My brother, Jeff Calabrese, head coach of the Hartsville High School Red Fox football team, embraces his wife, Jennifer, moments after his team's state championship win at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina. The win marked an end to the most challenging season of his career. See the photo gallery.

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Inspired by Ali Edwards, for the past several years on January 1, I've chosen a word to guide my intentions throughout the year. Unlike a resolution, it can't be forgotten or broken. Much like a compass, it keeps me focused in the right direction. This year I've settled on "joy" – to create, uncover, embrace, and share it.

Life is complicated on either side of the lens. A chain reaction of decisions and actions made in the present moment, influenced by the reality of your past and the fiction of your future. For the past twelve months, I've been turning everything upside down to make it right-side up. More to share when the dust settles.

In other news, my latest book, Lens on Life: Documenting Your World Through Photography is now shipping from Amazon. I poured my heart into it. And I hope it lights a fire in you.

I've been thinking a lot about the notion of what it means to be together. As individuals, we each have our own unique perspectives, beliefs, priorities, ideas, strengths, weaknesses, and values. When we are together, ideally we bring the essence of our individuality and blend it in equal parts. I grow and benefit from your individuality. You grow and benefit from mine. The sum of this blend has the power to shape each of us if we invite what's different, embrace what's new, and remain open to change.

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Students from Koseli School in Kathmandu, Nepal enjoy being together at recess. You can learn more about the school and support these students here: Koseli School

The path described by a projectile flying or an object moving under the action of given forces.

Pinky making images of her home, Jadibuti slum, Kathmandu, Nepal

Photography is much about exposing your view, but there's so much more going on beneath the surface. There's a complicated concoction of thoughts and feelings that drive the impulse to lift a camera to your eye, to compose the raw material of what's present, and to wait patiently for the proper moment of capture... when time and space sync and align.

Teaching my eight photography students at Koseli School through my non-profit organization, Lens on Life, was such a thrill for me. I loved sharing the Art of iPhoneography and studying their images with each of them. While I've been slow to share this experience and the children's images with the world, there's been a lot of effort beneath the surface... things you can not see. But, it's coming. The children are still shooting. I'm working hard to sort and place the puzzle pieces into their proper spaces. And I'm eager to share more with you when the time is right.

This is what it looks like when a grandmother of students from Koseli School expresses her gratitude to the woman who followed the quiet voice in her heart to create the school, Renu Shah Bagaria. As I process images and thoughts from our Lens on Life experience in Nepal to share with you, this moment reminds me that it's not enough to hear that voice. You have to let it guide you down crooked paths, over rough terrain, up steep inclines, through darkness, and into a light so bright it nearly consumes you.

We didn't expect to find a camel that day. The secret behind the magic of this moment was made possible by two iPhones. Spontaneous image opportunities most often occur when your serious camera is zipped up in the camera bag... at home. And while I can't provide quantitative statistics to support this statement, I do know that the increasing majority of my favorite documentary images have been produced by my iPhone simply because it is always with me.

My latest book, The Art of iPhoneography: A Guide to Mobile Creativity just started shipping from Amazon this week. While I'm holding my breath, check out the book website and by all means, please buy the book. Anxiously awaiting your feedback.

If you would have tugged me to your side and whispered that I might travel to Rwanda, Tanzania, and Nepal and be blessed to document incredible wealth found in the poorest conditions a little more than two years ago, I wouldn't have believed you. I would have been intoxicated by the idea and curious about the flutter in my heart, but no, I wouldn't have believed you.

But it happened. Winning the Name Your Dream Assignment photography competition with Jen in May 2009 and having the opportunity to execute our Picture Hope assignment forever changed me in very profound ways. It stretched, cracked, blessed, opened, flattened, and pushed me to look at my life through a different lens. And it inspired me to create Lens on Life with support from these special people.

Lens on Life is a non-profit organization with a mission to reveal and illuminate a visual voice for the unseen, particularly children living in impoverished conditions around the world. Our first program is scheduled to launch in April with students from Koseli School in Kathmandu, Nepal. Jen and I are excited to return Nepal to teach the art of iPhoneography to these kids. I hope you'll take a few minutes to watch this video to learn about our students, join the Lens on Life Founders Circle to share the experience with us, and put your old iPhone to good use by donating it to our camera bag for the students. Grateful to you and your support.

Cross-posted on Shutter Sisters