sky scraper

There is a timed floodlight on a building near my home.  It lights up the tree at eleven PM like daylight.  I have often thought about taking night pics here, and I finally brought the tripod and took this picture.  And do you know what I noticed?  Do you see the star near the top of the tree?  Well, I had never realized that this tree... is almost as tall as the stars.  Any taller, and it might poke, scrape or tear the night's velvety shroud.  ;-)

For the next thee weeks, I plan to cooperate with a few blogging friends in a header competition.  While this is technically called a competition, for me, it is more like a community event.  We five will submit a post and header around the same subject.  I was afraid I might not have time, so I have only said yes to doing this for three weeks.  I do not know if I will be able to continue after that.  If you have not visited their blogs before, would you please consider viewing their posts and leaving a comment?  More information will be posted a couple of days from now.

happy holidays

[Christmas tree centerpiece]

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If you purchase a set of "holiday cookies," this is what it might look like: one can expect to see see green and red icing for Christmas, blue icing for Hannukah, and red, black & green for Kwanzaa. Are those still "holiday cookies" if the package has only green and red? Aren't those called "Christmas cookies?" Is there a problem with labeling them as Christmas cookies?

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What about these new "holiday trees" that I have been hearing about? They look an awful lot like Christmas trees to me. What's the diff? I don't get it.

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Is it because everything that somehow bears the name of Christ is of him or for him? Let us not kid ourselves. Jesus himself said that may will come to him on that day and say "Lord, Lord..." but to some, Jesus will say "depart from me... I never knew you." The Christmas holy day has become a secularized Christmas holiday. I do not see a need to make sure that the name of Christ is stripped away from rich, established tradition.

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So what if we DO see a radical transformation into *The Non-Denominational Secular Thing Buying Period? Shall I tell you what I want to do about it? I want to remember the significance of the incarnation of the second person of the Trinity. I want to be freshly awed by the many, many prophecies that were fulfilled in that one life. I want to connect the dots, and see the necessary relation between Christ's birth and his death and resurrection.

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Some churches will hold services on Christmas day, and some will not do that unless the 25th falls on a Sunday. My own church will have a shorter-than-usual service. (I am not sure how I feel about that.) The Christmas morning tradition in my family is that we do not open gifts until Dad (that's me) opens up the Bible and reads the account of the birth of Jesus. First things first.

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Bottom line? Do not let retailers, popular media or special interest groups dictate how you celebrate Christmas, and be picky about who gets the privilege of informing you about the same. Wise men still seek him.

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P.S. For any of you, who for whatever reason, do not celebrate Christmas... I still wish for you the very best. Let me offer a sincere and well-intentioned "happy holidays" to you and yours.

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* This clever phrase was not my own, but it comes from an article by Sam Biddle entitled The 7 Absolute Worst Tech Gifts to Give This Holiday.

Christmas lights

Three years ago, I took some pictures using a Christmas tree with lights to produce some special effects. This year, I tinkered with some special effects to produce a Christmas tree with lights. Here is how I did it:

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Using a tripod at night, I manually focused on a blank wall.

The camera was set to exposure priority, and the two shots varied between 5 and 13 seconds. Then, I turned out the lights.

My hand formed an upside-down "V," to mask the shape, as I drew a zig-zag on the wall with a cheap, pen laser. (Remove any reflective jewelry so you don't blind yourself!)

In post-editing, I changed the red lines to green.

The ornaments were done by guessing where the tree was, and just dotting inside the triangle with the same laser.

Then, I put the two images together as an overlapping collage.

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I tried combining more exposures to get a variety of ornament colors, but I liked the simplest one best. I wonder what else we can try with light.

crepuscular collection

I drove up to Wisconsin this weekend, and had a little time to kill in the late afternoon. The sun was very low on the horizon, and the drama of daylight's finale would climax quickly, followed just as quickly by the drawing of an opaque curtain.

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First, I worked to get the most realistic colors in this shot (above). Then, I toyed with the color settings in the camera, pulling one color or another. I fiddled with saturation, too. But I ended up most satisfied with a simple black & white. [click on any photo to enlarge]

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My favorite part of the amber waves of grain was the closest stalks, with their wavy details.

