Some cold-winter-day assignments are worth losing the ability to feel your fingers.

Crystal Kids, a Saturday ski-camp designed to teach kids how to ski, is held weekly at Crystal Ridge Ski Area, Franklin.

Yesterday afternoon, I learned a little more about cystic fibrosis ... from a 6-year-old. Below, Abby Brinker (center), 6, of New Berlin, gets a hug from her best friend, Natalie Lichtenhahn, 8, while listening to Abby's new iPod. Abby, who has cystic fibrosis, was granted a birthday wish from the Make-a-Wish Foundation — she and her family spent a few days at the Kalahari Indoor Water Park, Wisconsin Dells. Cystic fibrosis is a life-threatening disease that causes mucus to build up and clog some of the organs in the body, particularly in the lungs and pancreas.

People oftentimes ask me whether I have the capability to shoot black and white with my digital camera. All of my files are shot in color, but with the click of a button in our photo-editing program, Photoshop, I can change any photo to grayscale. I chose to change these photos to black and white because sometimes, I think black and white gives photos a certain consistency that color cannot provide. Bright and distracting colors can take away from the moment we're trying to convey within the photo.

Rain mixed with snow mixed with fog is not what we consider "ideal shooting conditions." Lenses fog up and our cameras get wet. That said, it's a good thing most photographers could shoot today's assignment with their eyes closed: Children sledding. I spent some time today near the golf course at Whitnall Park, Hales Corners. I love seeing how the atmosphere of the park changes within just a few short months. I shot the second photo below from nearly the exact same location no more than a month and a half ago.

As the weather changes, a problem photographers sometime encounter is foggy lenses. The key to avoiding fogged lenses is to make sure the camera is kept at about the same temperature as the outside air. Obviously, this isn't always possible. Taking a warm camera into a cold environment can cause fogging inside the lens. The opposite problem was often true when I was shooting down in Florida — If I had to take a cold (air-conditioned) camera into a warm, humid environment, my camera sometimes needed a few minutes to adjust to the outside air temperature and humidity levels before I was able to start shooting. Fog on the camera lens prevents you first from seeing your subject, and second, from focusing correctly. A small price to pay, though, for the chance to witness all four seasons.

It never ceases to amaze me how graciously people will let photojournalists into their lives. We see people at their worst and we see them at their best. We see people’s perfections as well as their imperfections. We, as photojournalists, are awarded the opportunity to live an accelerated lifestyle – we witness things that otherwise, we’d never take the time or effort to understand.

Last night, I spent an hour with a local teenage wheelchair basketball team. The kids — including Becca Murray, Katy Bralick, Matt Bralick, Rachel Nepper and Hayden Jones — are headed to a national competition at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in January. After high school graduation, a few of the kids may go on to play wheelchair basketball at the college level.

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Yup, it's true ... I have the week off, and I couldn't be happier. As much as I sweet-talk my Hyundai, I cannot get her to play nice in the snow. It's a good thing I'm avoiding the miles this week. As I dug my car out from underneath the wintry mess this morning, my mom said to me, "Ahhh, it's nice out!" I suppose she's right ... there's no icicles forming on my eyelashes ... yet.

Red walls: We find them. We love them. We stare at them. And then we figure out a way to photograph them.

I wrapped up my Christmas Carol project downtown with a few backstage photos and some before-the-show action during a matinee performance, put on for students who were bussed in from all over the state. Within a half-hour before the curtain was raised, hundreds of students jumped off their school buses and mechanically rushed up the stairs to fill nearly every seat of Pabst Theater.

The first photo was shot at 1/25th of a second and the second photo was shot at 1/20th of a second. For those who are wondering, shutter speeds control how long the lens lets the light in. For example, when the shutter speed is set to 125 (or 1/125th), light comes in for 1/125th of a second. The darker the room, the lower the shutter speed should be.

There's not much light at the Pabst, but the light that is there is absolutely gorgeous. Since I shot at fairly slow shutter speeds, both photos were taken with my camera resting on some type of pillar, to avoid camera shake. I rarely bring a tripod with me because it's bulky. When I have too much equipment, I tend to cause more damage than good. I also hate to stick out as a photographer, so I like to work light.