It’s been a while since I’ve written. There’s been things turning over and over in my head, just been too busy with other things to put it all into words. Busy with things like cleaning house, working on websites, working out. When I think of the things that take up so much time in a day, I’m struck by the amount of time and effort I put into temporal things…things that, in another world and time, would mean absolutely NOTHING to anyone.

If we were hit with some manner of disaster of apocalyptic proportion tomorrow, no one would care that my house was clean, or that my living room needs painting and the floor, refinishing; no one would care about my pedicure. My quest for fitness might prove a worthy endeavor in helping me survive, perhaps a bit longer than otherwise, but no one would care about all the pretty pictures I devote so much time to… or WOULD they?

Pictures document the progression of our lives; they not only preserve the moment that has passed, but the emotion evoked by that moment in time. Pictures of family, friends and loved ones become all the more valuable when that person is taken away from us, whether by the change of direction in our paths, or the finality of death. If an apocalypse fell upon us tomorrow and our present way of life and the blessings that we so glibly take for granted today were lost to us…perhaps forever…would not every image we held in our possession take on a whole new meaning to us?

The creative arts aren’t some frivolous pursuit – the creative arts comprise the expression of all that is in the human soul. Music, dance, films, writing, imagery, fine art and photography in all their myriad forms and applications emerge out of who we are and what we have experienced…what we are experiencing now…and it touches that place in the souls of others that resonates with our own place in space and time – it brings us together in one moment of experience. Sometimes, to partake of the creative expressions of others allows us a peek into worlds and experiences that we would likely never have access to, or even KNOW about, if not for the creative expression of some eccentric soul.

Imagery, whether stirred by what we hear or by what we see, enables us to experience things we might not otherwise experience; it causes us to remember what was and gives us hope for what could be. Remembering is not always a bad thing…not if we allow ourselves to learn from our mistakes and from the mistakes of others, and not if we allow ourselves to be enriched by the discoveries and accomplishments of others. The creative arts gives us the ability to do both. The creative arts are an integral part of the fabric that weaves not only humanity, but all of creation, together, reconciling all the scattered pieces into the ONE life that is the source and essence of all that is. Just as all that we see around us in this material world is but an expression of what IS in a very real but unseen realm, so art gives expression to the very real but unseen realm of all that is within Man, both good (enriching) and bad (destructive).

I began this day thinking that perhaps I spend entirely too much time fiddling with images. But after giving the whole subject a bit more consideration, I feel both proud, and also rather humbled at the same time, that I have been entrusted with such a gift. I have been given the power to document, inform, share, invoke memories and emotion, to join souls together, through my own creative gifting. It is my firm conviction that there is a spark of the creator in us all. What is YOUR special gift? Are you faithful to nurture it, to grow it, share it?

Perhaps they are right…all those people in my life who often accuse me of ‘thinking too much.’ Watching movies like The Road and The Book of Eli probably don’t help…

I get so weary of what comprises most sermons and teachings in most churches today. It is of no practical benefit to me whatsoever to sit and listen to someone preach for an hour about all that is wrong with religion, or anything ELSE for that matter. I already KNOW what is wrong with religion…probably better than most preachers who are preaching against it. It serves no practical purpose for me to go to church and listen to someone drone on and on about what is WRONG with ANYthing. I dare say that there is very few, if ANY of us, who aren’t quite clear about what is WRONG…with ourselves, our families, our friends, our circumstances, our jobs, our churches, our lives and this present world in general. Tell us something we aren’t already quite painfully aware of. Instead, give us some PRACTICAL information that we can actually USE to cope with and/or possibly even CHANGE, all that’s “wrong.”

