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Class size limited to 42.
The Minnesota DNR Firearms Safety Training is coming up this spring/summer for hunters in the area.
Certificates are required for all youth hunters and individuals planning on hunting out of state. The classes, open to anyone age 11 or older, begin on May 28, to which youth must bring a parent for the first meeting. The dates for the classes that will follow are May 30, 31, and June 4, 6, 7 and 8. There will be a Field Day on June 8. The time will run from 7-9:15 p.m. for each class.
There will be a 42 student limit per class, so those interested must register early. As of earlier this week, 15 participants had already registered for the class.
The classes will be held at the Crookston Gun Club, 1 mile north of UMC on Highway 75 and a quarter mile west.
To register and for more information, call Steve Videen at 218 289-2115. The classes are sponsored and conducted by the Crookston Gun Club, West Polk County Deer Hunters Association, Bingham Construction, B & F Investments, Irishman's Shanty, Crookston National Bank, and Swanson Law.


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I'm up at the San Francisco Zen Center again. This place is getting to be like a second home or something. Or I'm getting to be like an unwanted guest who keeps stopping by and will never leave. But I'm here again anyway.
Starting Wednesday I'll be sitting a five-day sesshin at the Berkeley Zen Center. That should be boring. Don't know how I got talked into that one. But my friend Greg somehow managed to. This will be my second of four multi-day sittings I'm scheduled to do this year. God, how I hate them! And I'm not even leading this one! I'm just one of the grunts on the cushions.
I don't know if I should say I hate multi-day Zen sittings. I mean, I definitely do hate them. But I also enjoy them. The first time I did one I felt like I was embarking on a great adventure. After I'd done a dozen or so of them I started viewing them as a chore, especially when I started having to lead the damned things. Now I don't know how I view them. I have no real sense of anticipation or dread with this one. It's just a thing I'm doing. I'm still waiting for the company I work for (or do I?) to get their stuff together, which is supposed to happen sometime in July. So what else do I have to do? Might as well get some Zazen in.
I highly recommend anyone who's serious about Zen practice to do at least one multi-day sesshin a year. I think a two or three-day one is fine. Somehow the ones I lead in Shizuoka, Japan each year (see the link to your left for details) got extended to four days. And that's OK. But I kinda want to bring those back down to three again.
There's a depth of practice you get into in a multi-day sitting that just doesn't happen otherwise. It's good to get into this depth. But it's also important to come back out of it. Sometimes people get the mistaken impression that the deep stuff is somehow more important than the normal day-to-day stuff. And that's not true at all. Still, try a multi-day one sometime if you can.
But before that, I get to go talk at San Quentin again. That happens this afternoon. If I can, I'll post something about the trip tomorrow. That is, unless I get kidnapped in a prison uprising or something.
See ya(?).

subset: commoncrawl


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CHIPLEY � Local business leaders and elected officials gathered Tuesday in Chipley for Washington County�s first Economic Development Symposium.
CHIPLEY � Local business leaders and elected officials gathered Tuesday in Chipley for Washington County�s first Economic Development Symposium.
�Today is the beginning of our future,� said Ted Everett, executive director of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce, which sponsored the event. �We have to have a plan, and we have to come together as a county.�
�Economic development is too important to leave in the hands of just the Chamber or just the county commissioners,� said Jim Brook, executive director of Opportunity Florida and moderator of the symposium�s panel.
The symposium featured experts in the area of economic development, including Kenny Griffin of the Chipola Regional Workforce Development Board, Dr. David Goetsch, founder and life board member of the Okaloosa Economic Development Commission, Neal Wade of the Bay County Economic Development Alliance, Larry Sassano, of Florida�s Great Northwest, Terry Ellis, manager of West Point Home Inc. in Chipley, and Heather Squires of Enterprise Florida.
Dr. David Goetsch, the author of 70 books, presented �Economic Development 101� to the audience, which filled the Panhandle Area Educational Consortium auditorium.
Goetsch said that economic development hinges on the involvement of �civic entrepreneurs.�
�A civic entrepreneur is an individual who applies all the characteristics of a business entrepreneur to the economic development of a community or region,� Goetsch said. �They are often volunteers, and they spend their time after work and away from their families working for the good of the community.�
Economic development is a process, Goetsch said. �The goal is to create and retain jobs, that is what it is all about.�
When businesses look at communities to consider locating there, they often want to meet the county�s elected officials. �Local officials may say they support businesses, but when they are looking at a community, those businesses will talk to local business owners to see if what the local officials is true.�
Taking a long view is so important,� Goetsch said. �Economic development is a slow, murky process.�
Larry Sassano, president and CEO of Florida�s Great Northwest, discussed �Marketing Sites and Products� told local officials that a shovel ready industrial site is necessary for a community to �be in the game� of economic development.
�A Greenfield site with no or limited access with no or little infrastructure does not constitute a viable site and will not often be of interest to new or expanding businesses, and are better suited for agriculture or parks,� Sassano said.
For a site to be truly shovel ready, the planning, zoning surveys, title work, environmental studies, soil analysis and public infrastructure engineering has been completed prior to the site being offered for sale or lease, Sassano said.
�Shovel ready sites basically shorten the time it will take a prospect to have a building on his or her site and allows them to focus on moving forward to build the facility in a fraction of the time and be operational faster,� he said.
Heather Squires, manager of competition strategies for Enterprise Florida, discussed the organizations responsibilities for marketing the state to potential industries. �When a lead comes to the state, it is our job to match the community with the business� needs,� she said.
Enterprise Florida has an entire section dedicated to military and defense contractors, which are an important part of the state�s economy, Squires said.
�Ultimately, it comes back to that local level,� she said. �You have to have the support at the local level and know what you are going to work on.�
Bay County�s Neal Wade summed up economic development as �recruitment, sustaining and expanding existing base, tourism, retail and entrepreneurship.�
�I would rather have 10 businesses with five employees than one business with 50 employees,� Wade said. �One of the first things you need to do is stop going to Dothan or Panama City to shop. Spend that money here in town with a local business.�
Wade said growing the businesses already in place is a key element of economic development that is often overlooked.
�Economic development is the process of creating wealth and increasing the tax base,� Wade said. �If you can grow jobs, then you increase your tax base and everyone benefits.�


