THE SACRED GROVE

Oh how lovely was this spring morning as we strolled slowly through the beautiful woodland.  The rebirth of vibrant new life above and all around us danced with the breeze.   In sharp contrast were the dead and decaying remains of a past life, crushed below our feet.  To us, symbols with another meaning.  We ponder the wonder of it all and whisper a simple prayer of love and thanksgiving.  

Phriday Phun

WHAT IS IT, AND WOULD YOU EAT IT????

We found these at the little fruit & vegetable stands along the roads in Costa Rica.  Jeff was brave and tasted it and said it was sweet.  I couldn't get past that it looked like a wad of mucus and I could not bring myself to taste it!

Cute, Creative, Kenzie

This was such a fun bridal shoot and so refreshing from the typical.  Kenzie and Daniel are having a 'vintage' wedding theme, so it was perfect to shoot her bridals in and around an old mill turned into an antique/junk store.  Since the popular 'look' these days is anything old, grungy, or covered with graffiti, photographers love this place.  The owner has started charging photographers who want to take pictures on his property and  I think he is probably making more money this way, than selling his antiques/junk!!  This was a perfect opportunity to use Kenzie's creativity with the props, and my creativity with the poses and the vintage editing.  Together we had a great time.   For a ton more fun photos, click HERE.  I hope you have as much fun looking at them as I did taking them! 

Simply Beautiful MacKenzie

Beautiful Light, Beautiful Bride

OUR PRECIOUS ANGEL, GAVIN

Today our grandson Gavin would have been 3 years old. It's hard to believe almost 2 years have passed since he quietly slipped out of our lives........but never out of our hearts and thoughts.  Every day we are reminded of, talk about, and laugh at the past antics of this adorable little imp who had a personality and spirit as huge and bright as his big blue eyes.  We still look at his fingerprints on the bottom half of the glass on our kitchen door and remember him 'signing' to go outside to play with rocks and sticks, and we still listen to the music of his 'chocolate bunny' and imagine him 'bustin' out his dance moves for us.  Sometimes I see him in the high chair with blueberries smeared from head to toe and a big grin on his face, or rummaging around in the receipt drawer.   We miss him so much, and yet our faith sustains us and we are not without hope and joy, because we know he lives still, and awaits for us beyond the veil.  Happy Birthday Gavin, we love and miss you and will celebrate your birthday with green rice krispie squares and green balloons!!  (I took this photo about a month before he passed away.) 

(For those of you who may not know, our grandson passed away shortly after his first birthday.  At the time, he and his parents - my son and daughter-in-law - were living with us while my son finished his last semester of college.  One Sunday Gavin had a slight fever.  Michelle called the doctor twice, being an anxious first time mother, and was reassured when the doctor said he was fine and to give him some Tylenol.  She did so and put him to bed, but when she went back to check on him 20 minutes later he was gone.  He was in the same position as when she laid him down.  The autopsy showed nothing but a healthy, normal 14 month old toddler.  We were all in shock.  This just couldn't happen, but it did.  It has been a hard 2 years.  Jaron and Michelle still live with us, trying to adjust and recover.  Jaron's career plans, and all other plans, for that matter, have been put on hold for now.  But they are doing surprisingly well.  They take care of each other and support each other and still look to the future with their strong faith.  And most importantly, Heavenly Father has filled their empty arms with a second beautiful son to love.  You have seen several pictures of Sawyer here on my blog.  He is as precious as Gavin is to all of us.  For now we don't have all the answers to our questions, but we are content to know that Heavenly Father is real.  He knows us and loves us, and most importantly, we know that all is well because He is in charge!)

Off Again!

No time to post a photo.  I'm off to Omaha for the weekend to see my son-in-law graduate from Creighton Pharmaceutical School.  Will catch up next week.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Sunday Worship

Worship in Costa Rica

(For those who've asked about HDR, I shot this without a tripod, since I was in a church.  It is extremely difficult to hand hold and bracket 3 separate shots without camera blur, so this isn't as sharp as it should be. )

Notes:  I've been on another quickie Moab trip, then lots of family things to keep me busy, and today, Mother's Day, I've had a house full of family and grandkids.  It's been a great week with little time for photography or blogging, so I'll have to play catch up next week.  Actually that's not true.....yesterday I took bridal photos for my nephew's soon-to-be wife.  We had so much fun, and I took bridals different than I've ever taken before!!  I'll post some soon, and hopefully get caught up with my blog and email correspondence.   

One quick comment about Mother's Day.  I have 2 beautiful daughters and 2 beautiful daughter-in-laws, and 1 more beautiful soon-to-be daughter-in law.  I also have 3 handsome sons, and 2 handsome son-in-laws.  My wonderful blessing is that they all love and respect me, and the icing on the cake is that they all love and respect each other.  Last night they all went out for an evening on the town together, and today at dinner told us how much fun they all had.  My heart is full, I am so blessed!!!!!!   I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day, too! 

