Photograph a Day number two. Here is our church steeple, I like the way it shines at night.
#2 – Steeple
#1 – Lacy
This is the first photo in the Photograph a Day section, meet Lacy our greyhound mix. If you look closely at her eye, you can see the reflection of our house. Greyhounds have been call the 45 mile-per-hour couch potato, now I know why. When Lacy is not lying around chewing on her toy or sleeping, she is running laps around the backyard and leaping through the air. She is fun to watch but can be hard to get a picture.
The Title Photo
I wanted to share a little information about the title picture of this page. I pass this small park everyday on the way to work. The park is a very special place to me; the gazebo is where I proposed to and married my wife, (there was some time between the two events). One morning I decided to stop and take a picture. The sun was not up, if you notice the clock in the right of the picture it reads 5:50, this gave me the chance to make the photograph with out anybody being in the scene. I really like the way the light from the clock and street pole help frame the shot. Notice how the sky behind the gazebo fades from dark blue at the bottom to black at the top as the sun starts the day.
What’s inside
There is no telling what might be found inside a fencepost. The pictures above are of a family of chickadees that decided to make a nest in a hollow part of the fencepost. Taking the picture of the baby birds was the fun part. How was I going to light the tiny and very dark inside of a fencepost (notice the tip of the nail on the right side of the picture)? I had to use the hole in the side of the post, where a bolt once was, to light the baby chickadees.
This is the second set of baby birds that I have seen this year. The others were house finches that built a nest on our wreath hanging on the front. This year is the first time that I have had the opportunity to see babies bird in their nest. Maybe until now I was just too busy to notice. It’s nice to slow down and see all the amazing thing that God has made around us.
Camping
We went on our first camping trip this past weekend with the homeschool group from church. It has been years since I’ve been camping, Jamie went when she was a child but this was Kathryn’s first time. I had the job of cooking while on the trip, the next time I’ll have to remember to bring the lighter fluid (that might be another post all together). Everything worked out fine, I cooked supper the first night over the open fire. We had chicken and sweet potatoes and Jamie made s’mores for dessert.
The next day Kathryn and I went on a little nature walk and saw many things, one was a rat snake. She did a good job of not running from it or screaming and scaring it off, so we had a good chance to watch its behavior. The snake moved to the side of the trail, curled around, and raised up a bit then used its tail to vibrate the leaves around it to sound like a rattlesnake. It was awesome to see the reaction from the rat snake, mimicking a snake that is known to be poisonous to help protect itself from predators; God is awesome.
Seeing the reaction of the snake made me think about how we might react toward others that we don’t know. Do we put up a front to make ourselves appear to be something we are not, or do we welcome them just as we are and get to know them better?
The State of Being
I heard it put once that for something to be it is always changing. I thought about it and realized that even if I set perfectly still I’m still aging as time goes by and therefore changing. As a photographer, I look for things that are eye catching. Sometimes it takes waiting for a particular moment when the lighting and shadows of a scene look just the way I want before clicking the shutter and then there are those times when the child beside me, Kathryn, says “Ken, look a crane”. Either way the world around us is constantly changing; at times, I have to make myself slow down and enjoy it.
Alone
I saw this flower growing up through the sidewalk and thought it looked all alone in a concrete garden. A quote by Thomas Jefferson said, “One travels more usefully when alone, because he reflects more”. The truth is that no one is ever alone, God is always there. It can be difficult to realize at times, but he is there. In the bad times, it may appear that he is far away and the “how could this happen to me” mentality may come to mind. On the flipside when times are good, there could be a “look at what I did” attitude on life, which pushes God to the side. This is why I try to pray constantly, by communicating with God throughout the day, it helps me to remember that God is always with me. When Thomas Jefferson made the above quote I wonder if the reflects more part of it was because there were fewer distractions and we could listen more clearly to God’s will.
Generation Gap
I thought this picture was very cute and just had to put it on my blog. I took it while we were on our way back from grandma’s house. The fun part was trying to get her to stick her thumb out like she was trying to hitch a ride. She had no idea what hitchhiking was, and I’m very glad of that. I started thinking about how many things that I saw as a kid that our children never even heard of. That is one of the reasons I think it’s awesome to spend time talking with the older generation. Every generation has things in their life that the next one never even knew existed.
Knowledge
What a great thing to have in life, not just knowledge, but the thirst for knowledge. I learn something new everyday. If I could have all the knowledge in the world tomorrow, it would turn the world into a very boring place. I love the feeling when that little light comes on in my head. Wow, what a great feeling when a concept of something becomes perfectly clear, that just the minute before was a mystery. I’m thankful that God made gave the thirst for knowledge and I never want to quench it.
Weeds
While mowing the yard the yesterday I noticed these weeds with pretty little blossoms on them and thought if they were in a different place it would not be considered weeds. It’s funny how the location of something can change how it’s viewed. There is a point in life when weeds have to be controlled, and not just in the yard. The hard part is knowing what things are weeds and what are flowers. Trust in God and follow his guidance even if what was once thought to be a flower is actually a pesky weed in God’s plan for us. Allow him to do the weeding in our lives.
