It’s June and I’m headed to two of my favorite locations; the dColumbia River Gorge and the Palouse!.  if that were not enough I’m doing both joining my dear friend and great photographer Jack Graham!  Jack sand I have been friends for many years and when I retired least year from Nikon he invited me to join him on some of his workshops and I jumped at the chance.  Jack runs a first class workshop and is a lot of fun to hang out with!

 

Next week we do the Columbia River Gorge, one of the best spots in America to shoot water!  I can’t wait, the following week we head out to the Palouse region an area I love and hate, don’t get me wrong the shooting and scenery are top notch, but the day are really long!!!  Jack promise I’ll get my beauty rest, and boy do I need it!

 

 

I will try to post each day but it may be tough but I will share the great images we are making!  I just pick dup my second Fuji X-T1 so I will be using a pair of them this trip and the usual suspects as lenses, more tech details to follow with the up coming posts!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

It’s such a pleasure to be back on Grandfather and with such a great group!!  I have so many wonderful memories o this place and having  such a wonderful workshop group here just adds to the feelings!   We’ve had great conditions and expect to continue to work the area good tomorrow!

 

 

 

I even saw the old billboard I’m having great memories back, it made me feel great!!  I shot the photo of the river otter and the rest was the great folks of Grandfather!!!

 

 

 

Well as the Otter said, you otter be here!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

I arrived at the a Best Western Mountain Lodge in Banner Elk, NC at the same time as Mike Roberts.  It was great opportunity to hang out, do a little scouting for the workshop, and catchup. Some of you may remember that Mike’s wife had a long battle with cancer and went to be with the Lord a few months ago.  During these tough times, all of us, his friends, were there for him and Zoe.  You may think that this is an entry about how much we helped him, and I think we did, but it is actually the other way around.  When we get the honor of reaching out and praying for, and loving on a friend that is going though a difficult part of life, we are blessed just as much as the recipient is of the prayers!  The great commission is about loving others with Christ’s love, bringing some of them to Him, and supporting those that are already brothers and sisters.

 

In the process of reaching out to Mike, I got to know him a lot better and I learned what a great guys he was.  I made a great new friend!  I also learn a great deal from him watching how steadfast he and Zoe were in their faith and how it carried them through the experience. Now I see how strongly Mike is holding on to his faith, and what an example he is to me about dealing with such a great loss.  God gives us brothers and sisters to be there for us, and our reward is serving Him, and getting so much more back in the relationship!

 

I’m looking forward to several days with Mike and the rest of our group, today has been a foretaste of what He can teach us, through a friend…..

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

I hope you’ve had a great Memorial Day weekend, surrounded with family and friends. Many years ago I started a Memorial Day tradition.  I go off alone and watch the last couple of scenes of Saving Private Ryan, as a reminder of what this day is truly about.  Please take a moment and watch this clip from Vimeo.  Links provided.

 

http://vimeo.com/42913707

 

May you be blessed this Memorial Day and receive the rich blessings of these great sacrifices, and most of all the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,

 

the pilgrim