The Texas Countryside in Spring

I am currently processing some photos from my recent vacation in Washington, and I'll probably get those up here later this evening. For now, enjoy a few more photos of Texas in spring. (As you'll notice, I've begun to watermark my images - let me know if you think it's too much).

Canon 7D, 28-135mm, 28mm, f11, HDR image, edited in Photomatix Pro and Lightroom 3 Beta 2

Canon 7D, 28-135mm, 135mm, f11, 1/20, edited in Lightroom 3 Beta 2

Canon 7D, 28-135mm, 41mm, f9.5, HDR image, edited in Photomatix Pro and Lightroom 3 Beta 2

Canon 7D, 28-135mm, 65mm, f4.5, 1/125, and Lightroom 3 Beta 2

Yet More Photos

These were shot the other day with my new 24-105 f4L lens. Some friends and I were out at the park talking about how to use the 7D for video work, and as we walked back found that the evening lighting was just about perfect for some stills.

By the way, these were run through some minimal processing in Lightroom 3 (Beta 2), but the sun-flare affect was achieved by using a higher-than-normal aperture setting. I don't have the EXIF data on hand, but I think these were shot at f22. When the aperture blades are closed that far it will cause a nice flare affect around any strong point of light in the image (it works best when the sun is in the shot - for other light source a star filter is recommended).

More Spring Photos

28, f8, 1/10, Canon 7D, tripod, processed in Lightroom 3 Beta 2

28, f9.5, 1/10, Canon 7D, tripod, processed in Lightroom 3 Beta 2

Photo of the Day

"Texas in Bloom"
135mm, f11, 1/46, Canon 7D, tripod, processed in Lightroom 3 Beta 2

Yesterday evening, a friend and I went out in the country on our weekly bike ride. What was supposed to be a 20 mile ride ended up being 39 miles. But the route was so beautiful that it made up for the extra pain and suffering. Texas can be amazing in spring.

I went back to some of the more memorable spots along our route and got some photos this evening just as the sun was setting.

Spring has Sprung!

Like it or not, the world is going green - literally! I'm so thankful that the Lord gives us such a beautiful season (emphasis on "season" - it doesn't last), even in San Antonio TX!

These shots were taken at my new favorite park about 10 minutes from our house. I would like to give due credit to the local mosquitoes as they played a big role during the shoot. It just wouldn't have been the same without them.

Photo of the Day

You probably wouldn't believe me if I told this I took this photo in south Texas...but you're going to have to believe me because that's exactly where I took it.

One of the local parks - which is usually very peaceful and pretty - is just stunning right now. In fact, there's so much green I could almost convince myself I was in Washington!

"Oasis in the Desert"
(sorry TX lovers, I had to say that)
28mm, f3.5, 1/45, Canon 7D, tripod, processed in Lightroom 3 Beta(2)

Some of My Favorite Artists

Recently I've been listening to a lot of music as I work, drive, clean the house...etc. Here are a few of my current favorite artists and some samples of their music:

Bryan Sutton
An incredible guitarist who dabbles in many different styles, but is probably best known for his bluegrass flatpicking. I picked up a guitar about a week ago, so Bryan's playing is really motivational for me right now!

Decision at Glady Fork - Bryan...

The Good Deed - Bryan Sutton

Alison Brown
She is one of most talented banjo players on the music stage today. Her group tends toward the more jazzy styles (which I actually like).

Twilight Motel - Alison Brown

Annie Moses Band
I was introduced to this Christian group just a few weeks ago, and I really love their music. Stylistically, they vary from folk to blues, classical to celtic - they're very ecclectic.

This is a really beautiful song from one of their albums:

Every Whisper, Every Sigh - An...

Hans Zimmer
He ranks in my top three composers for film. I especially enjoy his scores for the Pirates of the Carribean.

At Wit's End - Hans Zimmer

James Newton Howard
Howard is another of my favorite film composers. His score for The Village is brilliant.

The Gravel Road - James Newton...

I'm coming back!

Wow, I've really slacked off in my blogging lately! I'll be back soon, don't worry.

Camping at Enchanted Rock

I live in the suburb, work in the city, but I'm a country boy at heart, so the "city life" gets tough sometimes. Three weekends ago I had the irresistible urge to get back outdoors...so I went camping.

