Welcome John Paul

    Our fifth child is here!  John Paul Theodore entered the world at 9:09 PM weighing in at 8.5 pounds and 21 inches in Atlanta, Georgia.  Mom and baby are doing fine.  Brothers and sisters are excited and unable to get to sleep.  He is, for a few weeks, the newest addition to the Regina Caeli nursery!

    A special thank you to all those who have prayed with us on the journey thus far...we could never make it this far without your support and intercession with the Lord.

    More later...but for now we are all smoked!  We have a date in the nursery floor in about an hour...so I need to pack up the gear and get ready for our first move.

-ehw

P.S.  We will never forget our babies already in heaven from miscarriages.  We love all of you: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta.  Thanks for guarding your brother these last few months.

Prettiest Time of the Year

    The last few weeks are the prettiest of the year in Atlanta.  Flowers and blossoms exploding with wonderful color all over town.  Our metro area is the most forested in the United States, and we have lots of blooming trees and bushes! It is also the only time my eyes want to be closed shut to fight off the pollen!  I am doing a little better this year thanks to my doc...but it is really tough!

-ehw

Minor miracle of Divine Mercy

Stained glass window above the altar of St Pope St John XIII in Miramar, Florida

    As I continue to grow in my faith I strive for constant learning of new devotions and receiving apologetics.  Just before Easter, Catholic Digest arrived at the House. I read it on Palm Sunday.  During my readings I saw a few in depth articles about the Divine Mercy Chaplet and Novena.  I found myself impressed, and desired to say the novena starting on Holy Thursday.  I was doing other missions over the Tridium and started late...so instead of culminating my novena sunday I finished my novena yesterday.

    Yesterday I left on a trip.  I was not enthused about this trip, too much to do both at home and the office.  As is my custom, I took my camera to see what I could capture for his glory.  As my stomach growled, and light started to wane I quickly searched the map for the keyword Catholic.  Right down the street was St. John XIII Catholic Church.  I set off to visit.  I asked the office if I could take some pictures of the church, and they said yes but to please not bother people in the Adoration Chapel...of course I agreed.  I am sure the lady thought I was crazy, but most people do!

     The photo above was what I first saw when I entered the church.  It is a stained glass version of the Divine Mercy image commissioned by St. Faustina.  I went into the Adoration Chapel to complete my novena for the day.  Around the chapel I found great comfort.  I saw images and traditions from Mexico, Poland, Italy, and Western Europe.  I was at home away from home in the arms of my Catholic faith.

     I know many may not think much of my little reported miracle.  I recently read a set of comments by people about how they could never give themselves over to belief in God.  They said the science just was not there.   I will pray for them to receive the grace of Divine Mercy, so they too can see the little gifts of God's love all around them .  The hug of a child, the kindness of a passer by, the sacrifice needed to preserve true freedom in this world all are things I want and will capture here on this blog. I hope through these little miracles I see and record using the science of light others may come to accept the Grace of God and live in his glory.

-ehw

Giving Thanks to God

   Our first President, and the Congress of the United States, dedicated this day to praying and giving thanks to God.  In the final paragraph we see him calling all public and private people to do our duties faithfully.  He also asks us to "promote the knowledge and and practice of true religion and virtue."  As you can see there is no separation of church and state.  To George Washington our bounty comes from God, and our personal duty is to live in accordance with Nature's Law.  To Christians this means we must live inside God's design for the world in all that we do.  

    In fact, to achieve personal and national civility we must receive adhere to this guidance.  The result of  dismissing this call to Nature's Law is chaos.  

    We need to look no further than the debates on Furgeson to recognize this.  Rioters in the streets don't care that the man killed willfully beat a man to rob his store moments before his encoutner with Police.  They do not want to recognize that the man was high on illegal drugs, something that would impair his judgement even more.  Obtaining supplies for this habit was the reason he robbed the store, and was wanted by police.  The natural effect of giving into vices such as these is a bad conflict with those entrusted by the citizens to protect them from such abusive behavior.  

