Night before Christmas and all through the house...

Picture: Wonder if Eric went out looking for a Christmas tree and found a horse? Nah... JaLo, Eric and Ian.

Christmas eve in our house as well. Marty met us in Bloomington about mid day as we did a little shopping and had a lunch and then wandered on back down to Loogootee. I stopped along the way and saw that Eric and Colleen and Sheryl and Lucas and Ian were just about ready for Santa. Colleen was all alone in the house making the last minute preparations for their family celebration, one which included the opening of a gift before heading off to bed to dream of sugar plums. Headed on home for more holiday cheer and goodies along with a phone call from Miki in New York where they had some snow fall during the day but nothing that stuck around. Looks as if Santa will have to use his wheeled sleigh this year both there and here in southern Indiana. Bells still okay though.

As many of you know by now, I take a lot of pictures with my digital camera and usually have it with me wherever I go. That was the case today and when I pulled it out and took a few shots at Applebees, Diane and Marty raised questions about the ethics and wisdom of taking pictures in a public place without consent in today's scary mad world. Hmmmm, I thought, as I snapped a picture of a young girl standing in the booth next to us and then another picture of an infant making a face peeking over a mom's shoulder. Hmmmm, I thought again, what really are the ethics in place now in the internet age, in a digital world? I thought of it on the way home and now, with Marty's help, did a little research at the google store. Here's a link that discusses some of the problems that we face, mostly of a moral nature since, as far as the author knows, it is not illegal to take decent pictures of people in public places. But then, who is to say what decency is? So, now I'm better educated about the question of taking pictures in public places and have seen some of the pros and cons. So, beware: when Mikey the Mad Photographer, is out there, whether that be at an Applebees or at a Lakeview Golf Course, be on guard: no telling when you too may get caught being yourself on that dastardly camera of his.

Update: Just finished reading a little something on photographers' rights - cool beans; from the comments section of the above link:

Here is a link to an attorney's site that has a .pdf you can print and carry in your wallet as a photographer in the United States.

http://www.krages.com/phoright.htm

Happy Holidays, you all.