It seems that “religion” has become the new satan. BTW, the word satan is not, nor has it ever been a proper name for one individual. It means simply…ADVERSARY. Your “adversary” could be anything or anyone, including your own SELF. The adversary is neither he nor she. It has no burnt red skin nor horns in its head. It doesn’t cause little girls to vomit green muck nor spin their heads round and round. But as usual, I digress…

Religion does today, and always has, served a very valid purpose, however lowly. It is a but stepping block in the progressive spiritual evolution of the individual and of mankind as a whole. It was never intended to be an end in itself. And this is where it has become demonized…where man has MADE it to be an end in itself…similarly, just as christianity has made the term “salvation” an end in ITSelf. To understand salvation as an end in itself is to effectively bring the whole PROCESS of salvation to a screeching halt, because it is NOT an end in itself. The word translated from ancient texts as “salvation,” almost always denotes in actuality, a living, moving, breathing CONTINUOUS state of progression toward an ultimate state of wholeness (HOLYness). I absolutely CRINGE when I hear someone ask another person, “Are you saved?” Of COURSE they’re not “saved.” Newsflash: neither are YOU. If you were, you would not be clothed in mortal flesh and subject to illness, injury and death. You would not require sleep nor food for sustenance, nor would you have any need to eliminate whatever sustenance is not utilized by the organism in which you live. You, like the resurrected Christ, would be able to appear and disappear at will (wouldn’t THAT come in handy?!). You COULD share a meal with your friends, but would not have NEED to. You could move quite freely between the unseen world AND the seen, and everywhere in between. I don’t know about you, but personally, I don’t know anyone who has yet achieved such a state of being. And again, as usual, I digress…

Religion is not the enemy. Friends, family and co-workers that use you, lie about you, lie to you, and stab you in the back at every opportunity, are not your enemy. The lightning that runs in on your heat pump and sets it on fire, is not your enemy…nor is the wind that blows down giant trees on your pasture fence nor the beavers that build damns that cause your pasture to flood. Your enemy is not your liberal black, Democratic President, nor is it the conservative white Republican President that he replaced. It’s not even some ayatollah, caliph, imam, mullah or sheik who hides in the desert and extols hatred and death to all who differ from him as being the ultimate solution to all the world’s problems. The enemy is not the religion that preaches your present belief system, nor is it the religion that preaches everything that is OPPOSITE of your current belief system…not the race of mankind whose skin color differs from yours, or the peculiar individual who lives in a culture that’s different than yours…and one that you don’t understand.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, because to all appearances, we still aren’t “getting it.” “Our struggle is NOT against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12) The most powerful, fearsome and destructive of these aforementioned rulers, authorities and powers of this dark world reside quite comfortably in the “heavenly realms” of your own soul, and in your own thought processes…yours AND mine. And their greatest power is in our PERCEPTIONS of what they are, where they come from, what their purpose is and how they work to accomplish it.

GOD’s solution to all that is “WRONG” is so simple, it defies comprehension: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with GOOD.” (Romans 12:21). THIS is the gap that all preaching and teaching needs to be bridging… the gap between all that is WRONG, and HOW we might EFFECTIVELY and PRACTICALLY walk out the command to “overcome evil with good” in each of our own everyday lives, thereby making what is WRONG, right. Now THAT would make RELEVANT subject matter for a sermon.

May he who has ears to hear…HEAR…what the Spirit is saying.

Soooo many things I want to say on this subject. Instead of simply throwing in my own 2 cents worth into the ongoing arguments, may I propose that there might be a BETTER way. Indeed, according to the scriptures that we, as Christians claim to adhere to, there is only ONE WAY to overcome evil. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with GOOD.” (Romans 12:21) Arguing and bickering is not GOOD. Willful ignorance is not GOOD. Spreading sensationalist exaggerations and propagating outright LIES is not GOOD. Attacking everything and everyone who doesn’t agree with you is not GOOD.

According to those same scriptures, “our struggle is NOT against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12) Since this passage was written a very long time ago, I don’t believe the ‘rulers’ and the ‘authorities’ referred to here is our own U.S. President Obama…the ‘evil in the heavenly places’ is not referring to Democrats in Washington, D.C. (or even ‘rogue’ Republicans from Alaska).

On this National Day of Prayer, might I suggest that ALL believers EVERYwhere come together to do just that…PRAY. For at least this ONE day, could we, as believers just PRACTICE what we PREACH…and just PRAY?!

