibly cheating.  There is the mother figure sitting on the bench and resting and enjoying the evening… maybe even dreaming about a life for the kids.  And then finally you have the little boys crouched in the corner, playing with leaves or bugs, curious about the world and life in it.   Put these three stories into an environment that makes you wonder where they are, and how they live, and you have an image that tells a story for years to come....

Seemingly Mundane but Completely Relevant

by | Mar 15, 2015 | Children, Family History, Photojournalistic Photography

  I think all too often we find ourselves looking at life and not really taking into account what will be important later on.  For example, one of my best memories as a kid is me and my sister sitting on the stairs at my grandparents house watching TV.  Now although that may not seem that significant, for me it was amazing.  Why?  Because the stairs were huge to me back then!  And because of where the television was located, in the corner of the room, we could sit in our “little cave” and watch TV and be completely in our own little world. This photograph will probably have the same meaning to these kids when they get older.  In talking to Mom, she said that they always watch TV like that.  No matter how much they have tried to get them to stop, they still keep going back to sitting on the arm of the chair.  She even said with a smile, ” Yeah, we are going to have this chair that has one arm completely destroyed.”  I hope that when these girls look at this photograph 30 years from now they will feel the same thing I feel when I think about watching TV on my grandparents stairs....