Category: Photography

Thursday, July 9, 2026 In the Grace of the Beauty

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I am reading a book called Reclaiming Quiet by Sarah Clarkson. The subtitle is “Cultivating a Life of Holy Attention.“ She’s a good writer and I have felt quite bathed in the beauty of her observations about what it means to seek and find God in the quiet moments. Our busy lives don’t always lend themselves to moments of silence, the way we usually think of what it means to have quiet. We have to redefine what quiet means, and make a way to find it all through our busy days.

I just read a section in which she was talking about the way we tend to mediate all our experiences through our phone cameras. She said “When I mediate the whole of my experience through my camera, whipping it out at every hint of intense or immersive experience, I’m ending the very thing I set out to record. I am jolted back to a place where I’m standing apart from the thing I want to capture. I’m no longer in the grace of the beauty I have recorded.“

I know exactly what she means. I have been enamored with cameras and photography for a long time, but there have been times when I realized I could either watch and enjoy the thing that was happening or I could take photos of it. I could not do both. This is why we hire wedding photographers so we can enjoy the wedding without having to look through a lens. And yet, how wonderful it is to have the memory-provoking photos afterward.

I always take my Nikon camera out with me to the garden bench swing. There’s not a lot new that I see from year to year, but I still take photos. I am entranced by what I see and I want to capture it. Everything in a garden points to the Gardener and I practically swoon over His artistry. But flowers aren’t people; taking photos of them doesn’t detract one bit from my immersion in the beauty.

Too many photos of flowers? Surely not!

I’ll cover the lens of this post in the morning.

Monday, July 6, 2026 What I Saw At Camp

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I brought my “big” camera, the Nikon with the zoom lens, and walked around with my camera eyes on. Here are a few things I saw.

You should know by now that a good reflection is always going to catch my eye.

Who knew that gas cans could present such a lovely, colorful image?

If you look at this with a bit of whimsy, it looks like the skull is all agog with its mouth hanging open, saying “Wow!” Can you see it?

This doe came around while I was sitting outside the camper reading. She came again the next morning while I was still inside the camper, two fawns in tow. Sadly, I couldn’t get a photo from inside. I know they’re mangy, I know they eat up my flowers, I know all that… but they’re still beautiful, aren’t they? It was a hushed and holy moment, she and I just looking at each other. Then she crashed through the greenery and disappeared.

Summer vibes, right there, with a camper relaxing on an inner tube and all the life jackets in the foreground. It’s a happy photo all around.

Break time for one of the cooks.

Break time for one of the birds.

Lakeside vessels, waiting to be boarded.

A rather distressingly bad photo of the regal bald eagle. That eagle deserved better, but my camera’s not THAT great. I would’ve needed a much longer zoom lens. And the eagle steadfastly refused to come and perch closer to me.

This butterfly posed for me quite nicely. The eagle could take some lessons from it.

Black squirrels! I saw one that was inky black, but that little buffer didn’t stick around long enough for a photo. How can I enjoy the plain old gray squirrels that inhabit our yard anymore when I know that this exotic breed exists? I suppose they make just as much mischief as ours do.

The sign we pass on our way out of camp. “Be strong and show thyself a man.” That’s the kind of camp you want to send your boys to.

I’ll probably feed this to a black squirrel in the morning.

Monday, June 8, 2026 The World and They That Dwell Therein

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The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof;

The world, and they that dwell therein.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

Who is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates..and the King of glory shall come in.

Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.

When your garden and the creatures who pass through it speak the psalms to you.

I think it’s bedtime; I shall dream of deleting this in the morning.

Monday, March 2, 2026 The Annual Ritual

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The month of March is upon us, which means that I can at last put a halt to my insufficient efforts to keep the poinsettia alive. It’s time to set it free out in the wild.

Our compost heap may not look exactly like “free out in the wild,” but it’s all relative. The plant has been freed from the shackles of the green plastic pot. It has gone from our tame and dull home to a place where birds might alight next to it (or even on it!) or some little critter might scamper around its leaves. Like I said, free and wild.

I look forward to this ritual every year. The poinsettia had company this year: a dozen Valentine roses that had gasped their last breath and diminished into themselves.

And now, a bonus photo for you:

Sunrise through the trees! Looks positively molten, doesn’t it? The photo didn’t turn out the way I expected, but I ended up liking it anyway.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning after it has gasped its last breath.