So many things and so many people demand our attention and our energies. Each claim equal importance over all the others. Yet our present reality is that no one can be everything to everyone all the time. Not you, not even me. Though it may often be quite difficult to convince others of this (especially when you have made a habit of attempting to MEET all unreasonable expectations anyway), you must realize this yourself and periodically take stock of your many endeavors and re-prioritize your focus, based upon your OWN goals, not everyone else’s EXPECTATIONS, challenges and demands.

You must remember that your own sense of self-worth must not be tied up in comparing yourself to others, or their accomplishments. You are on your own path of destiny…don’t allow passersby to distract you, challenge you, OR discourage you to get off course. Just as importantly, neither should you allow those behind you to give you an over-inflated sense of your own position.

There are things we do well, and want to learn to do better. There are new things we want to learn and experience, at the same time we’re improving upon the foundations we’ve already built. There are some things that we don’t particularly WANT to do, but MUST do, nonetheless…at least for now. There are 24 hours in each given day. It’s up to us to find the balance for ourselves…and HOLD ON to it.

Sometimes, you’ve just GOT to stop, sit down, close your eyes, and get RE-FOCUSED on what exactly it is you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and where exactly it is that you want to go from here. Sometimes, the only way to get anything done is to simply STOP DOING, and remember where it was you were headed in the first place, so you can find your way back to the road that’s going to get you there.

My first horse was a buckskin Quarter Horse gelding named Trouble. We bought him from my cousin in Simpsonville…a horse I’d known and had been riding for years whenever on family vacations at my cousin’s house. Soon after Trouble moved here, one of our neighbors, a cowboy named Jack Cudd, was often seen stopping on the side of the road whenever passing by, to speak to the new horse in the neighborhood. Soon, Jack’s neighborliness extended to the whole family, and before long, he was inviting me to ride in the kid’s rodeos he often held at his place.

Back then, most of our neighborhood was still rural farm land. I didn’t have a horse trailer so would ride my horse the couple of miles up to his place for the shows and rodeos. My mother was terrified of the idea of me riding up there alone so she made my dad follow close behind us in the car, though in those days, there was very little threat to my safety on that short ride. My dad understood my embarrassment at my mother’s over-protectiveness, so would park the car a ways up the road and give me time to get to the arena before he drove up as a spectator.

The events I rode Trouble in were barrel racing, pole bending, and western pleasure classes. We even won an egg & spoon race once. I remember that my times in the races were good, but I can’t remember how many actual wins I had. Riding at the C-C arena was never about winning for me, it was about having fun. I was proud of my horse…all sorts of cowboys were always trying to talk me into selling him to them…I would’ve sooner sold my mother than my horse. I just loved the opportunity to ride and show him off.

By far to this day, I remember the best part of running barrels and poles was that home run…that all-out mad dash or the finish line after rounding that last barrel. It’s all or nothing, wind and dirt in your face, then that lock-down stop where you’re never really sure if you’re going to go over the arena wall or not…and don’t really care as long as your time was respectable.

Jack Cudd and C-C rodeos and shows have been making memories for countless kids for at least a couple of family generations now…and STILL going strong. It was fun having the opportunity to record the making of some of those memories this past weekend.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE IMAGES FROM THIS EVENT!

Once the bull fighter got his hand loose and he was able to hit the ground, he stayed there for a few long, tense moments. But the young fella WALKED out of the arena on his own. Yep, he walked slow and had a bit of a gimp, but walk he did.

I got a total of 10 shots of this ride, but missed the most important one…the one of the cowboy walking out of the arena. Well actually, I DID get that one, but it was blurred as all get out because I was so excited to see him walking out on his own and so busy clapping and cheering, I wasn’t paying attention to GETTING THE SHOT. Well, whatever. It’s no secret that I need to work on my photo documentary skills. Most important thing was COWBOY UP!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE IMAGES FROM THIS EVENT!

As usual, I was a late-comer…still trying to juggle a dozen things at one time on a Saturday morning. I FINALLY get there and get ready to shoot my first shot and realize I don’t have a CF card in the camera…they’re all at home sitting on top of my laptop. Thank GAWD I set my camera to NOT shoot withOUT a CF card. Otherwise, I might have spent all day in the rain and ended up with NOTHING at all to show for it.