One Spring Morn

It is dawn and I am alone.  The worries of yesterday and the cares of today seem far away, and like the winter cold, eagerly forgotten.   My senses take over.  I hear the rustle of growing things swaying in time with the gentle breeze, and I smell the sweetness of a thousand spring blossoms and blooms as they dance with the leaves.  I see a rainbow of colors and shapes and textures that make my spirit soar.  Soon the first sunbeams appear, and buds stretch open their petals to welcome the warmth of the morning light.  I realize I'm not alone after all.  Chubby breasted robins bounce from leaf to twig to blade of grass in search of breakfast.  Not only does the early bird catch the worm, but he is also a witness, with me, to the miracle of a glorious Spring morn.  

I was dreaming!  It must be so.  Twenty short hours have passed and yet another dawn of another new day and I've been tricked, for all I now see is a bleak gray sky and a blanket of freshly fallen snow smothering and silencing all that speaks of Spring.   

Sacred Place

Salt Lake Temple

I love to see the Temple,

I'm going there some day.

To feel the Holy Spirit,

To listen and to pray.

May Desktop Image

 Beautiful Blossoms 

This is my May desktop image to share with you.  Just click HERE then right click to download to your desktop. 
(The photo should fill your screen and not be pixelated.  If you have trouble let me know and I'll help.) 

Phriday Phun

Is This for REAL???  Yes It Is!!!!

I think this is a new medical facility across the street from a building shaped like a pyramid.  Saying the architecture in this Las Vegas neighborhood is eclectic is a bit of an understatement.  A better description might be ridiculously weird!!  My imagination is working overtime.  Can you imagine a patient coming here to see a doctor because he's been having dizzy spells?  Or what about someone driving by after a party and thinking they had way too much to drink!  I wonder how many car accidents will happen when tourists come upon this unexpectedly?   

Spring on Temple Square #2

You Light Up My Life!

Spring on Temple Square

My annual Spring pilgrimage to Temple Square

Sunday Worship

Chapel in Calico Ghost Town

Phriday Phun

THE CHALLENGE

THE RULES:

• Choose a beautiful location full of potential photo ops
• Spend the day 4 wheeling with at least 6 other people
• The other people cannot be photographers and are interested in riding, not taking pictures; and,  however polite, fun, and wonderful they are, they would probably be irritated with a photographer wanting to stop every few seconds to take a picture, or spend time viewing a scene from every angle, or waiting for the perfect light, etc. etc., so..........
• Take no longer than 5 seconds to compose and shoot each image
• Only take images when and where the group decides to stop
• Use only a point and shoot camera in auto setting
• Must be the first time using said camera
• No tripod
• No bracketing or combining multiple exposures
• Use only the LCD screen to compose your shots (if you have a viewfinder)
• Shoot in the middle of the day
• No filters, polarizers, etc.

THE OBJECTIVE:

• Come up with at least 1 semi-decent photo that you wouldn't be totally embarrassed to post on your blog!!  

MAKING THIS CHALLENGE EVEN REMOTELY POSSIBLE!!! After seeing the images I ended up with, I realized immediately that for me to have even a chance at coming up with a few reasonable images, I had to be able to do some editing, so I did do some post process work in Photoshop.  I learned very quickly the limitations of a point and shoot camera, and if this experience did anything for me, it was to remind me how much I LOVE my 5D Mark II.  I left it at home this time,  and I ALWAYS take my camera on trips.  I felt like my arm was cut off!!


Here we go.  First a SOOTC snap of our group.  (I noticed right away the noise in all my sky shots was intense.)

The next two are about the best I came up with.  I tried to reduce the noise, correct odd color casts and I added a little clarity.  This is Determination Towers, Moab:

I lucked out with this next image.  A huge storm front passed over turning everything dark, dramatic, moody, and rainy which certainly helped the composition and lighting.  This was shot at Dead Horse Point.

I actually had a second objective with this challenge as well.  I often have people ask me what kind of camera they should buy "so they can take good pictures".  I always give them my opinion depending on the money they want to spend and how serious they are about photography.  But I always end by saying, that an expensive camera will not make you a good photographer.  There is no short cut to learning how to create beautiful images.  You must learn and practice, learn and practice, repeat, repeat.  But, I really do think that great photographers can produce great images with any camera.  And, although they certainly are limited creatively,  they know how to work within the limitations of whatever camera they are using!

Spring in Snow Canyon

All my senses have awakened from a long winter's hibernation; hungry to feast upon the delectable beauty of a desert dressed for spring.

P.S.  Off for our first trip to Moab this year - be back in a few days.

Beautiful Sky

Landscape photographers try to shoot at the magic hours of dawn and dusk, but sometimes that is just not practical.  This shot was taken in the middle of a bright sunny day, but I thought the beautiful skyscape made up for the poor light.  This is another shot from Sand Hollow.

Phriday Phun

Hummmmm......

No Thank You!

Heart Breaker!

Is This Cute Enough Grandma?????

YES, Sawyer,

it DEFINITELY is!!!!!!

Wednesday Workday (Interesting People in Their Environment)

Saddle Maker

On our way to California about a month ago, we stopped at an old mining town called Calico.  It is an old west 'ghost' town, now frequented by tourists.  We had fun browsing through the stores on the main street.  The owner of this shop was proud of his hand made saddles and was anxious to show us his craft.  I asked him to pose, and he gladly agreed.