Monday, February 23, 2026 Photo Grab Bag

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Some of you who have been following my blog for many years may recall that I started it as a photo journaling experience. I had gotten a new camera and wanted to write about the photos I took. It sort of evolved over the years and morphed into the rather eclectic set of writings of more recent times.

One of the things I have missed with having a bum knee is that I haven’t really been able to do nearly as much walking and photo taking as I did back in the day. It was a lovely habit. In spite of the fact that I walked nearly the same terrain all the time, there was always something new and interesting to photograph all through the year. This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Psalm 118:23

I still haven’t done much outside photography lately, but I picked up my Nikon camera a few days ago to capture some things from inside the house.

The birds finally forgave us for neglecting the bird feeder for much of the winter.

The theme of neglect also pertains to the poinsettia.

I’m sorry that you won’t be able to see what I saw when I took this photo. There was a glowing pastel sunset happening, the wind was gently blowing our wind chime back and forth and it all looked positively dreamy through our front door. I literally did not see how dirty the door glass was until I saw the photo. More neglect, I’m afraid. This is becoming a distressing theme. Let’s move on.

The same dreamy sunset across the street…

…and in the windows of the apartment building across the street.

Photographs really can’t compare with reality.

I’ll probably neglect to delete this in the morning.

Monday, December 8, 2025 Olio

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The word “olio” comes up surprisingly often in crossword puzzles. It means “a miscellaneous collection of things,” or “hodgepodge.” Let that inform you as to the nature of what follows.

Sunsets, sunrises…I still run out in my slippers to capture them.

Pastels overlaid with the rough darkness of trees. Never gets old.

I thought this flower had a definite celebratory look to it. Or perhaps a head of disorganized hair. Don’t you love how it lights up the photo? I do!

I’ll tell you, old age is severe upon the plant world. These were beautiful in their prime. Still, they put on a very interesting farewell, unashamed of their desiccated state. The Lord giveth; the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the named of the Lord.

Obviously, these were all taken before the change of seasons, before frost, cold and snow scrubbed away the green and gold of autumn.

To everything there is a season
and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
A time to be born,
and a time to die,
A time to plant,
and a time to pluck up that which is planted.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

And a time to delete this…in the morning.

Monday, October 6, 2025 The Ten O’Clock P.M. Post

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I don’t actually have anything to say at 10:00 at night, and I’m sorry for you to have received this, thus wasting your precious time. However, to make it a little more interesting, I’ll drag a couple photos out of the “never used” photo file.

It’s all quite startling isn’t it? What bold colors! A bird in mid-flight! I took that photo last March or April and upon looking at it realized that I’d forgotten to take the camera off “vivid setting.”

So I fixed it and took another photo of the same three birds, although by this time both the finches were perched and the cardinal looked like it was ignoring them. The finches were probably having the kind of perky conversations that finches have – you know how they go on. If you were there, you might have ignored them, too.

But enough of that. I’ve taken up too much of your time already.

This perky post will be ignored in the morning.

Monday, September 22, 2025 Senescence

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The grass withers,
The flower fades…
But the word of our God
Stands forever.
Isaiah 40:8

Perhaps that’s what we should ponder when autumn comes to carry summer away. There is an ache in the senescence of the garden, but it was never meant to last forever.

God’s word is a flower that never fades. It is a green grass that never withers. Such is our hope.

I’ll probably delete this senescent post in the morning.

Monday, July 7, 2025 Fluffy Danger

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Suppose you got news that a darling little fluffy seagull chick was just outside your domicile. Would you:

A. Jump up, grab your camera, and run out to get a photo, or
B. Say, “Oh, that’s interesting,” and go right on with what you were doing.

If you answered A, you are a kindred spirit. Read on. If you answered B, I wonder if you wandered into this blog post entirely by mistake. No one will fault you for leaving, but you may find the proceeding story will vindicate you.

As it happens, I did recently have an opportunity to jump up, grab my camera, and go in pursuit of the aforementioned baby seagull. I took a few photos, getting closer and closer. The baby didn’t seem to mind. I like to think that we were having a moment.

Suddenly, a loud noise interrupted my reverie, accompanied by the sight of a large seagull swooping down toward me.

I yelped and backed off, but was dive bombed twice more by this very protective parent as I tried to get away.

Since I yelped each time, the crowd of kids on the beach got quite a show. You’re welcome.

Fun times!

If you hear me yelping in the morning, you’ll know I had to delete this.