Patriot Day Calling

Tomorrow is Patriots Day, and as we remember 9/11 we need to remember what historical patriotism is in our country's history.

Patriotism is selflessness of action when others are down.  Patriotism is using the talents God gave us to care for ourselves well enough to have a surplus from time to time.  Patriotism is sharing the bounty through charity tithes without being forced under a government edict.  Patriotism historically recognizes each person has a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Note there is no guarantee of happiness..that is why the French ended in guillotines. the Russian revolution ended in some 10 million or so dead, and Mao killed his own millions.  I could go on and on...

If you are in doubt as to what you should do to be a Patriot, I think we need not look further than the cross.  Simply remember who will be our judge at the end of time.  I've yet to see anyone go wrong just following natural law in terms of Patriotism.  Because when people work together following natural law they build communities.  Natural Law does not divide people willfully.  We must respect those who go down their own path, under their own right to life self determination.  The Founders knew this, and built natural law into our national fabric from the beginning.  If you do not believe me read their writings from their own hand, not what a modern author says about them today!

So what will you do today to be a Patriot and join the ranks of those honored?  Remember our nation is not one of birthright defining our lives, it is one where we are supposed to have a birthright to stake out our own lives.  Whether you are 1 or 91 you can choose to live a life of a Patriot.  Simply follow the law that was here before time began.

-ehw

PS This is an example of re-developing a photograph using new processors.  I used OnOne to take a good photo and make it a whole lot better.  It is something I could not do a few years ago.  So go back and play with the past and bring out the vision you wanted with what we now have today.  Hey that is why they kept negatives in the film days!  No different at all!  Oh and don't write when you should be in bed...typos abound!

Negative space in life and a portrait

Here is my pretty china doll Julia Rose...

I think the world's technology if overloading us with stimuli.  Our brains are truly wired differently now because of it. Unfortunately this is robbing us of our ability to be introspective.  Introspective people often look into what appears to be nothingness, and find the rich textures and beauty God has hidden in there for their enjoyment and enlightenment that others ignore.  While making these portraits with my daughter I was able to slow down just enough to explore what I was doing...the why...the how...the wonder of the moment before me.  Writing this article, and thinking about what I wanted to do actually made me go back and re-edit my photograph to make it more attractive..actually to make the nothingness more attractive and complementary of the subject!  I had set the stage, but only by self examination was I truly able to explore it.

Here is the story of the shot:  When I shot this portrait I wanted to explore the concept of negative space a bit.  I just finished reading about in in Bryan Peterson's book so I thought it would be good to practice.  This is one of those times where you purposely let a big set of space be empty...but in this case I filled it up with a rich texture.  Before last month I would be scared to do something with the space, wondering if I was "allowed" to by the photogurus of the world.  Bob Coates helped me walk away from that supposed stigma last month at a class I took with him.  "If the masters of art did it, why can we learn from them?" he said...and then he encouraged us all to play a little but with the concept.  Only through play can you learn, experience and find the your style in the wonderful world of photo development we have at our fingertips today.  It is a great lesson we should all grasp on in so many ways (Bob Coates website bcphotography.com)  I used Julia's eyes and body curve to compliment the negative space...she is looking at the negative space as if something is there you cannot see!  By moving Julia in the lighting space I also purposely created shadows to give the subject a three dimensional depth to match the texture.  If I had more space in the old basement I'd pull her further from the backdrop..but I am out of that vital commodity in the basement right now...to create more depth and contrast in the textures.  Next step is to do more with the lighting outside of post to make this easier.

So put down that smart phone, ipad or gameboy.  Look into the nothingness, and see what you've been missing.  Remove the man made stimuli, and look, listen and feel for the rich textures of life God prepared for us.  I think our lives will be much greater for it...I know this portrait of my daughter certainly was.

-ehw

P.S.  The Fujifilm X-E1 F5, 1/110, ISO1600, at 234mm(35mm equivalent) tripod mounted!

Law Enforcement Memorial

On a recent trip I took the time to honor a few family and friends by visiting the National Law Enforcement memorial in Washington D.C. So many names...and unfortunately the number of names added each year accelerated each of the past few years. Let us pray that our collective discourse and conduct begins to rise up and help reduce the names added to this wall in the coming years.