To many people, camping in February sounds like a joke, but remember I'm in Texas so our February is much more mild than everywhere else, right?

Um, no. But more on that later...

Sunday morning found me scrambling to pull together all my gear and load up the car. The plan was to go to church, then after the service and the weekly potluck, drive about 25 miles north to Enchanted Rock state park. As you'll see in the photos, Enchanted Rock is a really interesting place. The topography is unlike anything else in Texas (and most other places) - it's an enormous pink granite dome rising about 425 feet above the rest of the landscape, and is the largest of its kind in the United States.

This is a photo of Enchanted Rock taken in 1912.


OK, back the camping trip. Remember I said that I was "scrambling" to get ready on Sunday morning? Well, I ended up forgetting some rather important things which people generally take camping - like pillows, and blankets...etc. Other than that, I was ready. But I would soon find out just how much my pillow means to me!

As I drove up toward Fredericksburg TX, I noticed the sky getting cloudy and dark ahead, and pretty soon, what once was a nice sunny afternoon became an ominous evening. Rain wasn't on the forecast but at this time of year you never know what will happen. I certainly wasn't looking forward to getting soaked, but when I go camping I don't go expecting comfort and ease. The prospect of weathering a south Texas rainstorm in a cheap tent with no rain fly, and not even a rain coat for protection certainly wasn't my idea of the ideal camping trip, but it could be fun depending on how you look at it. :)


Thankfully, it didn't rain that night. But it did get cold. VERY cold.


I managed to start a nice little fire using instant-light charcoal, paper, dry kindling and finally some large chunks of half-charred wood I salvaged from other fire pits around the campsite. For dinner I roasted a few habanero sausages and boiled water for some Chai tea (not your typical camping beverage, I know). Around 9:30 p.m. I began to notice how cold it was getting, but it didn't bother me much because I was positive I had enough layers to keep me warm no matter what happened.

Boy was I wrong! Though I didn't have a way to check the actual temperature, it must have gone below freezing that night - and my sleeping bag is rated 35+. This, plus the fact that I had no padding between me and the cold, hard sand, made me feel like I was reliving Hannibal's famous crossing over the Alps in the dead of winter. And I'm 99% sure I would have been more comfortable using a rock as a pillow than none at all. Suffice it to say, I got pretty much zero sleep that night!

The irony in all of this was the fact that, despite the discomfort, the biting cold, and the lack of rest, I managed to enjoy myself. By 5:00 a.m. I could no longer bear to lay in my sleeping bag shivering, so I got up and started the day off right - with another cup of tea. I figured the sunrise would be around 7:00, and I wanted to be ready to take some photos. That was one of the main reasons I camped out there.

Here are a few HDR exposures of that morning's sunrise. It was everything I had hoped for, and then some! On top of that, I don't think I will EVER forget my pillow again!

I've disappeard, but I'm not gone

I'm sorry for my little disappearing act over the past few days. Whether or not you are sorry, the fact remains that I am. :)

Here are some neat quotes from one of my favorite photographers (and a great pioneer in the field), to tide you over.
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"Sometimes I get to places just when God's ready to have somebody click the shutter." - Ansel Adams

"A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into." - Ansel Adams

"There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer." - Ansel Adams

"There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs." - Ansel Adams

Covenant Ranch Day 2

The following is a continuation of Wednesday's post, and describes day 2 of my hunting trip down at Covenant Ranch last week.
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Tuesday

The day started out leisurely. I got up around 9:30 a.m. (only 7 hours of sleep last night) and took a walk down by the lake to look for birds. It was colder than I had anticipated so my t-shirt soon felt very insufficient. I saw a Shrike (probably Loggerhead Shrike), some Meadowlarks, Turkey Vultures, a Crested Caracara, some Grebes (probably pied-billed or something), a pair of Wigeon, some sparrows and some shorebirds including Killdeer and what may have been Dowitcher (I need to brush up on my shorebirds before going down to the coast in April).

We had breakfast, relaxed for a while and around noon some of us went out to look for the pig Tyler shot last night. When we approached the general area where he shot the pig, we saw a coyote which seemed to indicate that the animal was nearby and that there would probably be very little left.

