public library | What's not to like?

And I’m not referring to air conditioning, though I must confess that is a undeniable perk to the public library right about now.

I’m talking about “even better” as in look what our head librarian Colleen allowed Sunday and me to set up! Now along with checking out books, participating in excellent programs, ~~paying overdue fines~~, and otherwise taking advantage of all the many services a library provides in a small town (and elsewhere), a patron can now bring in his/her unused seeds and take home something new in exchange. As a garden coordinator, I receive all kinds of seed donations—far more than I could ever use. Now I can share my leftovers with the community and feel free to experiment with different varieties from my neighbors.

Thanks Colleen!

On Wednesday evening we wrapped Kids with Cameras 2.0 (an afterschool photography program I’ve written about here and here.) Program partners (Garden Club, Volcan Mountain Foundation, Club Live and volunteer instructors) held a reception at the public library with brief remarks, a celebratory presentation of some of the kids’ best shots, and delicious refreshments. The collection will remain on display for the next couple weeks at the Julian Library, and photo gift cards are on sale at the front office of the elementary school.

The photos we chose for the show represent all of the topics we covered (sports photography, composition, environmental portraiture, using manual settings, etc.) as well as fieldtrips (shooting in the school garden, at our historic cemetery and on Volcan Mountain.)

Representing Volcan Mountain and the volunteer photographers/instructors, Jeff Holt did a brilliant job of sneaking an art lesson into the remarks as he went over why we chose each photograph. Each kid was individually affirmed, and it was totally cool.

Below: a few of the students whose “show” picture happened to be taken during the school garden session. (Glares are from the room lighting and not in the original photographs.)

And of course, it was beautifully, extravagantly catered by my dear Rita.

Thank you to Bill Benson, Bill Bevill, Anne Garcia, Dana Pettersen, Jeff Holt and David Pierce for making Kids with Cameras a simply outstanding program. 3.0—-here we come!