Before Sunshine was born, the only portraits I had taken were candids at family gatherings and a few newsy items for my high school paper. Well, plus that one ill-advised attempt at senior portraits, a cheesy set of shots of my best friend leaping over a stream in the woods just before high school graduation. Those never graced the pages of a photo album, let alone our yearbook.
Over the next decade and a half I whipped my camera out for every hiking, rafting, and camping expedition, but the results always made it look as if I went on these jaunts alone because no people ever appeared in the shots. Plenty of flowers and mountains and butterflies and chirping birds, but never, ever nature of the human sort.
Then I had a baby. I traded in my zoom lens for a 50 mm and finally read the manual for my auxiliary flash. Sunshine learned to ignore the camera and my embarrassing attempts to coax her into looking into the lens, while I learned to take portraits. 
No one who peeks at my hard drive these days can claim that Sunshine is not well-documented.
Here’s the thing about photographs of your baby, though: Even your most die-hard Facebook friends don’t need daily documentation of your child’s every facial expression, and the internet at large probably shouldn’t know that much about your little cherub. But photos are much more fun when shared (just ask a grandma), so I needed an outlet beyond portraits of my kid. And so, after nearly a year and a half serving as Sunshine’s personal paparazzi, my camera lens 
and I have rediscovered nature. Because the truth is, one subject is no longer enough, no matter how cute she may be.
This isn’t sudden, nor is it unexpected. It happens every time I begin working on a new book. There’s something about writing copiously that brings out the photographer in me, as if playing with photos is the twin of playing with words. Creativity is a funny thing.
If you’re curious, you can find the results on my photoblog, Playing with Pixels, which I finally started back up again. In the meantime, I’ll be outside, taking pictures of nature and Sunshine, in-between jotting down paragraphs for the book I’m working on.
By the way, if you have a photo – or even a photoblog – you want to share, I want to see it! Post the link in the comments. (No more than three links, though, or your comment will be kicked to spam, and we’ll all miss out.)
Very nice pictures, Caryn! I like the reflecting pool in black & white best. Happy shooting!
WOW those are gorgeous! I especially love the mountain reflecting in the puddle. Do you know Stina Lindenblatt? She is a great photographer/writer as well.
We’re in an online writing group together, and I hear she has a blog but haven’t checked it out yet. I’ll have to do so. Thanks for the heads-up!
Your pictures take my breath away. Gorgeous. Thanks for stopping by my blog. I wish digital cameras were around when I had my kids. I have tons of those sticky photo albums to pull pictures out of and reorganize.
Ha! I still have a few albums like that, too! I have photos that I never did organize, and now it’s way too late because I’ll never remember what picture I took when and where! My digital photos need some organizing, too, but at least it’s not quite as difficult. Yay for digital cameras!
Nice work!
Congrats! Beautiful pictures. I think my favorites are the one of your daughter (so cute!) and the Dead Horse Point Vista one.
Best of luck with both the new blog and your book.
You are very talented with a camera!
The photographs are beautiful~ you truly have a gift! I love that you said playing with photos is the twin of playing with words for you. Great post!
My husband loves taking pics. Yours are beautiful! btw, I got the package. Thank you so much!!
You rock with the photography and the writing! Your pictures are amazing and beautiful, and I could look at them for hours. Happy picture-taking and writing! Thanks for sharing.
The pics are wonderful. I especially like the first one of the first one. One day I will take my “just ok” Rebel XT and get a DECENT lens instead of use the one that came with. All I want are CRISP, CLEAN pictures, and right now, I am NOT getting.
Practice, practice! Plus Photoshop can be helpful.