[slideshow] Dance poses a photographer great challenges, especially if shot during a performance.

You have to choose action, pose or some of both. You have to search for the decisive moment, and catch it in rhythm. You often have to watch out for rapidly changing lights and exposure.

I love the challenge. I love the excitement of trying to get "the shot." After a year off from the recital circuit because of the move down south, I can't wait to see my little lady back up there though my lens.

After watching her practice a few times in the last few months I've been amazed. She improved her dedication to learning dance, and now observes things about her movements she did not in September. She is ready to join the "big girls" in her mind, and that means growing up in body and mind.

It also poses a lesson for me to follow as a photographer and as a Dad. I cannot reduce my attention to detail because I am comfortable with my skills and gear, but to increase attention to detail in all things. I have to pay better attention to my children, to my wife and the environment we live in. I also have to continue to mature and grow in faith to be the best role model I can. I'll never be perfect, but if I put in the same type of discipline to my faith life I will be calmer and more effective for them in all things.

I cannot take for granted that I am seeing more details in the viewfinder than I did a few months ago myself. I must focus harder, an conceive my photographic vision earlier. I must remember the fundamentals faster, and recognize them as they appear in the scene before me.

A lifetime of learning lays before not just before my girl, but each of us as well.

-ehw