Tyler's first kill on the Ranch

Sure enough we found the pig, almost completely eaten by coyotes, yanked off it's lower jaw which housed some nice long tusks, and headed back for lunch. Some of the guys went out to the range to work on their rifles while the rest of us hung out at the lodge reading books and waiting for lunch. After we ate, I played some pool with my buddy Valor (who beat me this time), and then went out to the lake-side to search for arrowheads and spearheads with Daniel and Michael Fowl. We found a few chips of rock that looked like possibilities, but it's hard to tell.

Valor is definitely the best 7-year-old pool player I know! He and I really enjoyed our (numerous) games against one another.

The evening hunt began around 5:00 - a little bit later than the previous evening. Bradley Pierce and I were in a blind in the south side of the ranch. It was octagon-shaped and had a nice clear view of about 7 different shooting lanes. Mr. Turner dropped corn in two or three of those and then headed back to the lodge. We waited for at least 30 minutes without seeing too much besides two hungry Javelina that began rummaging around for corn, and a badger which crossed the road. Then, just before the sun set, I noticed a small deer in range. I was commenting how it looked really small and how I was hoping for something bigger, when a nice big doe stepped out behind it. At this point my heart was really pounding!

The pair were in plain view and within range, so I opened a window and got set with my rifle ready to take the shot when the deer was positioned just right. She was grazing and wouldn't stay very still, moving every few seconds across the road. And I was shaking with excitement and didn't have the confidence I could hit her if I shot. So I waited and passed up two potential opportunities to shoot (which I REALLY REALLY SHOULD HAVE TAKEN! *disciplinary slap on the cheek*). Then she ducked into the brush on the other side of the road and never reappeared. It was getting dark at that point and Brad said we probably had less than 40 minutes of possible hunting time left. We saw a buck and a few more deer far off, but it was too difficult to identify whether or not they were shooters, and it would have been even harder to hit one in the dwindling light. Eventually we had to call it quits and head back to the lodge. I was (and still am!) super disappointed in myself for not firing when I had the chance. That was my first and only opportunity to get a deer and I didn't take it. I won't let that happen again the next time I'm lined up on a nice deer (and believe me, there WILL be a next time!).

My good friend Daniel all geared up and ready to go get some varmints!

This evening (around 10:30 p.m.) we had another varmint hunt which produced almost no animals whatsoever. It was fun to hunt out the rack truck (essentially a F-250 with a big metal stand mounted in back which raised the hunters about 15 feet off the ground), but we only got a very brief glimpse of a bobcat running across the road, Mr. Gobart shot at a hog which we spotted but it ran off and we didn't pursue it far. It was a very uneventful hunt overall.

The "Rack Truck." This thing was really cool (I mean that literally, it got really really cold at night when we hunted out of it!).

My writing is probably getting less and less coherent since it's nearly 2:30 a.m. so I'm going to get some much-needed rest. Tomorrow we pack up and go home.
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When I have the time I'll post a followup post with additional pictures and anything I missed in these very sketchy journal entries. And then there's still my camping trip at Enchanted Rock earlier this week - so much to write about lately!

Covenant Ranch Day 1

Each year, by the generosity of the Phillips family, the Vision Forum staff gets to enjoy a few days off work and go down to Covenant Ranch, an 8,888 acre game ranch about 2 hours south of San Antonio. Now that I'm on staff, I was able to go this year! It was my first time ever hunting white-tailed deer, but that wasn't all. There were wild hogs, badger, coyote, foxes, and even the slim possibility of seeing a mountain lion! (though we didn't see any). The following is a hastily-scribbled journal entry chronicling the first day, along with some photographs I took during the trip.
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Monday, February 8

Tyler and I headed out from San Antonio around 8:45 a.m. after washing dishes and loading our things into his car. We listened to the classic P.G. Wodehouse story "The Code of the Woosters" on the way down, and had a fairly uneventful 2.5 hour drive. We arrived at the ranch around 11:00 - a bit early - and met our camp hosts and hunting guides (who happened to be very good friends and colleagues).

The lodge was a great place for some good ol' R&R (Rest & Relaxation), especially when there are babies to hold!

I have been to the southern part of TX on two other occasions (though not this exact area), and Covenant Ranch is pretty much what I expected in terms of scenery and terrain. There aren't any real trees, just lots of low brush, mesquite, cactus and other spiny things. I commented to Tyler that if I had to guess where the Garden of Eden was, I would probably guess Texas. Think about it. When God cursed the ground, he said it would produce thorns and I can't think of a place with more spiny things than Texas! Anyways, that's kind of beside the point.

