Where The Wind Blows

Taken two weeks ago in the little town of Correll, MO, this weathervane immediately caught my attention.  It had been gray and overcast all morning but it made no difference to the gray metal horse.   

Manufacturing Moonlight

As most of you know, I’ve been working on different Lent/Easter images for the past several weeks.  My church has a ”Walk to the Cross” presentation that they do on Good Friday where they display artwork to symbolize different events between The Last Supper and Christ’s resurrection.  I originally thought I would try to do 2-3 photographic montage images but ended up with around 7!  

I had one image of a statue of Christ that I took at a local cemetery that I wanted to use to reflect his time in the garden at Gethsemane the night of his arrest.  I wanted to convey a ‘moonlight feel’ to the photo so I first converted it to black and white and then tried different lighting effects to put most of him in shadow, conveying the nighttime feel I was going for.  No matter what I did, though, it always ended up looking muddy.  Then, last night, I thought, “Why not try a fill layer of yellow to convey the moonglow?” I did that, lowering the opacity and fill amounts, but again…not quite right.  I was starting to give up hope that I was going to be able to figure it out when my finger accidentally hit the slider on the color box and the fill layer moved into the blue spectrum.  Hey!  Maybe I’m on to something here!  Still…the photo looked too stark and I wasn’t sure what to do next. 

I proceeded to try every filter option known to Photoshop and finally ended up adding a diffused glow and that was it!  I think I finally managed to capture the look of someone standing outside underneath the glow of the moon.  I left the color intensity really high for dramatic effect but I’m just thrilled with the end result.  What do you think?  Did I hit my target?

 

Bird On A Wire

Come Sweet Spring

Last weekend, we finally had a short thaw.  The sun came out and everything.  The snow (mostly) melted and, for a brief day or two, water ran from the downspout of my home.  Silly me…I went and got my hopes up.

Three days into the new week and it’s already snowed and iced.  Today’s high will be somewhere between 3+ and 7- degrees F.  I am ever grateful that I have a home with heat and a bed with covers.  It is wicked cold outside and I am fully aware that many who live near me are not as lucky or as blessed as I am. 

And so I pray for spring…for weather that will be more forgiving and for plants that will turn this white layer of frost to a vibrant springtime green.  I pray for warmer weather, for shelter for those that have none, and for God’s hands upon this land of ours.  Bring spring, Father. 

Bring spring.

Trumpeter

I’m making some images up for my church to use during our Holy Week “Walk To The Cross” that takes place on Good Friday so I’ve been walking around some local cemeteries trying to capture some religious statues and monuments to use in the artwork.  This was on the side of a mausoleum wall and I really liked the way the shadows of the trees in the background made the angel look almost 3-D.  Once I converted the photo from color to black and white, then it really popped. 

Hip To Be Square

It’s freezing again (literally) so I had to find something to photograph INSIDE again tonight.  I pulled out the new 100mm macro lens and headed down the hall to shoot the colorful squares my mom pieced together to make my quilted wall-hanging. 

I ended up setting the lens to “bulb” and then dragging the camera across several of the squares, going from color to color and pattern to pattern.  Several of the shots turned out pretty interesting but this one was far and away my favorite.  If you look closely, you can see the lines where the squares meet up in rows… 

INRI

While traipsing around the cemetery yesterday I walked right up on a huge bronze cross.  I’m working on collecting some images for my church’s “Walk to the Cross” that we put on over Good Friday and this cross is no doubt going to end up being one of the images I submit.  I photoshopped in a corner glare that also darkened the edges of the two sides.  In my mind’s eye, it represents the moment Christ died on the cross.  Now, I’m just looking for ways to make it better.  Any ideas?

The Face of Christ

I spent part of the afternoon in an old Catholic cemetery on the outskirts of town.  I went to pay my respects to a friend who died almost twenty years ago and ended up getting some amazing images of the statues and old headstones in the area.

Blaze of Glory

There’s more than one way to catch a rising sun.

Bird’s Eye View

So, technically, this isn’t the greatest photograph ever taken.  In fact, it was a quick one shot deal with little-to-no-editing.  It’s not complicated in process or aesthetics but, I don’t know, I just like it. 

I can’t help but wonder…if I think the view of IT was good from down HERE, what was the view for THEM like up THERE?