Happy Thanksgiving
God bless you on this holiday of thanksgiving to God for all the bounty of the year and our fruitful lives as Americans.
Happy Fall Day
Today was a happy fall day in Roswell, Georgia. I enjoyed company of visiting family, and the warmth of their love matched the warm fall day.
Roswell is a very nice town, just north of Atlanta on the north bank of the Chattahoochee River. Originally a milling town for textiles and lumber, it grew into a quiet suburb of Atlanta over the last 35 years.
Our downtown has a little historical center, often used for movies and promotional photo shoots. Today I was able to take a walk down the street and catch a few photos. While we were walking back, the setting sun was too low to obtain any good photos along most of the steet. I didn't put my camera away though. Just a few feet short of the car the sun poked through a cloud and illuminated this cute doll. Since my camera was still out and on, it took but a second to frame and shoot three shots with different creative settings.
Just like everything in life, we always need to be prepared. The best camera you have is the one you have with you. The best camera available is the one out and powered up.
It is a metaphor for us all as we face the many challenges of our lives. When faced with an ethical choice do we have tools needed to negotiate them ready? Do we have the background materials available to study the problem in greater depth? Do we have our courage up and ready to defend what we know is right in the face of serious straw men challenges? Are we ready for deep cutting personal attacks rather than philosophical or logical ones?
We will never know the time or day of our greatest crisis, but we are all called to be ready to the utmost of our abilities. God will help carry us though the rest, but only if we prepared for the test.
-ehw
PS Stand by for a few more Roswell photos over the next week!
Dance
[slideshow] Dance poses a photographer great challenges, especially if shot during a performance.
You have to choose action, pose or some of both. You have to search for the decisive moment, and catch it in rhythm. You often have to watch out for rapidly changing lights and exposure.
I love the challenge. I love the excitement of trying to get "the shot." After a year off from the recital circuit because of the move down south, I can't wait to see my little lady back up there though my lens.
After watching her practice a few times in the last few months I've been amazed. She improved her dedication to learning dance, and now observes things about her movements she did not in September. She is ready to join the "big girls" in her mind, and that means growing up in body and mind.
It also poses a lesson for me to follow as a photographer and as a Dad. I cannot reduce my attention to detail because I am comfortable with my skills and gear, but to increase attention to detail in all things. I have to pay better attention to my children, to my wife and the environment we live in. I also have to continue to mature and grow in faith to be the best role model I can. I'll never be perfect, but if I put in the same type of discipline to my faith life I will be calmer and more effective for them in all things.
I cannot take for granted that I am seeing more details in the viewfinder than I did a few months ago myself. I must focus harder, an conceive my photographic vision earlier. I must remember the fundamentals faster, and recognize them as they appear in the scene before me.
A lifetime of learning lays before not just before my girl, but each of us as well.
-ehw
Perfect Suite 7
The family did some yard work yesterday and the Little Red Wagon was calling me to make a portrait. I liked the rich fall light, and it just suckered me in.
I am testing the Perfect Suite 7 for editing. It is a very powerful set of utilities, in a convenient package for round tripping in and out of Lightroom and Aperture. The "unique" thing about Perfect Suite is that it is layers for the rest of us. Photoshop is extremely powerful, as it is pixel level editing. The terminology of Photoshop is that of digits, and not necessarily traditional photography. Some of us out here in the real world have trouble with the multiple languages required to think Photoshop vs Photography. Perfect Suite is a lot more photo centric, and for me personally easier to grasp. For others who are new to editing maybe it does not matter as much, but it does for me.
I used Suite 6, and I am finding a number of the new Suite 7 tools are easier to access and work with and visualize how they will make their effects. Another thing those on a budget will appreciate is the loyalty program. Perfect Suite updated everything at one time, and you just pay once for all the updated tools for the year. I love Nik, but the incremental update policy means I am still spending more to updating the suite costs more than the initial purchase.
On average I can save a lot of time by using Perfect Suite when I need heavy editing. I can do here in under two minutes what it would take ten or more in Aperture or Lightroom. When editing my big assignments, this is a big deal.
It does have a 30 day free trial, so you can try it out for yourself. Their information on the website explains everything in detail. Perfect Suite 7 Website
-ehw
His Glorious Light
Over the last few days I've felt lost. I literally feel like the country I was born into, and raised in is gone. I can literally see challenges threatening what I once thought was universally sacred, my choice of religious expression.
