I know you are excited to be leaving high school.  After all, graduation day is what you have been working so hard for.  But know, that no matter where you go or what you do from here, you will always remember the last four years and you will likely never forget the people that have touched your life and helped make you the person you are today.   

I know that I will never forget this high school senior and how she and her horse touched my life and the life of my oldest daughter.  I first met “Ali” about three years ago.  She owned a beautiful black thoroughbred named E.T. and she boarded him at the same farm where we boarded our horse, Shaker.    My daughter was in 5th grade at the time and this was her first experience owning her own horse.   Shaker and E.T. became friends immediately and loved to play together in the pastures.  My daughter quickly became quite attached to E.T.

Unfortunately, one day E.T’s big old old heart just stopped and he died suddenly.  Ali was riding him at the time.  

We were not at the barn that day but  when we went to the barn to take care of Shaker the next day, E.T.’s body was still in the ring.  (We knew he was there as we had received a call from the trainer telling us what had happened).  My daughter was devastated.  She was so sad for Ali and for E.T. and I was concerned about her seeing E.T. like that.  But, she loved E.T. and she insisted that she wanted to say goodbye.  So we went down to the ring.  My daughter knelt beside him, patted him, sobbed a goodbye and then looked at me and said “Mom, you took a photo of E.T. a few weeks ago.  We should print it and give it to Ali so that she will never forget how special he was.”  With tears in my eyes, I nodded and we went home.  

We did print the photo of E.T. and my daughter wrote a little poem to go with it.  We left both in the tack room for Ali to pick up when she came to retrieve her tack.  

We didn’t see Ali after that as she moved on to another barn.  But we would mention her name often when we remembered E.T.   Ali likely never knew how her horse touched our lives and helped teach my daughter that, even through terrible loss and sadness, love and memories live on.  

Needless to say, I was thrilled when Ali chose me to do her senior portraits.  It was certainly a pleasure to see her again.   She is still riding and her love of horses has obviously never waned despite the sadness she must have felt after the loss of E.T.   Like my daughter, she clearly learned not to wilt in the face of adversity and sadness.   And, she has grown into quite a lovely young lady!  See for yourself:  

Oh, and yes, she also has a Great Dane like I do!  So one day, she will also likely understand about “forgiving the poop!”  haha (see my last Blog post if this confuses you).

Congratulations Ali!!  And HAPPY GRADUATION to all you high school seniors, Class of 2012!

To find out about our horse farm sessions, email me at kirsten@ddkportraits.com.

I  have a dog.  He is a Great Dane.  He is 10 and I love him.  His name is Mufasa. Mufasa poops on the floor.

Every day.  Usually in his own bed, but sometimes while he’s standing right in front of me.

This is due to a neurological disorder that Dane’s develop as they age.  He cannot help it.

I have a daughter.  She is my oldest.  She is 13 and I love her.  Her name is “Young Lady!”  (yes, there is an exclamation point after her name because I’m usually yelling it).

Young Lady! gives me crap.

A little every day.  Usually in the form of a bad attitude, but sometimes in the form of bad grades and poor choices.

This is not due to a neurological disorder, unless of course you count the hormones that are wreaking havoc on her body and brain.   I’m really not sure if she can help it.

People ask me when I’m going to put Mufasa down.  How long am I going to put up with this?  Why would I consider allowing this to continue?

People tell me to be patient with Young Lady!  That she will grow out of this.  That she doesn’t mean what she says and she is a “good kid.”  Let her have some room to grow.

Mufasa’s poop is contained.  One blob in his bed or on the floor.  I can clean it up in less than two minutes with some paper towels and disinfectant spray.

Young Lady!’s crap is spewed everywhere.  At her sister.  At me.  In her grades.  Even at her friends at times.  I can’t clean it up.  Disinfectant will not turn her F’s into A’s.  Despite the ads, even Orbit chewing gum won’t turn her dirty mouth into a clean mouth (damn false advertising!).