-ehw P.S. This is an example of making the best of lunch hour shooting opportunity. The light was harsh and horrible for color shots, but by carefully watching the strength of the shadows and shade I tried to set the stage for a good black and white so I had something to remember the day.

Looking up to Heaven

Vertical elements in churches main function it to have you look up, hopefully towards where we perceive heaven to be.  This is a reflection of our natural tendencies.  I have yet to find a culture where when they are happy they look down, or when in a defeated stance look up.

Each stone you see weighs 50 to 100 pounds.  Estimates say they moved over 125,000 cubic feet of rock.  Some fathers and grown sons hauled as many as 70-80 loads of stone to help raise this from the ground.  By the way...no automatic lifts or power tools!

Amazing!

-ehw

PS All the info is coming from the parish information sheet...check out their website at www.stfedelischurch.com

Treasures in plain sight

As we drove across Kansas both east and west I saw beautiful churches rising from the plains.  I found myself intrigued, and driving home my daughter gave me a chance to see one of them.  When given a choice of Eisenhower's Presidential Library or the "Cathedral of the Plains" she said try this...and we made it a pilgrimage.

This is all you would see from the interstate...

St. Fidelis Catholic Church is one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas.  It nickname, Cathedral of the Plains came from William Jennings Bryant after a campaign stop here in 1912.  What is really is though is a testimony of the faith and dedication of Volga German immigrants to build a faith inspired community on the harsh landscape of the high plains from the 1880's to the turn of the century.  What makes it even more remarkable, is that the current parish continues to care for and restore the church to keep up to the standards of their ancestors.

So come on in, and see the testimony of faith built by farmers at the great personal cost because they believed their house of worship needed to be a grand home that tells their story of faith through form, function, and art.  In all ways it is a pleasure in plain sight.

Welcome to St. Fidelis!

Three Portraits

Up in Chicago I spent the last few days working on my portraits and marketing skills. One additional challenge I put before myself was to start asking people to pose for a portrait for me. In each portrait I wanted to try and start capturing a part of my subject's personality....and why they are such special people to God and me!

In the first photo you see my friend Richard. He was my table buddy during the group talks and we shared a few wonderful meals together. He is from Mayberry, NC..the real one. He and his loving wife worked hard for years as a husband/wife team in a two person law firm. Now he and his wife are retired...and he is now adventuring. I hope the photo reflects his wonderful, peaceful, calm and friendly personality.  I'll never forget the vegetable rolls he ordered the last night there!  Even when surprised he was so calm!

The second photo is Levi Sim; now of Portland, Oregon. I hope you see the energy in those eyes. He is a man of seemingly superman energy. Actually doesn't he look like Clark Kent?...well anyway the energy in those eyes is nourished by a wonderful wife and a little girl they are adopting. I loved seeing him well up over a child he loves so much...made me think of how I felt each of the four times a child entered my life. I hope you can see the joy in his life right there.

The final photo is of my friend Adrian. He and I were table buddies last year at Skip's. We renewed our friendship this week.  He is smart, direct, and one of the more encouraging people you'll ever meet. He is a U.S. citizen from Romania ... .and if he does not give you inspiration about taking a risk in a completely new land and starting with nothing no one will. He gave me help last year, and this year in the encouragement realm...thanks buddy.

Now I hope you enjoyed my little set of portraits. A little tip to the People of Calgary blog...he is inspirational at meeting and introducing interesting people up there...and one day I hope to add some more jock stories like this.

-ehw P.S. All with the fujifilm x-e1.  Edited in Snapseed while I waited for the airplane ride home.

Call to vigilance!

Today I am starting a new adventure...I'm blessed to attend a three and half day photo workshop called Skip's Summer School in Chicago, Illinois (well really Oak Brook but we're close enough).

I got here exhausted, the real job kicking me me around a lot...but that is where the story begins.