    The solution to this type of problem is simple.  It is to live inside natural law.  To Christians this means simply to live out the Golden Rule...and your relations with others in your community will start off on good footing.   To solve many other problems we face, there is a good book that is our family instruction manual I can recommend:  The Bible.  Start with Poverbs and Wisdom...then move up to read of the word made man in the Gospel and natural law will unfold before your eyes.

    So make today something more than turkey and football.  Make today a moment that changes your life, and that of your family.  Give thanks to God Almighty, and point your family to the eternal wisdom of his word.  The greatest thanks you can offer God, is to deliver your house to stand with him.

-ehw

The '68 Shelby Cobra

   The ability to shoot fantastic people, things and events is what keeps me coming back to this hobby.   I seek out lots of challenges, and they help me grow both as a professional and personal.

   This '68 Shelby GT500KR was a hoot to be around.  It is one of four that year to have both an automatic transmission and an air conditioner.  It sounds real pretty when it is running as well.

   During this shoot I learned firsthand the value of speed, efficiency, and technical skills required to provide top tier products.  I realized about 25 things in my last accounting of to improves from this shoot.  The biggest one I can mention now is the value of shooting in a good lighting window or creating your own good lighting.

  As I created these images I could understand the technical masterpieces so many artists create with good strobes, reflectors and scrims.  On the day of this shot I did not have a large enough scrim...say about 10x20 feet... so we moved the vehicles all around to make this work out in good lighting.  Try as I might the 46 inch circular just did not cut it no matter what we did.

   Despite all that I still produced a some really nice images I am happy to share!

-ehw

PS. As will all my images they are available for sale, and 10% of the sale price will go to charity.

Fingers in the sand

Today someone drew in the sand a little story.  The lines left behind still drew me into an enchanting world of mystery. I may understand parts of the story, but I will never grasp the whole story!  I am sure of this since it was not my hand drawing out the tale.  It immediately made me think of God's handiwork I see around me, and the mysteries of God I will never comprehend.

Did you have an adventure from fingers in the sand today yourself?  

-ehw

The Coming Moment

     This cruxifiction moment the world changed, but the miricle did not end with that moment.  It benefitted those who passed before it, and those who passed after.  Each of us get shot at eternal life with God because of it.  

     As we said the Rosary last night, we reflected on the Sorrowful Mysteries.  It brought me back to recently read a chapter from St Thomas Aquinas, reminding us that God exists outside time.   God can use this past moment to inspire and save us now in this moment.  To God now is no different than if we stood at the foot of the cross then.

    In the midst of our prayers, I tried to place myself at the foot of the cross.  I kept asking myself if I would be brave enough to live my faith out in the face of the threats around me.  Would I have faith looking at pagan Roman soldiers, to whom I have no value except as a slave?  Would I be cowered in fear by the vengeful crowd who reject the law of God?  Would I stay silent knowing the enemy has spies ready to bear witness to their lords about my adoration for the man on the cross?

    I found myself wanting.  Still afraid, but slowly growing in the strength of faith for the tests that lay ahead of me.  I can see in this land this land today, those same threats faced by the fathers of the faith growing in strength.   Surely you can see the new tests arising for Christians everywhere as well.

    What can you say for yourself?  Are you ready for your coming moment?

Set for Dinner

I was out on an overnight for work last night...and got the photo bug in my ear. The restaurant crew thought I was crazy, but I wanted to get the table setting. The light was just too interesting coming through the window and on to the table settings. Unfortunately I could not get the glass exactly where I wanted it in the light no matter which table I went to. So this became my next vision...a little contrast study between the light and the dark.

As with most of my travel photos I did the edits on my iPad using Snapseed and for the first time did one retouch with iPhoto for a secular highlight in the wrong spot.

-ehw X-E1 with the 35mm! Great glass when I have the time to use