Because of all my running around during the earliest part of the rodeo, I missed some of the best events and without a doubt, the best weather for shooting action shots with my slow lens. I’ve got a good range, good quality lens that zooms from 70-300mm, BUT, it’s a sloooow 4-5.6 aperture range…just 5.6 at 300mm. I haven’t gotten famous enough yet to justify an expenditure of $4,000+ for a FAST 300mm lens. I might have better luck holding out for that lottery win I’ve got coming my way.

Soooo, all that said, once the sky turned quite dark and drab and the rain started coming down, my film speed of 800, shutter speed of 500 (which was as high as I could go because I have a SLOOOOW lens) and f5.6 aperture just wasn’t cutting it for good stop-action shots. I can set my film speed anywhere from 100-3200 but the catch to that is noise from HELL, even with the noise reduction function turned on. I did somehow manage to get 1 or 2 reasonably acceptable action shots in the rain (though not quite sure how that happened). Truth is, it’s hard to tell if my slow lens was to blame, or whether SOME of the crappy shots might have been due the fact that I still get so excited about getting a shot at times, that I jerk the camera when I shoot…I’d rather just blame the lens.

Tomorrow is another day. Weather reports promise rain will be gone by the time the rodeo starts tomorrow. At least it won’t be DUSTY like it was today before the rain. (That’s right, I just CAN’T BE PLEASED!) The action shots I got BEFORE the rain looked like they were shot in a fog because of the dust. (As you might have noticed, the bad shot is NEVER my fault.)

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE IMAGES FROM THIS EVENT!

Try as I might, I could not figure out how to get to that boat without violating the trespass signs, so I drove back up to the highway, parked on the side of the road, and ran back down the exit ramp to the place where I’d first glimpsed this find and shot with my zoom through the trees.

I got several peculiar stares, but I did, after all, have on my photographer’s vest, so perhaps between that and a big zoom lens, that made me look professional enough for them to dismiss my bizarre behavior as some crazed paparazzi, or maybe they thought I was a private detective. (My ex-husband once said I had quite a knack for detective work…he should know…such said talents played a big part in why he is my EX-husband…) Whatever the passers-by thought, I got my UNIQUE shot without being flattened into a road pancake by a semi. After all, how often is it that you see a boat afloat in a field of wild flowers?!

I deduce that having reached a stage in my pursuit of images, that I’m willing to risk life and limb…and PRIDE…to get “the shot,” I now declare myself a PRO.

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Sometimes when something seems old and outdated and seems to no longer serve any useful purpose, perhaps it has simply adopted a NEW purpose. This old truck no longer hauls hay and feed, no longer takes teenagers to drive-in movies or to get ice cream on a hot day. But it CAN reflect the play of the light and shadows around it; it serves as a nice backdrop for a tangle of tall grasses and creeping vines. As the integrity of the old metal gives way to the ravages of rust, passersby who take a moment to stop and look, can enjoy the varying textures and colors of the process of oxidation and decay. Whooda thought destruction could be so charming?

Too bad I can’t look in the mirror at the ravages of time as played out on my own carbon unit, and appreciate the process of aging as aptly as I can in this old truck. Wrinkles, freckles, age spots and cellulite just don’t come across as quaint and beautiful as rusted metal. But I CAN lose myself–in all my inglorious imperfections–behind the lens of a camera, as I continue to seek out and reveal the surprising beauty of unlikely places.

This book is an invaluable reference tool for refining your HDR skills:

(Click on the pictures to view a full-frame version, and to see picture title.)

For some more thoughts inspired by the creation of these images, visit my BLOG!

It was my original intention to write something inspiring or insightful to accompany this image of an old wooden box of bottles I found tucked under a board in an old abandoned barn. But when it was done, I thought…BLEH.

What I wrote wasn’t entirely bad…nor was it entirely good. Not sure if it’s the value of the content of what I wrote which is lacking, or if it’s just my somewhat sour mood that makes it seem so, but sometimes, perhaps it’s best to simply present an image and let the viewer’s imagination provide the background story.

Maybe no story is necessary at all. Sometimes, just viewing something interesting is, in itself, enough to soothe the restless soul…or at the very least, provide a temporary distraction.

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