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Today while sorting through some old boxes I found a photo album filled with the first ever photos that I took as a young budding photographer. I was around nine years old when I first started using our family's film point and shoot camera and I still remember my Dad's 'training' on how to use it. Basically it consisted of this advice:
'Don't take too many shots'
Remember, this was back in the day of film photography where film and processing costs made my Dad's advice pretty sound. However looking back over my early images I wish he'd taught me a few other things about taking photos. Here's some of the advice I could have benefited from hearing.
Note – before I start I should say that you can probably teach a child too much about photography and 'kill' some of the playfulness that I think makes the images that a child can take special. My main advice would be to instill in your child the first lesson below – of experimenting and having fun:
Looking over many of the shots that I took in those early days shows me that I took a lot of shots of almost exactly the same things. I approached my subjects in much the same way with every shot and as a result ended up with very similar results. Teach your child how to vary their shots in a number of these ways:
A very simple concept that can enhance an image is to check out the background of a shot to check for clutter or distraction.
Teach your children to scan the background (and the foreground) of an image quickly and to change their framing if there's too many distractions – otherwise their shots will end up like mine used to with all kinds of objects growing out of the heads of those I was photographing.
Read more about How to Get Backgrounds Right
The other obvious problem with many of my first images is that they rarely lined up straight. In fact after viewing my first album for a few minutes I began to feel quite dizzy!
While shots that are not straight can be quite effective (they can be playful or give a more 'candid' feel to them) it is good to teach your children to check the framing of their shot before hitting the shutter.
Read more on Getting Horizons Horizontal and Getting Images Straight
It is easy to assume that everyone knows how to hold a digital camera – however while many people do it intuitively some will not – particularly children who are unfamiliar with them. In fact I've seen a lot of adults who could do with a lesson or two on how to hold a camera and whose images must suffer with camera shake as a result of poor technique.
A quick lesson on securing your camera could help a child get clear, shake free images for years to come.
Further Reading on How to Hold a Digital Camera
Almost all of the shots that took in my first rolls of film have my subject somewhere off into the distance of the shot. This is partly because the camera that I was using didn't have a zoom lens – but it was partly because I didn't understand how getting in close would help capture the detail of a subject.
Teach your children how to use the zoom on your digital camera – but don't forget to teach them how using their legs to move closer can achieve the same results!
Learn more about Filling Your Frame
While my Dad's advice did save our family a lot of money at the time – with the advent of digital photography, taking lots of pictures is no longer something that is too costly (although there are costs in terms of storing them all). Taking lots of images is a great way to learn different techniques of photography.
While you probably will want to encourage your children not to take 100 shots of exactly the same thing – encourage them to experiment with lots of different shots over time and as they do you'll see their photography improve.
I still remember coming back from my first overseas trip as a teenager (a school trip) and showing my parents my photos. Their first comment was that I had hardly taken any shots of people. All my shots had been of buildings. While some of them were interesting – I missed one of the most important aspects of the trip – those I was traveling with.
I chatted to a friend with two children recently and she told me that one of her children did the same thing with me – but the other came back from a school trip with hundreds of photos of their friends but none of the sites that they saw. I guess some children get too focused on photographing sites and some too focused upon photographing people. If you see your child doing this – perhaps reflect back to them that they think about different types of photography.
Interesting photographs have interesting things in them – they need a visual point of interest (a focal point). Teach your child to identify what this point of interest is before hitting the shutter.
Once they've identified the point of interest they can then think about how to highlight it (by positioning themselves, using their zoom etc).
Learn more about Finding Points of Interest in Your Photography
A simple principle of photography that I've taught a number of children is the Rule of Thirds. While I've talked numerous times about how breaking this rule can also be a powerful effect – it is something that I've found really can lift a child's images – particularly when they are photographing other people.
Even if the child doesn't completely understand to position their subject right on the intersecting third points – to teach them how to place their subject off centre can be enough.
Read our Rule of Thirds Tutorial
One thing that you can do to help your children drastically improve their photography is to sit down at the computer with them after they've been out with their camera to go through their shots.
As you scroll through them pause to affirm them with what they've done well and to point out things that they could do better next time to improve their results. Pay particular attention to the shots that they do well with as this will give them positive reinforcement and inspiration to keep going with their hobby.
One important technique that children will do well to learn is how to use focal lock. While most cameras do well in auto focusing upon subjects there are times when you'll end up with shots that are out of focus because the camera doesn't know what the main subject is (particularly if they are placing subjects off centre with the rule of thirds).
Teach your child how to press the shutter halfway down to focus and then to frame the shot while still holding it down and they'll have a skill that they'll use forever!
The day that i discovered my family film camera had a little dial for different 'shooting modes' on it was a day my photography improved a little. Most digital cameras these days have the ability to switch a camera into modes like 'portrait', 'sports', 'macro' etc. Teach your child what these modes mean and when to switch to them and you'll be taking them a step closer to learning about how their camera works and how to learn about manual exposure modes (see the next point).
Just knowing that different situations will mean you need to use different settings is an important lesson for kids to learn as it helps them to become more aware of not only their subject but things like how light, focal distance and subject movement can impact a shot.
Read our tutorial on Different Camera Modes
Once your child has a good grasp on the above techniques it might be time to teach them some basics of exposure (this might be one for slightly older kids). Learning about the three elements of ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed are a useful place to start your lessons and giving them an introduction to how changing these settings can impact a photo.
The best way for them to learn this is by introducing them to Aperture and Shutter priority modes.
Learn more about different aspects of exposure including Shutter Speed, Aperture and ISO.
Of course deciding which of the above lessons for kids on photography to teach your child will depend upon their age and experience. Some are obviously more appropriate for some children than others. I'd be interested to hear what readers do when it comes to this topic? What have you taught your kids?
With my own son (who is 16 months old) we're obviously not up to any of these – however I am teaching him to become familiar with cameras – showing him images once they've been taken on the LCD, letting him look through the viewfinder and even pressing the shutter. This familiarization is really nothing more than that – but in doing so he's becoming more comfortable with cameras – and I've noticed when I'm photographing him (which does happen a lot) he's much more happy to pose for me.
Speaking from little to no experience, this page was a lot of help to me. I come from a family consisting of a single mother and 4 kids while she makes minimum wage so college is not exactly where i see myself ending up, unfortunately. I am the oldest, and as a 15 year old girl whose going to be starting 9th grade, i clearly need to start getting my future plans in place. I hope to go to Keystone college on scholarship for photography, as it seems to come as a natural talent for me. With an $80.00 FujiFilm digital camera that had barely any settings, I was able to capture pictures that even i - one who lacks self confidence in high amounts - was impressed with. But i do have trouble with a lot of the things above. ( Especially taking photos from the average view over and over again. ) I always seem to get the best shots, but always from the same angle. My mother started, but was unable to finish college for her photography courses and other art courses, so she was of very little help. Thanks VERY much for this advice. :)
I have just taken up digital photography and am studying at Photo Image in South Melbourne Vic. I love your blog Darren, it helps me better understand the things I am learning in class. Keep it up mate.
I love this website! It helped me a lot! I am going to make a link to this website on my blog.
These are great basics to cover with students! I also like to challenge them by asking them to come up with a story to tell through their photographs. Or, even more fun, is to have them take photographs and have them make up the story afterwords. This challenges their creativity, and helps them think outside of simple technical skills.
My kids frequently join me on shoots. It is a lot of fun to put a camera in their hand and let them go at it. As time progresses, we talk about a lot of these things, bit by bit. It has, and will continue to be, a fantastic way to spend time with my kids.
Here's some recent work from my 8 year old, some self portraits:
Thanks! We are totally going to use these tips to teach our homeschooled children about photography!
This is way, way over complicated. You really shouldn't tell a kid more than experiment and try to fill the frame sometimes. The experience will be completely ruined if you bother with so much information. I tried to offer a photography class that wouldn't teach half of this, and the kids didn't want it. They love the freedom and joy that comes from not caring, letting the camera do the work.
I have three girls ranging from ages 3 and half yrs old, 2 yrs old and four weeks old. My oldest daughter loves the camera and is always asking to use my canon. I allow her to hold it and train her on the camera and let her take some shots. After that, i provide her with my old digital camera and go around taking pictures. My two year old, she is learning also, the canon is to big for her but she uss a point and shoot camera. Both enjoy taking pictures and finding new things. My oldest loves setting up shots and my younger one loves to be up close and personal with people and objects.
First of all, how cool must it be to still receive comments on your article which you wrote 5 years ago!
Second, your tips are great and I'll be checking out the linked articles as well. I'm not a photographer by a long shot, but I try to help my 11 y/o son with learning the different options on his camera. Just last weekend he bought a Sony a300 from money he saved and he is making tons of pictures of his friends. So now I spend evenings learning all the technical stuff, so I can explain it to my kid when he asks about it.
So, anyway, thanks for this article!
This HAS to be an excellent article! I think it also applies to anyone who is not happy with their results!
Thanks for the continuing great content
Bye for now
"Get in close" is one of the most important principles that will improve anyone's photography I think. Excellent article by the way.
Here I put some general advices that I know of, some may find helpful I hope:
I love this. thank you. My 13 & 8 yr old are both getting new digital cameras for Christmas this year. I'll be sure to reference this article again!
I go to our local cemetery to take pictures of headstones to put on the memorials that I have created for Findagrave. My Great-Granddaughter spends her summer and school vacations with me . I have given her my previous digital camera for her use and I take her to the cemetery with me. We started her out with a kiddie camera but that was not worth the trouble. I tell her she may take photos of anything she likes and as many as she wants. She is nine and we have been doing this for several years. It is interesting to see how she has progressed and what kind of shots she takes. We look at them on the computer later. She takes pictures of some of the headstones, flowers, sticks, me taking my pictures, etc. Her composition and her close ups are pretty good and her variety is amazing. She likes to think outside the box as most kids like to do and that makes for interesting pictures. All along I have offered her tips for her to try to take better pictures or answered her question instead of trying to tell her how she should do it. That has kept her interest and love for photography and she is still learning.
I learned that the kiddie cameras are frustrating. My little girl saved up almost $40 for one of those tuff things & expected to get shots like mom.... We gave up on the tiny screen and blurry shots, and instead, I teach her how to use my smaller nikon. :) It's so neat to see the world thru her eyes. She thinks of different angles than I do, and wants to take interesting pics of things like smoke from a beautiful candle blown out. Now my son is starting to take pics, because he sees the images right there, and gets some cool angles of his toys, using lamps for lighting. They are 7 & 8 now, so I can use some of these right now and continue to teach more as we go. The tips are perfect!
I let my 3 year old use my DSLR to the fear of other family members. But I've found that he treats it very well and holds it like Daddy does and just enjoys taking and looking at his "work". Like a previous poster, I won't be going over too many of these rules, I'll wait a few years or so, before I bore him with talk of the rule of thirds.
Excellent article. I just led a workshop this past weekend on the Basics of Nature Photography, and my presentation was amazingly similar to what you presented here. With regard to taking lots of shots, I tell people that since we are no longer having to deal with film and such, take lots and LOTS of shots. When you do, and if you're paying attention to your camera settings, two things will happen: 1) you'll invariably get better and better, and 2) throw enough sh*t at the wall, and something's gotta stick. :-)
While I agree that rules are importanat, I won't be following these for quite a while. My 4-year old daughter loved taking pitcures with my old Sony. She takes pictures of everything! I'm afraid if I start beating her up about composition and "the rule of thirds", it'll feel too much like work. Later on, when she asks me how to take better pictures, we'll cover the rules. But for now, she's having fun and that's REALLY what its all about...isn't it?
thank you!
Great advice and very informative. I was given my first camera ( Kodak Instamatic ) at age 8 and promtly told that I was going to pay for all film and processing. That was my first lesson in photography and economics rolled into one life long pursuit of happiness that included 600 weddings and millions of images and experiences that will never be forgotten. I have passed the torch along the way when permitted by inquisitive youth of all ages. I feel blessed that my parents gave me a vocation that will be passed on to many generations to come. Thank you for allowing me to express my thoughts on this subject.
There are some wonderful lessons here. Many of them apply to every aspect of life not just photography. I have some young children that are just getting old enough to start introducing them to my love of photography. Many of the ideas you have shared here will help me teach them I am sure!
Just found this.
My son LOVES to take pictures...as early as I can remember. I finally lent him my old Canon 45 when he was a little over 2. With so many buttons and sliding front, etc. it was too enticing for his little fingers.
I have another older digital camera I lent him...but I'm hovering now.
He'll be getting his own KID camera on his 3rd birthday...in a few days. I cannot WAIT to see his world through his eyes!
These are great points to think about (for his Momma) to use as a guide but not necessarily 'rules' for a 3 yr
I bought my kid a very basic photography kit when he was just 5 years old and he loved it. Now he's 8 and I'm about to buy him something better. Thanks for these tips... Very helpful!
glad to see this.
i might add that this approach could aid many an older student as well.
i've been shooting for 40+ years and whenever someone wants
advice about photography i begin and end with "learn the aperture/shutter relationship".
(i'm not much of a teacher, i lack deep patience)
it's surprising how many are intimidated by this and feel it's beyond them. it's not.
it does however have an endless learning curve and i still find myself with an image in my viewfinder
re-visiting the basics to capture what i see.
i shoot in manual on a dslr which is a great way to see the effects of various combinations given the settings data attached to each image.
watch the light.
hey jazz wazzup ikr, its so scary......... i cant even scream!!! sorry bout ur watch sux, its was freakin 7 bucks man!!!
The most amazing thing you can do is teach your child about photography. Thanks for all the tips! Will apply them.
This is awesome, this helped a lot with my media studies class!!
My ALMOST 2 year old loves to mimick what mommy is doing. Although MANY people have gotten mad at me for doing so, I let her use my DSLR camera from time to time. I'm right there with her, but I let her do the choosing. I put the camera on "live mode" so she can see what she's looking at without using the view finder, which is a concept yet to learn. She is currently learning how to choose "good" subject matter to shoot. She enjoys her toys at the moment and I help her to light them interestingly. She has a little kid toy camera that she uses when I'm using mine and, although she can't actually take pictures with it, we pretend and smile and help her think about what she's doing. She helps me hold my reflectors when I'm out shooting too, which she understands is a BIG job and does her best. (However, she's only 22 months so I'm not expecting too much) In my oppinon you can start your kids as young as you want, you just need to be willing to teach at their level. :)
Thank you. I have been teaching my fifth/sixth grade student photography in the last few months. They started out slowly not wanting to take "bad" pictures. Now they are click happy. I've used your tips when teaching them; they really help.
I go the our local cemetery to take pictures of gravestones to add to memorials. I have been taking my Great Grandaughter, who is now 8 years old, since she about 3 years old. After the first few trips, she wanted to take pictures. She tried pictures with one of those little kids cameras but was not happy with it. I loaned her one of my older digital cameras for our cemetery trips. I did explain a little about how to take a good picture, explained what she could do better on some of the shots she took. Anyway, I let her take what pictures she wanted and looked at them afterwards. She took pictures of headstones, close up of flowers, leaves, twigs, bugs, trees and me taking my pictures. She takes pictures in our yard of flowers including close ups. She actually takes some pretty good pictures as she has a good eye and some are rather interesting from her point of view. Now is time to start teaching her more about photography.
So awesome! Another DPSer linked me over to this page when I asked for help on teaching a camp full of kids about photography. This wrote out in simple terms what to teach kids and took out of my head all the complex 'adult' things I was thinking. Thanks Darren!
Thank you so much for this wonderful site! I have a group of fifth and sixth graders that is eager to learn the art of photography so that they may produce a yearbook for their after school club. Everything I need to help them do this successfully was here...and I picked up a few tips for my own photos too!
Your Post 13 Lessons to Teach Your Child About Digital Photography is interesting.I like reading Posts on cameras for kids...Please keep posting on cameras for kids.
This is just what I was looking for. I am a daycare teacher. My class has kids from K thru 4th grade. Last summer I bought a reasonably priced digital camera the kids could use. While I always brought my digital SLR, I wasn't too sure about them using it on a regular basis. They took pictures most of the summer and we made a little scrapbook of sorts. This year I want to do the same but with a more educational focus. I however didn't have a clue how to get started teaching kids to take pictures. I'm hoping for long term love of photography from this class and I think this article will give me the ability to head them into the right direction. Thank You so much
My eldest child turned 9 in November. For her birthday, I gave her a point and shoot camera. It turned out to be a piece of junk so I returned it and "loaned" her my Canon Rebel. (I shoot with a 20D or a 40D depending on the day you ask me.) Since she is homeschooled, I decided to make an art project for her a picture a day in the month of January. Being that we are one week in at this point, it's been fun to see what she thinks she should photograph. I was most impressed the day she decided to take an "artistic" shot of a friend holding a empty frame out in front of her. I SWEAR I did not put the thought in her head - she came up with it all on her own. She is not old enough to go blog hopping yet, so I know it was genuinely her original idea. The picture didn't turn out as well as one would hope, but given that this was her third day into the project, I was thrilled that she was adventurous enough to try something other than the boring old headshot. It's super fun to watch her and be able to advise on small aspects of her photography. I will put some of your tips into her project for the remainder of this month. Thanks!
I never heard of "the rule of thirds," I like that.
This is absolutely fantastic!!!!!!! I am travelling with my church to Guatemala in a few weeks, and we will be teaching at a school, 5th-9th graders. Most have never used a camera before, and I was having a hard time figuring out how to introduce them to the idea of photography. These points are absolutely SPOT ON!!!! I've been shooting since I was 14, but only seriously for about 4yrs. Trying to get away from discussions on shutter speed and aperture, DOF and other things was leaving me with "what DO I tell them?" And of course, I need to get it all translated before our departure.
I used your points as basics for my first day lecture, and will make a Proshow slideshow of my own photos to illustrate the points. I can leave my notes behind as a handout for the kids, and the slideshow disk (a self-executing file) for them to review on the computer.
I thank you so much for this wonderful lesson, and look forward to bringing the joy of photography to a group of under-priviledged kids who may never have even see a photo of themselves before. :) :) THANK YOU!!!!!!!
