Monthly Archives: October 2012

Well after 7 hours of driving, (home from Henderson and then on to Louisville to fly out this morning), Sherelene and I arrived in Marco Island this early afternoon and immediately collapsed by the pool.  A short soak in the hot tub and I was out like a light in the shade on lounge chair!!   Later we cleaned up, well not too much, my favorite beach clothes, a comfy t-shirt and North Face shorts, and went to the local Micro Brewery for some killer pizza and the fun of watching all the fans yelling at the 20 TVs with all the  late NFL Sunday games playing, what a great start to a week of rest I need desperately, and Sherelene needs even more!

 

Just before we left the hotel for dinner the sun was setting over the gulf and I was able to fire off a few shots with the D600 and the 70-300 AFS VR.  I have to tell you, I’m really loving this camera.

 

 

To all my photo buddies joining us out west in early November, you better rest up, if the rest of the week goes this well, I’ll be loaded for bear!!

 

Blessings, thanks for all those that have been throwing up prayers for my getting some rest!!!

 

the pilgrim

 

To my son Scott, Happy Birthday son!!

These are my kids, (adults!!!)  From left to right Wesley, Catherine, and the Birthday boy, Scott!

 

 

How do you see the world photographically?   This is not a question with a value judgement, just a question!  The great thing about photography is we can see and interpret the world as we desire.  The shot above is my vision for something I saw this morning and then photographed it, then processed it to my liking.  The shot below is more like what I saw, in reality.

 

 

 

 

Which is better?  Well, that all depends on how you want to share your vision with the world.  If you see a spectacular world with vivid rich colors, the top shot is for you, if you are much more grounded in reality, you might like the one directly above.  Fortunately we don’t have “photo police” that enforce seeing the world only one way!  Once you start to explore your feelings about images you are open to stretch that vision even further.  As an example, the image below is the original, close to reality shot, with an application of NIK’s Color Efex 3.0 filter Glamour Glow, thanks Scott Kelby, I’ll be forever in your debt for turning me on to that filter!!!  (And for a lot more as well!!)

 

 

With your permission let’s take another example and play some with it!!  On a drizzling morning rain I took shelter in my car and captured the front door of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Henderson, the weather was perfect for saturated colors, so let’s start here with a straight shot of the church door and surrounding stone.

 

 

Now let’s play on the texture of the stone and apply Topaz’s Adjust – Spicify to the original image.

 

 

I hope this is fun for you, I’m having a blast!!!!  For my last example I saw this faded, rusting, trailer side with a Penzoil logo on it, what a playground!!!  First the straight shot:

 

 

To sharpen the details and add some grit we applied Nik’s Color Efex 3.0 Tonal Contrast.

 

 

Unable to leave well enough alone, I went a step further and applied Glamour Glow from NIK’s Color Efex 4.0

 

 

So what is the bottom line?  If you feel adventurous, I’ve given you some food for thought, if this is not your thing, it’s o.k.,  feel free to leave it alone.  The most important thing is to find a vision that fits you and works for  you.

 

Now your spiritual vision is another thing altogether!  I hope you’ve opened yourself up to the infinite possibilities that come with accepting Christ and following His plan for your life.  While “creative processing” of images may not be for everyone, Jesus Christ is!!!  A friend told me a while back that he just wasn’t sure he believed in God, I told him that I knew one thing for sure, “He believes in you…….”

 

In Him,

 

the pilgrim

 

Blog note:  I’ve been on the road for  16 straight days and I’m going home Saturday to change suitcases, pickup my bride and immediately (within an hour or two), runaway to a warm beach, for a week.  I’m not a sun person, so when I’m not spending time with my girl friend, (yes, Sherelene), or napping or soaking in the hot tub, I will blog occasionally, but I can’t promise one everyday!!!  Starting November 2nd I’m off for another 15 straight days out on the road, so I need to be a good husband during my short time off!!  For those of you that are joining us out in Arizona and Utah in early November the excitement is really on the rise as Jim, Snake, Chuck, R.C. and I are making preparations for a wonderful time with you guys!!

 

It is said that absence makes the heart grow fonder, I’m not sure  how it works for others but it sure works on me! When I go out speaking around the country, I often remark about how much in love I am after 43 years of marriage! On one occasion my bride was with me, and a woman from the audience asked Sherelene how that was possible, she answered, “Well, he has only been home 15 of the 43 years!”  We all got a good laugh but it was pretty accurate. I know that being away a lot makes it fresh when I get home, but my love and respect for my wife goes a lot deeper than that.  Now before I start please know I’m not just bragging, o.k. well a little, but I really do want to address this to the men out there, I want to share about how to keep that love alive and well in a relationship.

