Study in Light

I was testing out a new camera and I observed these lights in the dining room.  I wanted to see how the sensor would handle the bright filament.  Would it totally destroy the photo?

Well...it did not.  Instead I got a very nice study in light my naked eye could not see!  The study I enjoyed the most was the "bent" light coming from the glass around the filament.  I enjoyed the curves above and below the lights, and the built in vignette coming from my focus on the bight light at the heart of the photo.

So the moral of the story here is to remember that glass is a very helpful element in a photo, but sometimes you just have to take the shot and adjust based on the elements composing your photo.

-ehw

Hardship and toil...they saw it too...

This weekend my church celebrated the Holy Family.  It is my wife's favorite mass of the year.   It is a very personal theme for us, and gives us as a role model family to look up to.

This statue sits outside our church, and on the cold rainy we saw today it reminded me of their challenging life together.

Here we have a man and woman, given the mission of raising Christ.  They are displaced from home during the pregnancy, chased into exile by a homicidal king killing every male child from Bethlehem, go into Egypt a country alien to them with nothing but their clothes and talents, and finally they lose their child in the temple together.  They fought hunger, exposure, heat and other men to survive.  Any way you chalk it up, this family faced hardship, toil and challenges matched by the most unfortunate in this world past and present.

Through all these challenges, and the madness of trying to keep their family alive, they still found time to listen for the direction God sends each of us for these adventures.  The most prolific messages came from angels, but I often wonder how many were just whispers in the wind of the desert or the guidance of old proverbs.

Our pastor today at mass reminded us, the last words we hear attributed directly to Mary are at the wedding in Cana.  There she instructs the servants to do whatever her son directs them to do.  This in a manner was the culmination of the Holy Family's stewardship of the Son of God.  The love of Joseph and Mary ensured the people of the world have the word of God no longer confined to angels and prophets.  We actually have it now available to us in the first person.  The words of Christ in the bible direct our hearts and actions on the way to communion with the Father because of their faith.  It is the Holy Family's eternal gift to our past, present and future.

So this year, I challenge myself and anyone else out there to 1) Read the words of Christ and 2) Meditate on those words.  Just then maybe out hearts will hear the whispers of wisdom directing you through life's challenges in the fashion Jesus directs.

Who knows...we just may find ourselves following the footsteps of the Holy Family!

-ehw

P.S.  The inspiration to write this came from the image of the stature I saw at church, and the many friends and family of mine of know of in crisis.  Please pray for them and all those you know of in need as well.

Angel Flight

As the new year dawns I hope some light can break through the storms and make your days a little happier!  It was just what my wife's guardian angel would order up to make her smile after such a run of doldrums.

We were joking at work that with the storms it seemed like the Mayan calendar was a few days off...Thankfully we had a break in the weather today and the sun buoyed up our spirits on an almost warm winter day.

-ehw

Brotherly Love

Just a quick picture to illustrate something the great Tony Corbell said at Skips Summer School.  5.6, Auto Flash and be there.

I know i-TTL or e-TTL for those of you shooting the big brands..or me with P-TTL on the Pentax...is supposed to be "the solution."  Well I think it often is, but sometimes a little "old fashion" goes a long way as well.

In this case I ran the whole day with the camera on Aperture Priority, ISO 100, center weighted metering and flash on Auto.  This is a sample of what I got right out of the camera.  I only cropped the photo a bit for the web.  I think exposure was pretty good, the reaction time of the camera acceptable and I could understand why it happened.  The last part is most important to me since if I understand what happened, I can either modify my work to change the results or repeat it if it works correctly.

Either way I got a photo that really summed up Christmas Day with my four kiddos and loving wife.  It was fun, relaxed, family and God centered.

-ehw

PS Go visit Tony Corbell at http://www.corbellproductions.com/

Five Year Old Saves Christmas

My five year old saved Christmas!

The last few weeks pressed me from every angle. Work, not being able to get my dream moving, the evil at Newtown and in my own town..All felt like a bone crushing weight on me. Even my picture taking, my refuge for sanity, was falling flat. The spirit of Christmas felt as far away as the moon. I could recognize the evil was in a person's choices, not the wonder of creation.  I was just overwhelmed by the amount of darts thrown at good people of late.  I had closed myself off to the spirit of Christ's power because I was letting things other than keeping God foremost in my thoughts and family's development matter.

