Things well at the Florida Camera Council meeting.  Thanks so much for your prayers!  Both talks were well received and we had a lot of excited customers who wanted to talk about and ask questions about the D4 and D800. I met s lot of nice folks and got to visit with some great old friends.  Early this morning Wayne Bennett, Ken Blye, Robert Wicker, and I drive over to Marco Island before sunrise to photograph Burrowing Owls.  If you don’t know about these little fellows, they burrow into the ground to build a nest, thus their name, and they are really fun to watch.  They are very small a little bigger than soft drink can!  I’ve long insisted that the Nikon 70-300 AFS-VR f 4.5-5.6 zoom is a great lens, and again this morning it proved it’s value.  On my D7000 it is an equivilant 105-450 and was plenty long enough to shoot these little guys!

 

After morning address I headed for Lakeland and meeting up with the team for Sun n’ Fun!  I will post a lot of images this week from Sun n’ Fun.  On the drive up the road I saw and photographed some neat stuff, the largest strawberry man in America!, some killer color on an old building and cool fence that says “Keep Closed”.  I will work hard all week to bring you some more images.

 

This morning I shared images synchs set to music and one show I shared was the original “America From 500 Feet” show, it was a great reminder for me of just how much God has blessed my life, to get to do that project with Welsey and survive cancer to see all my kids grow up, and now give Sherelene and I,  6 grandchildren!

 

Be blessed,

 

the pilgrim

 

 

 

 

 

* Photo Notes:   Burrowing Owl – D7000 – 70-300 AFS-VR,   Mr. Strawberry, Colorful building, and Keep Closed Fence, all with the iPhone 4s, the two HDR with the App Simply HDR!

 

IMPORTANT NOTE:  I expect to get the D800 on Monday, I will wring it out this week and be posting and commenting all week!

 

 

I am sure, I’m in Naples!  The Florida Camera Council is going well, and the people of Naples are too.  Hey I’m not against success, but when you’re in Naples it’s on display!  I couldn’t resist snapping this image of a beautiful Bentley convertable parked in front of my FJ when I went out to get my car tonight! &

 

I went off to have dinner with a couple of photographers friends, Wayne Bennett, and Ken Blye,  from the conference.  It was more than a pleasant conversation, it was an affirmation of all we have to be thankful for, and none of it involved a Bentley!   We talked about photography, of course, but soon the conversation went into much deeper things, like the most important things we valued in our lives.  When we got to that subject it soon was apparent that all of us held friends and family right up at the top.  For me faith takes first place, but family, and these kind of great friends are right at the zenith of things of real value.

 

Often when I work these kinds of shows I talk to people all day long about what camera or what lens, and of course I understand the enthusiasm, but the older I get the more my thoughts turn to other things, like friends.  Each night before I fall asleep I take a moment to talk to God and thank Him for all the blessings of the day.  Tonight, as every night, I will thank Him for Sherelene and my family, right after that I will thank Him for a great time with Wayne and Ken, and the wonderful group that came to Old Car City, whom I still think of often.  Jim Begley and Chuck Summers have been dear brothers and the list is way to countless to continue now.  One thing is for sure, it’s great to feel so blessed!!!!

 

the pilgrim

Image by Richard Siggins

 

I got in this evening after a great visit with an old friend, Mark Boris, formerly of Kodak.  We shared a few hours catching up and it was great to see him again.  He is a great shooter and I hope to stay in closer touch.  Here is a link to his wonderful book:  http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/129870

I think his website is under construction, but google his name and you will see some wonderful images!!!

 

When I got in this evening I checked my email and got one that really meant a lot to me.  Now please don’t take this as self serving, but I wanted to share this nice note with my answer in red type.  Please know, all of you, and there are many, that send me kind emails and encouraging words, how much I appreciate it!  It’s all Him, and to His glory, but the kind words are nice to hear!

 

Bill,

My goodness, I feel like I know you now.  I hope you consider that a very high compliment, because I intend that as a tribute to your teaching style.

Larry, I’m honored and I appreciate those kind words.

I have just finished watching the trilogy of Kelby Training programs you’ve done, besides the first one I watched, when you and Matt were doing the “gear” episodes.

