an episode of real life experience.

just a quick, (sorta) funny story for you today.  by the way, this actually happened to Gary, not me.  I'm simply relating it second-hand.

a couple months back, Gary went grocery shopping at Super Walmart and took Rowan along with him.  at first, Rowan wanted to ride in the cart because he was "too tired to walk."  but, given his free-spirited personality, he quickly became bored with the idea of riding and opted to walk along side the cart race up and down the aisles instead.  so much for being tired.        

slowly but surely, they made their way through the store hitting up the produce section first, followed by the dairy section, and so on and so forth.  every few seconds, Gary would check on Rowan to make sure he wasn't getting into trouble, like using the oranges to knock over soup can displays, or something.  

as they approached the meat section, Gary, preoccupied with keeping an eye on Rowan aka the loose cannon, nearly rams his cart into the unsuspecting stock boy who was busy restocking the meat case with ground hamburger.  fortunately, stock boy was so into his job that he failed to notice he was nearly taken out by a grocery cart.      

now if I remember the story correctly, apparently this stock boy was no slim jim by any stretch of the imagination.  and so, you know-- picture this big, heavy-set guy bent over the meat case, his broad backside protruding up in the air like a giant, beckoning target.  swiftly, and without any warning, Rowan plants a hand firmly on stock boy's hind end, giving him a hefty wallop!

immediately, stock boy whips his head around and, of course, sees Gary aka the lone suspect standing there.  he gives Gary this look like excuse me?  how dare you spank me on the butt like that!  instinctively, Gary puts his hands up in an innocent gesture and says, "hey it wasn't me, it was my kid."  and then he points over at Rowan.  only Rowan was no longer there.  obviously relying on his street smarts, he had fled behind the other side of the meat case to hide.

*insert that awkward moment when your kid slaps a guy on the rear end and then disappears, leaving you to take the blame*

the end.

*     

I was recently asked how to take pictures indoors, under relatively poor lighting conditions without using flash.  the key here is to bump up your ISO to 400 or higher and if you can, try placing your subject by either a window or a patio door, preferably south facing where the light is a bit warmer and more abundant.  depending on the mood you want, sometimes it's okay if the picture is a bit dark.  it's all a matter of personal preference.

to give you an example, the below pictures were all shot indoors, under relatively poor lighting situations.  are they all great pictures?  of course not.  I was more focused on capturing snippets of the daily grind rather than trying to achieve that perfect picture.       

-jessica