A path leading up to the lodge. There were LOTS of prickly pear cactus as you can see.

Tyler brought a brand new Remington 270 deer rifle with a Redfield scope, and since he hadn't had a chance to sight it in yet, Mr. Hart (one of our guides and a really good friend) offered to help him get it set up. We spent about an hour out at the range making micro-adjustments and getting the alignment just right. Now he's ready to go hurt some animals.


This afternoon I went out to hunt whitetails with Mr. Gobart. Our camp host, Mr. Turner, drove us out to our blind and spread some corn in several of our firing paths. We spent several hours in the blind until the sun went down and there was no longer enough light to see. Altogether we saw one decent buck (but we could only shoot does), 7 or 8 Javelina (a southern hog), lots of rabbits and birds (including Green Jay and Pyrrhuloxia!) but nothing I was able to shoot at.

One of the blinds we hunted out of

Once it became too dark to see, we packed up and headed back to the lodge to get some dinner. After eating some of us gathered upstairs to play pool, pingpong and other things. At around 10:00 we headed out for the evening varmint hunt. I went with Mr. Gobart, Matt, and Emily. We hunted the same blind Mr. G. and I had been in earlier, and with four of us packed in there I'll tell ya, it was tight.

Mr. G's electronic call attracted a few different animals. We spotted a bobcat on my side of the blind only a few minutes into the hunt, but I was unable to get the rifle in hand before it had retreated into the brush. After that we had a brief glimpse of what appeared to be a fox, then later we saw another one which I could have taken a shot at had the spotlights been brighter. I had a steady stance, rifle at the ready, but the batteries in our spotlights were failing and the scope couldn't give me a clear enough image to take a shot confidently.

We eventually packed up around 12:20 a.m. and headed slowly back to the lodge to get some sleep. Along the way, we used a car-powered spotlight to search for varmints. Matt had the rifle as we scanned the brush, but nothing turned up so we decided to go get some sleep. Some are waking up for the 5:00 a.m. hunt tomorrow morning (I guess "tomorrow" is now "today").

Tyler shot a pig and is pretty sure he killed it, but he wasn't able to find it in the dark so that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Can't resist - here's an HDR image of one awesome Texas truck!

_______________________

To be continued....

It's Darwin's Birthday, and I've got Presents!

It's Darwin's 201 birthday today. Visit Confronting Darwin for information on a special giveaway offer!

Stay Tuned

In the next day or two I will be posting some reviews on some of my photography gear (including my Canon 7D, 28-135mm lens, Lowepro backpack, tripod), as well some interesting tidbits on how I go about getting my photos and the software and methods I use to process them.

Also, stay tuned for a special anniversary post on Confronting Darwin to go up some time tomorrow!

I'm Back!

Hello hello. I'm back from the ranch after 3 days of hunting and fellowship, and...I didn't bring a deer back with me.

There are quite a few stories and photos to share, but right now I need to unpack and then pack again to go house-sit for my boss who is out there hunting for the rest of the week.

Au revoire y'all!

Me, In Absentia

To my family, friends, followers, fans, stalkers, or any combination of the aforementioned.

I will be going south tomorrow morning. My destination?


My objective?


I'll be doing some hunting, and Lord willing I'll be getting a deer or two (maybe even a bobcat)! I don't expect there to be internet access, so you may not hear from me for a couple of days. But when I return you can expect plenty of pictures and commentary!

P.S. I didn't draw the cartoons...just pulled them from a quick internet search.

Photo of the Day

"University in Blue and Orange II"
35mm, HDR exposure, Canon 7D, processed in Photomatix Pro, Lightroom, Photoshop

As a followup to yesterday's Photo of the Day here is another shot I took last night at the University of the Incarnate Word campus. I know this is really similar to yesterday's photo, but I like the way this shot isolates the tower and brings out the intensity of the blue-orange contrast.

I may have a fresher Photo of the Day this evening if I have time to get out and shoot today.

What do I do for a living?

I don't make a point of talking about work everywhere I go. In fact, many people I know very well sometimes ask me, "What do you do at Vision Forum?" even though we've known each other for at least a year and a half.

