Capturing a musical note

     Oh old horns are such a hoot.  I have two myself and I enjoyed them for years.  Now I have other passions...and besides I never got the coordination down.  I became a much better singer over time than I could ever play!  No hand, eye, finger, breathing muscle movements!

   One challenge to always watch for on these lovely subjects are reflections.  If you can keep them as controlled highlights I think you can really appreciate the beauty and craftsmanship of these musical instruments.  So if you cannot get a good shot full or partial shade bring scrim into the photo shoot to reduce the lighting's dynamic range to something your camera can capture fully.

    Well now it is time to get the big kids off to their music lessons!  One Violin and one Cello need exercise!

-ehw

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

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!

Miami Day 2

Good Morning Miami! @ 540AM

   After a rough introduction Sunday, Miami provided a lot of fun today.  The town is an engineering marvel.  Everywhere I turn in downtown there is something fantastic to capture.  The people also have a rather nice temperment here to us tourists...especially those that don't speak the prefered language downtown, Spanish.  The town does shine with a Central and Southern America twist.  You can see it in the business links, food, culture, and vibrancy of the town.  Despite all that it does really have an American flavor to it all.  In the business district there is the normal go get 'em attitude I found in New York earlier this year.  So all in all I am finding exploration here rather fun.

The old Miami Freedom Tower..once a newspaper's home and now a museum to Cuban Culture

I am enjoying the juxiposition of the classic 1920's Miami and modern day construction.  The bridges between islands are facinating...and the huge skyscapers extending all the way to the water's edge.  Wow!

   Even inside our hotel there are so many fun things to photograph...outside my room by the elevator these lights just screamed to be photographed. 

Oh I hope tomorrow to get even better light to photograph this remarkable town.

-ehw

P.S.  All photos shot with the Fujifilm X-E1 and the XF23mm lens.  I took the day to practice with one lens and one focal length.  I did this to make my mind conceive and execute the photo in a 35mm equivalent on a 35mm film camera.  The lens  is fantastic.  I just need to get better at using it.  

One other interesting test I made was to work harder at using the internal controls of the camera to create the tonal curves.  One, Three and Four are examples of this with minimal cropping or alignment corrections in Snapseed.  The camera is much better than I am still. 

Cheers!

Miami, Florida

    I'm off on another adventure to Miami, Florida.  Attending a work convention in downtown.  So far this downtown is different than most towns I've visited in this country, and I'm doing my best to explore the unique flavor of this city.  One minute you're looking at a Little Havanna or Latin America area, turn around 90 degrees and view the avant garde billion dollar condo sykscrapers.

     So I'll endeavor to bring you a few good photos from the city while avoiding the fun any city can offer.  For instance today I saw three teens rescue their bicycles from a theft right in front of me.  It was very interesting...guy riding down the street on two similar bikes, then a bike rams the guy perpendiculary to knock him down.  He got in protest only to face the two girls whose bike he stole, and the teenage young man who was with them.  The perp said someone sold him the bikes... and gave them up without a fight.  As this resolved itself a guy decided to try and run a red light right through my body about 30 seconds later in the cross walk.  Just a minute after those two episodes I watched fancy boats (worth three of my homes) float on down the waterfront in a leisurely manner, and families enjoying life in the park.

      This war memorial is from 1942 and right down the street in Bayfront Park.  The lighting was not particlarly wonderful today, so I resorted to B&W on few photos to get something interesting from my travels.  The photo below is the reflection of my hotel in the hotel across the street.  

Old Glory

I will be up well before the crack of dawn to work the real job....

So tonight I post this photo in honor of the Red, White and Blue.

Everytime I see this flag my heart fills with pride.  I also reflect on what it is supposed to remind us of....

Red for the Blood shed to defend its ideal of freedom from tyranny.

White for the Purity of heart and deed required to serve its people fairly.  To lust after the goods of others is the opposite of that ideal.

Blue for the Unity required to hold a divrese people together through agape love.

There is no imperal seal, nothing to indicate personal ownership of this country and its people.  Just colors and stars we can aspire to reach though virtue and limiting vice's reach into our collective national life.

I think our founders our looking at us now, wondering if we will remember these ideals...