When Mufasa poops on the floor he hangs his head in shame and puts himself in the corner to sulk.

When Young Lady! gives me crap, she stomps off screaming and slams the door to her room.

Mufasa tells me every day how much he loves me.  He loves it when I love all over him.

Young Lady! tells me every day that I’m stupid or weird.  She pushes me away when I hug her and is completely grossed out if I try to kiss her.

Young Lady! will live a long time (I hope) and will have a chance to learn from her mistakes and hopefully become a wonderful adult.  I will have the opportunity to one day forgive her for the crap she gives me today.

Mufasa only has about a year left (if that).  He won’t get the chance to fix this problem.  He is going to get older and more feeble until one day he isn’t happy or healthy enough anymore to continue his sweet life.  Also, as some of you know, I almost killed Mufasa in a horrible accident.  He forgave me without question.  

So, I forgive the poop. 

It’s the least I can do.

(as for Young Lady! — don’t worry, I forgive her also and won’t “put her down” (at least not any time soon)).

Sixteen more school days…. but who’s counting?

These Milton High School seniors are, that’s who!!  I love when friends come together for senior portrait photography sessions because there is always a lot of smiling and laughing and I get to photograph the teens at their most relaxed.  These Alpharetta high school seniors were no exception.  Check out how beautiful they are and see for yourself how fun and relaxed this session was!

Ddkportraits is currently booking Atlanta area high school senior portrait sessions for Class of 2013!!  Your yearbook pics will be due in October so the best time to do your session is this Spring and Summer!  Call me to inquire about special packages and availability.  678.386.4751  or email me at kirsten@ddkportraits.com

I arrived at the photography session with my eight year old daughter as she is typically an essential part of toddler photography sessions because she helps entertain the children and can usually get their attention long enough for my camera to at least focus.  We also brought bubbles.  Yay bubbles!  Who doesn’t love bubbles?  I had a photo in my head that involved these three little darlings sitting sweetly in the grass while Jojo (my kid)  blows bubbles over them.  In my head, they are all smiling and looking in wide-eyed wonder at all of the bubbles glistening in the sunshine.  Like I said, when photographing little children, you have to be prepared to change your expectations.

Not only did we not get them all to sit still long enough to blow the bubbles in their direction, the littlest boy was obsessed with holding the bubbles container himself (duh, I’m a mother, why did this not occur to me?)  and soon had sticky liquid running down his arms and was in serious danger of spilling it all over this clothes.  The bubbles went bye-bye pretty quickly!

But that was okay because, as I have learned through many years of experience with children’s photography, I have learned that the best way to capture photos of small children is to just let them play!  So play they did.  And I ran around after them.  And rolled on the grass.  And sang songs.  And sweated profusely!

This Roswell family photography session was a ton of fun though and, as you can see, we got some really cute shots.  In fact, I was expecting maybe 30 shots to be worthy of presenting to my client but after downloading them, so many cute pics existed that I ended up with closer to 100 to sort through!!   Wow!  That was one expectation I was not sad to have changed.

So, thank you to my wonderful clients for allowing me to work with your beautiful children.

To inquire about your own busy family session, visit http://www.photosbykirsten.com and email Kirsten at kirsten@ddkportraits.com.

Pinterest’s new terms of use came out.

Pinterest introduced it’s new terms of use.

I thought if I said a different way the third time I might be able to get behind Pinterest and re-establish my inspiration boards.

Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as just clarifying some language. 

I tried to explain to Ben that new language, without substantive changes to the site itself, would not solve the issues I see with the site.  Sure, with its new terms of use, Pinterest resolved the conflict stated within its previous rules.  In doing so it deleted the ban on self-promotion, which kindly opens the doors to photographers and artists to freely pin their own work without being labeled “tacky” or accused of poor etiquette.  This change at least allows the site to be used for some purpose – i.e, pin your own work.  But, frankly, because I’m a rebel or maybe I just have no class, I was doing that anyway.    As explained in my original post, the reason I deleted my inspiration boards where I pinned other’s work, is that I felt my own work is the only work I had the right to use —  not only per Pinterest’s terms but under the law.   So, now that these new terms are out I am being asked, “are you going to re-establish your inspiration boards?”