Hi- Can you PLEASE help me!! My son is 11 and for his birthday, he wants a camera that he can shoot nature photography with. He is always outdoors (camping, fishing, ect) So, we are looking for an easy to use camera with ultra zoom. I know nothing about cameras! Any suggestions on what camera to get him???
I teach photography to my fifth grade students (and blog about it). We begin with a meditation exercise that helps students visualize their neighborhood, which is what they will eventually photograph. They go through the experience and then write furiously about all the details they recall. After, I have them condense the details into one sentence to describe their neighborhood poetically. This gives them a personal connection to photography and gives them a goal as to what they're going to capture.
When I send the cameras home with the students for the first time, I ask them "How many pictures do you think you should take tonight?" Inevitably they answer, "2, 3?" And I say, "NO!!! Take at least 30!" Some come back with 30, but others come back with 50. I explain the reasoning behind this - that you can take a ton of pictures and still not get the one you want, so you really need to snap many photos. Aside from learning the genres of photography, this lesson is perhaps the one I try to impress upon them the most.
Once they've brought photos back, we sift through them looking for the ones that best epitomize the aforementioned sentence. Eventually, they narrow it down to one and we print it. It's a wonderful process and they love it.
I will also add that they flip out for rule of thirds. To illustrate it concretely, I project various photos on the board, and using a yardstick, draw lines to divide the image into a tic-tac-toe board. Then we discuss whether the picture meets the rule of thirds. For their own engagement, I distribute large photos that I've taken, along with 4 straws. In groups, students use the straws to check for rule of thirds. Also a very fun lesson that sparks a lot of conversation about whether the rule of thirds MUST be followed.
By the way, we also spend an entire lesson on learning how to hold the camera properly, including how to pass it to someone and store it properly. They love this because it's the first time they get to touch the class cameras.
Last suggestion. To get them thinking about composition and the limits (and benefits) of viewing the world through a frame, I have students cut a fairly small rectangle (maybe 1.5" x 3") in an index card. They then go around the room with their 'viewfinder' moving it away from their face and toward their face to see the different possibilities. I have them sketch what they are seeing. Very effective because it is concrete.
I love teaching my students photography. Definitely the highlight of my school year. They really take to it because it's a passion of mine and it's something they can make a highly personal connection with. Thanks for reading and good luck!
Please check out my blog for updates on our Mosaic Project as we progress this year.
I'm so glad my dad is a t.v producer. I started using pro video equipment at age 13 (I'm just 14 now). I already have 6k worth of video equipment. I learned using aperture, iso, and shutter on my video camera (the camera only had a manual mode) and I'm glad I learned it. I'm getting interested in photography. And pictures I have taken with other ppl's camera (I held a job in video/photo journalism company over the summer btw) are great. I love the 5d mark II. My dream 2.8k camera. I'm doing a video job for my dad and he promised to get me a canon 7d (my dad almost had a heart attack lol but I convinced him plus I'll be putting up about 600 bucks to for it). Can't wait to finish this video project.... I know this article says to not boss your kids around, but if your kid is really interested in photography/videography he or she will learn about the most advanced controls inevitably. Honestly I think alot of kids just like taking snaps rather than photographs.
Fortunately for me you guys put this up. Not for the kids but for me. After looking at the site i realize its not my Canon SD1100 its me. I always new i had a great camera, i just didnt realize how bad i took pics. Thanks for enlightening me. Its not time to upgrade my camera, but time to upgrade my skills with my camera. Thanks again for saving my family from more mistaken memories lasting a lifetime.
Great post and advice for getting kids into photography. I agree with the comments that having fun should be the focus rather than getting too technical at first. One of the fun things to do is just letting your kids play with the camera during family gatherings. You'll get some great candid pictures because people tend to ignore kids playing with their 'toy'.
This is the best post about photography I have read in awhile. Found it through Google, after a cousin of mine asked me for advices. He wants to buy a camera and start. This will be more than enough.
Thanks a lot!
Amanda i'm curious to what you shoot with because I'm fifteen as well.I have also taught myself a little bit because I started liking photography at a later age (11) I didn't get my first camera until then. I still have a lot to learn but some of my photographs are good. any tips?
As a primarily self-taught fifteen-year-old photographer I agree with most of these [:
I started photographing quite literally everything when I was about three or four, after getting sick of always being the model! The first thing I was ever told about photography was 'don't waste film.' I have never been a fan of that phrase - I started buying my own film when I was eight or so, just to get my parents off my back! (This was, of course, after I realised they had begun to remove the film from the camera before they gave it to me...)
We got our first digital camera when I was about nine or ten, and I taught myself everything I know since then. I still own that point-and-shoot and although it's completely broken now and the quality, etc. was terrible, I took some of my best shots with that camera.
Re: keep it straight: One of my favourite shots I have ever taken is one where I titled the camera. Granted, that was on purpose - but it's one of the few shots that I've ever had up on display and liked looking at.
Most of the best photos I've taken where ones when I completely threw the rules out to the wind - when I was eight-thirteen years old, before I bought my DSLR, I didn't really care about photography in the sense of doing it 'correctly' and I got tons of great shots - I had fun with what I was doing!
I think the best tip you can be given as a child is to have fun with the pictures you take - be spontaneous and don't try to conform. Children look at things creatively, just as an innate part of their nature. Don't try to stifle that.
Of course, most of these rules are GREAT tips, too! I took hundreds of photos and acquired a collection of three-four 1200 memory cards by the time I was twelve, because I was a believer in 'the more photos you take, the greater the chance one will stun you.' Plus, you can never have too much practice! Taking so many photos then is the reason I can take such nice photos now. Trial and error is a great way for kids to learn. Don't take the camera away from you child - especially in the age of digital photography, having them take tons and tons of photos is one of the best ways to get them interested in photography in the long-term.
I agree that you should teach children about different camera settings, as well. I started with film and that was just part of learning how to take a good photo - but when we got our first digital I started forgetting about that. Luckily I was reminded by a family friend-photographer that I should be taking advantage of all the camera settings available. Never leave your camera on Automatic, if you can help it! It also teaches kids how to correctly format and set up a photo, because quite honestly it took me years to get to the level of post-processing I'm in now in Photoshop... knowing all those essential camera basics eliminates a lot of that need, and it's a really great way to teach kids the basics of photography before they get serious about it.... then they don't feel as silly asking questions.
So, in a nutshell: let your kids have FUN with photography - don't stifle them or it will just become a chore. Even so, teach them techniques and such early on, because it will rub off, even if they don't notice it happening!
What a great article.
I remember on a school trip to France my Mum telling me...don't waste your film taking photographs of your friends.
The result being that I had probably 24 pictures of Paris identical (although no where near as good) as I had in my guidebook and not a single one of the friends I traveled with.
When my son went on an outwards bounds holiday recently I told him to make sure he got plenty of his mates in the photographs and the memories are so much more special.
>>> 12. Different Modes for Different Situations
many people don't know about these (easy) modes & settings... I think lesson #12 can be learned and used veeeeery quickly!
That are nice rules -- well, thanks, I use them for my own now.
Hope that's OK :-)
Absolutely awesome and to-the-point tips! Exactly what I was looking for to show some kids in our homeschool co-op. Thanks for this great post!
I *don't* recommend buying a camera made for a kid. The picture quality is so bad most times you can't even determine what they were pointing at; the buttons make such wonderful noises you'll be lucky if the kid doesn't delete all the photos. The pretty "tough" camera that is everywhere right now is over $50 and the nicest thing I can say about the photos is maybe they look abstract.
Go on Kijiji or CL and get a old $20 digital - that's what I did. My three year old has a 5 year old 3.0 megapixel Sony Cybershot - point and shoot. Just have them wear the wrist strap and it should be fine.
i've always knew these things but somehow lack the terms for some points. THANK YOU! i've learned a lot. not to mention, my new adventure -- teaching photography, 35 kids ages 10-13, will surely be a lot easier and fun :) i'm so glad to have come across your no-air-n-nonsense site. here's to more wonderful inputs!
This is very helpful. We had to read this to learn for yearbook. Very good again. 10/10. 5 Stars
Great and relevant article for adults as well. I was in this photography class and the instructor whilst teaching emphasized to us to think like a child in getting creative pictures and also encouraged us to lend our camera to the child or buy them one and teach them how to shoot. After that observe how they tend to compose the shot and shoot.
My instructor even showed the pictures his 5 year old grand daughter took. Greats pictures they were.
The entire premise for this article is *very* dumb. Why would Darren limit these tips just to children? These sound suspiciously like my internal checklist....... (c8
Good advice for parents AND kids. I love watching my son discover new things through photography and to be able to see the results of his thoughtful work. He's already leaps and bounds beyond where I'd imagine him to be at this point.
Good reminder of the basic rules of photography, not only for children, but for anyone who takes bad photos and would like to take better ones.
You're teaching me although I'm not a child :D embarrassed
Great read! I really enjoyed it!
Great lesson, just basics of the basics. I get too technical with my 6 year old daughter. She's teaching me to break the rules and enjoy the creativity of photography.
These are great tips for everyone actually, but I especially agree with the tip of not bossing them TOO much... One of my favorite shots that my daughter took at 4 year old is a slightly crooked shot of my husband and I with her baby sister on Easter morning. I was wearing reflective sunglasses and there in the shot is the reflection of her in her Easter dress taking the shot.... and then pictures she took of she and her sisters hands and feet and shoes... SOOO adorable especially now that they are all grown up.
She ended up being very artistic and creative and is now a hair stylist and she does a good job of taking photo's of her "do's" for her blog.
She's also still taking fun pictures for me... last night she sent me a picture of a pan she wanted to cook in to see if it was ok to put it in the oven... Mom DOES know some things now that she's over 20. :)
My 8 going on 9 year old son uses my old Canon S45, which is a great P&S, to snap pictures. He loves getting close to insects and other small creatures. I think he's going to be a macro photographer.
Maybe a bit controversial, but I think this is pretty much bunkum. 13 rules of photography!??? Come on...
Hold the camera straight...???? No. Take the shot, enjoy the moment, capture it... crop it later if you need to. Or leave it crooked.
Personally I think the best advice is just to take lots and lots and lots and lots of pictures, then, crucially, look at them and see what you enjoy, what you like, what it is that you don't like about your own shots.
Kids will soon learn the things that are important to them, and they'll develop their own style. The "academics" can come later IF they develop a passion and become sufficiently interest to ask. Primarily when they start to ask "but why isn't my picture...?" and "how come their picture is...?"
Until then the rules will just turn them off, I believe.
Great advice, and most people can use it -- not just kids!
For myself though I'm sorry I taught my son the "rule" of thirds though -- in fact I'm sort of sorry I know it myself! I think it's a bad influence. Getting a real point of interest into a rule-of-thirds point (or golden ratio point to be more accurate) seems to kill the flow so often.
Maybe just tell them "it doesn't always have to be centered" and let them find different ways to position things -- and maybe even center them!
Rule-of-thirds should be renamed to "suggestion-of-thirds" maybe. Just a suggestion. :-)
One DPS member posed this question: "What would it have been like, to have moments we experienced as kids preserved through *our *eyes, not the snapshots of parents?" I remember those things I found beautiful, interesting, funny as a child--but I only hold them in dim memory. I am happy for this new generation of digital age children who will be able to preserve their memories in photos, holding them in literal hands, able to share of themselves with loved ones.
This past weekend I gave my grandson his first camera. (Posted here yesterday). He is just shy of 3, so his first hours were spent fascinated with BUTTONS. At the end of our first photo shoot, he had the rudimentary idea of "taking a picture of something" vs. mimicking me pointing "at something". I caught his first "aha" moment when he took a picture of a sign of his candidate for president in a neighbor's yard. Cute on so many levels.
My favorite moment came at the end of the day when he came to me and said: "Nanna, thank you for my wonderful camera!" Yes, Taj, and may the development of your "third eye" open vistas to you!
This is great. I'll just add a few things I try to encourage in my children (9 & 11).
- take your camera everywhere and take photos of everything.
- once you see your photos on the computer, go through them selectively, and get rid of most. This has a lot to do with recognizing what's in a good photo.
- find inspiration -- enter contests, go on scavenger hunts, etc.
My 11-year-old did a photo-a-day project for many months and has also won a few awards at the county fair.
Current goals:
- Teach my son (almost four) to take a photo OF something - ie. "it's point and shoot, not just shoot"...
- Teach my daughter (six) to hold still when pressing the shutter.
Target sells a digital camera for 3-6 year olds made by V-Tech. It was on sale for $40 when I saw it (usually $50) and it has two viewfinders so your child can use it like binoculars. It even has an lcd screen and you can hook it up to your TV to see the pictures!
This was a marvelous lesson. The lessons were spot on, and I laughed quite a bit. Now, that's what learning is all about. You do have a great sense of humor!
Great post! Kids can take the most amazing shots if you stick a camera in their hands and give them freedom.
I learned photography back in the film days. Got my first camera at age 6 (Kodak Brownie). Started developing and printing my own sometime in my teen years. I had a darkroom right off my bedroom (was a kitchen when that space was an apartment).
The best advice my father (photographer and Kodak exec) gave me was "film is cheap." This is particularly true when you're developing it yourself, but the expense of redoing or missing a shot is much higher than the cost of another frame of film.
The great thing about digital is that "bits are free". It makes it so much easier to "experiment" and take "lots of shots."
I bought a Canon PowerShot for my 6yo son last Christmas and he absolutely LOVES taking shots. It's so fun to see what kind of interesting stuff he takes pictures of! He's really big into doing macro-type shots where they're so close, you have to look at it a few times to figure out what exactly it is. Thanks to that camera, most of his shots are really crisp and have an awesome DOF!
Eventually, I want to teach him more of the above, but seeing as how he's only six, I like just letting him run with it and take whatever shots he wants. He comes up with some pretty neat artistic shots!
I have a sample of what not to do when giving a camera to a younger family member.
You don't want to leave the camera in either of the 2 priority modes unless the person knows what they're doing. I should've left the camera in fully automatic since it's usage that day was just point and shoot.
Thanks for a wonderful article! I've had my granddaughter out shooting since she was 2 1/2 years old. Here's a pic of her at age 3 setting the camera [http://www.megalink.net/~rkluz/pix/Riley-and-camera.jpg]. The hardest part at that age was getting her to wait for the digital camera to finish focusing before she pressed the shutter button. I cannot tell you how much *I* learned by seeing the world from her level. She's now 7, and I have her doing video. She loves to walk around her world and narrate what the viewer is seeing. =)
michael g-
My niece showed a real interest and knack for photography, so I bought a used Canon PowerShot 2 or 3 year old camera from B&H Photo. It was about $60 and banged up just a bit, but not bad at all. Perfect, IMO for a 9-year-old, which is what she is. She loves it and it's got a lot of functionality for the price, since it's used. She doesn't care!
This is an excellent step-process tutorial. There are some very good ideas here. I wish more young people would become interested in photography. It has much more to offer than just the artistic side. Your 13-Steps has the potential to launch many new, young shooters.
Personally, if I were teaching a young person your 13-Steps I might consider exchanging the order of step 12 and 13. Teach manual setting and manipulation first then work with automatic settings. Too many of us (me included) fall back on the ease of auto settings. We need for this new wave of photographers to understand what it is to control exposure manually. Empower them with the knowledge of how to stop and think about an image before taking it. Allow them to discover that their brain can be infinitely more flexible and creative than an automatic setting. Auto settings tend to make for "lazy" beginners and seasoned pros as well.
Show how to set up depth-of-field by varying aperture and shutter. Help them discover selective metering for complex shadow and highlight scenes. Teach them about manually setting their cameras for flash photography by calculating the distance, ISO, and shutter speed against the aperture. Teach them how to manually set "Sun Sync†to use fill flash properly with sunny day photography outdoors. Explain Ratio Lighting and how to use it in making dramatic portraits and product shots. Allow them to explore the technical side of photography then let them loose with their cameras to break all the rules.
Fiat Lux!
Michael - I got my daughter a Fuji S602 for a great price (under $125) on Ebay. It is a very versatile camera, even has a B&W mode, several scene modes and full manual, AV, Tv, and macro modes. At age 15 she took two blue ribbons and a third place at our local Fair. With a 6X zoom and the feel of a small SLR it is a great camera!
a very good idea to bring the children nearer to the camera. many a children, despite their parents encouragement, do avoid taking photos. this photoblog will at least put their parents at rest while coming to the teaching basic techniques of taking a good photograph. very encouraging. thanks.
I feel kindof weird now.. a couple things there I don't even know much about at all!
Excellent article. I have no child of mine for the moment, but my nephew seems to show interest in photography.
These points are a good reminder of what I could teach him.
Also, it's would be much useful for adults (hey, Mom ;)).
5) This sucks the most. Whenever I give my D80 somenone else to make a picture of me I am far to small and 90% of the pic is just fore- and background. I even get better results holding the cam myself with a stretched arm.
Just a few of my pals know how to shot right. It's always a pleasure to give the cam to them!
michael - one camera you might want to consider is the - it's not cheap - but it's tough!
I'm enjoy taking better pictures now, the only problem is how to teach my hubby to take better photos of me! Maybe I have to take my own pictures too.
I guess I become more demanding when it comes my own photos. Ah I just need to loose weight to look good at all angles ;) .
Now if only someone would teach my mother how to use focal lock...
do you have any suggestions for a beginner digital camera for a 9 year old girl? While she certainly has an interest in photography and the photos that we all post on our slideshows, she really doesn't seen all that ready to take care of a camera...i.e. charge it, not drop it, keep it clean. Taking care of the camera can certainly be part of the fun of learning to take pictures..
Teach them...
...to love the blades of grass
...to see a story in the light
...to feel the joy of colours
...to sense the mood of a scene
...the wonder of an intricate detail
...to anticipate a magical moment
...the patience of post-processing
...the fun of sharing a photo
...the benefits of listening to comments
...how to put people at ease
...the beauty of order and patterns
...an appreciation of the greater artists who create the architecture or gardens or scenery
Some good stuff there - but I think it depends on the kid how much "coaching" you should do. I have just started lending my son the point and shoot and he really enjoys using it (and I like seeing what he thinks it is interesting to take photos of - some quite surprising). I don't think he would take well to "instruction" at the moment (he likes to do his own thing) but I am hopeful that he will be interested enough to ask some questions. This will be a useful reference. Thanks :)
Here's one from experience...don't try to sneak up on a skunk to get a great shot. A couple of years ago my son was using my old digital camera taking photos while camping. He spotted a skunk (having no idea what it was) and wanted to get up close for a better shot. Needless to say the camping trip ended early we had to flush out his eyes and scrub him down for the rest of the day. The camera wasn't usable for over a week either from pure stench.
Moral of the story, teach you kids the precautions to take when trying to photo animals :)
Those are all good points, but I think you may have missed the most important one: Play and have fun!
These are kids, after all. It doesn't really matter how technically good their photos are. If they're enjoying what they're doing, they'll learn and remember far more than if they've had 'obey the rule of thirds' drummed into them.
I have been working with my son and his camera for 2 years now. He's 5 now. He has an incredible eye and I love just letting his imagination flow. I have tried to teach some basics that you mention here. Thanks for reminding me of new things to try with him.
thank you for a great blogpost.
We have a daughter on 3 1/2 who has our old little digital camera to shoot with - she absolutely loves it.
Now we have a lot of great tips on how to educate her in photography - awesome !


