Watching you!

Keeping children entertained on a 90 minute or so train ride through very dense clouds s not an easy task, but that is exactly what we did climbing up Pike's Peak.  Did you know then Captain Zebulon Pike attempted to climb this mountain in November?  He waned to do this while wearing a summer uniform back in 1806!

Kevin here took the time to enjoy the company of his grandfather for the ride up the mountain...and peppered him with questions and little "figgity" games you would expect of a six year old.  Grandad tempered Kevin's energy with his wisdom so they did have a fun journey together that taught Kevin a few good nuggets of information along the way.

I personally was imagining Captain Pike's First Sergeant looking at him just thinking he could get a tiny bit up that mountain...oh the burning eyeballs!

Looking through the eyes of a child, or in this case into they eyes of a child, can really charge us with both a fresh perspective AND energy to explore the world.  This type of energy propelled the great creatives and explorers of history.  Creatives who temper that youthful exploration with introspection are those that use their adventures to enrich the lives of those around them.  Those young creatives who don't get a safe guiding hand...well they end up frozen on Pikes Peak...with their talents wasted in the alpine air.

-ehw

P.S. Fujifilm X-E1 with the 18-55 "kit" lens.  Make no mistake...this is not your typical kit lens.

Wow...twins!

Today will be a full day...so I am happy to share this simple composition of a little flowers shining in morning light....

-ehw

P.S. When shooting flowers outdoors I highly suggest wind breaks and diffusers. One keeps your subject still. The other helps control the highlights by making harsh light bigger.

Tenacity of Life

At the top of the mountain, I captured a wonderful vista with my children descending off the peak.  In this seemingly desolate space, just a few feet away was this cluster of small flowers.

Throughout my trip one theme arose before my eyes time and time again, it was the tenacity of life.

On this windswept mountain, these little flowers stubbornly cling to the thin soil in the brief Rocky Mountain summer just a few feet from my position in the first majestic photo.  In the plain states it was large trees owning the low ground, avoiding the windy peaks.  In the high prairie we saw how grass and cactus eked out survival on little water.  In each case life was present and thriving where it was not easy to achieve basic survival.  Yet as you can see, the beauty and power of that little life is just as moving as places rich with plants and animals.

Today's Gospel reminded us that life here on Earth is a struggle...and every moment of success we get should be savored...and every hardship we experience should help us revel in the beautiful moments a little more.

-ehw

P.S. Fujiflm X-E1 with 14mm top and Pentax K-5 with 60-250mm below...

Photographers Delight

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

Shoot out! day 1 in Grand Lake

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.

Kansas

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.

Missouri

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.

New guy rolling into town

The Big Wheel Is Rolling

Today a newbie rolled into town.  A Fujifilm X-E1 with a cadre of lenses...It  a borrowed a little old to mix with the new for its form factor. So far I must say I'm liking what I'm seeing.  Both the sensor and the lenses appear to be a major improvement from my old camera.  Until later I'll keep rolling on and getting to know the new kid on the block.

-ehw

Into the Woods

Went for a walk in the historic district this morning in Roswell.  The summer light is harsh pretty early, but I got a few keepers using HDR techniques.

More of the fun downtown over the next few days!

Water flowing from a rock...

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

For my Babcha!

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

Happy Times

Here is a simple little shot from a four years ago...whoa you mean old photos still hold relevance?  Photos taken with old technology like a Pentax K200D 10mp CCD can still "work?"

Well...yes they can...I know people who could shoot with a pinhole camera and put my efforts to shame.  A good photograph is less about technical excellence than it is about soul...in my humble opinion.

So many iconic photographs come from a spit second decision, snapped on instinct guided settings not perfectly applied logic.

Not much different than life..always comes back to that life thing...

People we trust the most are those that we know who will do right when under duress and short timelines.  We know that their soul contains excellent guide rails, and we can trust their instinct more than our indecision.

So I'm going to get back to the good book tonight and try to strengthen my guide rails...so maybe you will trust me to do right when my next time of trials begin.

-ehw

PS This is a Pentax K200D shot with a Tamron 18-250 ultrazoom.  Good kit if I say so myself.  K200D is still my back up, although now I don't know how I ever got by with only one whiz wheel (control wheel) and not two!

Life Changing Day

Life can change in a moment.  One of those moments is when you become a father. Twelve years ago I first laid my eyes on my lovely daughter Julia Rose, and my whole life changed.  The first night she was born, I told her everything she needed to know for all of her years as we walked the floor of the ward.  She put her little hand into my shirt collar and rubbed my neck gently. Four weeks later at her baptism I became overwhelmed at the feeling of responsibility as I professed before God and family that this child was in my care.

She has had me wrapped around her pinky since then, but never abused that privilege!  Last night she had a small party with family and three close friends.  It was wonderful to see them play in the yard, make up stories filled with honor, and then hear the cards written by her friends with words of fellowship based in Christ's example.

God blessed us then, and continues to bless us now.  But watching the candles burn I could not help but think back to that first hospital cuddle, the first night of walking her to sleep, the first smiles and connecting touch...what a memory..what a wonderful life...

-ehw

PS Here is one of our first digital photos of my girl two weeks old!  Taken with an HP610..lit by Pentax glass!

