Reflections of Creation

One of the greatest things that God has given humans is the ability to see beauty in the world around us. I have never noticed my dog stop and stare at the beauty of a forest or the incredible colors of a sunset, but these things have the ability to stop me in my tracks in wonder and awe. This website is my attempt to capture some of the beauty and glory of an indescribable God by capturing reflections of Him that I see in His creation.

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another glorieta shot Monday, March 31, 2008 | 2

After being in Glorieta/Albuquerque a couple of weeks ago, life got even busier and I haven't had much time to get the shots from that trip off the camera and resized. Well, I spent a couple of hours last night working on pictures for this blog, so you may see quite a few more shots from there in the next couple of weeks. I also took a trip to Midland over the weekend and took a few good ones while at the Petroleum Museum, so you'll be seeing some of those as well. Anyway, since it is Monday and I like starting Mondays with a great shot, here's one from that trip which I really like. This was a shot taken at f/9 for 30 seconds.

I was on uneven ground, and since I couldn't get the tripod level, I rotated this shot about 2 degrees in Paint Shop Pro X2 to get it to be straight. I don't do much photo editing for this blog, but I actually do a lot with graphics at the church, and a program like Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro really is essential gear for me. X2 is the latest version of Paint Shop Pro, and I have been using it for about a month, and I love it. I have been a Paint Shop Pro fan since version #4. I also have used versions 7, 9 and X2 (which is version 12). This is a highly powerful yet easy to use graphic editing program which I would recommend to just about anyone. Plus, you can get an OEM version of X2 for under $35 right now which is a great price for some awesome software (especially since Photoshop is about $500 and this can give it a run for it's money). If you need a cheap but good graphic editing program, you should check it out.

dogs and cars Sunday, March 30, 2008 | 3

Alison loves this picture (even though the dog's not really in focus), so I'm putting this up for her. After a talking with my sister this weekend, I thought I'd try something a little different. I vignetted this picture, or darkened the corners. I also did some raw picture adjusting which simply means the camera did not do the processing, and I changed the camera's settings on the computer instead of the camera. I slightly increased the saturation and sharpened this picture as much as I could within the confines of what the camera can do. Since it was a cloudy day, I also changed my white balance to represent that which in turn made these colors pop.




And for absolutely no reason at all, here's a bonus picture for you. I didn't do anything on this one, and I just let the camera decide everything. That may be a good idea since my brilliant
decision was to stand in front of these two when they have a busted steering wheel :-)

hmmm...then again...it may not ever be a good idea to stand in front of these two in a car...

the Carlsbad riverwalk at midnight Saturday, March 29, 2008 | 1

15 seconds (maybe 30) of the sprinklers running by the river

ouch Friday, March 28, 2008 | 2

I'm not sure my neck could handle that. This isn't the greatest picture (especially with the lens flare on the face), but I still think it's a fun shot.

rain drops keep falling on my head Thursday, March 27, 2008 | 1

it's a really bad scan, but you can get an idea for what the picture looks like

bluebonnets in color Wednesday, March 26, 2008 | 1

bluebonnets in grey Tuesday, March 25, 2008 | 0



I love great photography. While in Albuquerque a couple of weeks ago, I got the chance to see some great photography at their museum. I also got to see a half dozen shots at the Rio Grande Nature Center by one my favorite photographers, Laura Gilpin. The work that she, Eliot Porter and Ansel Adams could do in a day and age without photoshop is amazing. I do not like altering my photographs because then I am afraid that I will become a lazy photographer and not get better because I can fix my problems later using software. Keep in mind that I do not mind people altering their photos, but I am just an amateur with a photography hobby and as such do not want to alter my pictures (although most of them would look much better). If I was selling pictures, then I'd definitely be altering them.

(I mentioned Eliot Porter because he is one of my favorite photographers, although I debated about including him. He started taking color photographs in the late 30s, and he loved using the dye transfer process of printing his photographs. I do not know a lot about his personal developing, but I do understand that you could tweak your colors quite a bit and get an incredible richness using the dye transfer process. You really should check out his Glen Canyon pictures by going here. They really look better in person.)

I obviously altered this one (well, duh), but I wanted to see what this picture would look like. This literally took 30 seconds because all I did was desaturate all of the colors except for blue. I'll put up the original tomorrow (and try to always let you know when I put up an altered picture).

clouds from the highway Monday, March 24, 2008 | 4

a day to celebrate the greatest event in history Sunday, March 23, 2008 | 0

I love this sculpture of Jesus from Ely Cathedral. The emotion in His face and the holes in His hands get me every time I see this picture.

John 20:24-31

Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

a change in focus Saturday, March 22, 2008 | 1


Today is World Frog Day! Thursday, March 20, 2008 | 2

No lie, but I do not have any frog pictures, so you'll just have to settle for a continuation of yesterday's picture (I like yesterday's much more than today's).

same tree,
same wall,
from the inside


a black and white shot Wednesday, March 19, 2008 | 1

realistic looking ball of leaves Tuesday, March 18, 2008 | 1

yellow leaves and snowy mountains Monday, March 17, 2008 | 2

Glorieta prayer gardens Sunday, March 16, 2008 | 3

While I was recently at Glorieta, this picture was taken about a year and a half ago when we spent a couple of days here on vacation. I think my favorite part of this picture is the tree shadows across the sidewalk.



ramblings of a beggar Saturday, March 15, 2008 | 3

Tonight, I was resizing some pictures taken this week so that I would have them ready to put up here sometime. I think nighttime photography is my favorite way to take pictures, and I took a number of pictures at Glorieta last Monday night. While resizing these, I just stopped and stared at this one shot for a long time. I don't know what it is, but I couldn't stop looking at it. I found myself fixated by these trees and how the different lights cast different colors on each little grove. And in the midst of all of that, you get this brightly lit steeple shining through the branches of the trees and being a lighthouse in the middle of this dark night, pointing the way where I needed to go.

