The older I get...

Team1web
Originally uploaded by lisablaschke

the faster time seems to fly by. For my 9-year-old daughter the summer days are filled with endless hours of "I'm hungry, I'm bored, there's nothing to do." For me the summer days are practically non existent. I wake up, I work, I drudge, I shoot, I process, I blog (sometimes I do I swear it!), and then I drag myself to bed wondering how I squandered my day. Meanwhile my daughter is sitting in bed asking me "when are we going to DO something?"

So Disneyworld wasn't enough I guess. It's "what have you done for me lately?" Fortunately I have more fun up my sleeve. A conference! Yes, it's work for me. I will spend this weekend rounding up business and shooting at the La Leche League Are Conference in Austin. But to my daughter, it'll be a fun-filled weekend of hotel swimming, family sessions with playdoh and dancing, a play room full of kids and toys and free shampoo courtesy of the Marriott. And I honestly don't know what the joy is in a free shower cap, but the child acts like it's Christmas morning when she finds one. So tonight when I lay down with her for a minute to say good night and she asks me as she has every single night in recorded history 'what are our plans for this weekend" I will tell her about the conference and all its hotel goodness.

The past weekend brought fun in the form of a swim meet for my older daughter who is due to sprout gills at any time now judging by the amount of time she spends in the water. I shot this image on Saturday because the coach suggested I shake things up a bit with the group shot. Every year we shoot the same formal posed team shot on the bleachers. We did that as well, and then I told them to jump on in and we tried this one. The water is quite deep here so most of these kids had to tread water for about 5 minutes while we did our best to organize them. I like it. It says to me organized chaos. It's fun.

Summer Swim Season

swimmeet6web
Originally uploaded by lisablaschke

Only one week left of school for the year and we just attended our last end of the year recital. But already, summer is underway with the Landa Park Dolphins. They had their first meet of the year on Saturday and I was happy to finally dive back in so to speak as the team's photographer. I took on the role last year and had a blast documenting the season in photographs.

I got my start in photography while in college and I spent many hours on the sidelines of Aggie football games. I watched the entire '95 season through the lens of my old SLR waiting for the right moment to snap a shot. While others my age were hitting the after game parties I was toiling away in the dark room. I was always so proud to see my shots on the front page of the sports section -- showing the world my vision of the game. Or at least my little neck of the world.

So last year when I had the opportunity to get back into sports photography even as a volunteer, I didn't hesitate. You can follow the Dolphins on my site. They'll be in the clients section under "Dolphins", or course.