To be honest, I don't have a problem with that. I'm in a unique situation for my work and community life are very closely tied - the people I know are largely the people I work with and vice versa. For most people who have a corporate or "semi-corporate" job, work is often the only thing that ties them together. My colleagues aren't just "colleagues," they're my friends.

OK, with that aside, I realize that many of you really don't know what I do at Vision Forum. The goal of this post is to give you a window into my life as a graphic designer.

What does a graphic designer do?

That's a good question, and one with a lot of different answers. Some designers create websites, others design logos, some develop marketing campaigns with promotional materials...etc. Since I work for a retail business, my design work focuses primarily on products and advertising. Let me break that down and show you how it all works.

Working with products

Here at Vision Forum we are trying to propagate our message of family renewal and reformation through a variety of mediums, whether it be conferences, articles, personal interaction, books, CD messages, and more. We offer a variety of resources, some of which we produce here in San Antonio, others which we purchase from other companies and offer on our website.

As a designer, I work in both worlds. I have the opportunity to design CD artwork, DVD artwork, book covers...etc. for products that we produce, as well as work with products designed by someone else. In the course of my employment here I have been the primary designer for at least 1 CD cover, and 1 DVD cover, along with a variety of logos. So at this point, I don't play a key role in designing products which "go to press," but I do work with a lot of "third-party" products, preparing them to go on the website, in emails, in web ads and print ads.

That means I'm the guy with the scanner. For books, I scan the cover and the spine, then in Photoshop I create "mock-ups" using one of our pre-existing templates. CDs require basically the same process.

So when you look at a product image like "The Devolution of Law" DVD (a cover I designed by the way), you're not looking at a photograph. It was created using a Photoshop template.

I also scan and process artwork for our media download site BlueBehemoth.com. This is quite a bit simpler than mocking up a product for VisionForum.com, because the artwork is "flat."

In this particular case we decided to help out our vendor, Marc Leblanc, and I redesigned his artwork for him. We don't "tamper" with people's artwork very often (unless it's really really poor quality) because sometimes they get upset. :)

I used to design homepage banners for BlueBehemoth.com, but now this is handled by my good (and very capable) friend, Peter Serven. He does some really awesome work! Check out the BB.com homepage to see some of it.

I also function as the staff photographer (one of them). Certain products can't exactly be "scanned," so it's my job to set up a photo shoot in the back room, select the best image, and "cut it out" in Photoshop. This means I remove the background and a add a transparent shadow so we can use the image on different colored backgrounds (like in our annual catalog).

Working with advertising

This post is now officially LONG. I know you have a lot of (better) things to do today, so I won't keep you much longer.

In the Creative Media (aka Graphic Design) department we often joke that we are the "Email Department." If you subscribe to our email newsletter (and you should), you already know that we send out a whole bunch every week. Each of those emails is designed by someone in our department, and many times that someone is me.

Just like our products, each email is based on a pre-existing template. We create a custom banner and select a good color for the header and footer graphics, then save out those images as JPEGs. The second step is to set up the HTML code, which contains all of the text and governs the way the images are laid out.

When everything is ready, we put the images in a designated folder on our servers, plug the HTML into our mass-emailing service, test it a few times, make sure everything is approved by management and then send it off to you!

I also design web ads and homepage banners for VisionForum.com.

To summarize

As a designer at Vision Forum I:

1. Design CDs and DVDs and prepare them for printing
2. Scan and "mock up" products from other vendors
3. Photograph and "cut out" products that can't be scanned
4. Design emails
5. Design homepage banners for our website
6. Design web ads for products and promotionals
7. Design artwork for BlueBehemoth.com
8. Manage artwork from all our BlueBehemoth vendors
9. Have a lot of fun with the staff here at Vision Forum!
10. And much much more...

P.S.

I occasionally work as a researcher and writer for Mr. Phillips and others on staff. For instance, I wrote an article on Darwin's finches for last years' Galapagos Expedition (my first published article!). My research was used in our new film The Mysterious Islands, and I got an award! There are a lot of perks in this job of mine.

Photo of the Day

"University in Orange and Blue"
30mm, HDR exposure, Canon 7D, processed in Photomatix Pro, Photoshop and Lightroom

Hooray! Today was our first sunny day in probably a week! When I drove to work it was cloudy and glum outside, but around noon it really brightened up. And that meant...there would be a real sunset again!

