I went to the 4th of July celebrations put on by one of the churches in the area. I was impressed with how well they did the planning and activities. It was the first large scale fireworks I had been to in several years. I was also impressed because they gave a good gospel message and there was at least 100,000 people there that day. Many of those people are not regular church attenders.
While at the Barnes Jewish Children's Hospital in St. Louis last week I visited a cool garden they have on the 8th floor. It is meant to be a place for patients and visitors to enjoy a walk and get some fresh air. I was very impressed with how good a job they had done with the garden. I found this metal lizard soaking up the sun and enjoying a bath.
This is one of the buildings at SMSU here in town. Not sure about the V in place of the U in the spelling. Must be some old Latin sort of thing.
This is from a 4th of July celebration we went to. Right as we arrived this Apache Helicopter was taking off and I quickly threw down my back pack, grabbed my camera changed lenses turned and started snapping.
I've been sitting on this one for awhile. I can't decide wether I like it or not. Usually when I can't decide I just have to post it and see what happens. I like the color and the motion, but I wish the rider was more in focus. What do you think?
Mark 14:62 Jesus said, "I am, and you will see me, the Son of Man, sitting at God's right hand in the place of power and coming back on the clouds of heaven."
We went to a charity horse show and it was really dark where we were at. I knew my flash wasn't going to reach and I didn't feel like dragging out my other flash. So I figured not much was going to come out. I had the ISO pushed way up and was just exp
My kids are awesome. They are the source of great joy and wonder. It's just fascinating to watch them as they grow and discover things. They are better entertainment than HBO or cable! :)
These big machines amaze me. They just seem to be getting bigger and bigger too. Springfield seems to be a place where there's always construction going on. I seems like there's a new appartment building going up all the time.
I didn't see the bug that appears to be jumping for his life to this daisy when I snapped the picture. Without him the picture isn't really all that interesting to me. But I look at him and can't help thinking what might be going on in his little head.
My kids taking a stroll.
Same butterfly as yesterday. I left it alone after this shot. :)
I followed this butterfly around a garden we visited the other day. He seemed quite annoyed at me. :)
It seems that I tend to push the colors up all the time so I thought I'd try the opposite without fully desaturating the image. I like the subtlty of the color here. This kicks off a series of railroad related pictures. The railroad has a certain fasci
An abandoned water tower.
I think I've said this before, but I love old church buildings. I like new ones too, but the old ones seem to have so much character. We don't have old old buildings like in other countries. I'd like to re-visit Germany and England and areas like that.
I thought I should do something a little less....scary, than yesterday's picture.
I don't normally recommend playing with knives, water and camera while fatigued and under the influence of allergy medicine.
Not sure if it was the allergy medicine, the feeling of fatigue or the Mountain Dew, but as I was washing dishes I became mesmorized by the water and thought...where's my camera?
Found this couch by some railroad tracks.
It was so peaceful and seemed so far removed from the noise and traffic of the city and work. Not that Springfield is a huge city like St. Louis or even bigger, Chicago. I think my wife would kill me if we lived in a city of that size.
In our wanderings from our campsite we came across this old fire truck not too far from where we were camping.
A different angle from a shot two days ago.
These are lilies I think...anyone know? They are in my back yard. A word of caution about these things. You don't want to rub up against them or you'll get a ton of orange powerdery stuff all over you. From words of experience. :)
1Ch 28:9 "And Solomon, my son, get to know the God of your ancestors. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and with a willing mind. For the LORD sees every heart and understands and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him.
Psalms 1:2,3 But they delight in doing everything the LORD wants; day and night they think about his law. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season without fail. Their leaves never wither, and in all they do, they prosper.
My son swinging away. He makes me nervous sometimes. He's to much like me. It's a wonder I'm alive considering the crazy stuff I did as a kid. :)
There is nothing like getting out from behind the computer and hitting some trails. Hey! Let go of the mouse and go outside! Unless it's raining, then it's ok...keep checking out my site! :)
Happy Mothers Day!
My friend over at BrandonCrain.com found this broken down house with a car sitting inside. We''ve been meaning to get over to it and shoot some pictures but hadn''t had the chance. Well we finally got off our duffs and went, only to find two barb wire fe
I don't drink wine (or any alcohol for that matter) but I thought this shot looked interesting with the colors and light coming off the wine glasses and table.
I built a lightbox and have been experimenting. I'm not entirely sure these two are used together. I don't do much cooking. I liked the colors though and so for my purposes they go together! :)
I'm not sure about the machinery in this place but the electricity could probably use some work...
My car was screaming wash me, wash me. So I obliged and took it to the car wash. As I was sitting there I thought hmmm...I have my camera don't I? The people waiting in line behind me probably thought I was pretty wierd, but oh well.
This little guy is protecting our garden from the evil foes! He looks dangerous doesn't he?
One of the trees in my front yard has these blossoming...UPDATE: I guess this is a DogWood tree...I don't know the names of much floral/trees! :)
Ok, let's break out of this rust with some bright colors! Look back at the past 4 days to see what I'm talking about. I can't begin to explain how happy I am for Spring to be here.
I've been sick...so sick. I haven't taken a single keepable picture in over a week. I picked up the camera a couple of days ago and thought "hey camera I've missed you..." It didn't respond likewise.
This shot was taken at a place my kids affectionetely call "The Water Park." It's a public park that has water fountains that shoot up out of the ground and the kids can play in it. I'm sure if you stick around you'll see some shots from it this summer.
I don't think these are the greatest but it was fun playing with it anyways! These are the more interesting shapes that resulted from my experimenting.
I found this shot from my Canon SD100 and thought...I like that shot! So here it is. Taken probably a year and a half ago.
UPDATE: Panorama added
I drove around for a couple of hours and found some interesting places. You don't see much graphiti here in Springfield. This section that I found was back behind some abandoned buildings.
This shot was actually taken several years ago with my then trusty Olympus...can't remember the model...1.3 megapixel camera. I started browsing through my old stuff and found this shot. It's funny how noisy the shots were with that camera.