A Year of Morning Thanks

Good people

A former student, now an editor, put me up to it--would you go over and shoot some pix of a family in your neighborhood, a family we're featuring in our magazine? Who me? I just point and shoot, mostly at landscapes. Taking pictures of a family is something I've only ever done for my own. I'm not at all sure of myself with moving targets.

I went. Afterward, I gave myself, first test, a C-. Somewhere along the line, I must have tripped the little toggle that moves the camera's lens over to manual focus. The blessed thing chirped at me for awhile, but nervous about the job, I simply let the chirping go as if the camera was simply annoyed with me. When I looked at the pix, they were a couple of inches short of sharp focus.

So I had to go again and did last night. The family is as sweet as the picture above--strong, loving, and helpful. They're organic farmers, and committed to it, as, I suppose, a family has to be once they start down that road. They're great people, and they showed it not only in the loving care they give to a circus full of animals on their farm, but also in the way they put up with a rookie photographer who wasn't at all sure of himself.

Done now. Got some good ones, I think. Learned some lessons, too, which isn't bad for an old man doing new tricks.

This morning, Independence Day, I'm thankful for a sweet and dedicated farm family, good people, just down the gravel road. What a treasure.