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Obama says immigration reform 'within our grasp,' key senator raises concern with plan
President Obama said Tuesday that "now's the time" for immigration reform, using an address in Las Vegas to try and energize renewed talks in Congress toward comprehensive legislation.
"I'm here today because the time has come for common-sense comprehensive immigration reform," Obama said.
The president, setting out to achieve an immigration overhaul where many before him have failed, was running into trouble even before he gave his address. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., one of four Republican senators involved in a bipartisan effort to craft immigration legislation, earlier in the day blasted Obama for opposing a requirement to shore up border security before legalizing up to 11 million illegal immigrants.
Obama's speech, and a separate fact sheet handed out by the White House, made clear that the administration does not want to link the path to citizenship to border enforcement.
The president said Tuesday that in order for immigration reform to work, "It must be clear from the outset that there is a pathway to citizenship."
The comment, albeit subtle, was an apparent reference to a provision in the Senate blueprint that would not let illegal immigrants seek citizenship until border security is strengthened. Obama said that his conditions would only involve the illegal immigrants themselves -- he said that they would have to submit to a background check, pay back taxes and fines, learn English and get in the back of the line in order to apply.
The president described his plan as "earned citizenship."
Obama claimed a "broad consensus" was emerging on the issue itself, calling the plan outlined by Rubio and others "very much in line" with his own -- aside from the path-to-citizenship provision. "For the first time in many years, Republicans and Democrats seem ready to tackle this problem together," he said, calling legislation "within our grasp."
He said any plan should include the path to citizenship, but also a crackdown on employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers -- and a better system for verifying the status of those workers. He also called for streamlining the legal immigration system, providing visas for foreign entrepreneurs and retaining sought-after science and math graduate students.
The president has run into complaints from conservatives that his plan is tantamount to "amnesty."
But the most problematic objection so far has come from Rubio -- a prominent Hispanic conservative who is vital to the bipartisan effort on Capitol Hill.
Speaking on Fox News on Tuesday, Rubio insisted that illegal immigrants not be allowed to obtain green cards -- let alone citizenship -- "until the enforcement stuff is in place."
"I think that would be a terrible mistake," Rubio told Fox News. "We have a bipartisan group of senators that have agreed to that. For the president to try to move the goalposts on that specific requirement, as an example, does not bode well in terms of what his role's going to be in this or the outcome."
He said: "If that's not in the bill, I won't support it."
Obama stressed Tuesday that if Congress cannot move forward "in a timely fashion," he will submit a proposal drafted by the White House.
Amid the exchanges, Republicans congressional leaders expressed a willingness to debate the issue while cautioning against Obama getting too involved.
"There are a lot of ideas about how best to fix our broken immigration system," House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement. "Any solution should be a bipartisan one, and we hope the president is careful not to drag the debate to the left and ultimately disrupt the difficult work that is ahead in the House and Senate."
The issue of immigration reform was put on the back burner during Obama's first term -- overtaken by debate over health care legislation and economic measures. But along with gun control, it is one of the top items on his second-term domestic agenda.
The eight U.S. senators got ahead of him Monday, unveiling a blueprint that calls for, among other things, a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants already in the United States.
But White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the president "welcomes" the proposal, saying it represents the "bipartisan support coalescing" behind certain principles of immigration reform.
Despite the difference over the path to legal status, an Obama administration official told Fox News the senators' plan is on a trajectory that mirrors Obama's immigration plan in many ways, and that the White House is willing to let the group take the lead.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., one of the eight senators, called the new proposal a "major breakthrough" and said he hopes to turn it into legislation by March -- with the goal of passing something out of the Senate "by late spring or summer."
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., standing beside him, claimed 2013 is the "best chance" lawmakers will have to tackle immigration for years.
Even so, the proposed pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants drew immediate criticism from others on Capitol Hill.
"No one should be surprised that individuals who have supported amnesty in the past still support amnesty," Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said. "By granting amnesty, the Senate proposal actually compounds the problem by encouraging more illegal immigration."
The eight senators who unveiled the new principles are Democrats Schumer, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Michael Bennet of Colorado; and Republicans McCain, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Rubio of Florida and Jeff Flake of Arizona.
The Senate framework would also require those here illegally to pass background checks and pay fines and taxes in order to qualify for a "probationary legal status" that would allow them to live and work here -- but not qualify for federal benefits -- before being able to apply for permanent residency, a critical step toward citizenship. Once they are allowed to apply they would do so behind everyone else already waiting for a green card within the current immigration system.
Senators also want to reform the legal immigration system, including awarding green cards to immigrants who obtain advanced degrees in science, math, technology or engineering from an American university.
The principles released Monday are outlined on just over four pages, leaving plenty of details to fill in.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.