All this started to change when as I put my head down, my lovely wife said...make small changes and the change will come. I slept on it, and through the night the weight of everything started to feel workable. I got up and walked into the living room to watch the sun rise on the Christmas tree. It was then that my five year old came down the stairs and plopped himself right on top of me.

His first words were, "Dad we have a wonderful tree. It is magic." God was speaking through the mouth of a babe. For ten minutes we sat still, and quietly talking about favorite ornaments lest we wake up the other four souls in the house to early. Then he said, "Dad we need to take some pictures of our tree." That was all I needed. Out came the tripod, the light for my first light painting attempts, and photographic direction from my five year old. My soul was alive, and responding to the cuing from God to live and enjoy Christmas in the present.

Every year I look at the Christmas tree form a new perspective. This year I took it from my five year old. Christ does bring grace if we let him. I pray that you and yours can do the same.

-ehw

PS These photos are from perspective of my five year old...his height I hope conveying some of the awe we felt as kids before the Christmas tree.

Palm Tree Christmas

Being born in Hawaii...I should be use to this site...but I was three when I left so I'm not!

Palm trees are fun to look at.  To my mind it is like peeling back an onion that is 60 feet tall!

The moral of the story is that anything can help bring out the Christmas spirit!

-ehw

Christmas Ball

We enjoyed another evening at church with my service and fraternal organization, The Knights of Columbus, at the annual Christmas Dinner.  We enjoyed being with other families, good food, and a festive atmosphere.  During the day my family went to church to help decorate for the holy day coming up, and my wife and four kids decorated two trees in the church.  I was pretty impressed when I heard my wife had the 11 month old on here back while stringing lights!

Well they inspired me to take a look at the trees for something fun to snap!  The hardest part of this was getting me out of the reflective surface of the ornaments.  So this took a  few minutes....and caused my wife to come rescue me from my photographic obsession!

This is yet another photo with my hip bound Oly XZ-1.  Processed in Perfect Photo Suite 7.  Just a note for you tech junkies... I am shooting RAW with my Point and Shoot.  So my files are typically the RAW flat, so I need to post process them.  This is just my normal preference and gives me more control over the product.  If I had no time to process them, I'd really have no problem with the on board jpeg engine or effects filters.  Olympus colors are just great.  I often use filters when I am on the road to get an effect without the post shoot work of RAW.

I am leaning to picking up a M4/3 camera as a slightly bigger "hip" camera.  That way I'll have a few accessories that can be used on either camera.  We'll see what the future will bring.  For now this is a good tool for my mission.

-ehw

Christmas Bird

At the same concert I saw the string of lights...I saw a set of trees made from bird feathers!  The lights backlit the feathers and it really was cool.

I wish I could borrow one for a full day to experiment with. It would be a really good project to play with this type of soft, glowing light!

For this photo all I did was do a simple import preset in aperture, and custom built an S-Curve for some pop.  I wanted to give the photo depth, but still convey the fragile nature of the soft diffused light.

-ehw

Sting of Stars

These lights were part of the decorations at a small dance company's holiday show.  They mesmerized me, so I tried to get at least one good shot of them before intermission ended.

For the techies...shot in RAW on the Olympus XZ-1, edited in One Perfect Effects 7 using a Surreal HDR effect.  I used some blurring effects in Aperture to make the bokeh a little more attractive after the HDR provided a lot of detail in the small lights I did not want.

-ehw

Bird Bath

This was a fun shoot out with the children back with my then new Pentax K200D in 2009.  Ducks were just happy as a lark while we sat there sweating away in the August heat of Northern Virginia.

I wanted to include this photo for two reasons.  The first was something said by Brooks Jensen of www.Lenswork.com a little while ago in a podcast.  He said a photo is an evolving piece of art.  Our technique and personalities change over time, our knowledge increases and tools change.  Since we have these incredible "negatives" to work with we have the opportunity to remake works into something more contemporary or "better" using those tools and knowledge over time.  That is exactly what I did here.  I took an image and updated with the knowledge I have now, to hopefully make it "better" than it was before.

Mr. Jensen's discussion of reflective visits to past work made me think about was how we as a society often get wrapped around the next new thing.  I'm feeling that right now...The D600 is on a wicked good sale for about 24 hours and its 24MP of full frame goodness and increased dynamic range are beckoning me like the Christmas star!  But do I need it?  Is it going to make me better...or do I still have lots to learn here with my Pentax K5.  I'd venture to say no it will not make me a better photographer...and the only thing it would do is give me more to learn!  Does my current gear limit me?  Well yes...and no.   I'd venture to say the biggest thing holding me back is the lack of attention I'm placing on learning from each frame and edit I make.  I should be applying those lessons to maximizing the potential of future shoots.  The limits of my camera are not the factor holding me back from making great images.  I am am the largest limiting factor.

