Back on line...finally!
Our Uverse cable was physically cut at the junction box down the road! Took four days for AT&T to find it. So the sun is up again over the Wojo Clan and it is back to work!
-ehw
P.S. this photo is a reminder to take your gear with you...Grandad took us on an unexpected expedition up the mountain and I did not have my flare resistant primes with me...so the photo was not what it could be...
The Grand Lake Museum is a photographer's delight. I could return there time and time again working new angles on various exhibits. This is really what I love to do with my travel photography, pick up a scene or environment and convey it to the world with an enriching twist. Capturing my children, and in this case their cousin as well, in wonder at grasping these new lessons just is icing on the cake....
The big lesson for the family was that everyone had to be able to do everything...and life was pretty sparse by today's standards for the "rich" townsfolk. The boys learned they had a lot of skills they had to learn as tradesmen in building, repair, hunting, fishing, and finance to keep the family afloat. The girls learned that a family lived and died on their skills managing money, supplies (something as simple as running out of lard or meat in the winter meant death), clothing, and daily management meant a smart and skilled lady was highly sought after!
In the end though, families pulled each other through...they had no government handouts or fire departments to assist them! If they messed up they died in the remote mountain country, unless someone else could assist out of their bounty and charity. What a different world, and one that did make our country great....
The first photo is of the cousins looking at an old stereotype photo viewer...yes they had three dimensional viewing too!
The second caught my eye due to the really cool window light..and then my father-in-law said the towel was like the ones his mom made, so of course I had to capture it for him!
The final photo is a pin cushion upstairs in the sewing room. I loved the color, texture and setting. I could just imagine one of the girls there working hard at mending a borders shirt or making a quilt.
I hope your enjoyed this as much as I did! I'll have more photos later!
-ehw
On our first day in Grand Lake we took the kids to the local museum, which was the first boarding house in town. The sights were fun, educational and for the kids enough to make them want to come back. More on the museum later, but today I wanted to share the children's highlight..the dress up area! They all dressed up and played their parts! They even played bank robber!
When they left they actually wanted to come back again for more! Both learning about the crickets old house and the games!
-ehw
P.S. Ok this shows the value of a simple program like Snapseed to process photos on the fly. I also could use the sepia setting on my camera (which I also did) to give you a fun historic shoot in just a few taps of a finger.
The final push to our Rocky Mountain campsite took about five hours. The kids were surprised that they got the treat of seeing the Rocky Mountains up close thirty years sooner than their Dad...
They fell into their grandparents arms, Kevin (boy number two at age six) moved out of the trailer immediately to take up residence with his gran parents, and we settled down for a delicious dinner. I was thrilled to simply know I had no driving ahead of me for a few days.
Since this is Sunday I thought I'd share my wife's choice for a vanity plate on the van. It says "You're life has an owners manual" with a picture of the Bible.
-ehw
We stopped after a long drive in Goodland, Kansas for a night on the high prairie. The KOA there is run by a lovely team of husband and wife. Alicia immigrated from Poland about 30 years ago. She was the second person in over forty years to say my name correctly!
The prairie of Kansas is incredible during the summer. It really can call to you...and make you forget about the cold winter ahead if you are not careful. The people are hardworking, the entire state seems cultivated, oil co-exists easily with wheat fields, and everything seems down to earth. In general it seems like a place that really works the land for a living and manages it carefully.
During our stay she was running the camp herself, as her husband was back in the old country attending to the funeral of his loving and kind father. She had here hands full as the park filled up, but she keep a great attitude towards everything, and longed for her husband's return. We were under a storm threat all night long, so the clouds were dramatic, the winds strong, and my worries a little higher than normal.
In the morning the sun rose with lovely color, and I captured the state flower in its glory! I told Alicia I would post that photo for her, as a memory to here kindness and hospitality.
-ehw
P.S. Evening photo with the X-E1, edited in Snapseed. Morning photos same camera but with the 60mm close up lens.
We travelled hard all day and arrived at the KOA in Independence, Missouri...aka the East Kansas City Kampground. It is summertime, so it was of course very hot and muggy! So after setting up shop we launched into the pool to cool off as a family.
