A month ago I was asked to take pictures for our church's Formal youth dance. I thought about what to do for them but determined that the best photos for teenagers would be something free form and not the staged backdrop type that I had at school dances.

Then I thought maybe I should have something and threw some ideas around in my head. But then I went back to my original thought. Those first thoughts are usually the right ones.
Maybe next time we'll look at a full backdrop but last night we took pictures "photo booth style" and let them dictate how their pictures would look. I brought a few things just for kicks and let them have fun. But it was I who had the fun. My spirit was renewed and I felt energetic. Being around teen-agers can do that to you.

Usually they stand for the pictures but I took my vintage couch as an option. Every single one of them opted to sit on the couch and some even dove on their friends who were sitting there. It's "springy-ness" surprised everyone which made them almost fall off and laugh right away so we were off to a good start.

They wanted hard copies so in between photos and dancing, we ran to Rite-Aid and printed off 100 pictures. I made it there just in time and when I returned to the dance, a crowd of kids were waiting. I loved hearing their laughter as they sifted through the pile of pictures. And then more kids came running in so we did another round.
100 down, 340 to go!

Here are a few -

A night teen-age style

Summer concert with friends. My girls are on the right.

Hands up for one of the opening bands.


Paramore and lead singer, Haley Williams. The girl can sing.

I had the opportunity to go with my daughters to a concert last weekend. It was a good time.

We saw the band Paramore but unless you have a teenager or a tween, you might not know who they are.

The crowd was young and it was pushing to the stage. I lost my kids in the crowd but I was content with not getting right up to the stage. I wanted a little breathing room. I figured that Charley would be disappointed if I didn't get a picture of her favorite band so I stood in the middle of hundreds of teens and early 20 somethings to wait for them. We had to listen to 3 so-so bands to get to the good stuff.

It was a bit of torture. The kids around me kept saying, "come on!" when those bands would start another song. I felt the same way.

Everyone around me was actually pretty nice. The girl in front of me had pretty, long blond hair but she kept tousle-ing it every 2 seconds which would hit me right in my face. The girls next to me would look at me and roll their eyes with sympathy. I was so happy when she moved a little to the left. And then the poor girl to my left winced when she got it. The blond girl finally put it up in a ponytail.

After a few songs I motioned to some girls next to me to take my spot and ducked to wind my way back out of the crowd. It was about 20 degrees cooler outside of it and the view was much better. I sat on the hill, ate Twizzlers and enjoyed the band.

My ears rang all night which was always a sign that I had a good time when I was a teen-age concert-goer.

Oh the things you do for your kids.

And the things they do for me, like inviting me to hang out with them at a concert and not even being embarrassed.

They're young, fun and happy.

And I loved every minute. (Except for the hair tousle thing... but at least it was clean.)

Picture This!

Click on each to enlarge.
Recently I did a photo shoot for Belen and
4 of her best friends.


We took about a hundred shots and they seemed to enjoy
documenting their friendship through pictures.

I enjoyed seeing them be themselves, laugh and be

genuinely happy for the other.

After all, that is what friendship is all about.

And when you find a good one

it can make you jump for joy.