So is the image above perfect?  Nope.  It is better than it was in 2009 though.  And I have a photo shoot coming up in a few hours that I need to apply a lesson in highlight control to...that is the lesson I need to apply today to a 10-12AM outdoor photo shoot!

-ehw

PS  Lenswork is both a very nice website, and a highly reflective podcast available on iTunes.  Mr. Jensen is extremely good at making these podcasts meaningful to the development of the artist in you.  I also hear some very good life lessons coming from them on a regular basis.  I highly suggest you take the time to listen in.  You might become as hooked as I am!

Definition of long shadows

I've been reading about what long shadows are, and I've watched for them...but this one morning was a really cool example of what they can look like.

You can see the early morning sunrise here has a really short angle of incidence with the earth, and for just a few minutes those posts look like something from the Giant's house Jack visited.  Each of those cross beams are maybe 9-12 inches apart, yet on the ground the shadow is about four to six feet apart.

The moral of the story is that as a photographer we have a narrow window to play with light like this each day if the sun comes out to play.  If you stay alert we may be able to capitalize on treats like this to make some interesting compositions.

-ehw

Southern Christmas Glory!

The lights were on in St. Mary's as they prepare for Christmas last week.  It was a combination of lights, pine wreaths, and palm trees!  After so many Christmas pasts up north, this was a new perspective on the season for me.

Thankfully the symbols of Christmas are all there, and it was those symbols that tied me in with every other season I've enjoyed.  The round Christmas wreath of pine symbolizing the eternal God, the celebratory red has many other joyful meanings, and the lights fighting back the darkness as we near the winter solstice all made me feel like I could be anywhere preparing for the Lord's arrival.  Those common symbols are so important since they convey a message from one generation to the next.  They made me feel right at home in their midst.

It was a lovely night for a walk amidst such splendid sings of the season.

-ehw

Southern Rust Belt

Traveling through Southern Georgia is a combination of wonder and sadness.  You see people making a living working hard, and then you see things like this old bridge waiting for time to melt it away from conscientious.  Walking through small St. Mary's I saw two businesses going out of business.  I saw another two dying on the way into town.  On my ride I pulled into a sit down restaurant that I found boarded up in the last two months.  It made me count my blessings to have a job and the ability to feed my family.

Just 100 years ago the measures of a nation's greatness was the amount of steel produced, increased railway track being used, having a budget in the black, and being able to feed itself.  Today...well this poor bridge summed it up.  We just don't seem to be interested in building ad maintaining great achievements anymore.  When all we worry about is splitting up the spoils of others labor, we lose the desire to achieve greatness for ourselves and the nation.

On future trips I hope to get some pictures of the great people I met along the way during my travels.  Those hard working people I've met really are the ones that make my heart sing with delight.  There are rays of hope, their story and spirit just needs to be released for all to see. I hope to make some of those images in the near future

-ehw

What is your travel camera?

I am traveling right now with my Pentax kit and my Olympus P&S. After listening to all the camera podcasts during my drive I had to wonder what some of my friends were using when they travel. (St Mary's first church, one of the oldest in Georgia. Pentax K-5, Sigma 17-50 F2.8 EX OS) [polldaddy poll=6749711]

Family Circle Memories

I'm getting ready for a little trip here in Georgia.  So I have the usual feelings of already "missing" my family before I leave.  Kids are in bed, fast asleep and I am all packed ready for a long drive.

This is a little picture my then seven year old son made on his birthday showing how we were having a good time with his then three year old brother a few minutes before.  He wanted to remember the moment, and I wanted to remember the image he created as well celebrating the love surrounding him that day.  When I feel like I do now, I pull it out and look at these types of good memories long past.

As Scott Bourne said in a recent speech, photographers are the guardians of all our memories.  After an event fades away, the photos are often the only physical memory we'll be able to keep when the other trappings are long gone.  So take the photos, and make each one the best you can!

-ehw

PS Check Scott our on http://photofocus.com/

Build a home to fly free

This summer my father found he had a shallow spring at the corner of his property.  So he had it dug out to make a pond, and then left and overflow drain to keep the creek flowing regularly.

