Monthly Archives: April 2014

Isn’t photography great!?  This morning my alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. yep, O:Dark thirty!!  I first showered and then drove the 35 minutes to the beach for our morning shoot with horses.  Met with the great folks that were riding for us, and providing the horses, and then waited for my participants to show up.  I was joined by Chris Klapheke, great shooter, owner of Outdoor Photo Gear, and my new friend, and my co-counsel, as it were!  The 14 people that attended our session were fantastic, really nice folks who had a good time inspite of absolutely awful light!  Which is why I got permission from the people putting on the event, to have them join me again on a better morning, either Friday or Sunday!!!  So we shot some horses, had some fun, and then moved on!

 

 

……and then again, we shot some early morning trees!

 

 

……and then again, driving back to the hotel to post this blog entry, I saw a tourist trap called the Oldest Store, which considering St. Augustine is the oldest city in America, it was worth the nine bucks to see what it was…….   $9. well spent!!  This was the original general store serving the young city of St. Augustine around the late 1800s.  You know me and old Americana stuff, this will be a definite stop when ouse run our workshop next year in St. Augustine!  Here is some of my mornings find!

 

Part of a well stocked grocery shelf in the General Store section.

 

Turn of the century medicines!

 

A classic metal Pillsbury sign!

 

Glass front seed cabinet.

 

Very rare, early Hershey’s Chocolate bars.

 

Turn of century, gear driven farm wagon.

 

Great old metal signs.

 

Antique hardware cabinet.

 

Hand made wooden gear.

 

Thanks to Mr C.F. Hamblen and his family for keeping this treasure trove of Americana!

 

And then again,

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

*Photo Notes:  All beach images with Fuji X-T1 and 55-200 and 56 f 1.2

 

Tree Image:  Fuji X-T1 & 55-200

 

Oldest Store Images all X-T1 & 35mm f 1.4 lens and hand held @ 3200 ISO.

The 505 German U- Boat captured during WW II.

 

Last week I went to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago and got a few unrelated images during my time there.  Speaking of unrelated!!  The images are just window dressing so I an share a few images while I talk about something much more important!  So I hope you like the image while I share about Sherelene!

 

The anchor of the German U-Boat 505!

 

The purpose of an anchor is to fix and stabilize the position of ship in a tossing sea.  To prevent it from moving away and coming into harms way.

 

Sherelene has been my earthly anchor.  She has jokingly said that she raised four children, our three and me!  It is not very far from the truth.  I believe that God protected me and held me until she camera along, she has had more to do with what I have become as a man than anyone else, with the exception of my father on earth, and my Heavenly Father.  She has been my Heavenly Father’s instrument here!  As a young married man, I thought I knew what a man was supposed to be, but step by step, Sherelene has helped me to realize how different a real man is from the fictional description I thought I knew all about!!!

 

Sherelene has taught me what sacrifice is all about.  She never told me about it, she modeled it!   I watched how she raised our children, dealt with others, cared for her patience, loved and respected her family, and honored her father and mother.   I saw here work tirelessly for all of us, never complaining, and never slowing down. Always willing to do whatever ended to be done.

 

Sherelene taught me what steadfastness was all about.  I’ve never known anyone that has more drive, energy, dedication, and grit!  There is no quit in Sherelene!  She faces every challenge knowing it will be defeated, and then slogs on into the battle!

 

Sherelene taught me what love and devotion are all about.  I have seen real love first hand.  I’ve seen faithfulness, and kindness, grace, and compassion.  All the attributes I needed to learn God used her to teach me.

 

Thank you Sherelene for loaning me your life for the last 44 years, I would not have wanted to spend it with anyone else, and feel so honored that you gave those years to me!

 

……and now more totally unrelated museum images!!!

 

Aircraft Carrier model.

 

Wagon and bucket.

 

Mike Ditka’s Steak House!

 

Old pharmacy bottles.

 

Sherelene and I had a great trip to Chicago together, today as I drove away from her for the week, I wanted to call off my trip and just go back home to her!   This retirement is pretty great, spending more time together!  Can’t wait for her to join me this coming weekend!

 

Blessed,

 

the pilgrim

 

 

 

 

 

If you drove by this little pavilion, above, at the People’s Gas Company in Chicago, you wouldn’t likely even stop.  However when I saw a stunning image made by Angie McMonigal of the structure from inside, I couldn’t get there fast enough and what a day I had visually sliding through the wonderful curves of this structure!  Below is my version of the wonderful shot made by Angie, and then a lot more versions, I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed looking through the lens and finding one striking composition after another!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yes, and some building with some terrific curved terraces like the Aqua building here!!!

 

 

 

This is only about a third of the versions I found, wow, what a wonderful place to get your visual juices flowing!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

This week I will be in Florida at the St. Augustine Birding and Photography Event, i’m honored to be teaching and speaking there including the keynote address on Saturday night!  I will share images from beautiful St. Augustine through out the next two weeks!

 

 

 

 

 

When I went out to shoot the “Bean” the first morning in Chicago I also went over to the Pritzker Pavilion to try and recreate some form of the wonderful shot made by Chris to the seats and the city scape.  Not copy it, but try to capture the wonderful lines and shapes he did.  Well, the light was already up and it was not working.  While I was standing there just starring around I noticed the light was just starting to play on the beautiful sculpted stainless steel panels that wrap around the stage area.  I found one shot, then another and 20 minutes later i was still seeing new ways the light was playing off various parts of the sculpture.  I have studied the website of Angie McMonigal (angiemcmonigal.com) and her incredible capturing of the architecture, patterns, and the sheer beauty of Chicago.  To say I see like Angie would be akin to saying I see color like Georgia O’Keeffe!!   No, I just love patterns and color and I find Angie’s work truly captivating.  Here are some of the shots that grabbed me that morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m really looking forward to spending time with the folks that are friend’s of Chris tonight at the University of Chicago.  From the look of Chris’s and Angie’s work, I’m not sure how much I can teach them, but I know Sherelene and will enjoy the photographic fellowship.  ……and thanks Angie for the inspiration!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim