A Happy Girl

    Going to the library in this household brings sounds of joy.  Here is Julia caught reading a book, just to check it out.  It was a Daddy and Julia outing.  Well she had to be picky, she did check out the absolute limit of books.  To waste a selection on a poor book would not be good.  She even sacrificed one of her precious books for each brother.  Believe it or both they both hugged her with a super hug when they saw her selections.

  Well it was a wonderful smile, and moment that just needed a capture for my book of life.

-ehw

P.S.  This is an example of a straight from camera B&W from the little Fujifilm.    The film emulsion settings are amazing.  When I get it right, I have little to do but crop and share.

A Shelby Day

I'm very excited.  My son and I had a great time at Caffeine and Octane on Sunday morning.  I cannot reveal the details yet, but lets just say this photo is practice for an upcoming project.

Although we had many challenges as a family this weekend, it turned out alright.  Now I'm getting ready for another good work week with great people solving problems.  I can only thank God for the opportunity to care for my family and others whenever possible.  Jesus is the greatest example of selflessness in history...and I hope I am living the calling he set before me.

-ehw

P.S. Fujifilm X-E1 post in Nik Color Effex4..and a touch of sharpening in Aperture with a brush.  As always if you want to know what I did, contact me and I'll share.  

Words and deeds

    This week's readings and homily at church brought to light a concept of our faith as Christians.  It was that God's ways rule, not ours.  Simple concept, making perfect sense, if you accept that God is perfection in every way.

     In our lives, however, the natural cycle of things is we are born narcissistic looking out for ourselves.  As such it would be only natural for us to think that whatever we need, want or think gets our desires covered is the correct course of action.  Good parenting knocks that silliness out of us young.  We can start seeing how selfishness actually causes separation from our brothers and sisters.  Only by working with others, and caring for them as much as ourselves do we build the friendships needed to survive in this world.  This basic understanding of friendship is the antidote to narcissism.  Friendships allow us to  succeed as a husband, father, coach, soldier, businessman, farmer, or priest.

    The Gospel (Matthew 21:28-32) today told us the story of the two brothers.  One brother said no to his father's commands, but went out to follow them anyway.  The other brother said yes to his father's commands, but did not heed the instruction.  One was in the right, and one was in the wrong at the end of the day.  For the man who repented and did the right thing, salvation awaited him.  For the man who talked the talk, but walked away life would end.

    Obviously we would rather say and do the right thing all the time!  This would surely be the easiest way to unity with Christ in word and deed!  We are however fallen creatures, made with weakness and stubborness.  As such we are very capable of failing in word, deed or both! 

    Thankfully our perfect God knew this, and provided us many paths towards redemption from our birth until the very end of our earthly lives.  It is truly the only way we could be saved given our original state of mind.  I guess it is just one more way to understand why God's ways rule, not ours.

-ehw

A night out in Roswell

The last week was a crushing one around the house.  Two boys in baseball (at different fields for four nights in the week), dance four nights a week for the eldest daughter, homeschool bowling league, Blue Knights for the boys, American Heritage Girls for the eldest, Lego Robotics Club for the older son....can you identify a few of these event occur simultaneously?  Oh and the two year old always has something going on!  So please forgive the slow photo blog postings.  It just will not happen when the first time I sit down at night is 9:30PM...and 5:35AM looks too close to the dial.

Friday was a treat thought.  I took the Mrs. out to dinner using a little saved up cash from the weekly allowance.  We talked about the children of course, while they made pizza at home.  Oh the joys of having a responsible teenager and eleven year old working together!  

Saturday came, and with it about five and half hours on ball fields for me.  A drizzle of rain in the morning game, and a glorious afternoon of high seventies.  Both boys had to get hit by pitches though.  For Kalen it was the fourth time this year...the boy is a ball magnet!  Since the youngest had a special trip with Dad to the park a few weeks back, the oldest daughter needed a treat.  So I took her downtown last night to Roswell, and found some relatively inexpensive food.  It is wonderful to talk with her about the book she is writing (and I'm the editor of), school, life and the scene around us.  If I don't take those minutes she'll be out the door and I won't even know who she is!