In Texas we occasionally get one of those really "stunner" sunsets with the billowing clouds, whipped cream and a cherry, but it doesn't happen that often. But, when you can't get a good shot of the sunset itself, think about what the sun is hitting. On a nice day, there is a short window of time where the sun is hanging just above the horizon and the light is simply AMAZING. Photographers often call this the "sweet spot" or some other sentimental silliness...

Anyways, I remembered being impressed by this structure on the University of the Incarnate Word campus near downtown San Antonio. The reddish brick and impressive architecture made this building a perfect candidate for my "Photo of the Day." And after running it through some mild HDR processing to bring out some detail in the shadows and sky, I really like the way it turned out.

What about you?

Photo of the Day

"Birds and Lines"
132mm, f6.7, 1/60, Canon 7D, processed in Lightroom

Well it's been rainy here in San Antonio for the past few days. Since everything looks so gloomy, my photographic opportunities are somewhat limited, but I've still been trying to get out and shoot for a few minutes on my way home from work. Tonight I was driving through a very familiar intersection and noticed the huge flock of grackles and starlings that gathers there every evening to hang out and party on the power lines. I almost didn't stop to get the shot, but reconsidered and took about 10 minutes trying to frame it right.

This photo had barely any color to begin with so I simply processed it in black and white, and decided to focus mainly on contrast and leading lines. I actually think it turned out kind of neat.

Photo of the Day

"Mt. St. Helens Sunset"
44mm, HDR exposure, Canon 7D, processed in Photomatix, Photoshop and Lightroom

Here's another HDR image. I don't know how the color depth will appear on your screen, but hopefully it looks ok.

I'm really enjoying HDR. As you can tell, I'm not the type to go "over the top" with it, but it's an incredibly useful technique regardless of how you like to use it.

Photo of the Day

"Streaming"

85mm, HDR exposure, Canon 7D, processed in Photomatix Pro and Lightroom

This photo may look "beyond real" at first glance. That's because it was created using a special technique known as HDR (high dynamic range) photography. It's my first HDR image processed with a licensed version of Photomatix HDR software, in combination with Lightroom, so even though I have more learning to do I'm officially a happy camper!

If you're interested in the technique and theory behind HDR, this article will do a far better job explaining it than I can. Believe me, I could ramble on and on...

I hope you enjoy the image!

Be Back Shortly!

Hey everyone, sorry that it's been a few days since my last post. I've been going through a lot of transitions in how I organize my harddrives and store my photos and other data, attempting to free up space and ensure that everything is well backed-up and secure.

I expect to have some time this evening to post another photo update and possibly a general update on how things are going down here in Texas. Stay tuned!

Tomorrow's Photo of the Day

"Light and Shadow"
50mm, f4.5, 1/60, Canon 7D, processed in Lightroom

You're probably asking, "How do you post a 'photo of the day' before that particular day has even happened? Good question...

Well, never you mind. It just so happens that I took some neat shots tonight that couldn't wait until tomorrow!

Having been by these mansions on Ivy Lane quite a bit lately, I knew to expect good evening light around 5:30 p.m. - perfect timing since I get off work at 5:00. This evening the light was truly spectacular. I wish this JPEG could display the depth of color that was in the original shot, because even with minimal editing the golden evening light was incredibly striking.

I even had one lady walk by with her dog and ask, "Are they selling the house?" I should have said, "Yeah, and I'm buying it!"

Photo of the Day

"The Mansion"
28mm, f3.5, 1/45, Canon 7D, processed in Lightroom

Finally! A Photo of the Day that wasn't taken over a month ago! This is a shot of one of the big "Ivy Lane" mansions (well, more gate than mansion I guess), in our neighborhood.

Tell me honestly, is this over-processed in your opinion? I experimented with some split toning (contrasting red and green in the highlights and shadows), and fairly heavy vignetting. Maybe it's overdone... What do you think?

Photo of the Day

"My Backyard"
75mm, f5.0, 1/100, Canon 7D, processed in Lightroom

I shot this when I was back home for Christmas. Of course, in the original, everything was intensely green, but for this shot I wanted to focus on the contrast created by the bright light and shadows.

Photo of the Day

"Fountain at the McNay"
65mm, f5.6, 1/100, Canon 7D and 28-135 f3.6, processed in Lightroom

This was one of the very first photos I took with my new Canon 7D, and it was also the very first time I employed some really cool techniques in Lightroom to give it that special "look." If you're interested I can clue you in on some of the editing techniques I used to process this shot. Enjoy!