Do yourself a favor today.  Read the Declaration of Independence!  Read the Consititution! Read a few chapters of the Federalist Papers.  Read the Founders words from their own hand and minds.  Don't read someone elses's opinion, rather build your own.

Take the time to read it.  Then look around and ask yourself where do we stand now?   

It might be a life changing moment.  I know it was for me at 15-16 in American History.  It was in college, and it affirmed my convictions a dozen times since.

God Bless America!

Tonight I will pray very hard for us all.  I hope you do as well.

-ehw

Georgia Travel

Just a few from last weekend...nothing fancy and no heavy thoughts.

I just took a few minutes to enjoy the kids inbetween cooking various meals, hiking and swiming at Red Top Mountain.  Of course to me enjoyment also includes looking for a lovely ray of light or expression...

It is wonderful to see the kids enjoy the long summer days, not get upset with the heat, thunderstorm interuption, and tight sleeping quarters.  it made me smile.

I hope you too get a moment to enjoy the loved ones in your life.

-ehw

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Oh the joy of a juicebox!

Sixteen Years and Two Big Lessons

     I married my wonderful wife sixteen years ago on June 27, 1998.  We changed careers four times total, had eight places we called home, learned to pull out of life's valleys, and overcame health challenges both to ourselves an our seven children.

     Yes I said seven children.  See we have four with us, and three who passed in miscarriages.  I believe those three are in the embrace of God as I write this.  My wife chose the photo above to remember each one of them this past April.

     In this voyage between 15 and 16 years of marriage losing a child at nine weeks of pregnancy delivered us the worst emotional pain we've endured as a married couple.   The reason this became the worst pain stemmed from three major factors.  First we know we are nearing the end of our time to bring children into the world.  Second we never grieved properly for the first two lost children many years ago.  Finally our spiritual growth growth over the last several years of homeschooling made us more aware of God's calling to participate in creation by raising children to know and love the Lord.

     As painful as the time was, I know God's care for us surrounded us in a hundred ways.  We met two women who had four and five miscarrages before having two children make it to birth describe the joy they had when they held their new arrivals.  We had family and friends pray so hard for us, that when I started to collapse on hearing the bad news I could literally feel them holding me up in prayer.  Melanie Levergood responded to a prayer request with "Absolutely! Storming Heaven.  What do you need?"  It was amazing to get notes from the His Light team: Nick Coury, Jim Begley and Bill Fortney out of the blue filled with prayer hours just after the bad news.  My wife received good health care, and she is doing as well as ever thanks to a good doctor and his team.  I also had supportive bosses at work, in the midst of a few critical incidents, let me run to my wife's side to care for her and the children.

     Equally important to us was the fact that two clergy from church provided blessings and sacraments to us with love and compassion.  Over the last few years my family gained a greater understanding of the form and meanings of prayer and sacraments.  As a result, we were fully open to receiving the graces they offered in our times of need.  For all the bad press people hurl at our Catholic clergy, I wish they could see the millions of good people beyond the few bad apples. Without those two men (Father Mario and Deacon Joe) ministering to this family, I know my family would still harbor damaging grief and pain.  They follow in the tradition of my good and faithful friends who minister with love and kindness (yes I'm looking at our wedding priest/friends Father Mark Spring, Father Ed Kacena, and my Army Ukrainian Orthodox friend Father Peter Dubinin).

     So after sixteen years of marriage I will offer the two greatest lessons I've learned.  The first is that both parents must make our first priority for the house to stand with the Lord in heart, mind and action.  This creates a foundation for love to grow between each family member and God.  The second lesson is that when we travel through life we need to be attentive to the messages God sends us.  God sent us those women, friends, doctors, my job to pay the bills, and clergy to help us get through the pain.  By choosing to embrace the goodness God sent our way, we left bitterness behind and rejoined the community of life he wants us to travel in.  Now we are ready to help someone else at God's beaconing.  

    Oh...and I do love my wife Carrie Anne Baker Wojtkun more now than ever.   

-ehw

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June 28, 1998

Missing two front teeth..

Most of us started out in photography to record the wonderful moments of our family lives.  I am no different.  So amdist the deeply contemplative shots and thoughts are photos like this one of no less importantance.  My boy who just lost his second tooth in three days holding his minon namesake with his customary happy grin (minus the two front teeth).

