NAP Conference

I had a great time doing portraits with my family. My Father-in-law just got a Cannon Rebel and we spent most of the morning playing with the settings, lights and people at my mother-in-laws National Association Parliamentarians conference.

The hotel let us swipe a chair from the main lobby, we set up in a hallway because we liked the wall there better and we cleverly strung extension cords about for kicks.

My pictures

There are a lot of different things you can do with photography and I've seen some really inspiring images that bring a lot of surreal elements together to make art, really touching images of people in pain or scared and strong formal family portraits.

The truth is more interesting to me. That is to say my slightly sunnier version of the truth. I like pictures that show people at their natural best. Perhaps guided photojournalism would be a good way to put it. I try to capture things as they are, but am not above saying "hey, that was great, do that again!". Life in action = interesting pictures.

Powderhorn 365

Amy Wurdock of Amy Wurdock photography (AmyWurdock.com) is the founder and administrator of www.Powderhorn365.com. This is a site that documents the life of our neighborhood.

Powderhorn neighborhood is in South Minneapolis, and it's fabulous. It's filled with artists, families and at least one former Olympic athlete. We have Marla's Caribbean food, the May Day Cafe, the South City Cafe, the May Day parade, an Art fair and loads of fun stuff that happens in the park year round.

For the Powderhorn 365 project one picture is taken everyday within the boundaries of Powderhorn. Seven core photographers and countless guest photographers participate. I was one of the core photographers in 2009 and am now an occasional guest photographer. If you live in Powderhorn and love taking pictures e-mail the site to get in on the fun.

This is one of my pictures from last year for the project.

Me

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Christi Williams. I was born and raised in Rochester, MN. I have a husband, two kids and camera. I quilt, paint faces, carve watermelons and take pictures when I'm not spending time with the previously-mentioned family.

I've lived in Redmond, Washington; Dover, Delaware; Nice, France; and Radomsko, Poland. As an extreme extrovert I get a lot of joy being around weddings, birthdays, and family gatherings even if they are not my own family's. It turns out photography is a great excuse to get invited to fun events.

After realizing how much I liked taking pictures and being a part of people's special days, I ventured forth to find a name for my photography business and happened upon Grinkie. Grinkie is what my husband called his blankie growing up, and I loosely translate that to mean "thing I love". Photography is one of the things I love.

My in-Laws got me a Canon Rebel for my birthday awhile back and opened a can of worms my husband has been dealing with ever since. He's had to arrange for more memory on the computer, more kid duty so I can go take pictures, less time on his computer to play video games as I tweak my latest collection of shots.

I send good wishes to the in-laws every time I use the camera, but I'm not sure if Scott does.