Photo of the Day

"Maverick"
95mm, f5.6, 1/100, Canon 7D, processed in Lightroom

Photo of the Day

109mm, f5.6, 1/200, Canon 7D, processed in Lightroom

This is a shot of beautiful sister Aimee taken a few weeks ago. (I know, I'm cheating again. This isn't a photo shot today...)

I hope it doesn't appear too washed out - one of the downsides of JPEG images is their tendency to appear undersaturated. Depending on your screen calibration, the color might be completely different than I intended. There are my caveats! I hope you enjoy the image.

See you tomorrow!

Photo of the Day

"Alamo Heights Presbyterian Church"
28mm, f3.5, 1/60, Canon 7D, processed in Lightroom

Photo of the Day

"Red Light, Green Light"
135mm, f5.6, 1/45, Canon 7D hand held, processed in Lightroom

In keeping with my goal to take one "Photo of the Day" each day, I decided to let the weather dictate my subject this evening. To be honest, I didn't know what to look for. I was leaving the office a little late, and it was getting dark and starting to drizzle. The options seemed limited.

I was just about to enter the neighborhood back-roads and bid farewell to all the city lights and most of the traffic. Then I saw the perfect opportunity!

I turned the car around, parked on the side of the road within sight of this intersection and started shooting. This is the result. I think this shot has a nice atmosphere to it.

Photo of the Day

"First Presbyterian Church"
28mm, f3.5, 1/45, Canon 7D hand-held, processed in Lightroom

Denial

"Denial" - The act of denying oneself something which "oneself" greatly desires.

Coffee - Since I finished my Christmas Starbucks blend, I have not had any coffee. Not a drop. It's been about 1.5 weeks now. Why, you ask? First of all to prove that I can, and secondly because tea is almost as good.

Candy - NO MORE. The "Candy Age" is over. Why? Because it makes me feel sick, and makes my face break out.

Soda - That's out too.

Now that I'm eating the "healthy stuff" pretty much exclusively, and feel great almost all of the time, why is it that I still crave all the "bad stuff?" After all, I used to live off candy and donuts. Why can't I do that now?

"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

I'm trying not to border on legalism here, but I think that passage might just have something to do with how we take care of ourselves. How we eat. What activities we do. Am I right?

Time flies...kind of like a duck

I used to not notice it. Or maybe it just didn't used to be this way. But if my sojourn in Texas has taught me anything it has taught me the importance preciousness of time. I like to say, "Time is like money you have to spend." You can't put it in a bank or a mutual fund and then someday pull it out and use it then.

I think there are two general classes of people when it comes to their philosophy of time. Some people act without self-discipline, as though their time was being taxed, sucked involuntarily into their favorite entertainment or hobby. Others view time as an investment, something that must be used wisely to further their long-term mission. The first kind of person is usually shallow and frivolous, the second is purposeful and visionary.

Ironically though, I've found that the bigger your vision, the less time you seem to have! The more you want to accomplish, the less you feel like you're accomplishing day to day. So wouldn't it be easier to set small goals, things you can achieve with relative ease from the comfort of your favorite armchair?

Absolutely not. When you begin to look at life from a biblical perspective you begin to grasp just how brief life really is, and just how little we understand of the victorious Christian life! There are stories of great men of the past, men full of purpose and vision, who made investments for the future, knowing full well that they would never live to see the fruit! Their investments are paying off even today. (I'm thinking of men like John Calvin, William Tyndale, and countless others).

I feel like I'm rambling, so I'll wrap up this "longer-than-I-meant-it-to-be" post and let you move on with your life. The point is, time flies...kind of like a duck. If you've never paid close attention to ducks (I'm talking about wild ducks, not those plump barnyard types), you probably don't realize just how fast they can fly. They don't soar leisurely like eagles do, drifting ever-so-slowly upwards. Most ducks can fly like quadruple-shot caramel mocha on wheels. In other words, they're fast! If you're not on your toes, they'll fly by before you ever get a shot at them.

So what exactly do ducks, history books, armchairs and quadruple-shot caramel mochas have in common? Not a lot. The point I'm driving at is that you really need to evaluate how you view time. It really is like an investment! You can invest it in things which you know are never going to bring a good return, or you can choose to invest it in those things which absolutely will pay off, not only in this life but in the next!

