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DailyPhotos > Shelly  > Other > Shelly's Photo Blog 2008
This gallery is a melange of my photographic styles as well as a look into my daily life. I try to capture something new every day or else to find something that fits the day. It's a great excuse to carry my camera with me more often than not, and it allows me to stop and take those pictures that need to be taken.

To see what 2007 looked like, click on this link: http://spccreative.smugmug.com/gallery/2958746_n6VBs#238075802
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Shelly > July 27, 2008

The Church Has Left The Building

If a visitor had tried to go to our church on July 27, they might have been surprised to see that we had no service and no Sunday School.  Instead, they would have found a group of volunteers assembling walls for Habitat for Humanity and loading them onto a flatbed truck.  

The other members had scattered to about 44 different sites in the community where they participated in a huge variety of service projects.  It was our chance to cover our community in prayer and to serve as Jesus with skin on.  

Mike and I had the privilege of traveling to about eight of the different sites to help record activities.  It was so hard to choose a single image for the day.  While this is not an artistic shot but more of  a snapshot, it shows a little bit of one project along with the fruits of the Spirit -- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness,  and self control.  

My prayer is that these fruits will root deeply and flourish throughout the area. 

For a tiny peek at some of the work, here's a link to our other images from the day:  http://spccreative.smugmug.com/gallery/5555611_DfYBZ#340362983_Rw2ZS
Shelly > July 26, 2008

Taps

Today we laid a hero to rest. Uncle Raymond was my grandmother’s baby brother and he was 94 years old.  This may have been the only funeral ever to include both military honors at the cemetery, and a whoopee cushion salute at the reception.     

Uncle Raymond was a WWII veteran who provided distinguished service as a Flight Officer and a Glider Pilot.  He served in Germany during Operation Varsity, landing his glider behind enemy lines during the largest single-day airborne operation of the War. Most of the glider pilots did not survive their missions. He was the recipient of the Air Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, and the Bronze Star.   

He built his home with his own two hands.  He raised countless dogs and a bit of wildlife as well as two outstanding sons.  He loved his wife, kids, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, and he taught us all how to live for the day.  He took in countless troubled teen and preteen boys, giving them guidance and leadership.    His vegetable garden was the standard by which all others are measured.  He hunted, fished, photographed and filmed.  He was the chief of the volunteer fire department and I can’t think of anything that he didn’t do and do well.  

Most of all though, Uncle Raymond will be remembered as an outstanding storyteller and the king of practical jokes.  The jokes and tricks he played on family, friends, and strangers could fill an entire book.  Some were extremely elaborate while others were just silly, so it was only fitting that one of his granddaughters passed out whoopee cushions at the reception and asked everyone to blow them up and sit on them together.  I believe I can still hear him chuckling over that sendoff.   

If there was ever a great man, it was Uncle Raymond and we will miss him – but the world is truly a better place because he walked and worked in it for such a long time.


 . . . All is well . . . . safely rest . . . God is nigh!
Shelly > July 25, 2008

T-G-I-F!

It's been a hard week.  Brannigan's teaching us how to cope with stress.
Shelly > July 20, 2008

Bull Market in the Galleria

Actually this pic is from Saturday, the 19th, but if Smugmug can skip a day or two, so can I.  This bull sculpture, created entirely from Red Bull cans, reminded me immediately of Alex's Bull Market shot from New York:  http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/3752956_jdnMo#295448191_sGnCA

People were lining up for pictures with the bull.  I've never seen so many camera phones in action in one place in my life. 

Again, I used the little point n shoot  and then a little bit of pp work for effects.

We rarely go the the Galleria but it was a good mind diversion, and the air condition works well.  There's certainly no indication of a lagging economy there.
Shelly > July 19, 2008

Ceviche -- The perfect lunch for a hot summer day. 

The un-progressing kitchen remodel (See May 30 http://spccreative.smugmug.com/gallery/4550624_LCxaW#304104538_jZZPo  ) and some other issues have made me very grumpy.  Thankfully Mike takes very good "care" of me and knows how to get me out of the funk. 

We went downtown to see the new Discovery Green park and   to the Galleria to see an exhibit of sculptures built from Red Bull cans.    It was all free except for the gas to get there and the parking downtown. AAAARRRGH  I'm never going to get used to having to PAY someone just to leave my car for a little while.  

Naturally we had to stop for lunch, and here it is.

We recently picked up a tiny little Nikon Cool-Pix point and shoot for the occasions when the 40D's would be forbidden or too big to haul around, and that's what I'm using here. It's different, and I'm totally out of my element using it.  Isn't that funny?   It's supposed to be simple, but now I'd rather dicker with my settings.
Shelly > July 17, 2008

I had a photography instructor once tell me that dragonflies were an easy subject to capture.  She is a very accomplished nature photographer, but on that one topic she was dead wrong.  