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As you've probably noticed, our research is full of rich data from companies and consumers. So I looked through my posts from this year and extracted a number of datapoints that you might find interesting…
Value/ROI of Customer Experience:
|Consumers are almost 7x more likely to follow advice from a health plan after having satisfactory interactions.
|Compared with NPS detractors, promoters are more than 2x as likely to recommend retailers airlines, more than 3x as likely to recommend insurers and health pans, and 4x as likely to recommend banks
|Consumers that are satisfied with customer service interactions are more than 4x as likely to repurchase than those who are dissatisfied.
|The correlation between CX and NPS for tech vendors is 0.77, which is higher than the correlation between product satisfaction and NPS.
|A modest increase in customer experience can result in a gain over three years of up to $382 million for US companies and up to £263 million for UK firms.
|When companies responded very poorly after a bad experience, 47% of consumers stopped spending completely with the company. When they had a very good response, only 6% stopped spending and 37% increased their spending.
Elements of CX Leadership:
|Companies with strong CX metrics programs are 5x as likely to be CX leaders compared with those who have weaker CX metrics programs
|Customer-centric culture is a key goal for 77% of CX leaders and only 34% of other firms
|46% of VoC programs are in the two earliest stages of VoC maturity
|HR professionals are more than 2.5x as likely as CX pros to say that HR provides considerable help for CX efforts.
|75% of HR professionals view employee engagement as very important and 61% believe they are doing a good job in this area.
|72% of companies think predictive analytics and open-ended verbatims will become more important sources of customer insight, compared with only 30% who view that way about multiple choice survey questions.
|Only 28% pf VoC programs have reached the top two stages of VoC maturity.
|Making the company's culture more customer-centric is more than 2x as important for CX leaders than for CX laggards.
|35% of large companies are in the lowest stage of CX maturity.
|74% of companies think that customer experience design is important, but only 35% believe that they are good at it.
|CX leaders have more than a 16 percentage point advantage over CX laggards in consumers' willingness to buy more, their reluctance to switch business away, and their likelihood to recommend.
|The companies that are good or excellent at customer experience has increased from 16% in 2011 to 19% in 2012.
|46% of companies plan to increase spending on CX in 2012 compared with only 8% that expect to decrease spending, and text analytics is the area with the most spending momentum
|40% of U.S. employees at companies with 1,000+ employees are moderately or highly engaged compared with 59% at companies with 10 or fewer employees.
|Highly engaged employees are 5.8x more committed to helping their companies succeed and 4.7x more likely to recommend that someone apply for a job at their company.
|Companies with good customer experience have 2.5x more engaged employees than companies with poor customer experience.
The CX Profession:
|28% of large companies have 20+ employees focused on CX
|There are 87,000 CX professionals in the U.S. and almost 14,000 in Canada.
|99% of CX professionals think that customer experience is a great profession to be in and 89% are satisfied with their current position, but only 63% are happy with their opportunities for advancement
Social Media Adoption:
|Consumers are more than 50% more likely to use social media like Facebook and Twitter when purchasing cell phones than they are for selecting health plans
|A quarter of consumers read or update Facebook several times per day and more than half of consumers younger than 45 use Facebook daily.
|77% of U.S. consumers use Facebook daily, 13% use Twitter daily, and 5% use LinkedIn daily.
|Consumers who earn $100K or more are 2.5X as likely to tweet about a bad experience, compared with those who earn less than $50K.
General Consumer Behavior:
|52% of U.S. consumers prefer good service over low prices for banks and computers, but only 25% prefer good service for rental cars and groceries.
|Healthy people are more than twice as likely to be happy than unhealthy people.
|89% of healthy people are happy, Happy people but only 41% of unhealthy people
|Apple Mac users are wealthier, younger, and enjoy watching soccer more than Dell and HP users
|Happy people are 50% more likely than unhappy people to do something that's good for their company, but unexpected of them
|31% of U.S. consumers use mobile apps daily.
|U.S. consumers go on the Internet 5.9 hours per day and watch TV 3.9 hours per day.
|African-Americans are the most avid fans of football (67%), Hispanics are the most avid fans of baseball (38%), Caucasians are the most avid fans of NASCAR (20%), and Asians are the most avid fans of golf (18%).
|Web self service is the preferred channel for checking a balance (60%) and updating an address (51%), while talking on the phone is the favorite for investigating a mistaken bill (58%) and resolving a technical issue (46%).
The bottom line: The numbers show a lot of CX work ahead of us


