Week 29 - Teach a Class...Success!

Growing up, I always said I wanted to be a teacher. A teacher in a school, besides a mom teaching her children as they grow. And this week, I had the opportunity to teach a class!

My class just before the photowalk.

Through the power of social networking, I ended up being asked to share my knowledge of photography this summer. I called it "Simple & Sweet Photography Basics." I decided to do a brief overview on aperture, depth of field, ISO, and shutter speed, with touching on night photography and ending with a photowalk at sunset.

I was astounded that so many people showed up! The class of 20 people filled the little room for my presentation. The photographers who came ranged in skill from beginners to advanced hobbyists, and I hope that I was able to share something new with each person.

During the photowalk, I had the opportunity to talk with most of the attendees and answer any questions they had while they took pictures. It was definitely a great benefit to be able to show them hands on what I had just explained during the presentation.

I am showing a new photographer how to get a good composition.

Self portrait at the end of the night.

The next day, I learned there were many others who had wanted to come but couldn't make it. Looks like I just need to start doing the workshops on a regular basis.

Week 28 - Give a Shower...Success!

Just knowing you are clean is refreshing to the mind and spirit. This week we were able to finally hand out one of our homeless bags.

We had decided that today was Noah day during vacation, and Noah chose to go to the Cardinal's baseball game for his special activity. We grabbed some nearly nothing tickets from StubHub, printed them off, grabbed snacks from Walgreens, and we were on our way.

When we arrived at the parking lot, there was no one there...we were too late to pay for parking. Sweet! A benefit of arriving at the bottom of the 2nd inning when the heat index is 111F degrees.

We had picked up some seats in the nosebleed section - on purpose. We were completely in the shade, with a nice breeze since we were in the second row from the top. It was actually pretty pleasant watching the game. All the boys love going to the game, and this was Jacob's first St. Louis Cardinals game.

It came down to the bottom of the 9th inning, with 2 outs, and the Cardinals made some fabulous hits to win the game. Quite exciting!

I still had my homeless bags with me, and we were on the lookout for someone to give one to on our walk back to our vehicle. This man looked like he had been blessed already, with a plate of food on his lap and others handing him a few things, but we gave him a bag anyway. The gentleman high fived the boys and was very appreciative of the items. When I asked to take his photo, he gave me a salute.