The Holi Festival is today. I can totally get down with celebrating color, love, and the end of winter.

A couple of years ago, when my little palm-sized digital camera started glitching, I finally got a “real” camera, a refurbished Nikon D3200. I am still learning how to use it. I’ve only scratched the surface. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that having a nice camera DOESN’T guarantee good photos.

There are a few things I have wanted to try with it – a photo bucket list. Some, like shooting waterfalls with a long exposure and my ND filter, I haven’t done yet. Night shots with a better zoom lens and long exposure, also haven’t tried. There is the rest of my life for that.

Holi powder photo shoot? That, I have done, and I totally recommend it!

We did ours last summer in the late afternoon. I found my powder accidentally at BJ’s. It’s called Color Blast by American Crafts, based in Utah. It cost about $20, and I think there were 20-25 70gm packets of powder in it.

Since the Holi Festival is in the spring, I’ll be looking for the powder in the store in the next month or two. If I can’t find it at BJ’s, I will definitely hunt for some online. (Update: I emailed BJ’s to ask if they would be carrying the powder we used again this year, and they said no. But I found it on Amazon. It is about $36 at the time of publishing – more expensive than I originally paid by a long shot, but in my mind, totally worth it. I already stockpiled some for next time.)

We went to a local park with a big, open field. I divided up our packets – 2-3 per kid – and let them have at it. The big kids used their packets a little faster, so the littles ended up getting less, but they also benefited from the bigs throwing the powder everywhere.

Towards the end, I joined them for a while. When we were finished, I took some shots of them while they played.

I don’t consider myself a Fun Person, but the time I spent hurling color around with my kids was good for the soul. I would have enjoyed doing this with a group of friends, too.

It was outdoors, colorful, textural, and required zero extra clean up. We threw our clothes in the wash back at home, and it was like it had never happened. As an amateur photographer, I was really pleased with how the photos turned out.

I’d definitely like to do this again. When I was trying to think of how to describe it, the book Green Eggs and Ham came to mind.

Say! I like green eggs and ham! I do! I like them, Sam-I-am! And I would eat them in a boat. And I would eat them with a goat…and I will eat them in the rain. And in the dark. And on a train. And in a car. And in a tree. They are so good, so good, you see!

So I will eat them in a box. And I will eat them with a fox. And I will eat them in a house. And I will eat them with a mouse. And I will eat them here and there. Say! I will eat them ANYWHERE!

I do so like green eggs and ham! Thank you! Thank you, Sam-I-am!”

That sums up how I felt about this photo shoot.

As an aside, it was Groundhog Day when I wrote this, and if I had to relive one day over and over, this one would be on my short list.