One consequence of building a pond on the farm was that wildlife now gets a new home to flourish in.  This lovely bird is one that took up residence in the pond area.  On the grace meter... I will happily give this one a 10 out of 10!

This reminded me of the movie "Field of Dreams" when the hero is told, "Build it and they will come."

Instead of a baseball field, my father combined some diesel powered bucket loaders with nature's life giving water to make a new home for some of God's creation.  A home to which animals flock to and obtain strength to fly free towards their dreams.

I hope we can all find the springs of life God put around us, and build them up using the tools God gave to glorify his name.

-ehw

Perspective Changes

After shooting several people in the Model A truck over a few days, I had to literally find a new angle to shoot the truck.  Looking up I saw the mirror, and decided to have some fun with it.

I like the photo, but the reality is that you cannot tell if this is an old truck, a Jeep, or a go cart.  So I learned something about perspective in reviewing this shot.  The first lesson was if you keep looking around you can find interesting perspectives of a subject you missed before.  This perspective change may not however meet the goal of the image's sponsor to show off people in a clearly identifiable Model A..  In this case I have a cool photo, but it does not scream, "Cool Model A!"

-ehw

Sheep teach photojournalism!

Dinner time was calling these sheep, all only a few weeks old, to come with their mothers to dinner on a Virginia farm.  The sheep were pretty well mannered about everything....although some did find a way to get more than others!

After dinner my children held several of the lambs, helped get their water ready and did a few other tasks for their aunt and uncle who raise them.  When we were done, the babies were left in the heated barn to protect them from a strong cold front that hit that night.  The little lambs needed the extra protection, just because we don't want to lose any of them!  Just minutes after we left I missed an opportunity I'd wanted to capture for years on the farm, the birth of a lamb.  The last pregnant mother gave birth to two more lambs.

I have to say that is one of the hardest sets of challenges facing photographers wanting to capture a realtime photojournalism story:  We have to be there, the conditions need to be "right" and we have to be prepared for those two conditions to collide before us.  This gets even harder if you want to make that moment art.

I think that is why, even though I love all types of photography, trying to capture the beauty of life in its own moment is my favorite type of photography bar none.  I love the challenge and the reward that comes from these adventures, and I say quite a few prayers of thanks when I see the moment captured in my frame.

-ehw

Virginia Farm Sunrise

I received a quite a bit of grace last week visiting my parents...

Great family times, great children, extended family visits and quite a lot of photo opportunities.

Of the five days we spent on the farm only one gave me good morning light.  It was a chilly morning, but don't those always seem to be the best?  The chill making you remember you are alive and better move quick?!

Well my mother was feeding my youngest and said. "I love sunrises."  So I grabbed my camera, and a final sip of coffee, before I jumped out the door camera in hand.  My mom did not know I was out the door until my 10 month old spotted me out by the barn working the scene trying to find a shot.

I hope it brightens your day!  It sure did mine! It ended up being one of my favorites from the week.

(For the techies: In Camera HDR, supported on a makeshift bean bag of potting soil, edited by a quick trip through iPad Snapseed. Pentax K-5 with a Sigma 18-50 EX F2.8 OS)

-ehw

Chasing Dreams

My Dad had a dream all his life to own a farm and a Model A. He's worked hard and planned well so he now has both. He's finishing his fourth year out there the wine and horse country of Virginia on a farm. He grows his own vegetables, and hay for lambs now while still working his day job. This fall he finally found a Model A. All weekend long he had guests to the farm riding around in the little 1930 Model A truck. I of course recorded each visitors ride. It was fun to see their smiles and amazement at how different travel would be if we went back 80 years to that small little truck.

Today on our ride back to Georgia my wife and I discussed the value of dreams. We see their benefit in providing purpose to our frenzied lives. We see the dispirited nature of those without dreams, just waiting to be lead by others to a promised land. We also discussed that sometimes our dreams need to change because who we are does not really line up with what it takes to get make the dream reality.

In the end we determined for us achieving dreams by leaving faith in God and family behind were just too much for us to bear. We also examined our own lives, and realized how by listening closely to whispers of the Holy Spirit, we changed course several times to bring us to where we are today. We agreed that it is very good for us that we did acknowledge and discern what those whispers had to say. Our current dreams are very good ones indeed, and have our little family in their circle.

So chase your dreams, but don't be afraid to look and see if other chapters may be a better fit for you!

-ehw PS If any photos on this site touch you, please let me know. I am now able to sell them as part of my photographic dream!