I love watching Jason watch things. This is him at Shamu's Christmas show last Saturday. He didn't take his eyes off the pool the entire time.

Technical info: Shot with a Nikon D40 and Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX lens, in aperture priority exposure mode (matrix metering). Aperture f/1.8, shutter 1/40 (-1 EV), ISO 1600. Post-processing in Aperture 3: curves adjustment to increase contrast and bring up the exposure a bit.

Thoughts for improvement: I missed the focus a bit, resulting in the bridge of his nose being sharp and his eye being a little soft. My camera's AF system doesn't always do so well at night, especially since I have the AF-assist light turned off, so this is just something I have to deal with sometimes in order to catch the moments. Compositionally, though, I'm pretty happy, though perhaps it might have been good to include more of his left hand.

One thing about photography: it's turning me into a hypocrite.

I should explain that. See, I'm always chiding Juliette for being nosy. If we go to a restaurant, she looks around at people at other tables. If we go for a walk, she looks to see what she can see through people's windows. "Nosy Noserson," I'll say.

But, of course, if there's anything nosier than a street photographer, I don't know what it is. I'm constantly looking at other people these days, trying to see if they'll show me something I can photograph. That's got to be worse than just sneaking a peak through someone's open front door from the sidewalk.

These two kids were sitting behind us at Shamu's Christmas show when we were at SeaWorld on Saturday. (I didn't actually watch much of the show; first I was watching the crowd, then I was watching Jason.) I glanced back at them several times before the show started, and it reminded me so much of being that age and in love. They kept giggling and looking at each other, taking pictures of themselves together with his cameraphone. (OK, I guess we didn't have that last one when I was a teen.) And all I could think was "How nice."

There's a lot of doom and gloom out there these days. Terrorism, war, people losing their jobs, their homes. But, you know, there's a lot of tenderness, hope, joy, and love out there, too. I think it's worth taking the time to see it. I know it makes my life better.

***

Technical info: Shot with a Nikon D40 and Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX lens, in aperture priority exposure mode (matrix metering). Aperture f/1.8, shutter 1/60 sec (-1 EV), ISO 1600. Post-processing in Aperture 3: maximum recovery adjustment; curves to bring up exposure a bit; cropped to 5x7 and to remove some extra space at the top and a distracting foreground element; light dodging over the couple's faces; burned over the background and the guy on the right.

Thoughts for improvement: The lights in the background are quite bright and are a little distracting. I cropped out most of the man in the right foreground, but if I could have excluded him as I was shooting that would have been better. I also wish I could have gotten a slightly more intimate moment—I like the way she's smiling at him, but he looks a little distracted, which wasn't really representative of how they were acting at the time.

There's no big story to this one. I just happened to look up as we were walking from one part of SeaWorld to another, and liked the look of the audience's silhouettes up in the bleachers above us.

Technical info: Shot with a Nikon D40 and Nikkor 55-200 mm VR DX lens, in aperture priority exposure mode (matrix metering). Focal length 200 mm, aperture f/5.6, shutter 1/125 sec (+0 EV), ISO 360. Post-processing in Aperture 3: cropped to 5x7; red-filter BW preset; curve for contrast, black point, and white point.

Thoughts for improvement: The main thing I could do without here is the mass of palm fronds right in the middle. It might also be nice if I could have missed the head down near the bottom of the frame.

Juliette got Jason a new set of Christmas pajamas that came with a little striped stocking cap. He, of course, loved it. It was beyond cute to watch him running all over the toddler's play area at SeaWorld with that hat on, the tassel bouncing all over as he jumped.

Technical info: Shot with a Nikon D40 and Nikkor 55-200mm VR DX lens, in aperture priority exposure mode (matrix metering). Focal length 200 mm, aperture f/5.6, shutter 1/160 (+0EV), ISO 800. Post-processing in Aperture 3: cropped to 5x7; curves to increase exposure and add contrast; retouched a spot on his face.

Thoughts for improvement: The other kids in the background are a little distracting, but otherwise I like it.

We went to SeaWorld this weekend to see their Christmas stuff. Mainly this consisted of a big tree just inside the park, an ice skating rink, a lot of signs, and some holiday-themed animal shows. Jason particularly loved Shamu's Christmas show. Though, he also loved running back and forth on the (not very) bouncy mat in the toddler's play area, which is right next to the carnival games area, where I grabbed this shot.

I've now been to SeaWorld twice this year, and Juliette has been there three times, so our passes have more than paid for themselves. Which is especially nice because they don't expire until July of 2012.