Still, I finally got one, so maybe number two will be a bit easier.
Shelly > July 15, 2008

"Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. But if you're not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were."  
 -- David Rockefeller
Shelly > July 14, 2008

ME!

Here's a HUGE salute to each of you who turns out wonderful  SP's over and over.  That's so much harder to do than it looks, and I'm asking -- BEGGING for your advice and suggestions!
(not that I plan to make the SP thing a regular event, but it is a skill I need to improve)

I had my lights and backdrop set up, and was waiting for people to come in for headshots, so I decided to play around a bit. First because autofocus would have picked up on the backdrop, I put a big cardboard sign on my stool and focused manually on that.  Then I used my timer and ran around to try and put my face in the right place.  It would have been comical to watch,  and when someone walked in I jumped up and said I was "playing with my lights."  That part was kind of embarrassing, but not too much.  I don't get embarrassed like I used to.  

This is a pretty serious crop because I was about out of the frame anyway.  There was nothing more to leave in at the top left, and I've become a fan of very tight headshots. 

I've never considered myself very photogenic and now have decided that I probably don't wear enough makeup, but I kind of liked this one because I look happy and not too goofy.  

Ran it through several different filters before I picked this one with a friendly glamor/faded effect.  It is what it is -- and that's my Picture of the Day and I'm a stickin' to it.
Shelly > July 13, 2008

Hope in the Shadows

Yesterday Kim asked about Grace, the beautiful Kildeer mother whose nest I had been watching.  I wish I had a real  answer to report, but here's what I do know.

Her nest had been smack dab in the middle of our church parking lot (Grace Fellowship www.whatisgrace.org) -- hence her name.    Some other members had spotted her first, stacked some rocks nearby and marked the area with traffic cones to keep her safe.  I think everyone who saw her enjoyed showing her to their kids and talking about the wonders God puts into our lives.    

Over the Fourth of July weekend, someone had moved one of her markers and used it to set off fireworks. I replaced it once,  but the next day the parking lot was littered with even more firework debris and her markers had all been moved to the end of the parking lot.  There was no trace of Gracie or her eggs.

I really felt low that morning because I THINK some neighborhood kids may have  destroyed her nest.  I HOPE, however, that Grace's eggs hatched before I expected them to and that somewhere in the little drainage ditch that runs by the parking lot she  and her friend, Charity, are living happily with  Love, Joy, Peace, Hope and older cousin Chiclet.

I have yet to post the last pictures of Chiclet, but will get them up and let you all know soon.
Shelly > July 12, 2008

Floating  on a hot summer day.  

Swimming pool blue makes a great flower background.  It's like having a sky with no sun spots.  (Just little stains instead)

Note to my mother -- could this possibly be from the elusive "lost" bulb that you gave me two or three years ago?  The individual blossoms are about 1 1/2 inches, but they're on stalks with at quite a few of the  smaller stems like this one.  Quite a striking display, and they're doing so well that they could even be thinned and shared after they finish blooming.
Shelly > July 11, 2008

Medical Advice

With Beans and Greens
Here is the Means
To Cauterize Your Inside Seams -- Burma Shave

I think my parents may have written that little ditty.  It was on a bottle of home-brewed pepper sauce that they made more than 20 years ago, and I believe it's still among my kitchen condiments somewhere.   Anyway, I think of it nearly every time I put this wonderful concoction on my veggies.

For a major part of this week, I camped out in the Physician's Lounge at a local hospital taking headshots for a pictorial directory.  I didn't move a thing to set up this shot, but liked the way the computer lights reflected off the bottle of pepper sauce on the table.   It might be better without the stand-up newsletter in the background, but media is everywhere.  

A little selective color, then some posterization for effect. 

By the way, what does it mean if the salt shaker in a doctor's dining area is empty?  Did they use it up when no patients were watching, or do they keep it empty for their own good health?
Shelly > July 6, 2008

Passion Flower

"Passion makes the world go round. Love just makes it a safer place." -- Ice T, The Ice Opinion
Shelly > July 5, 2008

I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW --

I promised no more Kildeer photos, but Charity and Charlie would like for you to meet Chiclet.

Charity has been the lesser-celebrated of two Kildeer mothers that I've been watching for the last two weeks.  We grieved together when she lost one of her two eggs,  but  she surprised me on Saturday morning with a very freshly-hatched baby.  

I arrived at the nest around 8:00 am, a little later than I usually go out, but if I'd gone any earlier, I probably would have missed the whole thing.  Chiclet was fresh, tiny and still soaking wet.  

Just the day before, an ornithologist told me that these guys leave the nest as soon as they dry out, and could be gone in about an hour or so.  