Unfortunately, no. 

Even though I’m pretty sure this is going to ensure that Ben never calls me again and that I will forever be the poster child for pinning paranoia, my concerns haven’t changed.  And here is why:  No matter how you say it, slice it, dice it, curse it or just disagree with it, U.S. Copyright law (and laws of many other countries) still says that you cannot reproduce the artistic creation of another.  And, while I have no doubts that Ben Silberman and his team are becoming quite powerful, they can’t change the law overnight (though I’m pretty sure sites like Pinterest are leading us down the slippery slope of copyright abolition for digital images online – but that’s another blog).  Because my inspiration boards would contain nothing but artistic creations by other photographers, most of whom did not give permission, I remain concerned that I would be violating the law.  Now, as I pointed out previously, there are exceptions to the prohibition on reproducing another’s otherwise protected work and these exceptions result in what is deemed “fair use.”  The fair use exception allows you to use copyrighted work in certain circumstances.   I’m not going to re-write my original post and the points about fair use.  As a good friend of mine says, “rinse and repeat.”

So, like before, I find myself looking to Pinterest’s NEW AND IMPROVED terms of use to see what they say about using content that isn’t mine.  And this time I don’t really find anything definitive.  No allowance (of course).  But no prohibition this time either.  No real guidance at all, except for this language: 

            “d.  Your responsibility for your content: …..

            …. ii.  To third parties.  Pinterest values and respects the rights of third party creators and content owners, and expects you to do the same.  You therefore agree that any User Content that you post to the Service does not and will not violate any law or infringe the rights of any third party, including without limitation any Intellectual Property Rights….. It is important that you understand that you are in the best position to know if the materials you post are legally allowed.  We therefore ask that you please be careful when deciding whether to make User Content available on our Service, including whether you can pin or re-pin User Content on your boards.” 

Then they are kind enough to provide users with links to materials which will help you learn all you ever wanted to know about copyright and fair use.

Basically, under the new terms, if a Pinterest user plans to use the “pin it” button to pin work from third party websites (and, if we are being honest here, this is precisely what the site was intended for in the first place and what the vast majority of people’s pins consist of), that user must first analyze and determine if each pin might violate someone’s copyrights.  In other words, for you to use Pinterest for it’s main purpose, you must stop, read, learn, think and play like a lawyer.   You must first decide whether your pin or re-pin would be deemed by a court to be “fair use” of whatever image you are pinning.  As I stated in my original post, determining what constitutes “fair use” can be a pretty complex and confusing analysis that is extremely fact specific and must be done on a case by case basis.  That is really not what I want to be doing when I just want to pin pretty pictures.  Do you?  And even if you do read the materials and conduct the fair use analysis can you be sure that your pins fall under fair use? 

All I know is that I’m a photographer AND a lawyer and I’m not even sure my pins will be deemed fair use in each instance.  Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m not a copyright expert so what do I know? Well, this time I did turn to an IP expert for some back-up.  One that knows her stuff.  I called India Vincent, an attorney with the law firm of Burr & Forman, LLP in Birmingham, Alabama.   India is the person I turn to when IP issues arise in both my work as an attorney and a photographer.  We talked about Pinterest and we talked about my blog.  When I asked her how I am supposed to figure out if my pins constitute fair use, this is what she said: 

 “Fair use is tricky because it is so fact specific.  Whether or not something is a fair use depends on the purpose of the use, the nature of the copyrighted work, the portion of the copyrighted work that is used, and the effect of the use on the potential market value for the work.  Any number of facts can alter the balance of these factors and change whether or not something is a fair use.  The work that is pinned, the way in which it is pinned, the commentary associated with the pinned work and other factors can all influence whether a particular pin is a fair use.”

