Complete Focus

Recently the plea was expressed:
God help me focus completely on you.
As a photographer, let me help you out on that:

1) Is your aperture stuck?
So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes, and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything? And he looked up and said, "I see men like trees, walking." Mark 8:23-24.
2)Is your lens cap on?
But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. 2 Corin. 4:3-4.
3)Is your shutter speed off?
So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. James 1:19-20.
4)Is the battery dead?
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Romans 6:11-12.
5)Have you read the manual?
But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 3:14-15.
6)Is it daylight?
Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have light, believe in the light that you may become sons of light."
John 12:35-36.
7)Is God even in front of you?
And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each of us. Acts 17:26-27.
8)Is the lens clean?
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I am known.
I Corin. 13:12.
9)Do you really want complete focus?
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:28-29.
10)Then go ahead and focus completely.
Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to who be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Hebrew 13:20-21.

Canned Vivid

With my obsession lately with vivid colors, I have found the perfect photographers accessory. Canned Vivid. If a scene you come upon is flat and lacking in pop, fear not. No need to fuss over bothersome menu's and settings in your camera. Just take out your can of instant vivid, spray upon the scene and there you have it. Vivid scenery.
No need for post processing. Results consistent. In this photograph, you can see I was able to apply selective vivid. Should you want a Super Vivid, simply continue to spray the entire scene until the result you are after is achieved. Your fans will praise you for your imaginative creations and line up to purchase their vivid scenery from the master photographer of vivid scenery.

fall upon logs

Six trees of Suwannee

by john clare

i know it is but a cliche
but i think that i shall never see
a poem as lovely as the
Six trees upon the Suwannee
now decked in green
it tis the reason
for the season
i mean
it is but a tired cliche
so i had to get away
and spend some sane time
next to the lovely six
trees upon the Suwannee.

Six Trees of Suwannee

Both taken with D5000 at 43mm. f4@100, handheld. Auto WB on the B@W, Manual WB on the color. Both Matrix metering. ISO 360 on the B@W, 450ISO on the color. White balance set at cloudy on both.
I find the black and white the more appealing of the two, though the green matt perhaps distracts from the color. Lesson to learn in addition is the use of the tripod. A shutter speed under the speed of 125 I consider the minimum speed for blur. Had I a 72mm graduated filter for the 18-200 lens, I would have used it to darken the sky further.
What are your thoughts?

from oval frames

from Oval frames

by john clare

out of her lovely oval frame
to me the studious girl came.
from in the parlor where she read
from far in the night upon her bed
coal fields covered in the purest snow
melting away into the blackest flow.
from this jungle of incessant rumble,
over the studious girl I forever stumble.
in the leaves blown down from the hills,
in springs freeing the snowy chills,
even in my children's children she shall always be,
the studious girl reading quietly.

From Weald to Adytum

from weald to adytum

by john clare

In the sacred adytum the dancers swirled
upon the inner sanctums of gilded floors,
lithe bodies of purist purity revealing little
nymphs bounding from the wooded weald.
In heavenly clerestories angelic hosts beheld as
to little Wonderful the dancers rose and fell,
stirring the golden dust upon all in a spell!
Mystery of the highest order given
to those enabled to see.
Or was it...
In stain glass sanctuaries where once
the Saint's prayed
the dancing girls swirled as the choir
dangerously swayed?
They said it was a moving rendition
(of what some were not certain)
Others thought they saw ole Miss Gulch
flitting among the swirling,
Broom in tow busting the living dust,
spreading it everywhere,
exclaiming, Be gone you swirling girls!
This is a place of prayer!
And so we marvel at this mystery,
Gold and dust flying side by side,
Half blinding, half barely able to see,
Most living, most long ago settled.
Or was it...
In the mystery that descended in the
golden cup,
The arousal of movement stirring a
long slumbering spirit,
choking upon chalices of rust and
moldy sacramental wafers unfit
for the gathering of angels
lifting the Munchkins heavy heads,
stuffing some with mouthfuls of
golden dust.
Or was it...
Others saying it tasted as
manna on shewbread?
Mystery among us!

Weald. wooded or uncultivated country.
Adytum. (in an ancient temple) a sacred interior shrine accessible only to the priests. not to be entered.
Clerestory. an architectural term that historically denoted an upper level of a Roman basilica or of the nave of a Romanesque or Gothic church, the walls of which rise above the roof lines of the lower aisles and are pierced with windows.