I guess for so many of us, our best memories of summertime were around a pool, lake or ocean. We loved the hours we spent in the water, making castles or learning to dive to record depths to recover diving sticks. We cared little about what we looked like, or what others would think. We just lived those golden summer moments for all they were worth, our attitudes matched the wide grins on our faces, and those memories remain strong with us today in a lovely glowing memory.
So my photos from this day were very, very few. They were however designed to capture those golden memories, the magical grins, and fleeting moments of summer past and present. I hope Normal Rockwell would be pleased.
-ehw
All three photos from the Fujifilm X-20. Top photo is the OOC JPEG, no edits. Second had a Vignette added in Snapseed, the last one had a little drama added in Snapseed to bring back the contrast in the fading light.
<a
Kentucky....driving north from Atlanta we passed right by the first home my wife and I purchased as newlyweds. At mile marker 1 one on northbound I-24 there is a bridge followed by a rest area. I used to run there and use it as my personal mile three marker for my weekend six mile run. I'd look at people pulling in and wonder where they were headed.
On this day a few weeks ago I pulled into the rest area with four children and the same lovely bride 15 years later. Lucky guy I be...lucky guy I be...
The photo of my girl is from the rest stop...photo two is from the KOA in Paducah with my kiddos are at play. Kentucky is a lovely, lovely state. It is one I love to visit just for its sheer beauty.
-ehw
P.S. Here we have one shot with the X-E1 55-200 (the portrait). The other is with the relatively fast focusing X-20 while on a morning walk. Originals are nice, but some tweaking in Nik Snapseed for fun.
On this Sunday a little beauty from our Church, and a an image to meditate on!
From the sacrifice of Christ beauty springs eternally, in both thoughts and deeds, if we chose to accept the gifts he gave.
-ehw
Here are the boys with me last week out shoot our cameras. Kalen got some pretty nice shots with that telephoto on my Pentax K200D, and Kevin did fine with our family's heirloom HP C618 digital camera. (It was my first digital...and yes Pentax made the glass for it). We had a great time going around town, into the woods taking photos, teaching each other to slow down, reading maps and sharing our photos later. Times like this I just don't want to forget.... -ehw PS These were shot with my new Fujifilm X-E1. I am really enjoying the deep rich colors and perfect skin tones.
On America's birthday I thought a little Red, White and Blue were in order to share....
I hope you enjoy America's birthday tomorrow..and if you get a chance enjoy a few chapters of one of my top five favorite books...The Federalist Papers. The Founders had some pretty good ideas that seem long forgotten at times.
-ehw
PS: Fujifilm X-E1 again from last weekend. This is the RAW processor with just a little highlight recovery. Just love the colors...contrast...and recovery from the shadows.
Just before bedtime little guy always gives his Mom love..and then requests she tuck him in. Tonight I caught his ritual in my lens, and it just reflects the real bond he has with her. Moments like this are why I shoot. Isn't it the real reason to live to enjoy moments like this?
-ehw
On Main Street Roswell you can pickup a front row seat here to watch the world go by with a cup of joe...oh that is cappuccino in the fancy neck of the woods. People sitting hear have however also been known to bring up some coffee and a Krispy Creme from down the street though!
Well Monday is here...and I rather be there instead of work. Oh well...got to earn a living!
-ehw
This is another example of post processing done in Capture One. I continue to find the tools are very sophisticated, and attack problems a bit differently than Adobe or Apple's solutions. I'm liking them a lot! Speed is also pretty darn good on my rapidly aging (in computer years) iMac.
While I'm celebrating a great weekend with my family and a new toy (that Fujifilm X-E1) I am struck by a statement made by some wise man...
"Every story that can be told has already been told" or in other words all our art is just a rehash of something that's been done before.
The difference between the art from before, and the art now, is more of relevancy to your personal experience than anything else. Having been a musician at one point in my life, I can also say with conviction that nothing beats experiencing a live performance of your favorite artwork. That is, unless you suddenly find your favorite star is really a recording studio digital creation!
I now have a new tool to use with capabilities beyond what I once had..it does not make me a better photographer. In fact it raises the bar to what a good photographer is! It says there is more of the world I can explore and shape in my lens than ever before...and more people can do what I formerly did with a point and shoot!