I'm tired from work, I'm tired from noisy toddler making noises in here sleep down the hall, I'm tired because I'm not efficient enough or focused like I should be, I'm already missing my family and wondering if I am doing them right by being here. I wanted to feel sorry for myself, and I was tempted to say the walk over church would be too long. The Gospel today reminded me that I would be unwise to walk away from such a trivial challenge.

Throughout the bible story God provides opportunities for the vigilant to grow in wisdom and experience if we grasp those intangible moments.

Today's readings reminded us of a number of moments in time where vigilance was rewarded: Passover's short notice to leave our old world behind, Abraham's challenge to leave all behind, Abraham welcoming strangers with kindness...who turn out to be the Lord's messengers, the God fearing men and women who did not know Jesus but followed the wisdom they had, and finally the parable from Christ himself telling us directly that we will never know the hour of our final test of faith.

So instead of thinking woe to me, I must actually be thinking about how do I capitalize on each moment to act out God's wisdom in my thoughts and deeds. That is why I'm happy I did take up the three mile round trip by foot to church. I got this message because I was there to listen to his word and be nourished at his altar.

I'll share you a little secret...it is much easier to do this after a peaceful nap though...

-ehw P.S. the photo is from the entrance to Ascension of The Lord Catholic Church in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois. Lovely lighting in there!

Morning Colors

A few Satruday's ago Kellie got a breakfast with Dad.  She'd been up since oh 4AM....so go figure I would be the only one up with her!

While I made her oatmeal she posed for this little portrait.  What a way to make a Daddy's heart melt.

I'll admit one aspect of Fujifilm which draws me in are these great colors in the JPEGS.  I can get very accurate digital colors, and I can simulate various films.  I shot a lot with Fujifilm back in the 80's while in high school.  So maybe it is a nostalgia effect in my brain, but whatever it is I think it works.

The effect of colors, and their variations through film or digital editing, significantly effect the mood of people reviewing the photo.  It can make you in the eyes of some viewers and break you in the viewpoint of others.  Unlike my film negative days. we can change the colors most of the time to suite not only our personal taste, but our audience as well.  In any post processing development we owe it to ourselves to explore this type of photo nuance to see if better choices exist than we initially made.

This is the power of shooting JPEG + RAW.  You can obtain an in camera perspective as well as a perspective from your (most of the the time) external RAW converter.  Using the RAW you will of course have more data to work with in manipulating the photo to suite your tastes.  I will caution you though, RAW is no processed the same way in each converter.  Again you owe it yourself to really look at the results you get from your RAW converter to see if they are the best for your camera.  In my case, the ACR version of Fujifilm X-Trans RAF files demonstrate higher levels of smearing and odd yellow channel color shift in greens than either Aperture or Capture One.  I like both Aperture and Capture One's conversions.  A stand alone RAW converter called Iridient Developer shows even more promise than the other last two...it just adds another step in your workflows.

-ehw

Wiley Coyote's last stop

Did you grow up on Road Runner and Wiley Coyote cartoons?  If not your missing a little bit of modern education.

This site at the top of Pike's Peak seemed to be the inspiration of all those falls Wiley Coyote took...Track runs all the way up to the edge and then...well it is a 2,000 foot drop.  Good for getting home in a hurry if you are not worried about arriving in one piece.

It was a fun part of the trip.  Everyone had to remember to work a little slower because it was not hard to get light headed up there in the thin air of 14,000 feet.

-ehw

P.S.  Mr. Fuji made this trip up the hill.  A nice story teller told me once that if you can get an interesting angle, like the top shot that can be the grabber.  The second shot finishes the story you wanted to tell.  So depending on the purpose of your post, share either one or both.  I thought both would work better on this little story of our trip.

At the foot of the altar

Stunning artwork and symbols even at the foot of the altar in Grand Lake......one aspect of churches I truly enjoy are those which teach the faith through art...

I'll have a treat in a few days when I show you the Cathedral of the Plains.  The parishioners there really made art and faith sing...

Since this was a circle the square frame seemed to be the best choice for the selection.

-ehw

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

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.

Body of Christ

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

Little Big Boy?

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

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...

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

Picnic Time

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

Morning in Roswell

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