I guess the moral of the story is to never get so lost in work or the hobby that you fail to enjoy this once in a lifetime moment between you and your family.  For as with the rest of life it will be gone in a blink of an eye and never come back.

-ehw

The Forrest

It is one of those trying times for me right now....challenges, challenges and more challenges.  

As I processed this photo it pretty much matched my mood.  A dark forest being slowly being lit by the morning sun after a rainy night.  The morning haze showing off the rays of light and mist.  i see a lot of darkness, but I can still feel the light of the Lord guiding me step by step through the woods.

As a newer artist I still find it extraodinary when emotion guides your artistic decisions and direction.  I think that is what makes the whole adventure enjoyable and thought provoking.  Yet I cannot help myself from asking if anyone else sees my vision the same way...or will it merely become whatever they want it to be?  If someone does not see what you intended are you a success or a failure?  

To answer my question, I think it would be silly to think everyone will look at the photo the way you intended.  We all have different thoughts, perspectives and references.  Success and failure of a piece really depends on whether or not the image gets you to simply stop and think about your photo as they apply their thoughts to it.  

-ehw

P.S. X-E1 with 18-55 shot while cooking eggs and sausage.

To my Dad

     Time with Dad is precious.  See he was a Cold War solider for the first 21 years of my life. 

      During spring break we were going to all watch the Winter Olympics, and instead he went off with the Corps of Engineers to make sure the ice did not melt in that unusually warm winter period.  While living in Japan I went on numerous camp outs while he had to go up and recon Hokkaido beaches the Russians would try to land on...did I mention a Russian fighter shadowed them the whole time only a few months before and after KAL 007? I know I was young, but I read the Army Staff School monthly magazine at the age of 9, and Jane's Defense memorized by 12.  I was worried for my Dad, and in awe of what he and his friends were doing for my freedom.

     So my few trips with Dad are pretty warm memories.  The photo above is from Berlin in 1994.  He came over in my first six months away from the US to make sure I was doing ok.  It was nice he could pick a few jobs he did for the State Department maintenance team.  In this case it was to look at the then new site for the US Embassy to Germany on the pre-WWII site in East Berlin.

    On those trips  I learned how much his family meant to him, and how he protected it in his work decisions.  On trips when other men might go out drinking heavy, he struck out on his own and took photos or meet locals.  (Yep it was his camera that I borrowed in the 1980s!  Canon AF) I learned he turned down a career enhancing assignment when I was in the 10th grade so my sister and I could stay in our current high schools.  I also learned how much he loved my Mom.  How he frets for her health, does what he thinks she needs, and balances his needs off of that.  No marriage is easy, but the love they have for each other after 44 years is pretty impressive.

        So what was the most important lesson my Dad gave me?  He taught me a traditional American concept of duty to God, family and country.  In this way he brought me into adulthood as nobly as he could.  He taught me to set the standards of my behavior as high as possible, for his house was to stand with the Lord forever.  It is one incredible gift to gain for a lifetime.

     Thanks Dad!

-ehw

P.S.     My old Canon Rebel (film version) with the kit lens 35-105mm took this in Berlin circa 1994!

A Dose of Hope

I saw the headlines at 5:35 AM today....and I wanted to weep...

On the way to work I listened to the Divine Office, Office of Readings.  This psalm gave me some hope and put some anxiety away:

Psalm 37

Do not fret because of the wicked;
do not envy those who do evil:
for they wither quickly like grass
and fade like the green of the fields.

If you trust in the Lord and do good,
then you will live in the land and be secure.
If you find your delight in the Lord,
he will grant your heart’s desire.

Commit your life to the Lord,
trust in him and he will act,
so that your justice breaks forth like the light,
your cause like the noon-day sun.

Be still before the Lord and wait in patience;
do not fret at the man who prospers;
a man who makes evil plots
to bring down the needy and the poor.

Calm your anger and forget your rage;
do not fret, it only leads to evil.
For those who do evil shall perish;
the patient shall inherit the land.

A little longer – and the wicked shall have gone.
Look at his place, he is not there.
But the humble shall own the land
and enjoy the fullness of peace.

