My paparazzi….

Three years ago, I got my first really nice camera. (Wow, can it really be that long ago already?) I bought it for work related purposes, but that doesn’t keep me from really loving it—and love it I do. It hasn’t kept my children from really loving it either. I am spineless when it comes to squashing their enthusiasm; I have managed to keep their use of my camera under only semi-controlled circumstances. I have cringed so many times. My daughter has a decent camera—and she is good about using it. However, I had to break down and buy cameras for the boys last summer for their birthdays to keep them busy. It was just in time for trip to Voyageur’s National park on the Canadian border.

I usually find myself taking pictures of everything under the sun, but this time it was pictures of my kids taking pictures. Is it possible that only other moms could understand a card full of pictures of kids and their cameras? I love them so much—they are my life. I hope that this year when it comes time for their 4-H pictures to be chosen for the fair, they have plenty of great ones that they can obsess and debate over. Getting a taste of some of their mother’s dilemmas may give them a new appreciation when their mother asks them for their opinion! I am excited for them for the fair this year--last year, their first year showing, my oldest son received an honorable mention among all the blue ribbons. They are all hoping to be pulling those purples home this year.

We already had a painful lesson learned--my youngest lost all of his images. I tried to undelete them, but it was a lost cause. We are working on getting pictures backed up so they are safe in the future. the bright side of the picture is that while he may have lost some precious pictures, at least with the rest of ours--the memories are still safe. My boys, for whatever reason, loved to pull the used film waiting to be developed at the photo lab apart. Apparently, when you pull the film out of the canister it makes a cool sound. They must not have heard my heart cracking when I thought about the pictures that were lost--birthdays, Christmases and trips to the park. I was always disappointed when I discovered the exposed film lying in a pile, but my shutter finger has always been well used. At least I have others right?