Soulwise. Chanukah edition.

Chanukah is about humility, accepting something beyond you, and allowing it in. It's about spreading the light of truth, justice, and freedom (and good photos). Once upon a time, in a kingdom down the block, I designed graphics. It came about in a kingdom even further away, in a 400 year old house made of stone. Where an iMac stood glittering under a bare bulb, in stark and beautiful contrast to the walls around. Upon this machine there magically appeared a copy of Photoshop.

How it got there, where it came from? Trying to understand magic is akin to sucking the beauty out of life. Like a giant psychotic mosquito. I'd like to think it was planted by the sock fairy (you know, the one that takes socks from the drier and puts software on your computer instead).

I met some wonderful people in the magical kingdom of Safed, Israel, and one of those fellows was putting out his first musical album. Google searched I did, a tutorial I did find, and a cover did I make. It wasn't even that bad (it wasn't used though).

I did that for a few years (among other things), and at some point I was frustrated at the lack of quality Jewish stock photos available. I then made the best unwise decision ever. After wasting way too much time doing some intense research on DPReview (never again!) about the differences between two identical systems, I picked up my first fancy shmancy camera. A few weeks later I bought a (what i then considered) fancy lens (which I paid $100 in cash so my wife wouldn't freak out). Eventually I realized I liked photography much better than design, and I was actually good at it (graphic design on the other hand...:) ).

I still do some odd jobs here and there, and this magazine is one of them. Lucky for me (and them) I get to pretty much use whatever images I want.

Here is the latest SOULWISE magazine. Decent design. Good photography. Awesome articles.

Roids. The curiously instant film.

Somewhere between here and New York, my RZ67's mirror system decided to suddenly and irrevocably die. Annoyed, angry, sad, befuddled, and slightly bewildered (these things aren't supposed to break!) , I procrastinated a week (mourning my loss), twiddled my thumbs a bit, and ordered her replacement (which was actually an updated version. Yay!) . Today FedEx delivered said replacement and I went on a polaroid shooting spree. Too lazy to get my lightmeter from the car, I decided to activate my ninja mental-exposure-guesstimator. She was a bit rusty, but did her job well enough.

Who said film shooters can't have some instant gratification?

  

Milk, knives, & 5 year olds

We drink raw milk. We can only get it every other week, it costs around $8.70 for half a gallon, doesn't really freeze well, and it has more of a chance of having bad bacteria than the pasteurized, homogenized versions. It's also much healthier. The cows and milk have to live up to much higher standards (regular milk doesn't need to come from healthy cows, they just kill (pasteurize) any bacteria. It has all the good bacteria still there, and tastes a bit richer. In fact most "lactose intolerance" (as in my daughter's case) is only in relation to pasteurized milk. They do fine with the raw stuff. Yes, there's always the fear of some sort of E. Coli situation (although very rare) but I'm okay with that.

If kids didn't play there'd be less broken bones. If we protected them from all sorts of danger they'd be less mature, have less self esteem, and less equipped to handle the unsurities of the world. And in regards to food and medicine they'd be much less healthy.

We don't vaccinate (for the most part) or get anti-biotics "just in case". Because in insuring yourself against possible future harm you are subjecting yourself to a definitely less healthy present (and future).

Here is Zevi wielding a ridiculously huge knife. It's actually his job to cut up the melon on Shabbos and before we go to the park (in the Summer. In the winter it's mostly apples and cheese). Is there a chance of himself cutting himself? Of course there is, and it scares me a bit too. It also scares me when he zooms down the sidewalk on his bike, and I'm sure I'll be freaked when he starts to drive. But we know our kids. And Zevi is a very responsible one, obsessed with rules, structure, and order. He is way more careful with that knife than most adults (look how far his left hand is from the knife). He knows never to use it when we're not around and not to use it on smaller items (such as apples) where there isn't much room for his other hand.

I doubt we'd let the other kids use knives when they get to his age. My Chanaleh is in a different universe most of the time, and Mendel just loves to make trouble, but they have other responsibilities and jobs. And they thrive on it.

Why am I sharing all this? Well firstly, because I'm want to post these photos and don't want y'all to freak out :). But mainly I want people to realize that when it comes to your own life and family you are the expert. No one knows more than you do what each kid needs, and how to discipline, reward, teach, and love each individual member of your family. There will always be the judgers (yes, I know that's not a word, but it works better than judges here, or "those who judge"), the naysayers, and the social normers. Ignore them. Do your own research, trust your gut, and live fully.

Let us rejoice and be glad in it

In the past year I have dug four holes (not counting the figurative ones). The first is way back in the backyard. Zevi planned on planting a tree so I helped him dig a nice large hole back there. This was almost 10 months ago. We just filled it in last month.

The next two were under the swings so my kids wouldn't constantly hurt their toes (there isn't much yummier than little toes).

And the fourth was on the beach.

Each one was physically exerting and mentally exhilarating. Which is slightly embarrassing, I mean, why should a full grown adult (albeit a slightly short one) so enjoy the simple task of digging a hole?

I very much want to go on a rant right now. About the value of manual labor and the fallacy of making all economical decisions based solely on a time/money merit basis. But I won't. Not here. It's coming though.

