I grew up 90 miles north of Yellowstone Park, one of the most beautiful places on the face of the earth. But until i was 18, the only time i saw it was on a day trip, rushed thru, with visiting family. Get out, walk by the mud pots, back in the car, rush to be “on time” to see Old Faithful, back in the car, rush to walk about near the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, etc.

Yes, i’m glad i saw those places, tho to be honest i don’t have much memory of most of them. But they are not warm fuzzy feelings about those family trips. I think i kind of resent those trips, but it isn’t the trips so much as the lack of love and care they represent. If your children know they are loved and the parents are doing the best they can to raise them well, i think that makes up for all manner of things.

I think the kind of family in which you are raised, and if the people in that family treat each other well and with kindness, makes a much bigger impact than if you did lots of things together. I understand why my parents did these trips the way they did, but if they could have included some down time in those trips, some family joy, instead of the rushed, “Did you see it? Okay, back in the car,” i’d have much kinder memories of those trips.

On the other hand, while the family may not have treated one another with care, my parents did hold friends in high esteem and they definitely modeled what is now called “networking” very well. I do appreciate that very much.

second,I would like to hear more thoughts on the issues regarding Stevens problem – I relate to the issue at hand and for me I found that the frustration was connected to a feeling of being invisible, somehow, not listened to and taken into consideration when the choices were made for how to spend family time together, holiday or not?? for me that made even the most expensive and luxurious getaways burdensome… as I would rather have had time for more low-key but intimate and in-depth explorations together with the people I loved and was dear to me, my family… … with a good throw-in of hilariously fun and magical merry-go-round- self-exploring -moments in doses in between;)!

Thanks Trent. I really appreciate your insight in this post. Hope to work through some of these same ideas as I make decisions in daily life

I am not a fan of formulaic writing, and I respect inspiration, and I understand the appeal of writing off the cuff sans research, but lately this blog is like a granola mix with way too many raisins.

At Doubleday, we never, ever, used photos of public scenes that were not from an agency that guaranteed releases from every single person recognizable. I could not even use, for the History Book Club, photos taken by my own ancestors on public streets, of the Nazis marching into Norway. There is 50 years past death stipulation, and we had no way to verify that every young man were all deceased more than 50 years, and that the heirs were not due royalties.

Why? When you get sued (and we were intermittently, before my time), you have to pay 3x the going rate, per use, as penalty if you are for-profit.

Another for-instance- public schools (a public space) are required to offer a written opt out option to parents if they do not want their child’s photo used in local newspapers should they be in a big game or win an award. I routinely opted out, and had the right to litigate (though I did not) when they published a photo of my son in the newspaper.

Courts are much touchier on the public space vs. child endangerment aspect. If a kid is running around naked in a public park, you might have a problem if you post those shots and it was not your child.

What is Trent’s risk? Next to noting, monetarily and legally, unless one of those kids happens to be a child model, or in hiding, for whatever reason. What is his risk socially? Who knows. But I would be annoyed if I saw my kid on his site without his asking, and start avoiding him when he had a camera.

Many homes are selling for less than it would cost to build them new. In areas with few employment opportunities, the savings are considerable. Currently, approximately 1/3 of all existing home sales are cash transactions. Perhaps building a custom home is not a frugal choice with a glut of bargins on the market, there must be several gems that fit the bill.

I grew up on a farm. Vacations were unheard of, the only trips we ever went on were day trips to visit relatives. I don’t feel deprived because I travel to exotic or popular places as an adult.

My biggest school related embarassment was filling out the emergency contact card at the beginning of each year; all the other kids in my class had a house number, street name and phone number. Our address was a box number and rural route number, we didn’t have a phone (or electricity) and teachers always wanted an explanation as to why I filled out my card out “wrong.” Imagine being a six year old explaining to a strange new teacher in front of all your middle-class classmates about your life in poverty, rinse and repeat each new school year.

Yes, and yes. As a former Creative Director, I am painfully aware of every frigging photo usage stipulation. Ugh!

Without a model release, on a for-profit, he is in violation, but unlikely to be called on it. (Corporations weigh this risk frequently. It is not an actual ad, so it is less risky). But still-why infringe on people in your own community?

Hey- you never know who might be in witness protection, or dodging a stalker ex-spouse -especially in places like the midwest and Vermont!

I give it one year before Facebook’s facial-recognition capabilities are mimicked and used to troll the web phishing for long lost friends, relatives, witnesses and potential victims!

Without a model release, you can’t publish photos with people who can be identified in them. That’s the law…but…I don’t know that their usage here constitutes ‘publishing’, except that this site is ‘for-profit’.

Either way, I’d err on the side of caution and crop.

I know the vacations I’ve taken with my family led to a lot of new experiences and I put a large value on that. I flew for the first time (Ohio to Florida) when I was in the 6th grade – something that makes me much less nervous about flying to Italy in the fall by myself.