Yep, like I said, rinse and repeat.  India’s response only confirmed for me what I stated in my original blog post  - that fair use is tricky and complicated.  And as I said before, this doesn’t give me much comfort that any fair use analysis I conduct before I pin something is going to be accurate or that a court would agree with me. Yet, this is exactly what Pinterest is asking us to do if we plan to pin third party content.  After my conversation with India I’m more convinced than ever that pinning works that are not your own, whether it’s an original pin or a re-pin, is still risky (and don’t get me started on the licensing issues involved in posting and re-pinning third party content).  So, I was right to be concerned.  And I still am.

But , as Doctor Phil says, “do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?”  So now what?

Well, I do want to be happy and as such I’m tempted to just pin away like everyone else.  But I want to remain happy.  And knowing that I might be violating someone’s copyrights by pinning won’t make me happy.  Being sued will make me just downright sad.  And mad.  And you don’t want to see me sad and mad.  I get this little eye twitch and my mouth turns down like a sea bass.  It’s not pretty. 

But giving up on Pinterest altogether won’t make me happy either.  So, call me a doormat, or maybe just naïve, but I’m still giving Pinterest  some time to figure this out.   I will continue keeping my account.  At least now I can pin my own work without being labeled “tacky” (well, at least not for pinning anyway), and I can pin work for which I have permission from the creator to pin.  I might even pin stuff where I feel 99.9% sure that my use would be deemed fair use (but don’t look for much of that because I’m not sure I can trust my own analysis of fair use to be that sure).  Meanwhile, I am asking, begging and pleading with Pinterest to get all of those brilliant and creative minds that reside over there in Palo Alto in the same room with the legal minds.  Order a lot of coffee and sugary snacks to keep everyone awake and come up with some substantive changes to the way content on the site is pinned, displayed and shared so that it doesn’t feel like, smell like or sound like infringement.  I want to use the site as originally intended.  I liked being able to pin photos from all over the web to my boards.   My boards are now pretty bare.  Sniffle, sniffle. 

Basically, Pinterest, keep as much of the beauty and appeal as you can while making changes so that I can pin from around the web without taking the risk for us both (yes, the indemnity language is still there.  As a lawyer I know that it needs to be, but man, don’t tempt me with a beautiful site that encourages third party pinning and the tools to use it for such and then tell me if I use it I’m on the hook for both of us.  That’s just …. just…not right IMO!).   

Ben, I thought we had something going here and that you were going to come up with something that protected artists and users a little better. I’m beginning to wonder if that’s even possible.  Show me that it is.  I’ll wait for you.

Those of you who have been following my original post about why I deleted my Pinterest inspiration boards (once again, I did NOT delete my entire account) and the surrounding controversy over whether I’ve raised legitimate concerns or am just making a mountain out of molehill can be clear about only one thing – that people are PASSIONATE about PINTEREST!

I have heard from thousands of people sharing their views on these issues and I have found that people are pretty evenly divided.    There are those who are undeniably pro-Pinterest and feel that liability for copyright infringement is either a silly concern or too remote to worry about.  There are those who just love the site so much that it’s worth it to them to choose to ignore the contradiction in the terms of use and ignore the copyright issues and say they will worry about it only when and if someone sues.  Then there are those who feel that copyright issues are very important and have said they will not use Pinterest until the terms of use change in a way that makes the site a clearer and safer sharing ground.   What is becoming quite apparent though is that  feelings on the topic are so strong that talking about Pinterest is quickly becoming one of those topics you don’t debate with people who you want to keep as friends – much like politics and religion.  This could be very good news for Pinterest!  After all, this passion just evidences that they have something on their hands that evokes emotion and any marketing pro out there will tell you emotion SELLS!

Of course, to turn all of this passion into profit (eventually), Pinterest is going  to have to be pretty creative to adequately calm the concerns while still keeping the site the beautiful, interactive place that evokes all of this emotion.  And that may not be an easy task.  All you have to do is peruse the comments to my blog posts and read the spin off blogs and articles to see that nobody can agree on what should be done or even how we should proceed  -  not the general users, not the photographers and, perhaps most troubling, not the lawyers (which only illustrates my original concerns).   But, isn’t finding a new, innovative and creative way to share the job of these Pinterest folks? 

