I named this free, live, hour-long webcast presented by O’Reilly Digital Media with tongue in cheek, and also in homage to naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell (My Family and Other Animals). It’s scheduled for 10AM Pacific Time on Wednesday, March 18 at a computer desktop near you!

The truth is that too many kids grow up traumatized by mandatory holiday photo sessions, and too many photos of the people and things we care most about are just plain boring. It doesn’t have to be this way!

Here’s the full description of the event:

Families, kids, holidays: we all want to capture them as fond memories, not stiff poses. During this not-to-be-missed presentation, Harold Davis will help us understand how to do so with more ease and fun in the process, demonstrating that “Cameras don’t take photos, people do!” covering topics such as:

• Don’t gain the world at the expense of your soul: personally engage.
• How to control light with a point-and shoot camera, avoiding “exposure modes from Hell”
• Using pre-visualization as a key photographic skill.
• Making the mundane fantastic – using composition to avoid boring family pictures.
• Photographing children for the precious individuals they are
• Leaving the shoe box behind…Displaying and preserving photos in the digital era.

Attendance is limited, so please register now. O’Reilly will send you a reminder before the webcast. And please feel free to share this invitation with others.

Date: Wednesday, March 18 at 10 am PT
Price: Free
Duration: Approximately 60 minutes
To register: http://oreilly.com/go/takephotos
Questions? Please send email to webcast@oreilly.com