Technical info: Shot with a Nikon D40 and Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX lens, in manual exposure mode. Aperture f/2.8, shutter 1/4000 sec, ISO 200. Post-processing in Aperture 3: maximum recovery adjustment; curves for further highlight recovery.

Thoughts for improvement: A different angle would probably help. If I moved to the right a bit more, I might have been able to get the penguins in a better-spaced line, plus I might have avoided having the distracting background stuff right behind the main penguin.

Here's another out-take from our Christmas card shoot. I like to do these up-over-the-head shots with families (which is to say, I've done it on both of the family shoots I've done). It may be kind of a cliche angle—I don't really know—but it's fun, and most of the kids I know like to be played with this way, so it makes for easy smiles.

Technical info: Shot with a Nikon D40 and Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX lens, in aperture priority exposure mode. Aperture f/2.8, shutter 1/400 (+2 EV, center-weighted average metering), ISO 200. Post-processing in Aperture 3: crop to 4x5; pushed recovery; curves for black point and contrast.

Thoughts for improvement: The major thing that could be improved here is the focus. I was shooting fast and didn't move the focus point to the upper part of the frame, so Jason's face ended up a little soft. That can be OK sometimes, but I tend to prefer sharp pictures, especially for this style and angle.

This year, we decided to skip the studio session for our annual family portraits—which is to say, our annual Jason portraits—and instead opted to have me take the pictures. This was a bit of a money-saver, of course, but it also gave me another opportunity to practice my technique and how to run a shoot. Plus, this way we could get the more natural style that you get from a location shoot. It turned out to be fun, and a good exercise for me as a photographer. I still have a ways to go, but I'm getting there.

Technical info: Shot with a Nikon D40 and Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX lens, in aperture-priority exposure mode. Aperture f/2.8, shutter 1/1250 (+1EV, matrix metering), ISO 400. No post-processing.

Thoughts for improvement: For being straight out of the camera, I'm pretty happy with how the lighting and color came out. Compositionally, I'd get rid of the people in the background and position Juliette and Jason so they weren't lined up one behind the other.

It often feels to me as though Jason has been in my life forever, but from time to time I'm reminded of just how short a time it's been. His baby years are already starting to fade in my memory, yet it's only been two years since his first Christmas.

Technical info: Shot with a Nikon D40, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX lens, and Vivitar DF-383 flash (with Gary Fong Lightsphere). Manual exposure mode and TTL flash mode (-1 EV). Aperture f/1.8, shutter 1/500, ISO 400. Post-processing in Aperture 3: slight curves adjustment; polarize brush over the ornament; burned over Jason's head and shirt.

Thoughts for improvement: I could do without some of the stuff in the background, though the round highlights in the bokeh are nice. Otherwise I really like this shot.

Jason is fascinated by photographs of people he knows, especially ones of me, Juliette, or himself. Just this morning he was shouting excitedly about the background image on Juliette's laptop, which is a picture of him that we took at Legoland. When we were decorating the tree on Saturday, it was very important to him that I know that one of the ornaments had a picture of Mommy and Daddy.

Technical info: Shot with a Nikon D40, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX lens, and Vivitar DF-383 flash (with Gary Fong Lightsphere). Manual exposure mode and TTL flash mode (-1 EV). Aperture f/1.8, shutter 1/500, ISO 400. Post-processing in Aperture 3: cropped out elements below and to the left; slight curves adjustment; polarize brush over the tabletop and central ornament.

Thoughts for improvement: The composition is a little cluttered and I'd like for the wood grain in the table to come out a bit more, but I like the little bit of storytelling here.

We got our Christmas tree on Saturday morning and decorated it in the afternoon. Jason was an enthusiastic participant, though his sense of Christmas tree aesthetics doesn't yet include concepts like spreading the ornaments around the entire tree. (Juliette had to do a bit of redistribution after Jason went to bed.)

This little guy is one of my favorites of our ornament collection. He looks so jolly, out for a little Christmas stroll. Right on, I say.

Technical info: Shot with a Nikon D40 and Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX lens, in manual exposure mode. Aperture f/1.8, shutter 1/30, ISO 800. Post-processing in Aperture 3: cropped out a bunch of stuff to the right and above; slight curves adjustment.

Thoughts for improvement: I went back and forth between this shot and another that had a slightly different angle. I decided on this one because the angle was better on the subject, but the bokeh in the other one was much nicer, with nice, round highlights. In this one, the background looks a little muddy. The focus is also a little soft on the subject.