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Since Halloween II came out last year, things have been dead quiet on the Rob Zombie front. Sure, he's providing the voice of God in James Gunn's Super, but he hasn't been developing any new projects in that time. Now he's ready to get back to work. Deadline reports that Zombie will be making a film called Lords of Salem as his next project. Set in modern day Salem, Massachusetts, the townsfolk are haunted by a "300-year old coven of witches." Zombie will write the script (he's about to set off on a new concert tour) and plans to shoot next year.
While his Halloween films were a mess, Zombie did bring something new with his original films House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects, developing a cult following for his movies on top of the one he earned for his music. Say what you will about him as a director, but there's no denying that he has a unique vision. We've seen horror movies based in Salem before, but perhaps Zombie will bring something new to the table.


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Tuesday, May 13th 2008, 5:25am
Supreme Member
Tuesday, May 13th 2008, 7:06am
Tuesday, May 13th 2008, 12:42pm
Thanks for the suggestion. I'm not sure drip irrigation would be the right fit, though, as these'll be raised beds, 13 in all, with different folks, dealing with different and varying sun conditions, growing different veggies and flowers at different times (or, sometimes, growing nothing, or growing cover crop). You know, mongrelized community garden stuff. Also, personally, speaking as the guy who's nominally in charge of coordinating this whole thing, I confess that I have absolutely no experience with drip irrigation whatsoever. At the community garden I gardened at last year (before I moved to this townhouse complex and stupidly opened my mouth and suggested that we start up a community garden here) I became accustomed to the simple irrigation system they used there: a hose bib and a hose placed strategically at the nexus of every four garden plots. That system seemed to work okay, so that's the system I've envisioned for this new community garden. Maybe I just gotta broaden my mind some.If you want it done on the cheap, what about drip irrigation tubes just running on the ground. It's definitly a DIY sort of project, and pretty cheap. Not to mention that I would think you would want drip irrigation for a garden.
Supreme Member
Location: Houston, Texas
Tuesday, May 13th 2008, 5:16pm
Supreme Member
Wednesday, May 14th 2008, 8:03am
Supreme Member
Location: Houston, Texas
Wednesday, May 14th 2008, 9:30am
Friday, May 16th 2008, 10:53am