It is no different than when you first feel the light of Christ illuminate your heart, mind and soul. What you once did good out of recognition of a natural need to create peace rather than discord became a duty since you now understand the word of Christ. Now you are called to do good and share his word out of duty to further illuminate the world to Christ's call through timeless Wisdom.
Even though the Bible holds the story of salvation, it is still not complete until you add your chorus to the song of the universe. When we all sing in key with with his divine will, it is the greatest show on earth.
-ehw
PS just a shot from the new Fujifilm X-E1 to show what a large dynamic range it can recover in a jpeg...yep a jpeg...
Walking down the street in Roswell in any season you will see the picnic place ready to host you for a bit on the lawn. At night it is quite a busy place, and finding a seat on the lawn is harder than it looks!
One of the hard things in composing this photo is that there are so many elements. Everywhere I looked multiple items poked themselves out to say, "Focus on me!" I tackled this in my viewfinder by getting the sign to grab your attention...and framed it with trees, sidewalk and the house. In the end, I hope the composition corralled the picnic scene and made you think about taking one there!
I attended mass tonight, and had to say I could not miss the parallels to prayer life. I wanted a few minutes of peace...and the dang work phone beeped. In my job I cannot ignore it, or I could get reprimanded. So I had to look. As a result my prayer life..not just then...but always...gets diverted from thinking of God to a distraction I had to laugh when I thought about how this is the perfect Devil's tool for my weaknesses...and pulled me away from the solitude required to listen for God's directions.
So somehow in the next week, I will try to push those distractions away. I need to carve out the quiet needed to calm my mind and stay on the course the Lord intends for us all.
-ehw
A nice patriotic morning in Roswell, Georgia. The downtown of our little city is full of cafes, restaurants, and artsy boutiques. Wish some of my "stuff" could make it in there someday.
I do enjoy the downtown..the mix of colors, architecture and lovely flowers really are fun to work with. They are also like my back yard garden. Changing gloriously week to week.
Oh well...off to church to pray my family returns home safe this week from Virginia...and to thank the Lord for all he's thrown my way. One of these days I'll be starting a tour of the churches down here, they are pretty amazing.
-ehw
Water flowing from a rock? Well..yes and no.
Our basic earth science classes remind us that rocks cannot make water, but water can pass through their layers. This is our aquifer layer, and the birth of mountain born streams.
In a way that is a metaphor for how God works through us. Lets take the original Christian rock, aka Saint Peter the first Catholic Pope. He represents us all. He is a fallible man. The image of God, but no God himself.
Like each of us, he rose to great accomplishements and also stumbled into the depths of failure. Remember he was the one who kept cutting through all the distractions during Christ's ministry, and first proclaimed him as our savior. This same man then denied Christ three times. In each of our lives I am sure you can find the same types of success and failure. I know for me, my head bows immediately when I realize what I've done wrong in my life.
Despite his faults, and maybe because of them, Christ chose this common man, to pour his grace on the world in the early christian church. Peter accepting the God's grace in his heart, set the example for us by letting grace flow through and around himself to enrich the lives of each and every person he met.
On this Father's Day, let us men be a rock like Peter. Accept whatever grace filled water we can in our pores and crevasses. As we do this, realize our ability to absorb grace is infinitesimal compared to the love God pours on us. With every fiber of our being, redirect that great flow of grace onward to others in need. First to our families, and then teach those children to spread the love of God ever outward to every soul in need. Enrich each and every life we touch, so they can join us in making a waterfall of grace. The more people we touch the more beauty, power and grace of God can chance the face of the earth.
Just like a waterfall it starts one drop at at time...with water flowing through and around every rock it meets.
Happy Father's Day Dad
-ehw
Each year, right now, the gardenia's bloom in my back yard. When we moved into the house I was drawn to their complete package of beauty and fragrance. If I had seen these flowers before, I had no memory of them. I just knew they were something important to capture and enjoy.
Last year I shot a few of these wonderful flowers and sent them off to my family, only to hear a wonderful love story. See paternal grandfather, DjaDja, brought these to my Babcha (grandmother) when they were dating since she loved them. This was expensive during the war, especially up in the cooler climate of Boston. My Babcha enjoyed them so much, they made up her bridal bouquet!