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There was a wooded area bordering the South of the property, and this is where I have done some archery. This path interests me because of how well lit the pathway stays, and how dark the woods can be on either side. When someone looks at this spot, they might just see a hill. Do you know what I see? My mind goes back to a time when I worked with campers there, and some children had the misfortune of disturbing a swarm of ground nesting yellow jackets. I also picture, in my mind's eye, my own children rolling down that hill. Thankfully, these are two separate stories, and not the same event.

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This last one was inspired by David Herrick, who's pictures I've seen on Facebook recently.

restless and runcible

The Pentax was feeling neglected, so camera in hand, I went to a local park, and meandered around the pond. There were so many geese there, that I thought I would get a good picture of them. Sorry; I was not happy with how those turned out. (Geese are kinda gross when you have to walk where they have walked... especially when there are hundreds like there were at this park.)

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Let's see, where was I? Oh, yeah... so I have the camera in my hands, scouring the area with a discerning eye, thinking, "I've gotta shoot something." Hmmm... It's a good thing I did not say that out loud.

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I took a picture of these very trees recently, but I like the colors better this time around. That, plus I used a tripod this time. (sigh) I think I got what I came for!

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Incidentally, if you pass through my beloved town and feel the urge to skate on or near this pond, be sure to carry rocks in your pockets. Apparently, you can avoid getting in trouble by flinging stones at the authorities. I have no idea how it works, but there it is, in black & white. Punctuation matters, people.

groves grieving

People in the office today are saying that it has been confirmed that two tornadoes touched down in this area. We have power at work, but I've had no power at home since Tuesday night. Still waiting. Last night, we lit tea candles here and there, and that looked kinda pretty. We should try candlelight again some time, when it is by choice and not necessity.

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The downed branches, and in many cases--whole trees... that was not so pretty. I am probably not what you'd call a "tree hugger," but I still find it sad to see these beautiful giants felled by catastrophic winds. Driving to work, I observed street after street, and mile after mile, that the lawns were lined with piles of broken branches.

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It is merely inconvenient for the Craver house to be without electricity. Granted, I am not there 24/7. Still, it is much easier to deal with this, than the damaged homes that absorbed the crash of heavy tree limbs and massive trunks. As far as I know, there was no loss of life from these tornadoes. Then again, I haven't been able to tune into the evening news yet.

painted sunrise

There is not much going on outside for me these days. I am usually hurrying to get out of the weather, and into someplace warm and dry... especially if I can find hot chocolate and peanut butter cookies!

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I hope it's not too tacky, but I saw a nice sunrise on Sunday and thought I'd fiddle around with it in post editing. I ran it through a program that makes it look painted, but then pulled back a bit from that effect. This one is more intense than the original photo, but less intense than the paint feature wanted to make it.

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The next photo remained natural, but instead of allowing the silhouette, I added flash. That way, we can see the snow on the branches.

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on the morrow

The sun sets on one day, promising to return in a few hours. Its yielding of the sky to twinkling stars is only temporary, because he will return soon to rule the day again.

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Leafless trees are barren for a season. A frosty breeze strips them bare to reveal another form of glory in their creative lines, their shape, their originality.

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A noisy escapee from the recycle bin performs its random and noisy dance in the gusty breezes. It rushes here, then there, crashing occasionally, and then suddenly stopping - as if out of breath.

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Standing there, I soak it all in. Someone steps outside, chin tucked, and begins the hasty charge to the calm inside their car. "What are you so happy about?" they ask. I smile and say, "no mosquitoes."

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But I know they will return. And so will the leaves. And so will the sun. Lord willing, I will be here to enjoy them all again.

fall foliage at 6 pm

Many evening photographs are taken into the sun for spectacular sunsets or dramatic silhouettes. This one was more like ninety degrees away from the sun. That is a good angle to use a polarizing filter, because the sky comes out darker.

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The trees are tallish in this stretch of my daily commute. The amber rays from the setting sun broke through a gap in the trees on my right, and lit up these red Maple leaves. The scenery almost looked fabricated, as if the coloring was boosted with saturation (but it wasn't). Perhaps it was the queen's gardeners (from Alice in Wonderland) who painted the leaves such a brilliant hue of red.

whole lotta nothin'

We did a little visiting this weekend, and I took a few pics. And I wanted to share one or two of them with you today, but guess what... I checked my pocket today, and the thumb drive was missing. I can't retrieve them from the camera, because they've already been deleted. I like to keep the memory card as uncluttered as possible. The images are not lost forever; they're just on a computer that I can't get to right now.

