A Day of Tears

I sit here in horror, tears springing to my eyes because of the senseless shooting in Connecticut.

What has our society come to?

Is there such a lack of respect for life that the taking of an innocent child's or any ones life for that matter is an acceptable possibility to some twisted individual or group of individuals?

The bigger question to me is why are these individuals so twisted?  

Have we as a society become so complacent and accepting of those things that may have brought us to this?

I believe that over sensationalism by today's news media, the availability of pornography on the Internet, the violence's so prevalent in today's entertainment industry, to name a few have so desensitized those who partake in these and other activities on a regular basis that it has become common place.   Think of the disregard you may encounter on a daily basis, the road rage, bullying, gossip, ridicule, lack of empathy...

Kids today don't think twice about picking up a game controller and killing another human on the screen, or watching as cars and buildings are blown up on the big screen, or how a senseless disc jockey prank effects the innocent individual who happened to answer the phone. Or how some nations leaders are willing to gas their country men, or bomb their neighbors.

I consider myself a believer of God, and though I don't practice by going to church on a regular basis I do think of Him nearly every day and ponder my existence in a universe where we (inhabitants of this planet Earth) seem to be the only form of intelligent life in this vast universe and wonder why?

I think of Adam and Eve and the evil of Satan and how he ultimately drove man from God and how at that point man was given free will and how mans sins separate him from God.

Quite simply put, our morals, and those of our children are going down the tubes just like the icepack at the poles are melting and we have only ourselves to blame for it!   We have been given the warnings, both scientifically and spiritually and we choose to ignore it.   We as a global society are our own worst enemy, we must each be responsible for ending this madness.   Love one another, speak kindly, give of ourselves, accept and embrace our differences.

I fear for what my precious grand babies have to face in the years to come.   I truly pray that my actions and love will instill in them a sense of love and acceptance and that our children will be spared the pain and loss that so many are experiencing at this moment.

Photo of the day 12/7/12

Why sleep in a bed when the floor is quite suitable? Ahhhh to be two again.   I just couldn't pass this one up.     

Photo of the day 12/6/12

So this could be interesting getting a photo of the day, thought I was going to fail at my goal on day 4 as I spent most of the day with a paint brush in my hand.   I got home looked at the Christmas tree all lit up and pretty and calling to be photographed.   So here is the lights through a cross star lens. FUN!

Photo of the Day 12/5/12

Sunrise Tuesday AM was very nice from our bathroom window looking toward the mountains in the west, half moon was nice too.   The sunrises and sunsets have been particularly beautiful this year, maybe because of the number of wildfires.

Photo of the Day 12/4/12

Four Generations

Hello Again!   After a couple failed attempts to get the 4 of us together and in good moods (Avery), I finally decided to try this technique.   It wasn't too painful getting the subjects photographed but the images blurred and distorted more with each recreation.

What to do!   My smart daughter Alisha tells me the images need to be pasted into the frames, something I have yet to attempt, so...   I learned how to create layers and move and manuever each image into place, all the way down to little miss Avery.   Can you see the difference?  Who says an old dog can't learn a new trick! 
I think this would work better with larger than the 8X10 image, but we just don't have the extra space to display something larger. 

Oh I almost forgot!   Yesterdays image was an impression left by a bird (probably a clumsy Urasian Collared Dove) that hit our picture window.   The image was so pretty in the morning light I just couldn't resist.   I found no other trace of the bird and yes I must now clean the window!

Photo of the day 12/3/12

I've had this blog since taking a class at Mike's Camera in February 2012 and here it has sat.   I saw this image this morning and thought what the heck, I'm into photography why not try to take a photo each day.   It's perfect training for my minds eye and helps my skillset and sometimes you can find beauty in the most simple of things.   Here's is a challenge for you, what might this be?   Answer tomorrow with hopefully a new picture.

We welcomed our first Grandson to our family on Friday, April 20th at 8:57 pm.   Isaac made a quick entry into the world and it caused him some breathing issues so he had to stay in the NICU on CPAP for the first day of his life.  
Visitors were limited as was access to Isaac by his parents and extended family.   By Saturday afternoon he was off CPAP and Alisha and Phillip were able to hold him in their arms and Alisha was able to nurse him. 
Sunday, as his breathing improved he was moved into a special room with his mommy so they had a real chance to get aquainted before going home.   He was realeased on Monday.
These pictures were taken in my home 1 week after his birth.

Impressions of Tulips

Tried my hand at some inpressionism techniques with tulips in the yard.   Like the slightly fuzzy effect I got.

I had the pleasure of photographing sweet little Mila today.   It went really well, she was very cooperative and even had some poses of her own!

Yellow Lemons

Working on my last photo assignment for my Mike's Camera class.   Each student was assigned a color, I got yellow.   Though this is not the project I am submitting I needed to play around with some different possibilities.

No Rain!

Today was picture day, Alisha wanted Avery in her rainsuit and of course we had a bright and sunny day!   We tried to get the rain effect with the sprinkler but Avery was having none of it!   We'll have to try another time in her Easter dress, she was having none of that either!   She's so darn cute you just can't be upset about it!

Jupiter and Venus

Last night I played with my cross filter and took some images of Venus and Jupiter.   Great evening to be outside playing, unfortunately I went out this morning to play some more and my camera has a malfunction, no longer able to use the manual settings :(.   Just in time for our field trip to Boulder this afternoon, figures!

Locked my mirror last night and forgot to disable it this morning so the shutter wouldn't work without the cable release.   Love when I learn something new!!!   Camera's working just fine.   Yeah!!!

Messin' with Macro

Yesterday I spent an hour + messin' with macro and a beautiful bunch of roses that I rescued from the clearance cart at King Soopers.  
The photos above were all taken in a combination natural and incandescent lighting.   I started out with my 10X macro filter at ISO 400, 1/60, F4.0 (photos 1-4).   The 10X does not do anything for clarity and is not a filter I would choose for insects but I feel it lends itself well to the softness of the rose petals which I liked. 
I then changed to my 4X filter, starting with ISO 400, 1/10, F4.0 (photo 5), ISO 800, 1/10, F4.0 (photo 6).   Finishing up at ISO 1600, 1/10, F5.0 (photos 7-9).    At ISO 1600 the colors of the roses changed, becoming more orange with really cool highlights.   I never achieved the clarity in the photos that I would have liked, nor did I get my tripod out, so I've added an LED light and Macro tubes to my wish list (hint, hint).
Very minor lightness changes  and some cropping were done in Photoshop.  
I hope everyone has a lovely day.

Backyard Birds

The Northern Flickers are back this morning and I was able to capture a few images this morning.   Usually the birds are so busy that they don't stay put long enough for me to get a hold of my camera let alone snap a shot.  
The one draw back to having them here is the rat-a-tat-tat on the house, time to tap on or open a window to send them on their way.

Queen City Architectural Salvage

Today members of my critique class at Mike's camera gathered at the Salvage Yard to take shots of some very interesting items.   I have never been involved in this type of photo shoot and completely enjoyed the photos that I produced.   So fun stepping outside the box to experience something different.