STL DPB IN NEW YORK - INDIAN CLOTHING IN JACKSON HEIGHTS

As mentioned earlier, Jackson Heights, Queens, has more ethnic diversity than any zip code in the United States. This is a traditional Indian clothing store, displaying very creepy mannequins of children. Note the girl's right forearm.          

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - RESTAURANT MANNERS

Seen in the Empty Cup Cafe in Marysville, Kansas, where the food is good and varied. Good behavior, however, is expected of all, or else.           

Children of the Corn

Lots more fun than the Stephen King story and subsequent movie. Brother-in-law Mel grows corn. His giant harvester machine dumps it into this trailer. Over Thanksgiving weekend he gets a ladder and some adults to help the kids climb in. It's strange new fun. That's Eiile in the aqua and pink.            

Fun For The Whole Family

There were a lot of children at The Color Run. Not much of a problem about keeping up - many more adults were walking than running (not the case in other years I shot this). The kids like the bright hues and towards the end, a pair of giant soap bubble machines. It looked like heavy, wet snow and created ankle-deep goop on the pavement.

I wondered about what was going into the children's and adults' eyes and lungs. The company's web site says it's cornstarch, baking soda, and FD&C dyes, going on to mention it is free of heavy metals. Whew, what a relief.            

Junior Division

There were lots of young and very young people in the women's march. No doubt all of them put up to it by their parents but the older ones had plenty of enthusiasm. That's Ellie in the third picture. She mostly hid behind her sign, refusing to let me take her picture, but this one time I caught her off guard.

I'll keep going with this for a bit because I don't have any other material. There is some relief expected in the middle of February, though.         

Kodomo

That's Japanese for children, I'm pretty sure. I used to be more-or-less able to make my needs known in Japanese but the skill has faded with disuse. Wasn't the best student, anyway. When my sensei, or teacher, would ask me something and I made a big mistake, she would look at me and say with long, drawn-out vowels honto? Meaning really?

But kids are charming everywhere in the world and that needs no language. This group were in processions at our Japanese Festival.                

Shy Children

I'm about out of local material so I have to draw on Kansas a bit more. I've lost track of all the kids on the Kruse side of the family. (The Crowes have been less prolific.) These are a couple of them who are on the shy side. 

Above is Brody, grandson of my wife's sister, at Grandma Kruse's 95th birthday party. He was not engaging the rest of the crowd but his eyes met the camera. The little girl below is Sidney (I think that's how it's spelled), one of the many grandchildren of my wife's brother. She is being held by Dr. Kristin Kruse, the wife of my wife's brother's son . . . it all gets so complicated. At one point we were trying to figure out the relationship of my granddaughter Madeleine to these moppets. The calculus is too difficult.

         

Irresistible

Got a bit of luck at the wedding reception. As usual, the wedding party sat at a long table at the top of the room. We were at the first table right in front of them. A bunch of, oh, I'd guess three to five year olds came up to watch the action. Hey, kids, can I take your picture?

The children, all relatives of the groom from Oregon, were perfect models. That boy on top was a total camera hog. After the individual shots I got them in groups.         

Return Of Gratuitous Cuteness

Sometimes even I can't resist. The dull gray skies over the Renaissance Faire didn't help the color but the kids were irresistible. Love the whole ensemble of the girl at the top. The boy in the second picture has a couple of scoops bigger than his mouth. Didn't bother him in the slightest.

And anyway, I need to brush up on child photography since my first grandchild is scheduled to debut in August. She is going to be the most over-photographed baby in St. Louis. Better not be scared by fill flash. 

More gratuitous cuteness before this series ends. Two dogs and a cockatoo. At a minimum.         

Kids - Cute Or Mean?

Some of each, I suppose. It's good they can vent those aggressive impulses with pillows.

I'm not even going to talk about the Cardinals humiliating opening day defeat yesterday. I might show some pictures of it later in the week, though.       

The Return of Gratuitous Cuteness

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Lots of families attended the Festival on Nations so lots of children running around.  These are some random shots in the crowd. The kids in the top four pictures were taking an Indian dance lesson. Nice to hear a sitar and tabla in a St. Louis city park, even if it was recorded and played through huge loudspeakers.

More Of The Same

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My wife's family is just the nicest bunch of people you could meet. Warm, hard-working, clever, honest, funny, and none of the adults object to a little nip (except maybe my 93 year old mother-in-law, who has other priorities at this point in life). And they produce beautiful children. This is niece Sammie, a high school senior, holding great-niece (is there a specific term for that?) Sydney, who I think is five months. She is the only member of the family named for a major city in Australia. Maybe if she has a brother, her parents, Steve and Trisha, will name him Melbourne.

Young Shakespeare Fan

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Today is a travel day, through Chicago - O'Hare to Boston and ending at my brother's home in Southborough, Massachusetts. So, just a quick picture of what may have been the youngest Shakespeare fan last Sunday night. I'm planning a guest post for tomorrow. Who knows, I may get some shooting time in Boston on Saturday.
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The Returm Of Gratuitous Cuteness (for V.)

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Haven't had any gratuitous cuteness for a while and it's about time to roll some out. These are from the Renaissance Faire. I rarely shoot babies, puppies, flowers and ocean sunsets (I'm usually going for irony) but I do sometimes. Well, not puppies. But who can resist cute little kids? Not even me. I'm 60 and don't have any grandchildren so this will have to do.

NOTE TO ST. LOUIS READERS: I've been doing an eight week photo competition at wonderful Studio Altius in Maplewood. Tomorrow night are the "playoffs," one-on-one, single elimination, "I like this photo not that photo" contests, set up just like the college basketball brackets. I'm going all-out. Drinks, chat and a rotating projection of the entries are from 6:30 to 7:15. Then the match-ups begin.

Anyone can come and vote. I'm working up a "Vote For Bob" claque. Admission is a six-pack of beer, some wine, $5 worth of snacks or the same amount in cash. If you want to see some good St. Louis photography and vote for Bob, come on over. E-mail me by Wednesday afternoon and I'll provide the beverage of your choice and send you images of my entries (so you know what to look for). First place is a solo show at this gallery, which would be really really great. Studio Altius is located at 3518 Greenwood Boulevard in Maplewood. Map here. Be there or be square.

Gratuitous Cuteness

Another good thing to post when you are running out of inventory is cute kids. Gets 'em every time. This is a neighbor's child in the street in front of my house.

There's some good stuff to shoot around here this weekend. For one, there's Strassenfest (or, for German purists, Straßenfest), an annual Deutsche beer, wurst and oom-pah party held downtown. Out on the edges of the metro area, there is the Washington County Fair, an extravagant bit of rural Americana with tractor pulls, livestock judging, country music, carnival rides and terrifying things to eat. In short, a photographer's paradise. However, there is a huge, stagnant high pressure system parked over the central United States. The air quality is foul and it's likely to get close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit / 38 degrees Celsius for the next several days. Have to wait and see how brave I am. Most Americans - certainly including me - are air conditioning weenies.