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Great to hear you are loving the strapless.
For some tips on tacking, gybing and much more check out my technique blog
Yes, I would imagine that would make it pretty challenging to learn on. That is definitely not a user friendly ocean kite. If you would drop it in the surf, I would imagine it would be real scary hoping you could get it to relaunch. In the ocean you need a kite that pivots, relaunches easily, and drifts. About the opposite of the large Xbow. Not saying you cannot do it, but that is some added challenge. I would also recommend you learn on your TT first. Learning to ride in the ocean is much more about learning to fly your kite in the ocean and learning to navigate the waves such as timing getting out and getting over breaking waves. It is a lot easier to learn on a twin tip especially the fact that you can "run away" from a breaking wave on your way out. Once you feel comfortable controlling the kite in the ocean, then hop on your directional. I do not see any learning advantage of going from a strapped surfboard to a strapless surfboard. But it is easy to go from a TT to a strapless once comfortable on the TT. Not saying you cannot learn by going directly to a directional, but I would think the learning curve would be much steeper going from TT to directional.Part of the problem may have been that wind was light and I was flying an old Xbow 16m
TIP use a balance board on no wind days,you can also learn how to gibe on balance board,it will give you muscle memory,and help your strapless kitesurfing,TONYKYLakeKiter wrote:Yea, I didn't mention it because I was trying to talk about my directional learning curve. I am much more comfortable on a TT, so after I thrashed my self on the surfboard, I took a break and then jumped on my buddies Spleene. It was much easier to make quick sliding turns to stay in between the waves and pick and choose my points to ride outbound. Besides that, when I fell or dropped back in the water waiting on the kite to come around, the staps kept the board at my feet.
I also learned that when you fall in waves, forget the board and keep the kite out of the water at all costs. I had some real messes a couple of times when the wave caught the back side of the kite. Body dagging after the board in the waves was a whole new adventure as well.
Either way, learning to surf the waves like the cool guys is the goal, so I will keep at it even though I don't get to the coast that often. My thought about the staps was just to help keep better control of the board while negotiating the waves outbound. Probably just a crutch I shouldnt get used to. As always, thanks for all the tips.
Peter is correct...if straps are the correct width for stance and foot freedom in them..you have it allPeter_Frank wrote:
You will have more options and more freedom with straps
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Mastersmith Bill Burke visits Yoshindo Yoshihara's Forge
Mastersmith Bill Burke's first knives were made along side his father at the tender age of four or five. He continued to make knives through his youth, though it wasn't until 1998 that he started forging.
During the two decades that passed between high school and forging, Bill searched for a knife that could stand up to the everyday tasks that were a part of his life. He threw away, wore out and broke so many knives over the years that, had he invested the money that he spent on knives, he could have retired by this time!
In late August of 1998, while looking for a specific brand of gun powder, Bill happened across a copy of Knife Talk, by Mastersmith Ed Fowler. He stood in the store and leafed through this book for nearly an hour, fascinated by the idea that a knife was capable of doing the things that Mr. Fowler was claiming his knives could do. It seemed to him to border on the magical. He bought this book, eager to assimilate the knowledge that was between its covers.
At first, he read only the stories that had to do with the actual making of a knife. Then, realizing that there was an underlying message in the other stories, he read the whole book from cover to cover. Armed with this fresh knowledge and the fact that "I have been millwright and a welder and I can do anything with metal that anyone else can do" he went to the garage to forge a knife.
Forging remains one of Bill's favorite aspects of knifemaking. The other is the community of knifemakers that Bill is an integral part of - he feels fortunate to have worked alongside knifemakers who do work he admires, and to also call them good friends. He names Tom Ferry's engraving, Shane Taylor's design work and damascus, Don Hanson's bowies, and Wade Colter's cleanliness of fit and finish as work he admires.
When his first knives failed to hold a good edge, he admitted it was time to swallow his pride and call for some words of advice from the author of "the knife forging Bible," Ed Fowler. Since that first call for help in 1998, Bill has been to Ed's home and shop in Riverton, Wyoming many times. These trips and their discussions resulted in marathon sessions of making, testing, and discussing knives. These trips developed the heat treating techniques that both Ed Fowler and Bill use today. The knives that he now makes are a result of those trips and many hours of forging and many, many failures - but in each failure, there has been a lesson learned. The knives that he now makes are the result of the hundreds of pounds of broken and bent test blades in his scrap pile.
These days, Bill forges high performance working knives. His focus is on performance and cutting ability -- continuing to experiment and develop the ultimate cutting edge. He enjoys working with steels such as 52100 carbon steel, 5160 carbon steel and his own Damascus. In 2008, after a trip to Japan, he began experimenting with tamahagane, oroshigane, and the stunning hamon that can be achieved by treating W2 steel.
Bill is well known for both his hunting knives and his kitchen knives. His work has been regularly featured in both Knives Illustrated and Blade Magazine. He was also featured on Evening Magazine in November of 2010.
Some of his awards include:
What others say about Bill's work:
November of 1998, Bill Burke called me for the first time, our conversation lasted about 3 hours. I was highly impressed by the nature of the well thought out questions he asked. Obviously he had done his homework before calling. Bill is absolutely dedicated to expanding the frontiers of high performance working knives. Since that first conversation, we have talked knives for hundreds of hours, he has visited my shop many times, each time bringing with him knives that he had made for the purpose of experimentation. Bill keeps excellent notes as he experiments and takes no shortcuts that will sacrifice performance. All I have to do is mention a variable in the knife making process that I have questions about and he will work around the clock to find the answers. He has contributed significantly to the development of better knives both from my forge as well as his. I am highly honored that Bill has chosen to work with me, and firmly believe that he will carry the development of the high performance knife to higher levels than we know today.
- Ed Fowler


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6.23.08 Baby's 6th Week
It's amazing. Leo is another being, yet he derives all his sustenance from me. We really are what I eat. The responsibility is staggering. Recently, I've been comparing notes with other breastfeeding moms—whose babies didn't have the sucking problem that Leo is still working against--and the worry and guilt seems pretty common. When you're holding a tiny new being who's screaming so hard his toes are clenched and his scalp is crimson, you tend to ask yourself what you did--or didn't do. When you're trying to breastfeed this screaming thing, and he's shrieking at the nipple you offer as though it has outraged him, it's impossible not to take it personally.
I've talked to a few moms who also wondered if their babies had reflux, a condition I've read about. I figured why else would Leo be eating happily one minute, then suddenly shrieking? But you know what? He's probably just tired, or full, or maybe a little dyspeptic. Babies do cry. And since nursing is still tough for Leo (we're using the supplementer only a few times a day now, so he's almost on his own), it figures that the kid is just frustrated by all the hard work. Yet it's tempting to imagine he has some fancy problem, something really bad, something treatable.
The best diagnosis for the baby meltdown? Colic, an unexplained phenomenon. If it's late afternoon, if the calming that works at other times fails after a few minutes, and if the baby is in distress without any other discernible cause, then it's called colic, it's considered normal, and it's usually gone by 3 months. If we didn't call it colic, I'd probably still be telling myself I'd poisoned the kid with my lousy breastmilk. Or I'd assume I didn't have enough, and he was starving (never mind that he's gaining weight well and when he gets upset while eating and opens his mouth to cry, milk streams out).
Then there's the spitting up. Just like crying, babies do this. But it's my milk he's spitting up. Rejection, plain and simple, splatting out of the babe's mouth. So I consider my diet. Could the spices, or the onions, or the broccoli, or the dairy, or the eggs, be the culprit? Should I begin radically eliminating foods? Many mothers do, and for some, it helps. But really, I have no good reason to believe my baby has an allergy to anything I'm eating, except that he does sometimes cry, burp, fart, and spit up. Just like most babies.
Plus, I've read that babies experience the flavors of their culture's cuisine through breastmilk, and exposure to a wide variety of foods may help them become more adventurous eaters. So I'm eating the same weird crazy stuff I always have (spicy tripe taco, anyone?), and hoping that, sigh, someday, Leo might become a good eater. Or perhaps, at the very least, I won't feel guilty if he winds up being one of those kids who subsists on plain pasta. That would be just my luck, wouldn't it?


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Cosmos Chaos! (USA)
Rom number: 5817
Rom: Cosmos Chaos! Rom
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Biological Sciences
Research Highlights
May 2006
Researchers develop improved protein affinity probe
Figure 1. CrAsH (left) is a tetracysteine-binding probe, which is insensitive to hydrophobic moieties, resulting in improved fluorescence properties. Full Image.
PNNL scientists have developed a multi-use affinity probe for proteins that has improved properties compared to the parent compound. The new probe, CrAsH, which stands for carboxy-FlAsH (CrAsH-EDT2), is a tetracysteine-binding probe used to identify and validate protein interaction networks. CrAsH is cell permeable and, upon association with a specific tag encoded into a protein of interest, becomes highly fluorescent, enabling researchers to track cellular location and binding interactions.
The parent compound, FlAsH (for Fluorescein Arsenical Helix binder) bound nonspecifically to "greasy" structures, such as membranes and hydrophobic pockets of proteins, and gave a large background signal that made it unusable for most cells. The new CrAsH probe has minimal sensitivity to such structures and is therefore useful for live-cell imaging.
The work was done by Haishi Cao, Baowei Chen, Tom Squier, and Uljana Mayer for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research's Genomics: GTL program. The results appeared as an advance article in Chemical Communications, a publication of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Cao H, B Chen, TC Squier, and MU Mayer. 2006. "CrAsH: a biarsenical multi-use affinity probe with low non-specific fluorescence." Chemical Communications 24:2601-2603 (DOI: 10.1039/b602699k).


