lreed76's photostream  

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Hi, I started teaching ESOL (English as a Second Language) six years ago, after a long career working on Capitol Hill and in defense consulting. I now teach US History as well.

I've been an avid amateur photographer all my life and was a part-time freelancer (mostly sports) for about 10 years.

I've also been active in youth soccer for a long time. I've coached since 1986 and was president of my soccer club for five years. Recently, I've been able to combine my job and my hobby -- coaching a team of my ESOL students in a local youth soccer league. Unsurprisingly, they were pretty good.

I've traveled since I was young. My parents used to take a long vacation every summer in our trailer, and by the time I was 14, I had been in all 48 (lower) states, every province of Canada except Newfoundland, and much of Mexico. (I recently completed the list of Canadian provinces, more or less: there was a medical emergency on our return flight from Munich and the plane had to divert to Gander. We didn't leave the plane or (obviously) clear Customs, but we were sitting there staring at Newfoundland, so I guess it counts.)

A few years ago, my dad gave me his extensive slide collection from the 50s and 60s (as well as a handful of slides HIS mom and dad took in the 40s and 50s), and a lot of them are in my photostream here at Flickr. My dad was (is) an outstanding photographer and, fortunately, he used Kodachrome. Although most of the slides are more than 50 years old (and a few are 60+), they're in great shape. Almost all of the photos in my pages earlier than the mid-70s were taken by my dad -- though my mom, who actually worked as a professional photo finisher, was no slouch either.

Years ago, I also came into possession of hundreds of old family photos (some going back to the 1860s) and a dozen or more photo albums of my mom's family from the period from 1915 to the 1930s that my grandmother or my aunt Ilah owned. I made copy negatives of the very old ones, but I'd never paid attention to the "more recent" photos from the 20s and 30s.

I've been going through those albums recently and I've discovered that my Grandma Botroff was a pretty good snapshot photographer and also learned to my surprise that my mom's family traveled extensively -- back in the days when there were virtually no "good roads."

This has caused me to rethink the background of the family's summer vacation wanderlust and the photo bug that struck my dad and later me. I'm now seeing that both of these started with my mom's family nearly 100 years ago (it sounds so strange to say that about a period in my mom's lifetime, but there it is).

Most recently, I've put together a few books based on my Flickr photo collection, the first a summary of our 2008 vacation in England and Italy, the second a tour of US national parks, the third a survey of historical places in the US, and finally a book on our 2011 vacation in France, Luxembourg, and Belgium.

I'm married (to Lois); we have three adult kids and two daughters-in-law: Sam, Steve, and Casey, plus Melissa (married to Sam) and Casey (married to Steve -- yes, that makes two "Casey Reeds" in the family). Sam and Melissa are Sammel on Flickr.

Places Where U... Places and Events i... By Leon Reed; Photos... Book Preview

Travels in Fra... By Leon Reed and Loi... Book Preview


"The Best... A Personal Journey ... By Leon Reed and Loi... Book Preview

Summer Vacatio... By Leon Reed and Loi... Book Preview




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