The nice part of being with her though, is that she is a budding artist.  So I was able to pull out the little camera, set it on multiple film types and show her the color of Roswell at night Fujifilm style!

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The Old porch at night...

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A reception house set up for a wedding 

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Julia's catch

If you followed me this far...enjoy this last shot.  Julia saw the moon rising over the church and asked me to see if I could capture it in the photo. 

So after a day praising God we're back into the thick of it!  Two more weeks of baseball..then it is serious Lego Robotics....then the holidays...thank God I can enjoy this life with such a wonderful family!

-ehw

Memories of Childhood

Walking through Old Car City an International Harvester pickup sat thinking of glorious days long past...and I thought of shifting my first gears at the age of 7 or so...

See we once had a 1970 Scout, made by IH.  It was the fancy model with dual gas tanks and a four speed manual transmssion.  It ran on anything according to my Dad.  It was pretty smooth going to school down Poverty Lane (yes there is such a road in West Lebanon, N.H.)  It was so smooth in fact that my Dad could drink his coffee in an open cup while changing gears!

I know you are now asking how do you drink coffee nicely when you are driving a stick shift?  Well that is of course easy when you deploy your optional automatic child transmission to shift on command.  I think my Dad was WAY ahead of his time.  I mean this transmission was voice activated!  "Second! Third! Fourth!...slowing down now Four, Three, Two.......stop...First!"  Google car eat your heart out!

I was the proudest second grader on the planet when I got to school.  Not only was my Dad the ONLY Army officer in the state, the only one to understand how to build a Army standard bunker...but I was the ONLY child shifting gears of an automobile!

-ehw

P.S. As for the image this is my first image in the Fall Collection.  After reading the HDR Book by RC (www.aboutRC.com) I went back to work on several older photos.  Using new ideas, tools and skills many images found themselves re-invented...and much improved.  That is the beauty of digital and art...it can grow with you if you challenge yourself from time to time to not live on your laurels.  This will be available for purchase on 12x12 metallic floating mount for $115 by the end of the week.  Larger sizes available on request...I promise you will not be disappointed..Why later?  I am awaiting the proof copy right now to make sure it is just the way I want it!

A Rocky Stairway of Life

    Life poses challenge after challenge.  It is sort of like this rocky stairway.  You get there, but steps can be unevenly staggered, too smooth, worn, overgrown...and downright dangerous.

    God never promised us an easy life...he just gave us life.  As our license plate says, "Your Life does have an instruction manual"...The Bible.  

  I am sure you too can find many a good example of people who live it out with love, compassion and toughness allowing them to climb the rocky stairs of life honorably before God and man.  Those good people are the ones to emulate, be mentored by and befriend.  The company you keep pulls you up or drags you down.

-ehw

P.S. Fujifilm X-E1, Velvia simulation, 23mm lens..Savannah waterfront district

Color Finds a Way

One of the great arguments about photography is whether it is an art or merely the capture of something that already exists...

I bet you can guess come down on the side of art!  Well I'll also add in there that there is a bit of science and art in photography.

See the art is the composition, light and shadow. The science is the math of aperture, shutter, ISO.

In this photo I added selective color just for fun.  Well also because flowers deserve some color to show off their glory.

I think all of life is a mix of science and art.  We have science that defines physical interactions, and art that defines how we use science to effect perception.  The moral compass that keeps the art and life on track?  The Bible.

-ehw

Making Music with a Lens and a rant

     While I am out and about I sometimes see an image immediately drawing me home. This was one of those moments.  Walking down the sidewalk I saw an unmistakable symbol of music, and my thoughts turned homeward bound.  Over the last two years the ability to bring music back into the house, and into the lives of the children, through the Joyful Noise Homeschooling music program enlivened the family.  Initial cat gut screatches became music I can recognize.  Scales firmed up with practice.  Now both older children can teach me theory I never knew.  The little guy sung the Gloria at church with his two best buds with gusto this Sunday..  All very cool!

     So this image made music in my lens... 