Anyway, from the first time I began researching you and I came across the Pilgrims Chronicles, my heart began to sing!  Then, as I continued to watch you…like when you were in that freezing temp in the Smokies and your close up episodes, I could see God’s hand working through your life, reaching out to touch us viewers.  Again, thanks Larry, I am fully committed to serving God in every area of my life, so it is just natural that in my love for photography I want Him to be at the center of it all!

I don’t think I’ve ever really told anybody this, but when I first became interested in photography back in about 1970 or so, I found that the activity gave me a special way to glorify God’s creations.  My having grown up on a Jersey dairy farm in Starkville, MS (home of Miss. State University), reared by the finest Christian parents anyone could have had, I had innumerable opportunities to witness God’s handiwork in nature…from helping a cow “birth” a calf, to watching plants grow in the pasture, to understanding how bees were really our helpers by pollinating the flowers, and on and on and on.  You’ve certainly experienced some great “God Moments”, yourself!

There are so many emotions and thoughts racing through my mind, but this message is really not about me.  I want to commend you for being so bold with your faith!  We surely need more people to show, in a gentle, loving way, the love of God through their lives.  You exemplify that to perfection…at least, from my perspective.  That is truly my goal, not to judge anyone, but to introduce them to my loving Savior!

God willing, I shall be fortunate enough to meet you someday.  If not hear, than surely in Heaven.  I hope we can do both!!

I am 64 years young, so I’m old enough now to find great joy in helping to teach young people about the joy of photography (I was a junior high Industrial Arts (some called it “shop”) teacher, then middle school principal, and then retired from having taught at Miss. State).  I love the idea of “passing it on.”  And, even better, I shoot with Nikon gear.  My current camera is a D80 that I bought from a friend about 4 years ago…and I’ve decided not to move up to a more robust camera until I learn this camera so well that I can shoot it in my sleep!

OK, enough from me.  I just wanted to thank you for your inspiring teaching and for holding up your faith so others can see.  May God richly bless all your efforts now and into eternity.  Larry, He has richly blessed me and blessed me even more when wonderful people like yourself take their valuable time to share these thoughts!

P.S.  If you’re on Google +, I’d love to ask you to consider being a guest sometime on one of my Google+ hangouts that I host for “Apple Photo Educators” (those people who are Apple Distinguished Educators and who teach some form of photography in their schools).  Count on it!!!!

Larry

 

Dr. Larry S. Anderson

 

Larry,  thanks again, and thanks to all of you that lift me up in prayer, I can feel them!

 

the pilgrim

 

Well I’m finally off the road and in for the night!  Started at 7:00 a.m. in Corbin, Kentucky and arrived in St. Augustine at around 6:00 p.m. around 700 miles.  Not a bad day at all, I once drove 1,100 miles in a single day!!  I was much younger and a good deal more foolish!  I love being on the road, and I hate being on the road.  The good part of today was a full day in the car alone to just think, the best part was seeing my family in Florida when I stopped for the night, another 8 hours of driving tomorrow!  The worst part was that with every mile that rolled up on the odometer, I was another mile further away from Sherelene, my bride!

 

Working at what I do means travel, and travel means being away from family, and being alone, but then even in the alone times God can teach me, and get my full attention!  Even travel days lead to photographic opportunities, here are some of my favorite images of the day!

 

 

Dinner with my family after a long day!  Front, Hannah, Ramona, and Ben, my two grandchildren and their foreign exchange student, and now part of our family!  Back, Diane and Scott Fortney, my oldest son and his wife, my daughter-in-law, more like a real daughter!  I’m really proud of my son, he is a wonderful father, husband and man.  A miracle considering that I helped rear him!  It shows Sherelene’s parenting powers, and God’s grace…….

 

 

I call this one “Beautiful Hands….”  It’s actually a self portrait done by my granddaughter Hannah, she is a very talented young lady!  One of her many talents is a great eye!

 

I did a rest stop at the Mighty 8th Air Force Museum, (I always rest stop there!), shot this nose art that was new, pretty cool!

 

Before I left home I saw this old garage scene on a local road, and stopped to do a quick HDR with my iPhone!

 

I promise more as the week goes on, thanks for your prayers, I’m this far safely, don’t stop!!

 

In Him,

 

the pilgrim