I read a great blog post by a great woman who lost her infant and today would be celebrating his third birthday. She mentions "seizing each day". Looking back, what do we remember? For me it's the simple times with my family. None of them really costing much or needing a "high quality of life" (a ripe topic for another rant). Yet we live day by day, just wasting time. Worrying. Over-working. Under-praying, and definitely under-learning. Under-playing.

You have an hour or two (if you don't, then make some)? Grab a kid (preferably yours, or at least one you know), drive to the beach, and dig a hole. It's worth a heck of a lot more than an expensive movie, restaurant, and possibly even more than one of those fancy theme parks. And it's free. Like Pandora.

And just because I like sharing; Samuel Adams Octoberfest. Not worth it. Lagunitas Little 'Sumpin Ale. Very, very worth it.

a fleeting dream, a passing cloud

Southern California weather. It's the stuff of legends. Always 75 degrees and sunny.

Or so they want you to think.

It's a ponzi scheme. It's a well known phenomenon, that once people pay an over-the-top amount for something, they defend it's worth. "Yeah, I got this camera strap for $389. There's another that does the same and looks the same? Nope, mine is better." Because I paid more for a luxury item, I must defend it's worth (usually subconsciously)

So there were some marketing geniuses (Jews of course) that decided to sell Easterners on California's awesome weather. They bought out all the weather stations, and started reporting that "Sunny skies this week in the mid-70s". Over and over again. Until some people said "hey why the heck are we living in this crazy cold and snow, and humidity and heat. Let's head to California!!

So the real estate goes through the moon, and everyone is so heavily invested in this place that they all tell their friends how beautiful and perfect it is.

It's all a conspiracy.

It rains, and thunders, and lightnings (yeas, that's a verb) all the time.

And my kids love it.

We were supposed to meet up at this apple picking/cider making/hike situation with some other health freaks, but it ended up pouring, we came late and most didn't show. Which was fine, because my kids just wanted to dance in the rain. So we ate. And Danced. Then cleaned up and danced some more. We made some cider, jumped in puddles, danced a bit more. Than we headed across the street for some intense apple pickage. I think we ate more than we picked.

Good times.

It was also my first time scanning film on a real scanner. The Brothers Wright (check 'em out, they are amazing) were kind enough to let me scan some stuff on their Frontier Scanner (it's this huge massive scanning machine). I also used some heavily expired film (Kodak 160VC) so there was some really wonky colors going on (more due to my inexperience with scanning). But I did shoot some new Portra 400, and that stuff scans like a beast. There's a reason they come out with new films.

There was some crazy thunder going on, and the kids were laughing like crazy (and Estee was like "Zalmy!!! Get that shot", and I'm trying to keep Zusha from eating all the apples, and trying to focus wide open at 1/60 of a second... Not easy).

I got the shot.

Not sure what happened here (actually I am, but I doubt you'd be interested), but I figured some film peeps would like it (I don't. I want my stuff to be predictably awesome).

Capturing a family outing is a great way to preserve real memories. Interested? Shoot me an email, or give me a call.

And If you didn't hear the news, I'll be on the East Coast for some time towards the beginning of October. Check out this post for the details.

Geek Speak: RZ67, 110mm, Portra 160vc, Portra 400, Scanned by Superman at the Brothers Wright.

Mendel's Upshindig

Thank G-d for mother in laws.

There is no punch line (though if you have one, I'd love to hear it).

My poor boys get called girls all the time. It's the hair. There is an ancient Jewish custom (as most are. Besides gefilta fish and Manischevitz.) that we let a boy's hair grow until he turns three. At which stage we have a little shindig (called an Upshernish or Upshern) where we cut his hair; he starts wearing "the garb" (kippah, and tzitzis (those fringe thingies); officially start teaching him Torah, and the ins and outs (and ups and downs) of Judaism; and we start enforcing (to a degree) the Mitzvos (commandments).

Mendel was turning three but we weren't planning on having a party. While it would have been nice, it would just have been an added stress on our time and budget. And for all these Jewish stuff we always prefer small affair + good vibes, over large affair + stress/bad vibes.

In steps my mother in law (actually, I think she called). Knowing that Zevi did have a nice party, she didn't want Mendel to be left out, so she offered to pretty much arrange the whole thing herself (with the help of her family).

Food, decorations, preparations, setting up (well, I helped a bit with the setting up part).

(I remember thinking then how hot it was (high 70's with a nice breeze). Ha! Flash forward two months and Florida has officially moved in with us.)

Yeah, she rocks.

As it turned out his birthday was on a Friday, and Fridays just aren't good party days (unless,, of course, you don't want guests, which was the original plan). So we went to the store sometime that week and picked out some kippahs (none of which Estee approved of) and a few pair of tzitzis. On Friday we had a small haircuttage ceremony at home (i.e. we all cut a bit). And on Sunday we had the main event, where we all shmoozed, ate, cut the little dude's hair, gave tours of our garden, I even said a short speech, and good times were had by all. After which Estee chopped off the rest of his hair (except of course his peyos (sidelocks. Which is one of the major aspects of the Upshernish in the first place. To teach the mini-dude about not chopping off the peyos).

I thank G-d almost every day for our backyard. And for Estee's bread. But that's another story.

Here's how it all went down:

Interested in having me document your Upshernish/party/shindig? Send me an email and we'll talk details