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Book your Appointment!
Willowby Thistle
BP#: 59923-Thistle
Style: Thistle
Alias: Thistle
Sample in Store? Yes
Gown Season: Fall2018
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In general, wedding gowns run 1-2 sizes smaller than regular clothes so add 2 sizes to your normal dress size.. For alterations, they can usually be sized up 1 size and down 2 sizes. Call us with any questions you have at 617-923-7587.
Return Policy for Special Order Gowns:
We accept returns. However, because the gown is special ordered for you, there is a 50% restocking fee. Please view our complete return policy here: https://bridepower.com/internet-policies/. In-store: Policies vary, see here. https://bridepower.com/in-store-policy/. Call us with any questions you have at 617-923-7587.


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Fama X summary
Why should I buy the Fama X?The Fama X Grater Disc is another Italian made item that is exceptional quality and extremely hard waring. You can turn your Fama food processor into a veritable factory for preparing vegetables. These discs come in many different sizes so if you want thin and delicate or thick and robust there is a disc for you.
Shipping & Returns
➤ Delivery
Choose from a variety of convenient ways to get this product delivered. You can select the delivery options at the checkout.
We deliver Monday to Friday, from 8am to 6pm* (depending on courier).
FREE Standard Delivery is available if you're ordering eligible items for delivery on orders over €200+vat.
➤ Returns
Changed your mind? Return your order within 10 days of delivery.
We're confident you'll have a happy experience when you buy from us. Customer satisfaction is our top priority. Our products get good reviews too, with most being given 4 out of 5 stars or more - that's pretty good going!
- If you have changed your mind, you can return your product to us within 10 days of delivery - as long as you haven't used it already.
- All products returned will be will be subject to a 25% restocking charge and delivery/collection charges.
- Factory order items are not returnable
- Please ensure you follow our returns procedure - in the first instance call our returns line on the local rate number 1800-936-078 to obtain your return authorization number and details on how to return your product.
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- Please ensure you have your order no, model number and serial no to hand before calling to speed up the warranty process.
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|By Admin1 (admin) (ppp-70-245-109-220.dsl.okcyok.swbell.net - 188.8.131.52) on Saturday, April 05, 2008 - 6:56 am: Edit Post
1973: Liz Young served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Korea in Ahn Yahng beginning in 1973
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Liz Young can be contacted at eyb51aaoldcom
Country of Service: Korea
Training Group: K-27
Cities you served in: Ahn Yahng
Arrival Year: 1973
Departure Year: 1975
Work Description:
Middle and High School English Teacher
Originally posted: April 5, 2008
Related Links:
Peace Corps Annual Report: 1973; Peace Corps Korea; Directory of Korea RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Korea RPCVs
Looking for another volunteer who served with this Group?
If you know this volunteer or someone from his or her group and are looking to reconnect with them,
leave a message above where it says "Create New Conversation."
If this is your profile, post any additions, updates or corrections to your profile below where it says "Add a Message."
RPCVs: To add your own RPCV profile click here.
| The Peace Corps Library
Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can use the Main Index to find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today.


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A Real Barn Find.
Vicari Auto Auctions of Nocona, Texas has announced the 2013 Cruisin' Nocona, the first ever classic and muscle car auction. If you're in the area, be sure to check out this one-of-a-kind event; featuring a 1940 Lincoln Zephyr. Best part, it's been virtually untouched since it was found in a barn.
The upcoming event will take place Friday, April 19th – Saturday, April 20th. This will be sure to get any collector and serious motor enthusiast's blood going.
In 1954 there were only 404 Lincoln Zephyrs that rolled off the factory line in 1940. More importantly, only 54 were coupes; making this particular Zephyr that much more desirable. This specific Zephyr was purchased in 1965 in Florida, and then shipped to Texas where it has been stored ever since.
"This vehicle is so original it could be the centerpiece of a museum collection," said Pete Vicari, president, Vicari Auction Co. "But with the Zephyr's popularity within the hot-rod community combined with the level of action at our auctions, it's impossible to say where it will end up." Vicari continued, "For a vehicle of this age and rarity, it doesn't get much closer to original than this."
Everything about the car screams original aside from the few paint touch-ups on two panels. While earlier Zephyr's were powered by a 267ci 12-cylinder, this example has the larger, 292ci 12-cylinder engine backed by a three-speed transmission.
Of course, that's not all. Along with a healthy dose of classic and muscle cars, the Vicari Auto Auctions of Nocona will offer food, festivities, and fun for your whole crew. Looking for additional information on the auction? Be sure to check out vicariacutcion.com.


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One of the greatest basses of our time Ferruccio Furlanetto is one of the
most sought-after singers in the world. The critics praise him for his vast
range, thundering vocal power, and excellent acting ability.
His amazing international career began with the role of King Philip II in
VerdiÆs Don Carlo at the Salzburg Easter Festival under the baton of Herbert von
Karajan in 1986. In the same year he debuted at the Salzburg Summer Festival
with the role of Figaro in MozartÆs opera. His debuts on the leading opera
stages happened earlier: Teatro alla Scala (1979), Metropolitan Opera (1980),
Vienna State Opera (1985).
He has collaborated with some leading orchestras and conductors such as
Herbert von Karajan, Carlo Maria Giulini, Sir Georg Solti, Leonard Bernstein,
Lorin Maazel, Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink, Daniel Barenboim, Georges Prêtre,
James Levine, Semyon Bychkov, Daniele Gatti, Riccardo Muti, Valery Gergiev,
Mariss Jansons, and Vladimir Jurowski. He performs in concerts and recitals at
the leading worldÆs concert halls, in the repertory ranging from VerdiÆs Requiem
to Russian songs and SchubertÆs Winterreise. He has made numerous recordings of
opera on CD and DVD, and his performances were broadcasted internationally on
the radio and television. He makes himself at home at many opera houses such as
La Scala Milan, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Vienna State Opera,
Opera National de Paris, and New York Metropolitan Opera as well those in Rome,
Turin, Florence, Bologna, Palermo, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, San Diego, and
Moscow. For the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, he became the first Italian
bass to appear in the title role of MussorgskyÆs Boris Godunov, he also
performed the role on the stage of Bolshoi Theater with great critical and
public acclaim last season, becoming the only Western artist who sang Boris
Godunov on both historical main stages of Russia.
At the Mariinsky Theatre Ferruccio Furlanetto has performed his greatest
roles in operas by Verdi ¢ Filippo II in Don Carlo and Fiesco in Simon
Boccanegra and has appeared in chamber music programmes and sung Verdi's
Requiem. One particular success came with his appearances in a concert version
of Massenet's opera Don Quichotte in St Petersburg and Moscow. Acclaimed as the
greatest Don Quichotte of our time, the Italian singer has recorded the opera
with young soloists and the theatre's orchestra under Valery Gergiev on the
Mariinsky label (this recording was praised by the critics and received a Grammy
nomination). In the 2012 season Furlanetto appeared in the lead role in the
premiere of a new production of Don Quichotte at the Mariinsky Theatre which was
later performed in Moscow, while in 2015 with a recital the singer opened the
XIII Stars of the White Nights music festival.
The 2014-15 season in the whole is dominated by the role of Philipp II in Don
Carlo, highly praised by the press all over the world: Ferruccio Furlanetto sang
it recently in London and Vienna ōwith an imposing authority that embraced
equally Philip IIÆs fearsome power and his inner weaknessö (Financial Times). At
the first half of the season Ferruccio Furlanetto sang King Philipp at the Sofia
Opera for the season opener (it was be his debut at the house), which
commemorated Boris ChristoffÆs 100th anniversary. In January he performed the
role at the Vienna State Opera, in April ¢ returned with it to the Metropolitan
OperaÆs Don Carlo in the Nickolas HytnerÆs production. Ferruccio Furlanetto so
far is the only King Philipp seen and heard in this staging since its premiere
in 2008 in London (two revivals had followed) and in 2010 in New York (this
season it was its second revival). ōGreat Ferruccio Furlanetto had set high
standard for this roleö, ¢ as the New York Times stated. Furlanetto already sang
more then 200 performances at the Met. The same role marked the singer's debut
at the Sydney Opera House.
At the concert stage Ferruccio Furlanetto participated in the Freedom Gala at
the Hungarian Opera in Budapest, Neil SchicoffÆs Gala at the Vienna State Opera.
He had solo recitals at the Palais Garnier (Paris), Vienna State Opera and big
solo orchestra Gala at the San Diego Opera.
Recent CD releases include the highly critically praised Mussorgsky CD
release with Valery Gergiev and Mariinsky orchestra for the Mariinsky Label and
CD with Mariss Jansons and Concertgebow for the ōMariss Jansons Live, The Radio
Recordings 1990-2014. Ferruccio Furlanetto sings Songs and Dances of Death in
both releases. Other important 2015 release is Ferruccio Furlanetto, Vienna
Staatsoper ¢ Live Recordings 1997 ¢ 2012 by Orfeo International with the two key
roles of Ferruccio Furlanetto repertoiry ¢ Philipp II and Boris Godunov.
Ferruccio Furlanetto is Honorary Ambassador to the United Nations and devoted
golf player.