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The best of intentions today yielded a whole lot of nothing. Oh well, that's the way it is sometimes. Maybe tomorrow I'll have those files, okay?

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In the meantime, I pulled this one from the archives. I took it last week, and it fits perfectly for today, because it shows a spot where there used to be a tree, and now it is... nothing. Those houses in the background are empty because construction was stopped... hence: nothing. And most of the photo is sky... more of nothing!! ;-)

signs of life

. There is a chill on its way over the weekend, but before it gets here, we are being treated to a few phenomenal days. The sun is shining, people (including myself) are driving with the windows open. There is an excitement in the air about everything new.

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Exuberantly, life bursts forth from a tree in my backyard. A pollen-covered bee gets drunk in a crocus on St. Patrick's day. And a goose with no head (apparently) still manages to walk around with a huge tummy holding a bunch of eggs... probably golden. Right now, I just want to hop on my bicycle and feel the breeze on my face. Life is good!

fowl territory

Does it look to you like random clouds hovering over this tree, or is the tree actually smoking? It looks like it's smoking, doesn't it?

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This tree stands out from the rest of the landscape, and serves as a special landmark on my way home from work. Frequently, it will hold lots of birds, and I have tried numerous times to photograph it while it is full of those birds, but one skittish little freak will scream "fire!" and the rest of them mindlessly panic. I might be left with one or two deaf or dead birds, and then it is not worth the difficulty of finding a place to pull over here.

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When the sun is shining low on a clear day, the amber light adds drama to these bare limbs. You will see this tree again, if I can ever get the feathery mob to sit still for me.

eclipse

Freezing rain. It was the worst stuff you could drive in, but it made an interesting pattern of concentric circle highlights in the tree branches.

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Since this was a low light situation and I did not want to use flash, I selected the camera's twilight setting to saturate all available illumination and it yielded this tripped-out amber hue.

the greatest gift

When does it feel like Christmas to you? I mean, is there something that triggers that special awareness of the season?

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For me, it has to be after Thanksgiving (the last Thursday of November), and snow and carols. I need all three to kick it off for me. I found myself wondering how on earth people can get into the Christmas spirit without snow. That is a defect on my part, perhaps. After all, there probably wasn't any snow in Bethlehem on the day Christ was born.

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An angel told Joseph, "She (Mary) will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." -Mt. 1:21 (emphasis mine)

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I have heard it said that Jesus died to make salvation "possible for all." That is not exactly true. Such a phrase begs the questions, "Then why aren't all people saved?" and "Does Jesus save, or do we reach out to the Lord and save ourselves?" No, it is more accurate to say that salvation would be impossible apart from what Christ did, but through him, salvation is

1) a certainty, and not just wishful thinking

2) for those he came to save.

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No snow? No problem. The gift that came that first Christmas is bigger than that.

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Unfortunately, many people have not received that gift. Now, I can't decide which is worse, being without hope, or having a false sense of hope. So I ask, do YOU have absolute assurance that his gift of salvation counts for you? Is it something you hope for, but aren't quite sure about? Do you want to know more about this? Is there anything here that needs clarification? (Feel free to email me if you don't want your comments read by all.)

people pics

This boy makes a good subject. (I have his dad's permission to post the pic.) I know that the photographer is supposed to make the subject feel comfortable, but it was the opposite with him. I asked, "would you stand by that tree? on the other side? come out a little more. now step back just a smidge... He let me tell him how I wanted him to stand on a nearby fence, and let me take several photos with the sun behind him, as I messed around with the flash. He was so accomodating, and put me at ease from the start. When I looked at this picture, I got to feeling pretty competent.