-ehw

PS If you need a daily dose of religious thought you'd be hard pressed to find a better simple app than The Divine Office (iOS/Android).  Many times people are surprised when the Pope talks about certain issues seemingly out of the blue.  The reality is many issues are tied into either the life of the church through its daily readings or the Divine Office daily readings which require homilies he may give that day!  Therefore topics often come out of the normal life of the church's gospel or devotional cycle.  You can find out more on teh Divine Office at www.divineoffice.org

Directions, Corrections and Instruction

     I once was afraid to ask for help. To ask for help was then a sign of weakness.  Then one day a revelation hit me when I realized someone always is over me.  It does not matter if I am the subject matter expert, the boss, the Dad or husband. There is always a boss, a customer and of course God watching over me.  Since I must ultimately answer to a boss, knowing their needs was not weakness but a strength. So why was I still afraid to ask for directions, corrections and instruction? 

     The solution seemed pretty self evident after further reflection.  Try to get it right the first time, corrected in the first edit for follow on publishing, and to keep learning so my problem solving capabilities improved before a new problem arose.  To accomplish those goals I needed directions, corrections and instruction to improve my imperfect self.  Technical manuals, practice, improved listening skills, and learning more about the Lord began to aid my growth as a person in many ways.     

     So get over the pride of self, and fear of perceived weakness.  Get direction, correction and instruction.  You'll be a better person for it, and a whole lot easier to live with!

-ehw

P.S. Fujifilm X-T1 in Savannah, GA.  Raw file processed in Captue One Pro with a few minor edits.  I highly recommend trying this RAW developer and processor out.  It is a superior product to both Aperture and Lightroom for most Raw conversions...digital asset management no so much so far. 

Brothers

Raising a family comes with many challenges. One of the greatest is raising siblings to respect each other through childhood, not compete for everything, and show each other charity.  In between the challenging moments it is always encouraging to see a moment like this, when there is peace between them.  I'm glad I caught it.  It is a moment to cherish.

For once the trains are running on time!

-ehw

PS Fujifilm X-E1 with the awesome 23mm 1.4

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Brothers at work

And the world fell silent

The world fell silent on that Holy Saturday.  The Lord who lowered himself to become a mere mortal man, in death went even lower.  As he opened the gates of hell, we could not see his preaching and the legions coming to the sound of his voice and the promise of salvation.

This thought from todays Divine Office sermon in the daily Office of Readings made me think a lot differently today.  The rain here last night stopped baseball and sports in its tracks across northern metro Atlanta.  My day went from overfull to silent in outside activity.  We were able to do what my heart really no desires, focus on preparing for the big religious celebration tomorrow.

I spent time with my father collecting a few final supplies for the big Easter feast.  It was busy out in public, but the time we spent together reflectively.  The children were at home with my wife, mother and sister prepping the house and the easter cake (A two foot tall bunny cake).  When we arrived home we all decorated the eggs made with care in the morning by my mother, dad and I.  My wife was checking out the clothing for Easter Sunday, and making sure we had enough of the vitial things like dark socks cleaned and folded.  Then a final treat when my Dad took us all out for dinner...before we shuffled everyone off to bed.

Now the house is quieting down...only the two year old remains calling for anyone to get her out of the crib to play a few more hours (this kid does not sleep enough...GO GO GO).

I'm now reflecting on the incredible challenges we overcame, the love of friends helping us in deed and prayer through those challenges, and finally the growth my family went through spirituallyin the 40 days of Lent.

I am happy the world went silent today.  It gave me the time to now go to bed with a long list of thanksgiving prayers I need to say.

The first to the Lord for his suffering and final victory.  The rest to all those who followed his teachings to lift us up when we were down.

-ehw

Don't take your eye off the Ball

Shortest post ever since the sun comes up early and as usual I will beat it to work...

One more day and then the weekend. However never let your work suffer because of short sightedness or being asleep at the wheel!

-ehw

P.S. So,I'll take my nap now!>

Lessons in Silence

One of the things about being the Dad with a camera in Little League is you have to learn to be an observer...and nothing more.

See if you capture the critical play and know the umpire got it wrong..you'd better stay quiet.  It is the umpire's field, he called it the way he saw it, and he's the authority not you.  To kick, shout or throw a tantrum is to dishonor your team and status as a photographer.  It will also get you asked to leave and not come back!  Anyway the umpires called a good game, excellent strike zone and kept it all moving. Besides if you focus on your craft, you capture a moment and show how to be a good relaxed Dad.  