     I also wanted to point out something about street photography as I see it.  While I was out walking a college age couple were shooting the streets.  Sitting on the side walk was a mentally ill man.  He was dishevelled, talking to himself incoherently, but otherwise not bothering anyone.  The lady in the couple thought he made a good subject.  So she switched to live view and took some hip shots of the poor soul.  

     Being in a public area means a photographer needs no consent to photography you.  However a photographer should exercise some level of respect for the man.  If the photo will be provided to people looking for him great..otherwise I worry that this is exploitation of personnel morbid curiosity.   In many people's ciricles today this is just a chance to get a little self promotion on Twitter and Instangram.  It is an opportunity to exploit for themselves, not elevate humanity.  There are plenty of people on the street (such as street performers) who are interesting subjects, and more than willing to pose for a small tip.   

    If I photograph a person I have either their consent or they are doing something themselves to gain attention of passerbys.  For instance in Miami I photographed a skateboarder doing flashy tricks in a highly visible area on purpose.  A chef I photographed nodded yes when I asked to photograph him.  

    I know someone out there will say they are doing a social justice peace.  I just don't buy it.  If you are doing social justice work you'd also be taking him to dinner. 

     With all that said...have a great night and PRAISE God!

-ehw

PS For you techies this is the Fujifilm X-E1 with 23mm at 1/210, F8 ISO 800.   I used the film simulation of Velvia and applied a slight crop, small sharpening effect and vingette blur in Nik Snapseed.  My 23mm F1.4 is my current favorite Fuji lens...and it really wants a 56mm in the stable next to it!

The benefits of Social Media in reverse

     Oh tonight I had to laugh at irony.  See in our house we have two thoughts on social media.  I use it to connect with people, but I do try to be pretty careful with where and what I publish.  I know that it is probably not going to go away in my lifetime.  So I just try my best to deal with it.  My wife hates social media.  It can all burn in hell for all she cares.  She likes her cave, and the telephone.  Give her a call or set up a visit is her motto.

    Well tonight a family friend reconnect via some social media.  We've been out of touch, and our two families had a pretty busy couple of years.  So by luck she finds me on one of those blasted social media sites, requests to be linked up, and we share numbers.  Since this is my wife's good friend I send the number and tell her just minutes later.

    Now I sit here 70 minutes later and the two friends are still going strong on the phone.  I am sure I will go to bed and be followed when I am fast asleep.  To be honest I am happy she is on the phone.  Just a few nights ago I was enjoying a conversation that took me back to my highland home in N.Y. twenty two years ago.  So it is a good event we should be joyous for.   I just hope she remembers it resulted from that blasted social media.

    So the motto for the night is social media is ok when used in moderation.  The power of a friends voice is a timeless remedy for many of the trials we face in this journey.  So do yourself a favor, put your life in reverse and connect with an old friend.  Share your journeys, pray for them, and I am sure you will sleep with a smile on your face tonight.

-ehw

P.S. Pentax K-5 from 18 months ago.  I reprocessed this one in Capture One Pro tonight.  I really like what that program can go out of the box.

Change of Perspective

Just a quick post as we all head past the top of the week...

Just a quick play with light and depth of field here in our Blessed Sacrament chapel a few weeks ago.

It is very peaceful in the chapel, and the soft lift, and lovely rose window let one sink into the presence of our Lord.  

Like most people I found myself drawn to the largest light source...and after a few minutes I realized the Lord was there in the quiet shadows waiting for us all.

-ehw

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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?

A Good Day

     This weekend my family joined a co-op hybrid school (part school, part homeschool) at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new campus.  The event was simple and awesome.  Why?  Because they opened in thanksgiving, reminded everyone that the core mission of the school is to build the Kingdom of God, and we prayed over the people and facilities for God's grace to reign down on them.  

     I worked as the "official" photographer.  I hope I did well enough that they ask me back! I told my wife that I felt great that I could be a part of the communinty by working.  She just smiled at me and whispered, "I know" as she smiled rubbed by head.  That wife of mine is a keeper.  (She's at teacher orientation today!)

     One of my favorite moments was watching the lonely playground quickly fill with over a dozen children.  Here I caught just a second of the fun, but you can clearly see my son loving the fellowship of new and old friends.  It is a moment of joy I want to hold on to for a long time in my heart.

