This year I had the wonderful opportunity to work as an on-staff photographer with the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Madison College covering their Learning Academy training event. The entire CETL staff does such a wonderful job working their fannies off to support the faculty and staff with the technology they need to help students.

This week CETL has been gracious enough to share the official Learning Academy slideshow put together by the department that features many of my photographs from that week(as well as video shot by my husband, Alan) and gave me permission to post it here, and I’m really excited to finally share it!

Note: Slideshow is a bit long and may be slow to load on some connections, not recommended for dial-up.

Music courtesy of DoKashiteru:
“The Annual New England Xylophone Symposium,” by DoKashiteru, used under Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0.
“5,” by DoKashiteru, used under Creative Commons Sampling + License 3.0.
“Ditto ditto,” by DoKashiteru, used under Creative Commons Sampling + License 3.0.

When I was younger I used to get so annoyed when family friends would remark on how much I had grown up between visits, how my gaining years made them feel old… and now I get it. My niece Sierra is a Senior this year, and it’s hard to believe that it was 9 years ago already that I was myself at that age. Nine Years. It’s harder to believe that this very lovely young lady who used to be a fiery toddler that gave me a good run for my babysitting money(and in  tiny fits of rage call me a “cabbage nose” every time I gave her a time-out), is now babysitting my son. And I feel old.

Cheers kiddo! Happy Senior Year!

I was raised by a pair of social justice activists, and as a result I feel that I have acquired a strong sense of compassion and appreciation for the stories of those who are less fortunate in our communities. Homelessness is often overlooked… or at least an uncomfortable subject for many… people without roofs tend to be invisible,  are judged without empathy, or are shown merely pity without compassion. I do not intend to stand here on a soapbox and go on righteously about humanitarianism, but if my photo makes someone look twice or think a little more about those less fortunate, then I feel as if maybe I’ve made a tiny bit of difference to a cause that my family has worked for for the last three decades.

Click on the button to hop over to IHF and check out all of the other “Photojournalism” entries this week!

I got to do a super fun senior shoot last week with my niece Sierra and her friend Pam. There are literally tons still to go through, but I wanted to put up a little preview while they’re waiting so patiently(don’t worry Sierra, you’re next!).

Click on the logo below to check out the other great “Shades” entries this week over at IHF

We’ve been waiting for some time to go to Cave of the Mounds, we’ve lived in the Madison area for over 3 years years now and it’s been on my list since the first week we got here. But there are some pretty firms rules that they have about not touching the formations(the oil in your hands prevents the water that’s dripping in the caves from depositing the minerals and limestone that build up the formations), and being that we have a VERY handsy 5 year old who touches everything and really cannot help himself, it seemed that we’d be waiting another few years at least before he is mature enough to go. But then, he went on an impromptu vacation with Grandma and Grandpa last week, so my husband and I hopped in the car and went to check it out. It. Was. Awesome.

It was well worth the wait, and I am so looking forward to sharing this with Dmitri when he gets a bit older because he would definitely get a kick out of it. We only saw the Cave tour, but they also have hiking trails, a place where you can pan for your own fossils and gemstones(great for kiddos), and some other fun family activities. If you’re in the Southcentral/Southwestern Wisconsin area, or even if you aren’t, I strongly recommend making a stop here, it’s honestly incredible, and the tour guide that we had was hilarious.

The I Heart Faces theme this week is “Surprise!” and when I saw that in my mind I instantly went to this photo of my husband Alan and son Dmitri. We’re a goofy household, we like to laugh a lot, and play little jokes on each other, and generally act like 5 year old children (of the three of us, Dmitri is the only one with a proper excuse for this behavior). This is the type of thing that we do for fun on Thursday nights.

I had been doing something in the kitchen when I turned around to see Dmitri racing at his dad and like any good wife, instead of shooing the rambunctious child away from my sleeping husband, I grabbed my camera and clicked. It’s not the best photo of the two of them that I’ve ever taken, but it may just be one of my favorites. The look on Dmitri’s face just makes me giggle over and over again, and the contrast of chaos and calm between the two of them has never been more truly represented. My only regret is that I was too busy laughing at the outcome to take any photos of Alan’s expression when he was leaped upon, because that was the best part.

Check out the other Surprising entries on IHF this week by clicking the button below:

I did photos of this little boy last year around the Holidays, he was an incredibly cute elf. Recently I did another shoot with him and his mum, and I have to say as cute as he may be all by himself, the two of them together is so charming it about knocks your socks off. I LOVE these photos, and I LOVE parents who let go, and get goofy, and play with their kids… it makes my job so easy. Lucas’ animated almost-four-year-old playfulness, combined with Lalita’s good humor and patience is a truly endearing display, and resulted in some great captures.

It’s been a week since Scott Kelby’s WWPW, and I am JUST NOW getting to posting up my photos. This last week has been so busy, and I still have two sessions to process, but I thought I’d take a little break from work, work, work, and go ahead and get these up before I get carried away with something else and they don’t get up at all.

Singers in the UW campus plaza at the beginning of the walk.

Vines growing up the side of a UW campus building.

This year’s walk was wonderful. Our leader, Steve, did a brilliant job planning the route and the weather was perfect. Also, while we’ve lived in Madison for over 3 years now,  we still haven’t done much exploring in the downtown area. Living on the far, FAR West side while  working full time, and having a preschooler/kindergartner kind of prevents us from getting downtown to just walk around. It was so nice to get a chance to wander and get to know the UW campus area and to find out that there are places that I didn’t even know were there, like jewel-box that is the Allen Centennial Gardens, which I quickly found out are just unbelievably incredible at sunset.

First of all, thanks to everybody who participated in my first giveaway! It was small but I’m just getting my feet wet and I love to share the nifty photography finds that I come across so there will be more giveaways to come in the future!

By random draw at www.random.org, the winner of a brand new copy of The Illustrated Practical Guide to Digital and Classic Photography is… Comment #13: Carly! Congratulations! I’ll be contacting you for your address shortly so that I can get it off to you asap.

If you didn’t win, I still HIGHLY recommend getting this book for your library because it is just so handy for any photographer to have around. I had to go back and get a second copy for myself! Pick it up at your local bookstore, or click the link above to view the amazon.com listing.