My son did well.  Pulled in a fly out in right, grounded into an infielders choice, and caught for an inning.  He got settled down and did well behind the plate.  He had a great play guarding the plate...but I will refer back to the lesson in silence and not tell you the call!  See whether he got credit for the out or not it did not matter for the purposes of me getting to stay on the field!  He hauled the ball in, got a tag on the runner, and improved during his second tour behind the plate this season.  I got to see all this without a fence in front of me, and with a 60-250mm (90-375mm with a 1.5 crop factor) telephoto lens!  HEHE!

So that takes me to today...first game I was able to shoot all season from start to finish.  I vowed today to make sure I did as little as I could in post production.  So I shot RAW + JPEG, set the camera to vibrant, worked the exposure settings between shots to get the best one, played with highlight and shadow controls in camera...and worked it as well as I could.  Big thing in post is cropping, and then some extra highlight controls (it was very bright!).  By working hard, and getting the JPEGs right I got the work done quickly today.  If something needed extra work it would only take a few seconds to switch to the RAW and try to recover a few more highlights of shadows to enhance the shot.  Today I did not have to do that at all.

So in a few minutes I'll share the photos with both teams (the other team's coach was my son's coach last fall)...and head off to bed...job all done!

Now all I need to to get paid for this sometime!

-ehw

P.S. Mr Pentax K-5 with 60-250F4 all day long

Serious Intent

A quick post for today.  I love photojournalism.  In this genre I find that the key to a photo to to capture the story and emotion in one frame.

It is a great challenge to have!

If you want to see some great photojournalism check my friend Fran Ruchalski out!  He is a great artist and photojournalist!  Here is his webpage!  Fran Ruchalski

Well this is my son at the closing concert of an orchestra one day intensive.  He was intense as they played their patriotic songs and those of God's glorious nature!

The shot was as captured in camera.  One advantage of my Fujifilm camera is that the film simulation modes have some easy customization features.  As a result putting a curve into the photo, and then using EV compensation eyeballed through the Electronic Viewfinder shortens my time in post on most family shots...and many jobs.

-ehw

P.S. Fujifilm X-E1 with 50-200

Premium or Regular?

I received a blessing from God today...I went out to fellowship and take photos with the His Light Workshop Crew.

If you have a few minutes I suggest you take a look at the work of Bill Fortney ( http://billfortney.com/) and Jim Begley (http://www.wowphotoshdr.com/).

What you will find are stunning images of life.  You will not find subjects created for shock value or pure sex appeal.  You find written word and art which lifts you upwards...toward an appreciation for God and all his wonders. Bill is fond of saying he loves texture in his photos.  I also think he is very good at helping you appreciate the textures God adds to your life.  Jim makes High Dynamic Range (HDR) photos which knock your socks off in content, technical excellence and message.  When you talk to him, you can see feel his love of God coming out in the same manner of an HDR photograph where something we think is too dark for perception reveals itself and the composition makes sense so the message takes root in your heart and mind in equal parts.  How do these men do this?  By actively listening to you, and letting God work through them in a very humble manner.

See if you come to a His Light Workshop, you better be ready for God to speak through its many members.  You need to understand that when you join the crew, they will care about you more as a person than as a photographer.  The funny thing is when they do this, they offer more of themselves to you as teachers than most others ever will if they did the reverse.

I saw many examples today of agape love in HDR.  People freely giving of themselves to care for others,  offering a prayer for others in need, and providing an environment for people to engage in the sharing at a level their personalities and life texture permits.  It is not loud, it is not outlandish...it is quiet and subtle..it is the sound of the Holy Spirit working his way through people bringing Christ where needed for their sustainment.

So why the title?  Well we all have many choices in life for everything we do.  In choosing friends and services I think we also have a choice...we can chose Premium or Regular friends.  A regular friend will be with us as we travel through life, but when a challenge arrives they'll just walk on their own trying to help you with a man's knowledge.  A premium friend with walk with you, and when the time comes not be afraid to invoke God in the discussion of how you shall overcome life's challenges using his revealed laws of nature and scripture.

The men and women of His Light...they are Premium.

-ehw

PS X-E1 with the 35mm Prime