 -ehw

P.S.  For more information on this community of faith please go to the Regina Caeli Academy homepage  http://rcahybrid.org

Looking for guidance?

    Well this weekend I had time to read two books!  Both books were gifts and I enjoyed them immensely!  I could recommend both to you without reservations.  Just a warning to you though, you might come away knowing you need to do some deep thinking.

    The first was a "gift" from my son on Father's Day.  He "re-gifted" me a school book.  He put a lot of thought into it, and he made a good choice.  I read his fourth grade book called Saint Dominic by Mary Fabyan Windeatt.  Wow,  he was a giant of a man in the life of the church, and is credited with providing us the rosary after receiving a vision from Mary.  I knew his story in general, but not enough to be inspired by St Dominic.  Well I am now inspired.  It inspired me so much that my wife and I said the rosary tonight..and I think this will be a more common occurrence.  Actually we'll also be learning the Latin version as well to help the children with schoolwork.  (This will be hard on me...as all my foreign language teachers will tell  you I was very hard on them!)

    The other book was a fabulous book called The Pope and the CEO by Andreas Widmer.  In it  Widmer describes his encounters with Saint John Paul the Great while he served two years with the Swiss Guard in the 1980's.  When I looked at the title I initially thought, "Ah huh?"  When I started reading the book I realized it was exactly what I needed at this point in my life, and I did not put it down.  What makes the book special is the format.  He tells a story to explain his leadership lesson, then he sets a list of activities for you to do using that lesson, and finally asks you to reflect on your life experiences in the view point of the lesson.  As I began the exercises, I must say I find myself changing a little here and there because I am now looking through leadership more in line with God's intent not mine.  I'd encourage anyone to read this book, and do the most important action it recommends....PRAY and then PRAY SOME MORE!

    So there you have it.  Two books with potentially life altering ideas.  Well I am off to pray a bit more.  With this much reading in one weekend, I definitely need to think it through some more.

-ehw

Back to School Sale!

Tomorrow will start my last visit to the Alpharetta Art in the Park show for the summer.  I'll be in the park Saturday 9AM-4PM and Sunday 11AM-4PM with samples of my work, and I hope you will stop by and visit.

For my loyal readers and visitors I am offering the promo code SUMMER and get 20% off this weekend.  The link to the market is https://squareup.com/market/ehw-photography  All items ordered will be fulfilled and mailed directly to your home.

I will also extend this offer to any item you see and like in my online portfolios (both my website and Smugmug!   I can make anything on my website a print suitable for your home.  You can access my other photos through my website www.capturinghisglory.com.  In addition to several galleries, you can also view my blog and select from something here!

And finally, some of you requested photos of family cars or photography lessons.  I will have some openings next week to do those as well!  I'd love to assist you in a special project or gift for a loved one.

Thank you for your interest in my photography, and I hope to see you tomorrow!

-ehw

Job Interview for Kevin

Kevin tell your father there may be a job opportunity for you.

-Bishop Talley, Archdiocese of Atlanta

-ehw

P.S. Kevin was the perfect assistant photographing the new Pastor's installation mass.  He was the light of the party, and made everyone feel right at home with him and his little camera. 

A little prayer for the day

      Ok time to sound crazy...but I'm still very sane.

     During my drive into the office today I heard a few messages delivered from the Lord in a timely manner by the Divine Office of Readings.  (You can read them online at www.divineoffice.org) 

The reading was from Second Book of Chronicles 20:1-9, 13-24 (Click here to read the Bible passage) about God offering help to Jehoshaphat save Judah from swarming enemies.  And God does just that when he follows directions properly.

The final prayer would at first seem to be contrary to the reading at first and it goes as follows:

O God, who show the light of your truth to those who go astray, so that they may return to the right path, give all who for the faith they profess are accounted Christians the grace to reject whatever is contrary to the name of Christ and to strive after all that does it honor.

Through our Lord, Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever

-Amen

     On reflection it does not contradict anything.  For all that we witness in the world today, we still must remain well armed like Jehoshaphat.  He was a sinning man like all the rest of us, and did not always listen and follow the Lord.  He did walk mostly the right way though!  