I thankfully read a post from "the Pilgrim" Bill Fortney (www.billfortney.com) and my outlook changed a good deal. He wrote about a tough old Pinon Pine tree he stood standing tall in very rough ground. In a place where it should not grow, it stood steady. A guide told him it was because it had a tough bark, or skin, to protect it from the various harsh weather threats in that part of the valley.
The passage, and bible verse that followed reminded me of a book I read by Scott Hahn called A Father Who Keeps His Promises. It reminded me that while natural law always existed, and revealed God's plan, his explicit compact for our salvation started with just one man's family. The one family wandered amongst the great nations of the world for a hundreds of years before it formed itself as a nation. And it was hundreds of years after that before our savior came and spread the message to the whole world.
After reading Bill's words, the Bible psalm he selected, thinking of Scott Hahn's message, and counting the people around me who believed in the law of God like me; I finally realized the obvious. I would not be lost if I followed God's plan and not mine. God, thankfully, put me in a time where there are others who believe and live as virtuous life as possible. I needed to reach out to people who are role models for the life I want to build. If I work with those people, it can be a tough skin of friendship I'll need to keep my family moving towards God's graceful light.
So today at lunch I walked, and picked up a challenge to see what I could get in the harsh light of mid-day that would be somewhat reflective of that theme. And yes, thankfully see some of his light came through and struck my lens and sensor with his glorious light.
-ehw
Time Travel at Home
This weekend I worked overnight Saturday to Sunday, and found myself forced out of the opportunity to capture the wonderful fall light. I grew frustrated as I traveled from site to site, or took my nap since so many lovely photos were not being turned into digits.
This evening just before dinner I grabbed the P&S when these chairs started providing a silhouette and warm colors. I thought the chairs looked like something from a nice trip I once took to a historic residence. It made me feel like I'd gone back in time.
I shot several frames, removing distractors...and messing up Mom's organization for the kiddo's home school classroom. I got a nod of approval from my wife...and I kept working.
After a little experimentation in Perfect Effects 7 I got this result. I hope you like it. (My wife did, so the disruption to her classroom was acceptable..whew)
The moral of the story, is that a camera can serve as a time machine in the hands of a crafty practitioner. Even if you do not have the opportunity to travel the world, like so many of the fantastic travelers I've read recently, you can travel world wide in your own home with a little bit of forethought.
-ehw
EXTRA EXTRA!
EXTRA EXTRA!
As of today I am in business! Everything is in with City Hall and approved. I can now take orders and provide photography services to you!
It is an exciting day. I have a long way to go before I can quit my day job, but now I can grow in new ways!
So if you are looking for someone with passion who wants to tell your story...I'm available and ready to serve you!
-ehw
Shapes
For my homework lately I've been examining shapes. One of the hardest shapes to work with are triangles. Triangles are the strongest shape, they divide our rectangular frames and add tension to photographs. So I took it upon myself to try to create a pleasing photograph while on a walk about full of triangles.
I this photo I played with the triangles, parallel lines, circles and implied rectangles to keep the photo interesting. With a little luck I made some edgy tension relaxed by implied rectangles. I added the vignette to also create a rounded edge driving you easily and naturally to the focal point of my photo.
So on your next walk about see what you can make from the world around you!
-ehw
Beauty in the midst of our lives
Like most homes with four homeshooled children, and both parents involved in scouting leadership, life is a wild ride. I am often wonder how I will grow as a photographer in the midst of all this "living."
This weekend was no different. I was at an all day adult scout training event, and I thought I would never get a chance to shoot something really nice. Then I looked over and saw light streaking through the trees to a red bush being backlit. It was like a fire alarm went off in my head...that might be the shot of the weekend! I grabbed my P&S and started to crouch and follow light...frame the photos...switch to aperture mode to try a few creative visions. Then I snapped away.
Meanwhile ten other adults looked at me with a grin and bewilderment. I could almost hear, "What is that guy doing?"
Little did they know, I was chasing my dream while facilitating those of my family and friends. It might be a road less traveled, but it is the one that has made all the difference. It makes me who I am, and ever more appreciative of the beauty in the midst of our lives.
-ehw