Hello,

This is my first attempt at blogging. It is odd to write what is essentially a note to myself, then send it out to whomever in the world happens to stumble on to the site.

I hope you enjoy the photo website and find something in my photos that speaks to you in some way. The name Lucky Shot is intentional - I make no claim to technical brilliance and often a photo works because it is just a lucky shot.

You will have read on the site how and why Lucky Shot got started. Over the next while, I will add details to the story of Brayden. He was an exceptional young man in so many ways. I know that I will spend the rest of my life reflecting on  the ways that his life affected mine. I will try to persuade Leslie, my wife, to collaborate with me on this. We have some opinions and observations on parenting that you may find challenging and thought provoking. I am what I term a "recovering teacher" as well and have some strong views on the state of education that I hope will provoke your thinking. So check in once in a while to see if we come up with anything worth reading!

You may be interested in how I was persuaded to start to sell photos. After Brayden died in the spring of 2005, I bought a small digital camera and started to take pictures. That led to a better SLR camera and more pictures. A few people commented that I had an eye for composition. My two younger boys encouraged me to sell them. I was sceptical about the whole thing, but decided, what the heck, I will try it. Surprisingly to me the photos started to sell. My wife and I decided to continue, and give the money to charities that related to Brayden. In the past three years we have donated several thousand dollars to Women's Foundation and the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Society.

The idea for a website came up and, thanks to Misty Impressions, is now a reality.

As I said, we will see where this leads. At the very least, it keeps Brayden's memory alive for us. When I open the site and look at his photo, I feel a combination of intense sadness and gratitude for having had him in our lives. Some days the sadness wins out. On other days, though, I realize that I have been given the opportunity to try to understand, not just intellectually, but imaginatively and emotionally something about what gives life meaning and makes life meaningless. Over the next while, I will try to share my thoughts and feelings about these things.

Until next time.