     That is why we must always pray for the light of truth to shine on us and the rest of mankind when we go astray.  It can bring us home to unity with Christ if we follow it.  Once home with Christ, we must then willingly welcome still more sinners home.  Our continuing mission will be to pray for and reach out to all to people to come home with Christ.  For unlike government services...God's party never runs out of the goods and we can all be happy!

Called to the light

Today's Gospel describes the challenges we face both externally and internally after we accept the call to follow Christ.  Will be be shallow soil?  Will we wilt under the thorns?  Will we make ourselves good ground for the word of God.  So as we face East and fix our gaze on the light of Christ what ground are we standing in?  What do we need to do to grow well?

A good thought for tonight. 

-ehw

Slowing Down

     I will take a little time to enjoy the family today....so I'll leave a minimum wake on the web!  Enjoy your loved ones and worship The Lord today!

Midday Prayers →

Gesu Catholic Church

     Whenever I travel have a little game..its called make a pilgrimage.  Today as I finished up the daily session, I looked at the weather and it said thunder storms due in town by 3PM.  Since I could fill out my homework anytime, I figured I better make the pilgrimage sooner rather than later.  

     The weather held up all of 15 minutes after leaving the hotel.  I then ducked into a resturant and got lunch.  I waited for a break in the weather to make the final dash up and over four blocks to the city's oldest Catholic Church, Gesu.  As I walked up I could see all the symbols of my faith on the outside.   I entered the door and felt myself overwhelmed by a sudden feeling of being at home while being away from home.  I was happy to have a wonderful environment to focus on Jesus, the blessed sacrament, and have the story of salvation envelope my senses.  This was a wonderful gift people made a hundred years ago for us today.

     As I left out the door for another adventure I said a thank you prayer to those who labored and freely gave to make this sanctuary.  I prayed that others may also come and find the Lord's lessons here in the stained glass, the lives of saints presented, and the sacrament of the Eucharist.  I also...yes...left a little contribution so it will be there for the next soul who seeks refuge for a few minutes from the wild world outside. 

-ehw

P.S. I did a little experiment today and edited as much as I could with my camera for color, contrast, and sharpness.  I did a little cropping in Snapseed.  Interiors worked the 23mm out, and outside I used the 18-55mmm zoom.

The old and new altars in the Sanctuary

An amazing baptismal font

I always try to find and photograph St. Joseph...what a good example of a father he is.

Everything has meaning, everything presented beacons one to join Christ on the Cross.

Love a Rainy Night!

     I love a rainy night...ok twilight!  The rain was very, very light but the open ground was soaked!  So that of course means dark, contrast filled colors if captured right! 

   The mood was pretty somber as well.  I thought the taxis would get busier (and therefore happier), but the rain was so light it actually felt good in the humidity...sort of portable Miami air conditioning in an old school manner!

     Even the park benches were quite lonely.

Maybe some sun tomorrow?  Oh that is another song...."The Sun will come out tomorrow! Tomorrow! You can bet your bottom dollar...."  Ok I'll be quiet before security comes up and makes me an offer I cannot refuse.

-ehw

P.S. For you gear heads all these came from my Fujifilm X-E1.  Today was zoom day. I travels with my standard zoom (XF18-55 F2.8-4).  Nicely made lens, and it did allow me to reach out and grab a few photos without moving my feet.  I will say that the biggest thing it did for me was the mild telephoto effect.  The second and fourth photos show what happened when I racked it all the way out to 55mm...or a short telephoto of about 78mm Full Frame equivalent.  The telephoto allowed me to compress the elements in the frame, and they seem closer than they would with a standard focal length.

     Something else I learned is that I got the shots in low light by increasing my iso to 3200.  However this also made much the photo very bright, approaching daylight scenes.  So I went back into the camera and applied negative compensation to bring the scenes closer to what I saw.  I did not want a night vision goggle effect here. 

    Finally these are almost exclusively out of camera jpegs.  Your camera probably has a very powerful RAW converter.  Use it, save variants and shoot some more.  If the product is good, variants will help you explore the what if's of your camera's potential.