A kid waits to catch a football from his friend at the Memphis Italian Festival.

After Memorial Day each year, the Memphis Italian Festival is held to celebrate the “values of family, faith and fellowship in the Italian-American tradition.” The proceeds from the festival benefit the Holy Rosary Parish School, and it’s a fun event to people watch and try a variety of Italian food.

When I came across these kids at a football throwing booth, I stopped and watched as each kid attempted to toss a football through the hole to his or her friend. Since the distance was about 15 yards, not many were able to do it in the three attempts they were given; but the anticipation on the kid’s face as he waits, and hopes, for a successful catch tells the entire story.

A warm summer sun sets over the Mississippi River.

The sun sets behind a bridge over the Mississippi River

A meerkat looks into the setting sun while its family burrows in the dirt.

An elephant stands in the warm afternoon sun at the Memphis Zoo.

My first SLR was a Pentax K1000 that I purchased from a used camera store in Memphis, Tennessee. I eventually replaced that Pentax, but sometimes I wish I had it just to see the exposure needle move up and down in the viewfinder again.

The two sunset photos were taken from Tom Lee Park on the banks of the Mississippi River back when I was still a beginner at photography in the mid-1990s. If I had to guess, sunset photographs are really popular first photographs for beginners, and I was no different. I haven’t taken sunset photographs since then, but these photographs remain in my collection because they were my first “keepers”.