Win a Pentax Limited Lens: Raffle Now Live!

This year marked the start of my 6th year with volunteering with Teen Reach Adventure Camp, a camp for abused and neglected foster teens. My wife and I have been involved for several years with both TRAC and Royal Family Kids Camp, which serves the younger foster kids.

Recent statistics show that 1 of 64 kids in the area I live in are in foster care homes. And if being separated from family isn’t bad enough foster kids move from one family to another every 16 months on average. Camp volunteers teach them that they are valuable and loved.

My job? It is to serve as photographer. Stepping up to help in a pinch a couple of years ago reintroduced me to photography.This Spring I bought my my first Pentax, a K-50. My goal is simple, to give the kids an individualized photo book to take home. Photos that will rekindle the lessons they learned, the volunteers they met, and the fun they enjoyed while at camp. Something as simple as a photo book can give hope that there are better days ahead. How do I know this? Because the kids, foster parents and case workers tell us this us.

Some events, such as the rock climbing wall shown in my photo, happen in early evening under a large canopy of cottonwood trees. My 18-135mm is a great lens for camp but it is just not up to the task under these darker conditions with moving kids. Using flash looks unnatural. This year I tried using my K-50mm 1.7. Manual focus is tough and all too often the focus is off. I would love to have the use of this fast 50 with auto focus for conditions just like this. (Note: face blurred for confidentiality requirement)