I stayed for three hours and not much happened, but I couldn't keep myself from coming back.  In this photo, taken about 1:00 pm, Chiclet is about 5 hours old.  He would walk around, take about five or six steps, fall down, and get up again, just like a people baby learning how to walk.  TOO TOO CUTE but always going AWAY from the camera. 

Both parents were very involved in his care, and even Grace and her mate popped in for a visit and to help babysit the first real nest outing.   

By 6:00 pm, when I came back for my third visit of the day, the parents were still around and acting very protective, but I couldn't find the baby.  There's a creek (fancy word for drainage ditch) and grassy area nearby, and they provided a much friendlier and safer environment for raising the baby than this caliche parking lot.  

More photos from the day will go into the Kildeer gallery soon, but I have some other projects I have to finish today.   It's true what they say about new babies.  Once they're born, you just can't get anything else done.  

Meanwhile, Grace waits.  Based upon the date her fourth egg was laid, if my sources are correct, we won't see her babies before July 15.
Shelly > July 4, 2008

Lighting Up the Night

If I had wanted really good fireworks pictures, I suppose I should have staked out one of the professional shows.  However, the "kids" on our block, teens and some who have celebrated a few more than umpteen Fourths, put on a pretty good exhibition of their own.  Ours is much more fun, up close, and personal.

This is actually a combination of two separate images, and the fountain on the right is really the one that the young man is lighting on the left.
Shelly > July 3, 2008

 No News Today

Between my birds and sunflowers, I MUST find something fresh and different to shoot over the holiday weekend or we'll all get bored with my dailies.  

Gracie seems to trust me a little more every day.  She's letting me get within 5 or 6 feet from her little nest, and she stands up to let me check on the eggs, as if she knows that's why I come by. 

It seems like I should bring her gifts; bird seeds, water, peanut butter sandwich, a diet coke and a copy of People Magazine -- but she still won't tell me what she'd enjoy.
July 27, 2008

The Church Has Left The Building

If a visitor had tried to go to our church on July 27, they might have been surprised to see that we had no service and no Sunday School. Instead, they would have found a group of volunteers assembling walls for Habitat for Humanity and loading them onto a flatbed truck.

The other members had scattered to about 44 different sites in the community where they participated in a huge variety of service projects. It was our chance to cover our community in prayer and to serve as Jesus with skin on.

Mike and I had the privilege of traveling to about eight of the different sites to help record activities. It was so hard to choose a single image for the day. While this is not an artistic shot but more of a snapshot, it shows a little bit of one project along with the fruits of the Spirit -- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self control.

My prayer is that these fruits will root deeply and flourish throughout the area.

For a tiny peek at some of the work, here's a link to our other images from the day: http://spccreative.smugmug.com/gallery/5555611_DfYBZ#340362983_Rw2ZS
Shelly > July 27, 2008

The Church Has Left The Building

If a visitor had tried to go to our church on July 27, they might have been surprised to see that we had no service and no Sunday School.  Instead, they would have found a group of volunteers assembling walls for Habitat for Humanity and loading them onto a flatbed truck.  

The other members had scattered to about 44 different sites in the community where they participated in a huge variety of service projects.  It was our chance to cover our community in prayer and to serve as Jesus with skin on.  

Mike and I had the privilege of traveling to about eight of the different sites to help record activities.  It was so hard to choose a single image for the day.  While this is not an artistic shot but more of  a snapshot, it shows a little bit of one project along with the fruits of the Spirit -- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness,  and self control.  

My prayer is that these fruits will root deeply and flourish throughout the area. 

For a tiny peek at some of the work, here's a link to our other images from the day:  http://spccreative.smugmug.com/gallery/5555611_DfYBZ#340362983_Rw2ZS
July 27, 2008

The Church Has Left The Building

If a visitor had tried to go to our church on July 27, they might have been surprised to see that we had no service and no Sunday School. Instead, they would have found a group of volunteers assembling walls for Habitat for Humanity and loading them onto a flatbed truck.

The other members had scattered to about 44 different sites in the community where they participated in a huge variety of service projects. It was our chance to cover our community in prayer and to serve as Jesus with skin on.

Mike and I had the privilege of traveling to about eight of the different sites to help record activities. It was so hard to choose a single image for the day. While this is not an artistic shot but more of a snapshot, it shows a little bit of one project along with the fruits of the Spirit -- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self control.

My prayer is that these fruits will root deeply and flourish throughout the area.

For a tiny peek at some of the work, here's a link to our other images from the day: http://spccreative.smugmug.com/gallery/5555611_DfYBZ#340362983_Rw2ZS
Camera: Canon (Canon Eos 40d) |
more details: exif |
original size: 3888px x 2592px |
Current: 600px x 400px |
Other sizes: S · Medium · L |
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Keywords: chlb
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