My Eminently Color-Coordinated Sister

This is my younger sister Aimee in her snow gear when we were up in the mountains sledding a few weeks ago. I don't know if you can see it in the photo, but her outfit actually matches her braces!

Talk about color coordination!

Photo of the Day

This was taken yesterday evening, so technically this is photo of yesterday, but since I didn't get around to posting it then I'll keep things in the present tense and pretend it's my "Photo of the Day" anyways.

"Back-lit Wispy Things"
135mm, f5.6, 1/1000, Canon 7D with tripod

Another Day, Another Tri-tip

Most of my readers ought to know by now that I'm a big-time barbecue fan. Not the type that just enjoys eating it though, I love actually firing up the grill (charcoal of course!) and watching those beautiful cuts of meat sizzle and sear.

Tri-tip steaks have kind of become a family tradition. My Grandpa was the tri-tip master, my dad picked up that talent, and I like to think that I'm doing pretty well in my own right. The thing is, they're kind of expensive - around $3.50-4.00 per lb. That being the case I don't do them very often, but it's a special treat whenever I decide to buy a few.

Tonight I did one using a different method than my last two. I would normally use a very basic cajun rub before puting the tri-tip on the grill, but this time I decided to try a technique that is generally used on brisket.

I started by completely thawing the meat, then this morning I smeared some generic course mustard all over it, wrapped it in shrink wrap and put it in the fridge. The idea with the mustard is that the vinegar content will break down the meat fibers and make it more tender. Like I said, mustard is generally used on brisket, which requires a MUCH longer grilling time (roughly 10-14 hours, compared to about 20-30 minutes for a tri-tip). Still, I figured the mustard would have a similar tenderizing effect on my steak, so I gave it a try.


After I got home from church I gave the meat a few more hours (for a total of about 9 hours marinating time), then fired up the grill and began prepping it for cooking. The first step was to scrape off most of the mustard and then apply a rub on the moist meat. Here's the rub I used:

1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
1 tablespoon chille powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon cayenne
1 teaspoon cajun spice

You could modify this any way you want to. The main thing is just to get a pleasing blend of spices that will jazz up the flavor of your steak. This combination really worked well in my opinion.


I seared it over direct medium-high heat for about 5 minutes per side, then gave it another 15-20 minutes of indirect heat to finish it off. I was aiming for an internal temperature of about 160, at which point I figured the steak would be about medium-well, just the way I like it. As an added touch, I brushed a bit of red wine over it toward the end to make sure it didn't get too dry.


The end result? A super-rich flavor with a hint of mustard and a great authentic steak texture. I loved it!

Brit Hume Tells Tiger What He Needs

Words of Encouragement for the New Year from C.H. Spurgeon

Casting all you care upon him; for he careth for you.
-1 Peter 5:7

It is a happy way of soothing sorrow when we can feel that He cares for us. Christian, do not dishonor your faith by always wearing a brow of care. Come and cast your burden on your Lord. You are staggering beneath a weight that your Father would not feel. What seems to be a crushing burden to you would be like a little dust on the scale to Him. Nothing is so sweet as to "Lie passive in God's hands, and know no will but His."

O child of suffering, be patient. God has not passed you over in His loving care. He who is the feeder of the sparrows will also furnish you with what you need. Do not sit down in despair. Hope on, and hope ever. Take up the arms of faith against a sea of trouble, and your fight of faith will yet end your distress. There is One who cares for you. His eye is fixed on you, His heart beats with pity for your sorrow, and His omnipotent hand will yet bring you the needed help. The darkest cloud will scatter itself in showers of mercy. The blackest gloom will give place to morning.

If you are one of His family, He will bind up your wounds and heal your broken heart. Do not doubt His grace because of your tribulation, but believe that He loves you as much in seasons of trouble as in times of happiness. What a serene and quiet life might you lead if you would leave providing to the God of divine care! With a little oil in the cruse and a handful of meal in the barrel, Elijah outlived the famine, and you will do the same. If God cares for you, why do you need to worry? Can you trust Him for your soul, and not for your body? He has never refused to bear your burdens; He has never fainted under their weight. Come, then, soul; be done with fretful care, and leave all your concerns in the hands of a gracious God.

-C.H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, January 6, morning reading