where credit is due

There's a funny story about this photo. We were on a ten-minute drive to visit our blogging buddy, Brother Greg. This view begged for a picture, so I pulled over and stood out in the middle of the street to get the shot. There isn't much traffic here, but every once in a while, my kids would shout out the warning: "Car!" It felt like a total role reversal.

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Thanks, Kids for keeping me safe.

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A photography tip: David says no matter what he's photographing, he always makes it a point to look around, to make sure he hasn't missed out on anything else [here's his post]. I have not made this a habit, but I should. On this particular day, I DID happen to look for a different shot, and caught this image only four minutes after the first. Maybe you already saw it a few days ago on the post called "A Sunset for Coco."

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Thanks Dave, for the good pics I will capture on account of your wisdom and experience.

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And thank you Lord, for the rising and setting of the sun. Amen

entomology

I like this shot, because these bumblebees have a distinct spot on their backs. I don't recall ever seeing that before. I wonder what other details there are among these busy workers, and what it all means. This angle shows the large bottom portion of an insect. It is referred to as the buttocks, or sometimes tookus. (Tee hee!)

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I wish I had shoes and a tripod when I got this one. (I was swimming.) This was a huge nest in the backyard of our host's next-door neighbor. Huge, to me, means about 18 inches high, and 12 inches wide. There was one bee or wasp at the bottom, but I couldn't identify it, and didn't want to get too close. I'm not as brave as David McMahon, who acts like Crocodile Dundee around Yukon grizzlies.

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Funny thing... as many bees and wasps as we saw (and there were plenty), they really didn't bug us.

interview

I was interviewed at David McMahon's Authorblog. (Posted Sunday, March 30th.) I enjoy comments as much as anyone else, but if anyone from here hasn't been to his blog yet, you're missing out on a good thing (not my interview, David's blog)! Do yourself a favor, and go check it out.

strong like sparrows

David asks: How strong is your faith? (Check his site for rules if you want to participate and be recognized.)

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•   I suppose I should begin by narrowing down a working definition of faith. For our this post's purposes, I am talking about those particular beliefs that compose the essential elements of a person's foundational motivation. I like to use the term Prime Motivator. As such, I would say we all have "faith" in something or someone, regardless of whether we call ourselves religious.

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•   Next, there is the object of my faith. God has never broken his word, or failed to do what he promised. He is all-powerful, all-knowing and never-changing. As foundations go, there is nothing more solid. There is enough credibility established by the things that he has done, that I do not feel the need to question the things pertaining to the future or things unseen.

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•   We might discern reliability for a field of science by the scientists established in that discipline, but the reference point for Christianity is Christ-himself, so I do not get bent out of shape when a so-called Christian is disgraced for personal reasons.

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Is that enough dancing around? Are you finally ready for my response? "Anemic" might be too strong a word, but my capacity for faith and the exercise thereof, definitely has room to grow. I worry about things that shouldn't trouble me. I'm not worried about whether I will go to heaven, but when it comes to the small stuff concerning God's provision or timing, I need this frequent reminder:

"Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" Matthew 6:26

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In other words, my faith is such that my knees wobble from time to time, but the ground upon which I stand is solid, despite my weakness. I rest assured, knowing that my faith is not based on what I can't do, but on what He has done.

His eye is on the sparrow, but I know he watches me.

door to door photos

In his post called Abridged Version, David McMahon said does not crop his images or modify them in any way. I'm stunned!

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I have taken A FEW pictures that I thought came out half-decent, but when I get to post-processing, even the good ones get a little somethin-somethin. Nothing EVER turns out perfect for me. It's a little too light, a little too dark, lopsided, too close, too far, blurry, colored funny, etc.

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But I still take the camera with me everywhere, and persevere with this experiment, because I believe I have the capacity for a noticeable improvement in photography. That, plus it is virtually free to take lots and lots of pictures and try different things with a digital camera.

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My point though, is that I am awful. I brought proof...

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One day, I took a different route home, and I noticed a beautiful door. I wanted to take a picture of it, but it was dark, and I didn't know the people, etc. After a few days, I just got my camera ready, and when I came to that stop sign, I took the shot and drove on. (Did I just do a "drive-by shooting?") It's the picture on the left. Welp... from that first picture, I knew that I would need a tripod, a much longer exposure, and a better angle. On another night, I prepared the camera settings a block early, cracked the window open just enough to create a makeshift tripod and when I was ready to shoot, I momentarily shut the engine off. (Another drive-by shooting!)

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After downloading the second picture, I saw that the overhead porch light was waaaay too strong, so I cropped most of it out and applied a graduated tint to compensate for its harshness. Voila! Now, you can actually identify the intended subject!

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A question: What about photo-ethics? If nobody's home, and I don't include their faces, names or address, do I still need to ask permission to shoot their door like this? Does anybody know? (I don't even think anyone was home at the time.) What would YOU do?

llama lyrics

Do not adjust the color of your screen. I was going for a lavender llama there. The idea crossed my head to "purple-ize" a photo of the Dalai Lama, but I chose not to go that route. Not that I'm afraid of any kind of Dharma Karma, but it just didn't seem polite.

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Mr. Vegemite Vindaloo had a terrific suggestion in the previous post's comments:

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As Ogden Nash once wrote: The one "L" lama, he's a priest, the two "L" lama, he's a beast.

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Complete the verse (without Googling it) - or even better, post a piece on your blog, telling your readers that you and I are throwing down the gauntlet to them.

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Tell 'em we want to see if they can complete the verse without Googling it.

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Don't giggle; I Googled it. But here's what I want you to do. Pretend you got a call from Nash. He needs your help for the next line. Go on; give it a whirl!

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The one "L" lama, he's a priest, the two "L" lama, he's a beast.

... (Complete the verse with your own words.)