today, i photographed ryder's kindergarten class, for a book i'm designing for their school auction (oct 23rd) class project. next week is skyler's class. i feel so blessed to be able to give back and contribute in this way. while i'd love to share more photos from this morning (i can't because of lack of model release), i share just a couple i captured of ryder. man, is he tough these days. i just happened to look over, when i was done photographing another child and i saw this, which melts my heart. it lasted only a second and i feel so lucky to have captured it.

and then, this photo simply captures him and a bit of who he is at 5-years-old and in kindergarten. he's a bit of a serious child. yet as sweet and kind as can be. and he dresses himself every morning and insists on wearing long socks. they're always pulled up as far as he possibly can and many times, up to his knees. he is who he is and i fully embrace every bit of it.

i so love what i do and am so darn grateful, i could scream. as i've said before, i feel we are blessed with this gift to photograph...and i'm a firm believer in giving back whenever possible with this awesome gift we've been blessed with. donating my time to school auctions is one of the ways i so love to give back.

how about you...what ways do you give back with the gift you've been blessed with?