That love story took place during World War II, but I only found out about it the day I sent her the photos some seventy years later. For years that lovely story laid dormant, untold and a my connection to these flowers unknown. Only by sharing this image, which cannot compare to the real thing, did I learn how they are part of my story.
Since that day last year, when my Babcha sent me a lovely note, I've found myself anxious for them to reappear. I've also shared other flowers with my wife a little more impulsively than in the past. With each gift I think of my Babcha and DjaDja as I knew them as a child around thirty five years ago. Two people very much in love, smiling together, and loving each other through the better, poorer, health and sickness parts of life.
So with the gardenia bloom I think of those two people in love, and try to show my wife the same devotion I remember my DjaDja doting on his bride. That is a legacy I don't want to ever forget.
So as i used to tell him....Thanks Dja
-ehw
When one reads about "how to photograph waterfalls" one can come up with a dozen different ideas. Some people enjoy the smoothed out water that looks like cotton. Some people like the water drops frozen like ice. Each conveys the power of the waterfall in different variations and can be beautiful.
Me? Well I had no tripod on this trip, was forced to shoot in mid-day light, carried a 22 pound toddler on my back, and had my small Fujifilm x20 to work with. So I went right to the middle and tried to come up with something to take home.
I was slightly envious of two twenty somethings as I unloaded my big vans. The two young men had two cameras each, carbon fiber tripods and were intent on catching some great locations on the trail and falls. Meanwhile I loaded up my kids, put the toddler on my back and marched off with my lightest camera. I knew the science said their big sensors would capture images with far more dynamic range than my little combo would...and the tripods would lock in sharpness I could only dream of.
I did get some keepers by working with what I had, and the conditions in which I was shooting. I also had the immeasurable joy of watching my children look at a waterfall up close for the first time. It was a reminder that God gave me what I needed, when I needed it....and it resulted in much more than I would have otherwise thought I could obtain. I knew I picked up some "cranium chromes" those incredible cameras never could.
-ehw
PS Fijifilm X20 F3.2 1/140 and ISO 100. Post in Perfect Effects with a little natural HDR, and contrast adjustment.
We took the family an hour north today to enjoy lovely Northern Georgia. Amicalola Falls lies just a few miles from the southern base of the Appalachian Trail...
Back in 1998 I was wondering through these mountains a few miles away at the Ranger Mountain Base Camp...and slid down one of these little hills through three feet of snow. It was not what I recall as a great time. The little slide down the mountain helped my legs get infected, and an all expense paid trip to the hospital for five days of treatment. As I recovered, we often walked by a nearby waterfall on some short hikes between sessions. As crazy as the day was, the sound and beauty of the waterfall always brought me back to a level of calm. I cannot explain why, it just happened. So this trip was a nice one, just because of those same lovely sights and sounds being shared with my wife and children.
What made the adventure polarizing was that I put a polarized filter on my camera to help me with water reflections. I had not done this in a great while...and it was the first time on the X20 (Mr K5 forgot to tell me he wanted a freshened up battery before we left...). Some results were stunning, some said try a little harder. I hope you like this one.
-ehw
Planes, trains and automobiles...all can take us places. To these boys the power and majesty of a train is awe inspiring. I can almost hear their questions and dreams over the clickty clack of the track. "Where is the train going? How strong is it? How many cars is it pulling? Could I drive that thing? I'd love to travel the rails and be the engineer!"
Yesterday I talked about reflecting back in time, and coming into the present in prayer. Those reflections provide us the necessary torque to pull the burdens of our lives forward on the track God intended. Within those boundaries, we actually get freed to obtain the greatest rewards life can offer.
To us life is one linear motion, but to the maker of all things time has no linear boundaries. It is limitless, without boundaries, and makes sense all at once.
Just like the boys, that mystery makes me say, "Where is God's train going? How strong is it? How many cars is he pulling? Would he let me drive that thing? I'd love to travel the rails and be his engineer on the way to the kingdom!"
-ehw
PS Mr K5 working his magic...F5, 1/5000 @ ISO 1600 -3ev
