PHOTO SHOOT

If I knew more about photography, I'd like to teach a class. I know, once a teacher. But I was reminded of that recently when on a European cruise I watched an Alabama co-ed with her camera.

She was just ahead of us on a tour of Venice when I had to stop or interfere with her shoot. And what was she shooting anyhow? I'm sure she would have snapped, you know as in snapshot, the image on the left had it been in Italy.

Our oldest grandson loves a camera and takes some interesting pictures. Sometimes I wonder about his subjects, but hey, he's 9 and very creative, so I would not want to quash any of that. Besides, he doesn't usually share and exclaim, "Look at this weird picture, G-Daddy." So I leave him and his imagination alone. Time for it to grow and refine.

But this college student. Honestly, had there been a beautiful rainbow hovering over one of the narrow canals, she would have ignored it and taken a picture of a storefront window advertising Vans. I'd talked to her and her parents a few times and they were really nice people though he kept calling me Jim. Finally, he decided I wasn't Jim but looked like him. The only Jim I met on the ship was much younger and leaner than I. I kept looking for me, but all I found was a Charlie Williams look-alike (a former fellow teacher friend).

But this college student. And my photography classroom. I'd have every student just go out and take pictures in a defined area. Then after a prescribed time, we'd meet and discuss what and why they saw. That might be the only way to see what was in the 'Bama girl's mind.

On second thought, I really don't need to go back into today's classroom. Even with a camera.