In many ways, I saw these different trees as you and I and everyone else just sitting around in darkness and lit by whatever little light (hope) we can find. But I saw this Glorieta steeple beacon cutting through the darkness, and I see it as the light and hope of Jesus. This light is way brighter and much more brilliant than anything else around, just like Jesus. And I found it ironic, because what I was listening to was very fitting to all these thoughts I was having, and I didn't even realize it.

I have been listening to Shawn McDonald's album, Ripen, lately. While staring at this picture, I found myself singing along with the song Ramblings of a Beggar without even catching the lyrics and how fitting they were at the time:

Would You open up my eyes,
And show me the light,
Take me away, from this place,
Would You open up my eyes and show me the light,
'Cause I cannot make it alone,
I need, I need You,
I need, yes, I need You,
To free me





I hope you know that Jesus is the light of the world and He loves you.

I also wanted you to be able to hear the song, but blogger will not let you upload songs. They do have video uploads, so I spent about 20 minutes and put some pictures from last Monday onto this one minute and forty second song (actually the last picture was taken in December). I did this mainly for me, but I hope you enjoy the song and that God can use it in your life like He did mine tonight.

tena Friday, March 14, 2008 | 3

I experimented with a black and white shot of the dark basalt found on the little volcanoes right outside of Albuquerque. I'm also including a color shot taken right afterwards.


just the dog Thursday, March 13, 2008 | 2

sombrero crossing Wednesday, March 12, 2008 | 6

a sante fe sunset Tuesday, March 11, 2008 | 4

This was taken in the parking lot when we went to go eat supper. I did not take the time to check my positioning of the shot, so you can see where we ate tonight in the bottom of the frame. Sometimes it's nice being away from Carlsbad :-)

King's College Monday, March 10, 2008 | 1

Here's a peeling window from King's College in Cambridge, England. The style of this shot is similar to the style of the Cambridge shot I previously posted here. I guess I was in this kind of mood that day.


an aspen splatter Sunday, March 09, 2008 | 5


not creepy Saturday, March 08, 2008 | 8

I know yesterday's picture did seem a little creepy, so I wanted to do one today which isn't creepy. Nope. Not at all. Not even a little bit creepy today.



This is from December 2006.


tree knots Friday, March 07, 2008 | 7

The first picture is one which cries out to be viewed larger. Can you hear it?



"Click me!" "Click me!"



playing with light - the patio Thursday, March 06, 2008 | 1

We have some really cool lights hanging in our patio at the house, and I decided to see if I could get a picture exactly like you see here. The catch? I took this picture at 2:30 in the afternoon on a bright sunny day. While the patio is not in direct sunlight, it is well lit and a quick shutter release of 1/250th of a second did not allow enough light to show anything else. Thus, it looks like nighttime when it was actually very bright outside.


Never again will there be any night. No one will need lamplight or sunlight.
The shining of God, the Master, is all the light anyone needs. Revelation 22:5

a guest post of a Ruidoso night Wednesday, March 05, 2008 | 3

THESE ARE NOT MY SHOTS!

Today's post is two pictures from a guest photographer who doesn't even know I'm putting up his pictures. My brother, Daniel, recently gave me his old laptop, and he didn't delete off his vacation pictures from September of 2006. So I figured it was only fair that you would get to see these awesome pictures along with me. He has taken some amazing shots over the years (you should see a sunrise picture he took a couple of years ago), but I'm only sharing two from his and Kara's vacation. Both of these pictures were taken with his 4 megapixel point-and-shoot camera, so there is no fancy equipment used. Both of these shots are a half second exposure.




two days, two fences Tuesday, March 04, 2008 | 5

While uploading this picture, I realized that I now have two fences in two days, and they are both on the left hand side of the picture. Hmmmm, strange.

I actually chose this one today because we had snow this morning, and snow is a rare occurrence around here.


fort worth nature center Monday, March 03, 2008 | 7

The scan is bad, but you can get a feel for what the picture looks like. The picture is much better than this scan from our $29 all-in-one printer, scanner and copier. I can't imagine why we don't get good scans out of a high quality machine like that!

the wee little waterfall Sunday, March 02, 2008 | 2

Never seen anyone refer to a two inch water cascade as a "waterfall," have ya?


pecos river village Saturday, March 01, 2008 | 3


Reflections of Creation



the most important part of this website

I enjoy photography and I always find myself wanting more time to be outside with a camera. The idea of posting my pictures was born out of the love for my wife, Alison (alisonbryantwrites.com), who hates it when I do not take my days off. This website, reflections of creation, is a way to force me to get out of the office from time to time and putting me outside where I love to be. While a creative outlet for me, I hope this is an encouraging site for you, and one which helps point you to the Creator of all this beauty around us. God is so much bigger and amazing than we could ever imagine, and He loves you and me! What an amazing thought! He loves us so much that He was even willing to let His son, Jesus, die as a sacrifice for us. That fact is more beautiful than any picture you will see on this website. I hope you know Jesus, but if you do not, please email me or go to www.needHim.org. Thanks again for coming and stop by again soon.

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