family

Hi, it's Anne here.

OK, I have a swing in my basement office. I put it there a couple of years ago to play with/restrain Teddy. It's still there and both boys love it. (I really hope the guy who sold us our homeowners insurance isn't watching today. The truth is, when someone's playing "rocketship" in the swing the safest place in the room is in the swing. Believe me, I know.)

I'm always hammering on everyone to keep their backgrounds clean and simple—as a general practice it's solid advice and I stand by it. But as many of you know that if you do always do everything I say you will shoot yourself in the foot—no pun intended. So keep your eyes open and ignore me when you need to.

Hi All, from Anne.

Every year I get requests from so many people asking for my How to Shoot Christmas Card Photos Tips. Well, here is my attempt at the most entertaining set of photo tips ever—time will tell exactly how useful they are.

I've been spending time lately looking at photographs sent in by fans of the How Photograph Your Baby Facebook page. I've critiqued, praised, teased, re-cropped, and been inspired by the work coming my way. It's been great fun and I thank all of you who have taken the time to participate. I'm planning to bring some of the photographs and my comments over here to the website where they will be more permanent and accessible. (With the photographers permission, of course.)

I just wanted to say a heartfelt thank you to all of you who took the time to write and let me know how much you enjoyed the short film I put together for the Creative Memories regional events this past month. Your comments were so flattering and so much fun. They really touched me. (Seriously, I’m not kidding. They really did. I really, really mean it.)

I have three sons. Chaz is twenty. Alexander is four and Teddy is one. I have created a true American family. I don't have a unique perspective on parenthood, but it's at least unusual.

This I know: your babies are going to amaze you. I think Chaz was five when he shot me with his first you're-not-as-smart-as-I-thought-you-were glance. I can tell that Alexander's been thinking it — Teddy still thinks I'm God, and God I love him for it.

The superior method for learning a foreign language is actually simple, obvious, and ironically, the most enjoyable — fall in love with someone who speaks the language. Linguists have observed that it cuts years off the process.

It's why the simplest, most obvious, and ironically most enjoyable time to learn photography is at the birth of a baby. A wedding would probably be a close second if anyone photographed their own, but it's rare.