Todd's World Weekly - Vol. 1

Happy New Year 2026

We started the year a little bit laid back. We spent New Year’s Eve watching the final episode of Stranger Things, then Kelly and Jaiden baked the cookies that didn’t get done on Christmas, because she’d made too much candy. We all got a chance to decorate one or two. These were mine:

I might have still had Stranger Things on my mind while applying the frosting.

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I also spent more time than I probably should have on Substack stuff. This the first email of my new strategy: post (to the web) as often as the urge strikes me, but only send one email a week to my subscribers.

I don’t like getting a lot of emails, so I assume most others feel the same.

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Oh yeah, I also decided I’m going to do Black & White for my picture a day project this year: https://www.tmpic.com/t/2026-black-and-white-photo-project

In addition to probably leading to more “people” pictures this year, it also inspired me to repurpose my OnePlus 12 phone that had just been sitting on my nightstand for months, as an extra dedicated B&W digital camera.

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Kelly and I also started the year with a hike to the easiest to reach peak in the Huachuca Mountains:

While we were there, we both got some pretty cool sunrise pictures.

Finally, I wrote about the Poker Pictures I’ve taken over the years, and we sang some karaoke.

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Around Substack (things my friends are writing):

• Jake has been adding chapters his H.I.T. Man story of becoming an elementary school teacher after retiring from a successful career as a journalist and cartoonist. He’s hilarious, and a great story teller btw.

• Chris wrote a post about how wedding photographers deal with intoxicated guests.

• Stephen (aka The Bard of Tysoe) wrote his first long-form introductory post and shared some pictures from the Nikon camera bequeathed to him by a recently departed friend.

• Don wrote/shared a new poem that will surely tug at the heartstrings of any girl dads out there.

So how was your first week of 2026?

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Til next time,

Todd

p.s. if you’re not a subscriber yet, I’d love to have your join our little group. If you do already subscribe, thank you! Please consider sharing this post with others:

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