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Ha! Then I asked a visiting telecommuter if I could take her picture. She said yes, but I felt sooooo uncomfortable. I don't know why, but the creep-o-meter was off the scales. My confidence waned to zero. (I don't know why--it didn't make any sense.) She asked what I was going to use the picture for, and I didn't have the heart to tell her, "probably nothing, because most of what I take is thrown away." The LCD screen was dark, but I didn't want to take any more time to fix the lighting, so I told them (2 coworkers) thanks, and crawled back into the hole that is my cubicle. That is all.

bright and crisp

Oh man, it's so nice to be lazy and get up from the night's slumber whenever I feel like it! This turned out to be a FIVE-day weekend for me!!! I'll be driving a lot on Monday, but that's okay. I don't know yet what kind of weather I'll be driving in, but it has been brisk and sunny so far.

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We visited a few friends, and did some very needed work around the house. The raccoons, birds and squirrels will have to find another way now, to get inside my garage. Wild animals are only cute to me when they're outside. Once they're inside, the warm, fuzzy feelings disappear. (Honestly, I get to wishing I had something other than a camera to shoot them with.)

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Okay kids... I'm off to do a little more around the house, and maybe some shopping.

aerial photography

another view from Scenic Overlook in Bolingbrook

One more from Scenic Overlook. Mind you, I wasn't actually flying. That only happens in my dreams. These pics were taken from my town's highest spot.

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A photographer for a national magazine was assigned to take pictures of a great forest fire. He was advised that a small plane would be waiting to fly him over the fire.

The photographer arrived at the airstrip just an hour before sundown. Sure enough, a small Cessna airplane was waiting. He jumped in with his equipment and shouted, "Let's go!"

The tense man sitting in the pilot's seat swung the plane into the wind and soon they were in the air, though flying erratically.

"Fly over the north side of the fire," said the photographer, "and make several low-level passes."

"Why?" asked the nervous pilot.

"Because I'm going to take pictures!" yelled the photographer. "I'm a photographer, and photographers take pictures."

After a long pause, the "pilot" replied: "You mean, you're not my instructor?"

accepting my limitations

Behind Bass Pro Shops -- Bolingbrook, IL

Two crimson saplings, approximately the same size, stood in close proximity to me. I wondered how to frame one or both for a picture, when all-of-the-sudden, it hit me. I sidestepped a few paces to change perspective, lining one sapling directly behind the other. It even made the foliage appear a little thicker.

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I wanted to walk closer, and look for more photo opportunities, but there was a sign. I assumed it would say "no fishing," but it said "no trespassing." Oops. The photo session was over... time to go home.

arrested

Stop!!!

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The young helpers have been dropped off after Food Pantry night, and the Craver minivan waits for the corner light to change. Presently, my light turns green, but there is no one else waiting to turn at this lonely intersection, so I sit motionless for a few seconds. I sit arrested by an unusually stark vision. The cross traffic's red signal and some tail lights illuminated this tree in such an unnatural way that it forced me to pause and take notice. I have observed this numerous times, but I finally stopped to capture it.

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Same tree with a green traffic light and after fiddling around with post editing.

m is for...

[click on photo for larger image]

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You would find my little cubicle deep in the heart of the building, far from any hope of direct sunlight. Our spirits had been repeatedly trampled by unseasonable cold and snow and the dismal dripping of freezing rain, almost to the point where we began to get accustomed to it. So sometimes it is advantageous that I cannot see what it looks like outside.

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But this day, people were all abuzz with excitement. It was one of those days where everybody can't help talking about the weather. At my first break, I raced away from the inner caverns of our carpeted walls and artificial light, and made my way to the front entrance.

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Two full magnolia trees keep their sentry posts on either side of the main entrance. The heavy fragrance of these ivory guards has arrested me several times at the front door. As I approached, I could see the sky was so blue, it was surreal! I pushed open the door and squinting a little bit, filled my lungs with a deep breath of sweet air. I had almost forgotten what I was going to do, but the camera in my hands jogged my memory. I put a polarizing filter on the lens and began snapping pics.

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This one is my favorite from the set. If you look carefully, you will notice that my magnolia comes with a little surprise just behind the blossom. It is a mosquito.

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Funny thing. As I said, this turned out to be my favorite shot, but guess what... it was the only capture taken with the flash. Foolishly, I decided from looking at the preview screen, that I didn't like the flash. Now, I'll probably start bracketing sunny outdoor shots with and without flash.