I don’t often pass these video clips along, but John Gompf has done it again and delivered a wonderful Christmas message to warm all our hearts, enjoy!  Go to the link below!

 

http://www.wimp.com/santadad/

 

Joy ot the world,

 

the pilgrim

 

 

One of the greatest gifts you can give someone is inspiration!  My good friend Sam Garcia at Nikon sends out an email from time to time that he calls his “Snap of the Day”.   A couple of days ago it was an image of a water droplet in his kitchen sink.  It was wonderfully done, and it “inspired” , me to try a little kitchen sink work of my own.  This is a really simple shot.  I used a Plamp, (yes it really is spelled that way!), to hold a sliver of ice with a piece of blue construction paper behind it.  The light was window light and some back lighting from a small LED panel.  The hard part is timing the shot to catch the droplet just before it falls.  You wouldn’t believe how many shots it takes to catch one!

 

Truthfully Sam’s was better, but hey I’m still a student!  As a photographer you need to seek all the inspiration you can, and you will find the best from those that do our craft as well as Sam does!

 

Be blessed.,

 

the pilgrim

 

Photo Note:  Shot with the Nikon D600 and 200mm Micro Nikkor f 4.  f 8 at 1/360th of a second. Amazingly, the ISO is set at 6400!  The nice thing about the new Hi Res cameras is you can do a little noise reduction and still get tack sharp results.

The old building above is one of my favorite subjects.  It was an old building in an abandoned mining camp in Harlan,  Kentucky.  I’ve been to this location several times and enjoyed photographing the old buildings, and rusting mining equipment.  The last time I went back to Harlan, I discovered that this building had collapsed and was nothing but a pile of ruble.  As photographers, we learn to never pass up a shot, because you never know if your subject will still be there later, when you return!

 

As we enter the Christmas season take the time to do some things while you still can!  Here are some suggestions:

 

1.  Take time to visit with family and ask your parents and grandparents to tell you about the people you do not recognize in the old family albums.  Learn all you can about your ancestors, and pass it on to your children and grandchildren.

 

2.  Find and old family recipe and prepare it together with your children and grandchildren.  Share what you remember about the loved one that passed down that recipe!

 

3.  Attend a candle light church service and sing old traditional Christmas hymns and Carols.  Before you go home, seek out some of the older members, and share with them how much appreciate all their kind acts to you through the years.

 

4.  Watch an up-lifitng film with your family like; “It’s A Wonderful Life” or “A Christmas Carol”.

 

5.  Take a meal to someone that is a shut in, and visit with them, allowing them to share about their family and Christmas’ past.

 

6.  Find a time to sit by the fire place alone and read the 2nd Chapter of Luke, and dwell on the true meaning of Christmas.

 

7.  Sit in the floor and read Christmas stories to your children or grandchildren.

 

 

8.  Help your local church or charity put together Christmas baskets, and then help deliver them.

 

 

Take time to find the Joy that is this season!

 

In Him,

 

the pilgrim

Many men have a favorite t-shirt they love to sleep in.  It’s usually one of their older ones that has been washed many times and is finally soft and comfortable.  The logo that is silk screened on the front starts to fade….. such is the case with one of my favorite comfortable shirts.  This shirt says “Not all that wander are lost.”  It has a deeper meaning for me that what it may first appear to say.  Several years ago I named my blog “the pilgrim’s chronicles” and I decided to call myself the pilgrim.  The reason is that a pilgrim is someone wandering, often on a religious or spiritual pilgrimage.  A pilgrim is someone that is seeking and in the process of growing through his travels.

 

I think, and I believe most people would like to think, that their lives are a series of travels from point to point, with a plan, a map, a purpose, but I’m afraid that often that is not the case.  Because of of circumstances of our own making, or the circumstances that may be caused by others, we often take a, not so fortuitous, route from point to point in life.  So, in fact, we do wander in life.  I’m not lost, I may wander and I may get off track, but I was found my Jesus, and He saved me.  He gave me salvation and forgiveness, and God uses that wandering to teach us the valuable lessons on which we grow stronger and closer to Him.  As you wander you draw closer to Him as you learn His ways, and His truths.  God also uses your wandering times to show you how faithful He is, and how much He loves you.

 

Being truly lost means we are without hope, with our Heavenly Father we don’t ever have to be truly lost!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim