To top
4 Jan

Ten Resolutions For 2012 (And Nary A Diet Among Them)

For New Year’s this year, I made the usual kinds of resolutions that everybody makes. Eat healthier. Find more time for myself. Get more exercise. Buy fewer shoes. I don’t know whether I’ll follow through on them, but that’s not really the point, is it? New Year’s resolutions are aspirational. They’re not really meant to form the basis of a life plan for the upcoming year, regardless of what O Magazine tells you.

That said, I did make some resolutions that intend to keep. These were mostly tech-related resolutions, which I suppose tells you something about my priorities. Still, they are resolutions, and, I think, meaningful ones. Sort of:

7 Sep

What All The Cool Moms Are Carrying This Fall

Posted by Shalini.

Hi everyone!

What do you use as a camera bag? I have never found a camera bag that was both useful and pretty. It has always been black, ugly but functional. Once we had The Boy, I hated the camera bag even more. It became one more thing for me to schlep around but I always wanted to take pictures and video so I sucked it up and carried it around.

The heavier The Boy got, the worse it became until I had an epiphany. Our cousin was visiting with her little boy and she had a massive diaper bag, it was made for twins. I went right out and bought one for myself. It held everything, toys, clothes, diapers, snacks and I could put my DSLR into it. Yay for massive diaper bags!

So this brings me to my big questing (sorry, we have been watching a little too much Guess With Jess). Do you use both a diaper bag and a camera bag? Do you use a diaper bag that also holds your camera? Do you use a camera bag that also holds diapers?

15 Aug

Mommy Paparazza

Hey all! Meet Shalini, who’ll be sharing her Digital Life stories here, and schooling us all in mom geekery! In Shalini’s own words:

Shalini is a semi-techie and aspires to be a true geek.  She is very comfortable with using and learning about new technology while trying to maintain the cool wife and Mom façade. She also hopes to be the Mom who schools her kid(s) and husband in video games while running her household with order and authority. Among her newfound Mom skills, Shalini is developing her talents as a Mommy Paparazza as she constantly photographs and videos her son.  Shalini has also started taking instructions on cake decorating, which provides some much needed “mommy time” and an excuse to bake and eat cake.

Shalini is currently dealing with the challenges of a toddler who is walk- running, scaling the furniture and wondering the house looking for “Da Da” while she slaves away to prepare healthy, organic meals and to keep him clean. She is also recording the stories she makes up for her son with the hopes of one day sharing them with the world.  Shalini blogs at www.yellowsunnydays.blogspot.com and welcomes words of encouragement!

Hi interweb folks!

I need to admit that I have a problem. I am a Mommy Paparazza (and sMother). I take countless photos and videos of The Boy. So much that when he sees the DSLR, hears the chime of the camcorder or smartphone camera, he immediately stops what he is doing and smiles and poses…even if he’s crying. It’s super adorable except when I’m trying to capture him doing something cute or mischievous without disrupting said behaviour.

9 Aug

That Auto Setting Is Not Your Friend

Hey, everybody! Meet Jason! He’s a dad and a photographer and he’s going to be contributing here, sharing his digital life, and providing much-needed professional advice on all this photography stuff that I am so resolutely amateur about. In his own words:

“Jason Thomson is insane. How else do you explain being a dad to six kids, working as a full time writer and photographer and publishing “Frame One,” a blog to help anyone who wants to take better pictures without being a photographer.”

Take it away, Jason…


It’s just so darn tempting.

You turn on your camera and are bedazzled by that ever-expanding list of situational settings. Portraits. Fireworks. Aquarium (!). When you first buy the camera, you think to yourself “Oh man, I’m totally going to use all of those on trips next summer.”

Then next summer comes and you can’t find “Aquarium” buried under menu three and how to get the best shots from it.

“Auto” is a scam.