{"id":2571,"date":"2025-07-10T19:21:41","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T23:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chestnutlakecamp.com\/blog\/?p=2571"},"modified":"2025-07-10T19:21:41","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T23:21:41","slug":"campfire-tales-what-you-see-and-what-you-dont","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chestnutlakecamp.com\/blog\/campfire-tales-what-you-see-and-what-you-dont","title":{"rendered":"Campfire Tales | What You See and What You Don’t (7\/11\/25)"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Aaron Selkow, Owner\/Director<\/pre>\n
Here at Chestnut Lake, we\u2019re deep into the second week of First Session. The sun is shining most of the time, the lake is full of splashes and laughter, and the kids are busy being exactly what they should be: campers. It\u2019s that sweet spot in the summer where routines are taking hold, friendships are locking in a bit more, and moments of joy happen before anyone even realizes how fun they are.<\/p>\n
Each morning around 5:00 AM, before camp even stirs awake, I get an automatic news briefing with any stories about summer camps across the country. Most days, it\u2019s minor stuff \u2014 a fun event, a trend piece, or maybe a local camp in the news. But in the last week, like many of you, I was stopped in my tracks by the devastating stories out of Texas. The flash flooding, the loss of life, the heartbreak that swept through Camp Mystic and others \u2014 there are no words for the depth of sadness felt across the camping world. One of the lives lost was a dear colleague, Ann Ragsdale (click here<\/a> if you would like to support Texas Hill Country camps and families). She was trying to evacuate staff when the unimaginable happened. These are the people who give their summers, their hearts, and their lives to create safe, joyful, transformational places for children. To see that story end in tragedy is something we\u2019ll be holding for a long time. And it certainly reminds us here that \u2014 even with no risk of flooding like was seen near the Guadalupe River \u2014 we have to stay vigilant in our efforts to protect and guide your children.<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a>And yet, here at Chestnut, the camp day continues. Kids are running, climbing, practicing for Lip Sync, flying across the lake on skis, and building friendships that will last well beyond the end of the session. There\u2019s joy in every corner. And for many of you at home, that joy is mostly coming through in the form of a photo or video. You refresh the Campanion app, you watch another social media post play on your phone, you squint at a thumbnail, maybe zoom in on a blurry face in the back of a group shot, and wonder: Is that my kid? Are they smiling? Is that the same T-shirt again? Are they…okay?<\/p>\n
This is a good moment to revisit a blog I wrote a couple of years ago after reading a Wall Street Journal article called \u201cObsessed Parents Overanalyze Photos of Their Kids at Camp\u201d<\/em> (the title tells you pretty much everything). The article was funny and cringeworthy and, if I\u2019m being honest, uncomfortably relatable. It described parents who wake up at 3:00 AM to scroll through photos, desperately hoping to decode how their child is doing based on a single captured moment. I\u2019ve done it. When our own daughter was at camp (not the camp I was running) I was the classic \u201czoom and panic\u201d or “refresh, refresh, refresh” parent. She didn\u2019t look thrilled in one photo, and I spiraled for the rest of the day.<\/p>\n
At Chestnut Lake, our Communications Team works around the clock\u2014often literally\u2014to bring camp to life for families at home. As of right now, we\u2019ve uploaded over 10,000 photos (on pace for more than 50,000\u2014twice as many as last year). That\u2019s not a typo. Ten thousand photos in 12 days. And that doesn\u2019t include video editing, social media, and everything else they do. It\u2019s an incredible amount of work for a team that also lives in bunks, leads activities, and still somehow manages to be in the right place at the right time at times to capture your camper\u2019s moments.<\/p>\n
But here\u2019s the truth: no matter how many photos we post, they\u2019ll never tell the full story. Here are things to know about the photos:<\/p>\n