 

Let me start by saying that I not only love my wife, my bride, my girl friend, my best friend, (yes, they are all the same person!!!), I also admire and respect her.  Let me start there.

 

Sherelene is amazing, she is a great mother, a wonderful grandmother, a spectacular wife, an accomplished Nurse Practitioner, a caring person, a real witness of her faith, and a classy, beautiful woman.  *Time out, I know you are wondering how on earth I landed a gal like this, well for one thing, I’ve never let her get her eyes checked and gotten glasses!!!   Sherelene is my best friend my most trusted compatriot, and the person I love to have time with more than anyone else!  She has given me a wonderful family, and we are enjoying them immensely, together!

 

O.K. How do you keep love alive.  First, it helps to have someone like Sherelene who makes all my efforts a labor of love!  May I make a few suggestions?

 

1.  Never stop dating your spouse!  When you first met, you went out of your way to impress her, and do things you think she might love!  Don’t stop.  I buy Sherelene fresh flowers every week I’m home.  I take her out to dinner as often as possible, I even take out the trash, and straighten up around home before she get home from work.  I make it a point to know what she values and act on it!

 

2. Listen to her.  When she wants to share about work, or ask advice, I stop what I’m doing, (for me this is really hard, it’s a learning process), and truly listen and try to respond in a thoughtful and honest way.

 

3.  Study the word, and pray together.  We lift up our needs, our family and friends, and we spent a lot of time praising God for His Goodness and countless blessings!

 

4.  Try to get away for weekends and vacations as often as your schedules permits.  We try to make those trips personal time to just catch up, and get re-connected.

 

5.  I ask her to critique my images.  She is one of the few people that will tell me the truth, and when she says she really likes an image I know it’s good, because she is a very astute visual person and very good photographer herself.  Best of all she won’t try to pull the wool over my eyes or brag when it’s not deserved!  She’s not harsh, but i can count on her judgement!

 

6.  Never stopped romancing her.  I treat Sherelene just like the girl who’s heart I had hoped to win so many years ago.

 

Men, keep your bride happy, make sure she knows how much you appreciate her and how far you will go to protect her and take care of her!!  Not because I said it, but because of what Paul told us in Ephesians!

 

Ephesians 5:25-27

²⁵ For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her ²⁶ to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. ²⁷ He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.

 

Do these things, and reap one of God’s greatest gifts, a wonderful marriage and life long friendship!

 

Be blessed,

 

the pilgrim

I’ve now had the D600 for long enough to really get to know it and I have some additional observations. I will cut right to the chase, I think the D600 represents the best value in DSLR on the market today!  Here’s why;

 

1.  The D600 is the highest resolution DSLR on the market, save for the D800, and is more than enough detail for virtually any subject you and I will ever shoot.

 

2.  The D600 represents a significant bargain, especially when you consider just three years ago a D3x was $8,000. and the closest competitor from Canon with slightly less resolution is $3,500.  The cost alone is pretty amazing, what’s even more amazing is that the D600 outperforms either of these cameras.  It is much lower noise than the D3x and very close to the 5D Mark III.  It is only 1/2 stop slower than the frame rate of the 5D Mark III,  and it costs $1,400 less!!!!

 

3.  With the exception of my favorite DX body the D7000 the D600 has the sweetest release and quietest shutter in the line up.  It is a joy to shoot hand held and when you lock it on a tripod it uses the ML-L3 wireless remote,  I truly love this combination.

 

4.  The very vital aspect of ergonomics, this camera simply feels great in your hands.  It has enough heft to feel substantial, but is light enough to be refreshing.  I don’t think anyone should be concerned about the build quality!

 

5.  After doing a number of HDR images by shooting three images 2 stops apart, I’m convinced, that unless you are an HDR master and shoot almost everything as an HDR, this camera will cover your bases just fine.

 

6.  I can’t wait to get my hands on the very reasonably priced wireless transmitter, the WU-1b, I think it will be a hoot to shoot straight to the iPad!!!  Add to that the App for you iPhone that allows you to operate the camera wirelessly!  Wow, what fun!!!

 

7.  I’m starting to really love SD cards, they are less expensive, are coming on very fast speeds, and it’s easy to carry a bunch of them!  And the D600 works with dual SD slots.

 

8.  But most important of all, this camera makes absolutely gorgeous images!  It is so good it makes me wonder why I will keep the D800, of course I’ll kept a D800 as my 4X5 view camera!!!!   But for everyday shooting this D600 has found an honored place in my camera bag!

 

You couldn’t spend $2,100. any better……

 

the pilgrim