Best foot forward

This is a fine example of the final scene not at all as you first saw the scene. When I first approached the dock at Alligator Lake, I saw this egret and got the camera out and ready. Getting closer, with eye to viewfinder, I composed this one frame before the egret flew away.
The tiny screen did not reveal the missing foot. That was only discovered when going through the downloaded photographs on the computer. This has happened before. Once, there was a deer seen hiding in the underbrush, not noticed at the time of exposure.
These are the happy discoveries that keep photography interesting. It often is not the best of composed, the most thought out frames that get the attention, are the keepers. Often, the rejected frame becomes the framed frame. And so it is with us.

Christ's Fellowship

Tis with an apostrophe between the sweet and bitter that yesterday, mark it, December 11th nearer to the 11 o'clock hour, due to the scattered finding the way, that the first meeting of the Christ's Church, with the apostrophe, met in the double garage of Russell and Christina's home off County Line Road.
Shall I tell of the order and the way? Russell stood to the front and gave introductory comments, then we had corporate prayer, that is, we opened it for any who wanted to pray, to pray. After that, we read from Psalm 133-135 from the ESV. It was about that time Nathaniel was not content in his little yellow seat and began voicing that discontent loudly. Melanie took him to a blanket by the roll up doors and orderly quietness was somewhat restored.
It was then we took an offering in the nice pine needle offering baskets by Ben Taylor and Cody Hamilton serving as ushers.
Following, we had prayer again and Russell expounded from Acts 2:42-47. The four points covered were: Apostles doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayers.
Following the sermon we closed in prayer and adjourned to the kitchen for a fellowship meal. Following that, some stayed in the house and talked while others gathered in the garage to sing. This flowed for the best part of the day into the evening. It was a good time spent meeting one another needs, with time to linger and not hurry apart to our isolation's.
We determined one had a need for new brakes so today several of the men are working on that need. Thus, the fellowship, the doing of good continues.
The women shall meet this Wednesday for fellowship, the men next Wednesday.

New Beginnings

Mizpah for December 11th from the old 1882 devotional by the author Charles Cullis reads thus:
MY presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. Exodus 33:14

"Christ, my Master, goes about doing good, and if you would walk with Him, you must go about upon the same mission." Spurgeon.

Tomorrow, a gathering of believers, most from Grace Church, will meet at the home of the former Pastor of Grace Church, Russell and Christina Taylor. Russell is forming a new fellowship called Christ's Church. We will meet out of his carport beginning at 10:30, followed by fellowship meal and then activities for the youth.

We at Christ Church and Grace Church are a scattered body, some electing to remain at Grace under the leadership of Elders Gary Byerly and Brandon Elixson, others going with Russell, who was to remain through January, but elected to resign last Sunday morning. The frustration with this entire ordeal is not in the body of believers, who harbor no ill will toward one another, but
a few Elders in training and their differences with Pastor Russell.

In the above photograph, Pastor Taylor and his family are pictured with my family, and our missionary family to the Wano people in Papua,New Guinea, Mark and Libby Wild and their four sons.

I trust that whatever comes of this current scattering, that we shall continue to provide support for the good that the Wild's are doing in translating the Bible to the Wano people and that the believers in the now two bodies will likewise continue, as Christ, to go about doing good to one another, in our speech toward one another, in our love for one another, in our prayer's for reconciliation for one another.

To Ivy Palaces

Another series of photographs taken from the front yard toward sundown. In the daily flow observing exotic and wonderful locations, I can only dream and go to the front yard. The challenge for me is to create just as compelling a photograph, with a wow factor that the exotic location exudes.
In order to accomplish this, greater discipline needs to be employed in the ordinary. For instance, is the S95 point and shoot camera the best choice for the purpose? And if so, would a tripod make for a sharper image? And is it sharpness you are after? Perhaps the Nikon D5000 with the ability to adjust the depth of field would be the camera of choice. I could have made the pine tree in the background as sharp as the ivy in the foreground.
But is that the most compelling way to capture this image? As is, the scene, with the limited depth of focus, draws your eye first to the ivy and then beyond and out to the white road. Would an image in the background in shadow or limited focus been affective?
The color? What of black and white? Of limited saturation? Lately, I have been enthused with the use of super saturation on the S95. Too much can become gaudy and distracting.
The image effectiveness even comes down to the mat surrounding the photo. I toyed with many combinations, and settled for a neutral green. Perhaps a simple white or cream would have been more affective.
There are endless possibilities to what seems just a simple snap shot in the yard.
The goal like I said is to not settle for the easy way, but delve deeper and deeper into the found at hand objects and elevate them to the level of, "Where was this taken? I want to go there!" To the ivy palaces!