Art Show Contest

Today, I entered an art show at my local art center. Above is a picture of my three entries as they were and below are easier to view images. I ordered some large 16 x 24 prints from my supplier and matted them up to 22 x 28 frames. The prints were given a "metallic" finish that I was really pleased with. I was afraid that the special finish would be too much, but thankfully it adds rather than take away from the photos. It is almost unnoticeable, however, the shimmer from the metallic finish greater in the light areas compared to the dark areas which gives the photo an almost 3D effect. The metallic finish is available during checkout on all www.WholesomeWorksPhotography.com orders.

Anyway, I want to give you all the chance to make predictions on which, if any, of the photos will place where. While it is entirely possible that none will place, the photography category wasn't added until 5 days ago and tomorrow is the entry deadline. So, I don't expect a lot of competition. Place your votes in the comment box and I'll give the results next week!

1. Rest After a Journey

2. Glimpse of Glory

3. The Glitter Snow

I really like this photo. It was taken just little ways out of town during sunset. I think it's the low angle of the camera and small bit of blue sky in the corner that draws me to it. Anyway, regardless of all that, this pic was taken with my old camera... oh, I guess I haven't talked about my cameras yet... hmmm.... I think I'll save that for later. All you need to know now is that this photograph was taken with my old camera, a Kodak p712 that is currently under the care of Elizabeth.

The sun in the picture is well below the horizon and everything except that cloud was pretty dark. The evening was calm and quiet except for the occasional rustling of the grasses by a gentle breeze or one of the cows that aren't visible in the image. The ground itself was very rough with knee high weeds everywhere. It took some effort to trek along the turf without falling on my face, but it was worth it. I had spotted a dip in the land and headed straight to it. I'm glad I did since I think the grass really adds something. Curiously, I took the pic in auto mode which isn't normally my preferred mode, but it worked this time. I hope you enjoyed this much warmer photo as much as I did!

$5228

Five-thousand two-hundred twenty eight United States Dollars. That is the final student loan total that I owe various banks after four semesters of college. I have to start making payments 6 months after graduation and since I graduated in December that will be about June. I don't look forward to paying out such a large sum of money, but I do look forward to not having "the loan" hanging over my head. So, praise be to God because He has provided to funds to pay it. When those loans come due, they will be paid in full!

God Bless! :^)

The Bigger Snowflake Pictures

The cream of the crop of the Snowflake pictures are now up on the gallery and ready for viewing. Thanks for all the comments!

Snowflakes (in the winter subset)

P.S. Alex Johnson, I tried to go comment on your blog, but I can't get a form to load. Anyway, thanks for the comment and I like your site.

Rain Check!

I have spent about four hours preparing images today, but I have just a couple more to do. So, I ask that you be patient for they are coming!

Snowflakes from Heaven

It's late, but I did it. My computer has shed about 2 gigabytes (for the non-technical, that's a lot!) of waste information and is running almost twice as fast as before! Yay!  =D

And now for a new emoticon I learned:
DANCE!
:D-(
:D|-(
:D\-(

^ This one can be clicked

for a much larger image

(look for the glitter-like snow)

Okay, moving on. I have processed two of the snowflake pictures, but it's taking longer than expected. So, I'm going to post the snowflakes in small copyrighted pics and follow-up sometime tomorrow with a full-size edition after I extract the great ones for the web gallery. The snowflakes aren't on the gallery yet, but they will be within the next few days.

And now our featured story:

It was 10am as I traveled toward home that Saturday morn.

On the way, I notice what looks like glitter...

falling from the sunny, blue, and nearly cloudless sky.

Stopping at the gas station I notice a few of these glitter pieces...

resting upon my coat.

It is then that I see the tiny most intricate object...

I have ever seen with my unaided eye.

^This pic and a couple others

resisted the embedded copyright.

...ahem... sorry for the interruption.

The final two miles home I was in wonder...

at what I could only describe as bits of heaven floating to earth.

I have since heard stories about these small flakes.

Stories of how they spontaneously formed in mid-air..

or were belched out by the refineries,...

but only I seemed to have seen the details

of God's engraved signature.

God bless ya'll.

Downtime

Hello everyone! I was planning on a productive day of image processing and post making. Unfortunately, while processing pics my computer "froze". This wasn't a normal freeze, it just disabled my keyboard and mouse (I have a tablet pc so I could still use my wacom pen to interact with the computer). Anyway, long story made short, I have spent the rest of the day cleaning up my laptop. As I type the last phase of clean up is running and when it's done, I'm going to eat dinner and after that more image processing. So, I guess I'll get to you guys later tonight if all goes well...

The Mug

I really can't remember many of the details from over a year ago. I know that I was at Elizabeth's house exchanging presents since our birthdays are so close together. I bought her a cup with a bible verse written on the inside and the picture above is only one of two photos I took of the verse in that cup that day. It shouldn't be a good photo.

If you are like me and take pictures of everything, then you know that you can take a zillion intentional photos without ever getting a photo that captures the moment. The one random photo, however, can become the best of the bunch. So it is with this pic. I took twenty-one photos on that day and most of them would be considered proper enough, but I continue to gravitate to this one. I can't tell you why, but I like that picture and I feel it captures the feeling of that November day. Warmth, security, and the bold word 'love' are what I see. What do you see?

P.S. The blurry part reads "... in abundance."

The Photographer's Personal Ponderings 1: "Rightism"

In the words of one of my college classmates, "I'm stupid-busy!" Now I don't usually condone the use of the word stupid, but here I think it could fit. I sometimes get so caught up in the tangibles of my life (work, school, play) that I let the intangibles (holiness, emotions, relationships) slip away, which is stupid. The tangibles don't matter without the intangibles. Holiness is particularly important since God should be first in all of life and when He isn't, old and new sins creep in.

Particularly, I'm thinking of perfectionism and its seemingly benign way of tearing our fellow man down. I like to call perfectionism, rightism. The word perfectionism almost sounds good if you don't know what it means and how it is used. In fact, truly striving for perfection is good, but selectively requiring it of someone else isn't. So I call perfectionism, rightism because I think rightism correctly describes the attitude of "I'm right and you're doing it wrong." I know I unleash rightism on those around me all too often. I require more of others than I do of my self and end up hurting them in the process.

It all stems from my feeling of inferiority or my desire of obvious superiority. Both of those ailments can be treated by God through prayer and the listening of His word. I just read in my Bible today that, "[Wisdom] will mock when your terror comes, because [wisdom has] called and you refused [wisdom] (Proverbs 1:24, 26)." So, I say, don't refuse wisdom's call either directly or indirectly by being "stupid-busy." Now you need to work on that... I mean... I'm going to work on that. ;^)

Grand Opening!

And so it begins! I have released this blog and a photo gallery loose on the internet. 

My photos at www.WholesomeWorksPhotography.com are now up for your viewing pleasure. Be sure to check in often as I will be adding more pics every week until I catch up on my processing back log. In addition to viewing you can also purchase any of the pictures for yourself or someone else, just click on a photo within a gallery and hover your cursor over the left side of that photo to open the options menu. If you use the coupon code, Grand Opening, during the month of January you can get 30% off of your order total.

Well, I'll be back to write more later, so you have a happy New Years!