Alleluia!

Happy Easter!  Christ is Risen!  Alleluia!  I hope you all are having a wonderful day — it is a beautiful day here.

I photographed part of our Easter worship service this morning, so I had a camera on hand to capture the perfect lighting of this lily in the window at our church.

Michigan winter

We have definitely had an unusual winter, where all the big storms were going south of us.  The state of Virginia has had a Michigan winter, and we haven’t!  But we finally got some picture-worthy snow last night (a respectable 8.3 inches).  So I took my little camera and got some pictures on my way to work this morning.

I feel pretty

Found a gorgeous red dress for the Ball that I’m going to in December!

Autumn 2009

Trip Photos, Part II

Washington DC was in full bloom when I was there last month.  And this is truly an instance where pictures are worth thousands of words.  There were cherry blossoms in white and pink.

And tulips!  Tulips everywhere!

Trip Photos, Part I

At long last, some photos from my trip!  I’m going to post the photos with stories, not in chronological order at all.  So this is from Day 4 of the trip.

Story One:  The Cathedral

My fascination with Washington National Cathedral had a weird origin, which was the TV show “The West Wing.”  At the end of the second season, a dear friend of the President dies and her service is at the National Cathedral (and the show got permission to actually film there, which is an amazing story in itself).  During that episode, the President asks that the Secret Service seal off the Cathedral and leave him in there.  He then has a meltdown and yells at God (in English and in Latin), and he lights a cigarette, throws it on the floor of the Cathedral, and stomps on it.  It is the type of raw, emotional moment that draws me right in.  And the fact that it was set in this stunning Cathedral made it all the more compelling.  And that is the origin of my fascination!  I told you it was weird!

I was in DC in 2006 but did not make it to the Cathedral then, so it was at the very tip top of my list on this trip.  And I finally got there on a rainy Monday.

That picture above does not show how enormous the Cathedral is, so I got another view as I was starting to go up the stairs.

Going inside the Cathedral was literally breathtaking for me.  It is magnificent, visually and spiritually.  The grace of God feels so tangible in there.  I lit a candle and said a prayer and walked around speechless.  All around me were gorgeous stained glass windows and high pillars and dedications to people who have gone before us.

I sat on one of the chairs, trying to take it all in.  I walked up the center aisle, trying to imagine Martin Sheen having to yell at God in this place.  The organist was playing off and on, and the music filled the Cathedral.   I thought about Presidents and others who have been remembered here, about Presidents still living who have been to services here.  I wanted to soak in every image, every sound, every feeling of this awesome place.

Three Smiles

It was fun to spend time with family at my cousin’s baby shower yesterday, and these two cuties made me smile:

And our April Snow this morning made me laugh out loud:

Images from the Laundry Room: Seasons

The season is Autumn.  (Photo taken in October 2005.)

 

The season is Winter.  (Photo taken January 11, 2009.)

Friday Firsts: First Big Purchase

Given that I’ve spent more money on cameras in my lifetime than on vehicles, it should be no surprise that what I would consider to be my first big purchase was when I bought a top-of-the-line film SLR camera back in 1997.

 

I had two SLR cameras that I bought when I was in high school — both were mid-level cameras with some nice features, but they did not hold up for me.  I am hard on cameras, there’s no question about that.  When I shoot events, I take a lot of pictures and I expect the camera to keep up with me.  In 1997, I still had those two cameras, and I had two cousin’s weddings to shoot.  One camera died at the first wedding (ugh!), and I couldn’t use all of my lenses with the older camera, so I shot Amie’s wedding with an old camera and one lens — a standard 50mm lens, no zoom, no nothing.  By that point, my flash was dying too.  It’s a wonder those pictures came out at all!

 

When I got home from that trip, I went to my favorite camera place and asked my buddy there what he would recommend.  He put a couple of mid-level cameras in my hands, and they seemed OK.  Then, he took a Canon 1N off the shelf and said, “Or, if you want to move up, this is a great camera.”  As soon as I held it, I was in love!  The camera was so much sturdier and more durable than my other cameras.  It was made for pros who shot thousands upon thousands of pictures.  When I hit the button to take a picture, it sounded like a real camera!  At that point, my intention was to pursue photography as a career, so it made sense to get the best camera that I could.  But, I wasn’t working and my health was only just starting to stabilize, and buying this camera and one zoom lens and a flash would run over $2,000.  Sigh.  I thought about it for a little while and, in somewhat uncharacteristic fashion for me, I decided to go for it!  It cost more than my first car, and more than I had ever spent on anything to that point (and is still my second-largest single purchase to date!).

 

That camera served me incredibly well for eleven years, so it was well worth the investment.  And I’m still using the lens and flash with my new digital SLR.  I’ve shot at least a dozen weddings, countless babies, graduations, birthday parties, and reunions.  I shot 20+ house dedications as the volunteer photog for Habitat for Humanity.  I served as photographer for a local children’s museum for about 18 months.  I’ve shot events at school and work.  The camera has been on many trips.  And other than slowing down a bit, it is still functional.  It was certainly one of the best purchases that I ever made, and it still makes me smile to think back to the day I felt like I took a giant leap to buy it!

Autumn Leaves 2008

I absolutely love autumn leaves and used to use up tons of film shooting them every year.  This year has been just busy enough that I hadn’t gotten out with my camera yet until yesterday, when I finally had a chance to get some good shots about an hour before sunset.  These are my two favorites.