You would think I would find more time to write with 159 inches of snowfall this winter keeping us locked up in the house. To my 10's of readers, I apologize. Here I go.

My favorite sub-category of photography is black and white. Broken down even further, it's black and white portraits. Even further, black and white street portraits. There's nothing like a candid picture. Think about your favorite family photos. Is it the one's you took at a photo studio somewhere? Or is it a time or place that was captured spontaneously. One of my favorite family pictures is of my kids, no more than 1, sitting on mini rocking chairs in front of a Christmas tree in our little apartment. They were dressed in mini Santa and Mrs. Claus outfits. It was supposed to be a posed moment but when you're dealing with 1 year olds, that's mission impossible. Something off camera caught their attention and gave my son this huge smile with my daughter, amused but not smiling as big, glancing over as well. Perfectly candid and as they've gotten older, perfectly matching their personalities. 

It took the photo above to change my feelings on how I went about capturing street photography and portraits in general. I would happily snap pictures of people as they walked by, not thinking about if I was capturing a moment or just taking a picture of someone just passing by. I was taking a picture of my kids outside of a Starbucks at the famous Shibuya intersection in Tokyo  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibuya,_Tokyo#Shibuya_Crossing).

A young man stopped a few feet behind them and started hanging his head. He didn't seem down just exhausted after a long day.

This whole moment made me rethink my philosophy on photography as I checked my LCD. Hundreds of people and cars surrounded us but in this one moment, I saw this young man. It's about that one moment that gets recorded to the little card in your camera. Every second that passes is a once in a lifetime moment. Other than your family and pets, what would you grab if your house was on fire? Photographs and hard drives containing photographs? That's why photography is so important. That's why looking at pictures of my kids 7 years later still tugs at the heart strings. That should be my goal every time I pick a camera up. Whenever I look at the intro picture, I can't help but wonder if he's doing ok. 7 years from now I'll still be wondering and thanking him for that moment.