Kevin at the Bat!

Kevin takes a practice swing as he steps up to the plate...looks bigger than six huh?  One of two photos I took at his last game of instructional T-Ball.  I'm glad I made them count, while I enjoyed the whole game without a large camera tied to me.  Sometimes it is very helpful to enjoy life through your own lenses.

I took this photo through the fence with my Fujifilm X20.  It is quite sharp, and provides a lot of dynamic range to pull out and play with.

I took some liberty with it in PerfectEffects, and I am pleased with the results.  I did vignette the photo as well to focus the eyes on the batter.

-ehw

Emotion in the Motion

Putting dance into a still photo almost sounds sinful.  Dance is the art of moving one's body, and that of others to create visually pleasing sights though motion.  So it definitely sounds nuts to capture the soul of dance in a single frame.

This capture is one of the better ones from the night.  Beautiful motion frozen with just a tinge of motion in the dresses, hands and feet.  Then I caught some excellent emotion in the dancers faces conveying joy in the act of dancing.  It was that emotion that really set this photo apart from a similar one take a few seconds later.

To achieve this I had to be careful with the shutter speed and experiment...the variable of course is also that the speed of dancer motion which of course varies greatly in any one routine.  Since this shoot occurred only with available light, and no flash, the experimentation was critical to know my gear's capability and the type of scene I could reasonably expect to capture with some quality.

So experiment...be thoughtful and look for the emotion in the motion to sculpt a wonderful photo.

-ehw

Dance!

It is that time of year to enjoy the wonders of dance in my house!

My daughter's dance company just put on their annual production, and it was quite nice.  Since our family moved last year before her recital in Virginia, its been two years since I was able to see her really perform.  One trick she learned this year from her teachers was to have confidence and smile while dancing.  It really made her start to glow up on stage, and display the fun she has performing.

I learned a lot this year while shooting dance.  After shooting several years at my daughter's old studio I discovered the different challenges that come from choreography styles.  In the old studio I could easily predict when a worthy frame was coming because I knew the style.  They also used a smaller stage, so formations were tighter.  Here the stage is larger, and the staff uses it.  So it looks just as nice, but as a photographer I needed more zoom than I had to get the proper elements for a good frame.  If you are going to shoot dance I will always recommend you attend a rehearsal or multiple shows before you have to get the captures you want to keep.  This way you can know your subject, lighting and the choreographers style before the big dance.  It just makes your subject and you look so much better in the end product.

That brings me to another point, lens choices for a concert or dance.  I recently sold my 50-135 f2.8 zoom.  On a crop it is a 75-203 zoom with a depth of field around 4-5.6.  For this show it would be perfect.    Since I had not replaced it yet, I was stuck with my excellent 60-250 F4, a 16-50 F2.8 and a set of primes.  The F4 would not give me enough light to capture at the proper speed to blend motion and frozen faces I like.  The 16-50 would not get me close enough this year.  Some of my best photos in previous years came from my 50-135 and my 43...one was not there and the other would not get me close enough this year because of my location choice.  So I shot with....a 100mm F2.8 macro!  Great lens, but I was really out of my mind shooting dance with it.

A few more lessons to post this week...

-ehw

More Spring

Spring continues to explode in color around the yard...so far this is one of my wife's favorites.  So much so she pulled a few for the kitchen table!

-ehw

Brotherly Love

Part of life if getting up after falling on our fourth point of contact....(your posterior for non-army airborne types).

I just love to remember that helping hands, no matter how small, go a long way to making life that much nicer as we recover from the falls.

-ehw

PS Just a little cell phone capture....still getting the handle on it but it was what I had on me when the moment arose!

Airport Survival

This is how one can keep a happy face after getting up at 4AM make a 7:10 flight...only to find it cancelled and you get rewarded with a five hour delay going home...

Free refills helps the attitude as well!

Well back to enjoying my friends as they compete for higher scores on some new game called Freeflow...some good graces come out of everything!

PS. This is not fancy coffee just the regular joe type stuff...no burn't beans here thank goodness!

-ehw

Saturday Morning Glory!

A week after I bought these flowers for my lovely wife, they are entering their full bloom.  So I just had to share a quick photo of them outside in the lovely morning light.

This week my devotional had many references to the Glory of God...his rising and the message of hope he brings precisely because he is now risen and on the unstoppable road to full glory in heaven with the father.

I must admit that after many weeks of Lent, and very contemplative devotionals this is quite a drastic change.  Lent forced me to be introspective, and  contemplate my weaknesses which could prevent me from reaching full communion with Christ.  So the celebration this week still has me wondering if I can meet the challenges ahead.  Can I obtain this rather incredible reward Christ offers us all?

These flowers though can teach a lesson about natural law we are all called to follow.

Even in the ground attached to their roots, these flowers were destined to die.  Once cut their death will be accelerated.  But if cared for with nutrients and sunlight they to can go out achieving their mission of full bloom pollination.  How does this relate to us?  We are all destined to die.  All of us walk off the path of goodness from time to time...and that hurts our growth.  Christ's gift to us in this Easter is that if we look back to his word, pay our penance, and move back to the living water we can still reach heaven.

I'll pray today that we all can find the living water we need to make the goodness grow to full potential in each of us.

-ehw