As I previously blogged, Pinterest understands that it needs to modify its terms of use.  After all, Pinterest’s own terms currently prohibit you from using the site for its intended purpose.  The first rule of use is don’t pin anything that you don’t own or that you don’t have “all rights” or license to use.  This flies in the face of the purpose of the site, which is to pin from all over the web and contradicts its first rule of etiquette which is to not self promote.  Understandably, people are confused.   

I have been in communication with Ben Silberman and his staff over the past several weeks.  They continue to assure me that changes to the terms of use are coming.  The fact that it is taking so long is actually quite encouraging to me.    They obviously know that there isn’t a “quick fix” to the issues and they have been taking their time to talk to users, artists and lawyers to make sure that they are addressing the concerns appropriately.    I have been advised that they have been in touch with several professional photographer associations and have been listening to their concerns.    In addition to the dialogue with these associations, Ben and his group have asked me to communicate to them the concerns expressed to me by individual photographers.    And some of you have expressed some very legitimate concerns that Pinterest needs to consider.  So, if you are a photographer out there and you have concerns regarding Pinterest, its terms of use and/or copyright issues or if you have suggestions on how to  make the site a better place that can help you share your work if you want it shared but also respecting your copyrights, let me know.   I”ll compile the comments and send them on to Ben and his team.   

Please understand, I’m not working for Pinterest.  I’m not getting paid for this.  I’m not doing it to quiet those who have criticized my original post (I remain very comfortable with my position and decision to delete my inspiration boards).  As I’ve said in the past – I am a fan of Pinterest.   And, like most of you, a somewhat passionate one.  I like the site but I don’t want to bury my head in the sand and pretend the conflict in their terms of use doesn’t exist.  And I certainly don’t want to ignore other professionals’ copyrights.  I do, however, want to resume pinning activities.  So, let’s get them our ideas so that the site can make the changes it needs. 

You can either comment here or you can email your ideas to me directly at Kirsten@ddkportraits.com.  Of course, you can also send your comments directly to Pinterest if you would rather.  Regardless, if you are a photographer who respects copyrights, I encourage you to use your voice to help make Pinterest a site that is responsible, safe and fun for everyone while respecting copyrights!

P.S. – In case most of you haven’t seen it yet, there is a group on Facebook offering to print all of your pins.  They call themselves “Printerest.”  They offer books, canvas prints, wall art, etc.  After all, Pinterest’s terms of use allow users to download and print their pins.   Other printing sites even offer to crop off or photoshop out the watermark.  If this concerns you, tell Pinterest about it.   While they can’t control or prevent everyone’s wrongdoings, they can certainly take steps to clarify what actions they permit and maybe even take steps to make it more difficulty to abuse the site.

P.S.S (yes, there I go again) – If you think you can’t print a really nice 8×10 print from a low res pin, think again.    A 650px  x 800px  72 dpi file can make a gorgeous 8×10. I tested it last week and the detail, color and quality was totally frame-worthy.

People love Spring for many reasons — the flowers, the warm weather, etc.  As a photographer, I love Spring because it is when all of the teens in town start coming out of hibernation and they start realizing that graduation is right around the corner.  Those who will be graduating in May who were not super prepared last Summer and Fall, start panicking that they don’t have their senior pictures yet.  And those who are the type who prepare ahead and who will be seniors next year are thinking about booking their senior portraits.   And I am right here to help ALL of them.  I know, I’m so generous.

I do love working with teens though.   With my new studio located in downtown Alpharetta that boasts several rooms flooded with natural light, plus a room with studio lights and backdrops, plus a great outdoor area for those super popular editorial styled shots I have the perfect setup for working with teens.  I even have access to a really great horse farm complete with old barns and rusty tractors for the more adventurous.

