Category : Pilgrim’s Chronicles

It’s a joy to work with such a professional crew as Bill Frakes, Laura Heald, Mark Suban and the sidekick. Below are some of our team in action working on the video of Ricky.

What a pleasure to work with these great folks……. Thank you Lord..

the pilgrim

*Photo Notes: D7000, 70-300 AFS VR.

After a morning shoot with Ricky, our fearless crew headed to The Blue Goose, a favorite little place in Hendersonville for burgers the size of hubcaps, ( yes, I’m counting the points!!!). The folks there served up a great lunch and then it was back to work, (more on that in the next blog entry).
I thought this was a great place to visit and eat lunch and hoped you might enjoy a little photo
collage’. We had a great day and the burger was nice treat…….. the pilgrim

* Photo Notes: All images Nikon Coolpix P300.

It all comes down to today. If you were thinking “the Derby” that is also true, but that was not what I was thinking in my hotel room this morning. Today is another blessing from God, “this is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Everyday is another chance to live for Him. Everyday is a day that you can give a word of encouragement to someone that really needs one. Everyday is another chance to try and be the man or woman God desires you to be. Everyday is another chance to hug your children, love your spouse, thank a friend for their contribution to your life. Everyday is a chance to make that same contribution to another’s life.

It all starts on your knees, humbled before God, acknowledging Him for who He is. When we truly know who God is, and what our rightful place is with Him, all His incredible blessings can begin. I believe that the biggest tool the enemy uses is to keep us up, off our knees, The world says, humble yourself before no one, and to be humbled is an unkind act from another, but what does the word humble really mean?

humble |ˈhəmbəl|
adjective ( humbler , humblest )
1 having or showing a modest or low estimate of one’s own importance : he was humble about his stature as one of rock history’s most influential guitarists

If being humble is to have a low estimate of one’s own importance, is that a bad thing? I think it really depends on to whom we are comparing ourselves. If it’s God, I think it would be foolish to not acknowledge our own importance as being less than His. If He were not a loving, forgiving,
and compassionate God, that might be dangerous. Fortunately He loves you so much He gave up His only Son for you. I think that proves that you should no fear that He would take advantage of your humbling yourself before Him.

Let’s look at it another way, have you ever known someone that had a much higher estimate of their own importance than they should? How was that working out for them? I don’t think anyone tolerates that characteristic in a person very well. Some people may think that humbling ones self is an act of becoming less. I beg to differ. When you start a day on your knees, acknowledging God for who He is, and asking Him to give you the strength, and wisdom to do His will in that day, I think you have just done the most empowering thing you could ever do. Let me rephrase that, “I know” that you have.

Jesus said, “Unless you humble yourself like this little child, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” I believe that is a pretty strong case for humbling ourselves before Him. God has helped me to become very comfortable, on my knees, humbled before Him. When I came to realize that all I accomplished was in and through His strength and not my own, the limit to what could be done was limitless. In my own power, the list of what I can do is not very long. I like winning and so I’ve decided to humble myself before Him and accept His awesome power in my life. Then, when things go extremely well, I can give Him the credit and praise in the full knowledge that His great love for me, made it all possible. You know what the best part is? I don’t have to make it happen.
I show up, give my best effort, and trust in Him. Can I offer any proof? Only that it’s working for me, and has for many, many years……

Have a blessed weekend,

the pilgrim

And now some shots from myself and my friends that we really like, enjoy!

Glamour Glow! Of course – Bill Fortney

After the race, talk about Extraction!!!! by Wayne Bennett

And the winner is 7 (First Dude)! photo by José Ramos

Another great racing shot from Rick Schmidt, Kentucky Oaks. Winner Plum Pretty number 12.

And lastly Francis Yeh’s great starter shot in Topaz Spicey….

Photo Notes: My shot D3s, 600mm, ISO 1600, 1/8000th of second. (Nik Color Efex PRo 3.0
Glamour Glow

Wayne Bennett’s Jockey’s helmet D300 and 70-300 AFs VR lens.

José Ramos shot with D3s and 400mm f2.8 with TC-17E II converter

Rick’s Shcmidt’s D3s and 600mm f4 lens

Francis Yeh’s shot with a D3s and 70-300 AFs VR (Topaz Spicey filter)

I would like to revisit a really important concept about making images. I feel so strongly about extraction that I’m going to teach a class on it for Kelby Training later this summer. Extraction is nothing more than looking deeper into the scene that attracts your attention. When you see a
subject you may not, immediately, know what was attractive about it, to you. It’s a process you need to train yourself to do, asking the question, “what did I like about this scene?” The more you practice the better you will get. O.K. a couple of pieces of advice; (1) look for uniques colors. Often a strong color will draw attention and you will realize that was what attracted you in the fist place to the scene. (2) Look for strong patterns. This is another eye or attention catcher, after doing this for a while you will start to recognize patterns and lines of direction immediately. (3)
Don’t be afraid to crop with your zoom very, very tight. I use the 24-120 and 70-300 because I can almost always tighten up on the subject. You can always loosen up after you shoot the tight
composition. Walking around the track yesterday, I saw and photographed the images below,
maybe some of these shots will help you see the concepts I described above.

So, how do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice…….and crop, crop, crop.

the pilgrim

*Photo Notes; All images D7000 and 24-120 & 70-300 except last image. Nikon D3s with 600mm AFs VR f4 lens.