So, if you are graduating this year and have been too busy to have your portraits done, give me a call and we will fix that.  After all, you can’t let this super important time in your life pass by without some photos to show how fabulous you are.  Trust me, when you are old and tired and not feeling so fabulous, you will be so glad you have those pics.  Or, it will just depress you.  Either way, you still need some for your parents!  :)

And, if you are a high school senior graduating in 2013, give me a call so that we can talk about the best time to do a session so that you are ready when the Fall comes around and the yearbook staff is screaming at you to get your photos submitted.  Those people can be so PUSHY, right??  (I was one of them so this is okay for me to say).  You know the deadline is October.  And you know you will be way too busy with sports and school in September.  So, that leaves summer.  And I know many of you travel with your families.  As do I.    Right now, I am booking into May.  So, while you still have some time, you need to start thinking about getting a session date on the schedule.  I shoot mainly in the evening in the summer and, believe it or not, summer is NOT endless and prime session times are limited!  

And I’m not just talking to the girls out there.  All of you high school boys, listen up!  I know how much you all LOVE to pose for a portrait session.  NOT!  But I can promise you, a session with me is quite easy and painless and, yes, even FUN!  And do you really want all of those cute high school girls to remember you by that formal tux photo they took at the school?  Come on, now!  Besides, a really nice photo of her handsome grown up son will make mom sooooo happy!  Trust me on that.

Senior portrait packages start at $350.  And YOU are WORTH IT!  ;)

Hope to see you all this Spring.  Oh, and are any of you mowing lawns for extra cash this summer?  Please let me know!

To book a session or inquire about mowing, drop me an email at kirsten@ddkportraits.com.  You can also find me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ddkportraits or tweet me at ddkportraits.

I really figured that the attention over my blog post regarding Pinterest would have died down by now but it appears that people are still talking about it, sharing the link and writing their own blog posts analyzing the issues raised in my post.   And analyzing me!

With approximately 500 comments on my blog posts and thousands of tweets and shares on Facebook, of course some things have been said and other things taken out of context and a lot of questions have arisen that warrant some clarification/response.  And, because I’m originally a “Hunt”, I feel the need to provide some response (yes, Dad, when it all boils down, you and mom are really the ones to blame!).

Since nobody wants to read yet another essay on this subject, I’m bullet-pointing my top 50 responses to some of the more interesting/troubling/problematic comments:

1. Yes, I am a practicing attorney.
2. I graduated from law school in 1996, not 2003 – although I’m not sure what this means other than that I’m old as dirt.
3. Yes, I am a professional photographer.
4. No, I do not belong to a knitting group although that sure would save me some money on hats and props for the baby photography.
5. I am General Counsel for a Georgia company. I run a photography studio in Alpharetta.  I have two kids, a husband, a horse, a dog and a cat.  In the last two months I have hiked a Hawaiian rain forest, skied Utah mountains and have been swimming in the Gulf of Mexico.  So, no, it doesn’t appear I have much of a life.
6. My blog post was written from the perspective of a photographer more than that of a lawyer.  It was not legal advice but intended to outline my concerns, as a photographer, over my use of Pinterest.
7. I am not concerned about Pinterest being sued.  I am concerned about users (i.e, you and me) being sued, AS THE INFRINGER, and then being liable for indemnification and defense costs and ALL damages. 
8. No, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act will not provide the USER a safe harbor.
9. “Fair Use” is a complicated legal analysis and I purposely did not re-live law school by writing a law review article explaining it all.   My article does acknowledge that it is not clear how a court would rule in a “Fair Use” analysis.
10. Unfortunately, I have litigated ridiculous cases where my clients were clearly not liable and the claims were outlandish.
11.  My clients spent thousands of dollars just getting to a motion to dismiss.
12. Most people don’t have thousands of dollars to get a motion to dismiss.
13. Most people don’t have tens of thousands of dollars getting to summary judgment.
14. I don’t believe a claim for copyright infringement arising from pinning would be “outlandish.”
15. I don’t believe that a court would dispose of an infringement case for pinning without permission on a motion to dismiss or motion for summary judgment.  Depends on facts.
16. I do not want to be the defendant in the first test case.
17. I do not want to be the lawyer litigating the first test case.
18. I do not want to be your lawyer.
19. I DO want to be your photographer. 
20. I did not delete my Pinterest account.
21. I did delete my inspiration boards that contained work I did not own and did not have a license to use.  I’m following Pinterest’s own rules.
22. No, taking a magazine into the bathroom with you is not the same as pinning someone else’s images.  Nor is it as sanitary.
23. I know you may think “if it’s on the internet it’s free for everyone to use.”  Thank you for your opinion but that simply is not the law.
24. My decision to delete my inspiration boards had as much to do with my respect for other photographers  as with my concerns over liability.
25. If you don’t think your unauthorized use of photographers’ work negatively affects the market for such work, I will put you in touch with all of the fine art and stock photographers who have contacted me expressing their outrage with Pinterest and those using it.
26. I am not willing to bet that these folks won’t take action.  Their livelihood is at stake.
27. Yes, using someone else’s work without permission on Facebook or your own blog or website or other social media is bad.
28. Not every pin contains a link to the original artist.
29. I’m not so sure commenting with “love this” falls within the “for comment” exception to copyright protection.
30. No, just because you aren’t using the photos for commercial use does NOT automatically mean you aren’t liable.  It is merely a factor the court will consider.  Think about when you have your family photos taken by a pro.  You cannot order a 4×6 and take that print to a lab and have it scanned and reprinted to distribute to other family members. 
31. Yes, people do #30 all of the time.  It is illegal.
32. Yes, I realize “everyone’s doing it” (pinning, that is).
33. One of the first lessons I learned in life was “If everyone is jumping off the bridge does that mean you should do it too?”
34. Copyright statutes allow for fines and damages. 
35. I do not have an extra $150,000 lying around to pay said fine.
36. I am not out to destroy Pinterest.
37. I told Ben I would love to help him brainstorm and find ways to make the site better for everyone.
38. Yes, I realize Ben is way smarter than I am and that he doesn’t need me.
39. No, he hasn’t been back in touch.
40. Yes, I believe it’s not me, it’s him.  And he’s just not that into me.
41. Yes, that is a joke.
42. Yes, you may pin my photos.
43. Yes, I would argue that if someone puts a “pin it” button on their site or a “pin it” logo right on their image, that person is giving you permission to pin it.  I will be doing this in the future.
44. Yes, you may share a LINK to my blog posts.
45. If I am asked to Skype with a news channel again, I will do my hair first.
46. No Mom, I am not going to be on the Today Show.
47. Yes, Mom, I realize that Natalie Morales reminds you of me.  And yes, I am flattered by that. 
48. No, I do not think posting pics of a little baby’s bottom is child porn.
49. Nicole, I will ALWAYS kiss my babies – even when they push me away and scream “GROSS MOM!”
50. And, yes, I know what P.S.S means.  For serious and for realsies.

Okay, that’s all I have time for this morning.

My life needs tending to.  And I need to find myself that knitting group.

The ironic part of all of this for me is that I would rather be known for my photography than my legal musings.  So, I’m hoping that those of you who have visited my blog to read about Pinterest will stick around to see some of my photos.  I love photography.  And I’d like to get back to what I love by posting these sweet pics of a precious little 4 month old I had the honor of photographing recently.

This little squishy cutie came to my studio two days before he was scheduled to have eyelid surgery on his left eye.  He was born with a little bit of a droopy lid and his parents decided that they still wanted to capture this special time — after all, of course they love him just the way he is.

And who can blame them???  JUST LOOK HOW CUTE!!!

Ahhhh, I feel better now.

No matter what you do in life and no matter what people notice you for, make sure you take time to do what you love.

And ALWAYS kiss your babies!

– DDK