reflections of creation

zion national park

2012-01-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

a cloudcroft afternoon

2012-01-28T12:05:00.001-07:00

hiking on leaves

2012-01-27T12:50:00.001-07:00

a really close look at a couple of leaves

2012-01-26T00:46:00.000-07:00

peek-a-boo

2012-01-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

looking up into the aspens

2012-01-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

a little bit of sun getting through

2012-01-21T02:41:00.001-07:00

nothing but net?

2012-01-20T12:36:00.000-07:00

pretty fall

2012-01-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

three minutes into antelope canyon (looking back towards the entrance)

2012-01-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

the cliffs of insanity

2012-01-13T00:00:00.000-07:00

Those cliffs off in the distance are way more impressive in real life. A wide angle lens makes them look pretty small. Trust me...they aren't.

craft time

2012-01-12T12:50:00.002-07:00

This one was taken right before probably my favorite picture from 2011. This was taken with an over 50 year old manual Russian lens. I think that's partly why the other picture you can see here is my favorite from last year. Click to see it.

Yes, I go around taking pictures of people's hands

2012-01-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

a little guitar love from me today

2012-01-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

frozen beauty

2012-01-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

This was from a snow a couple of years ago.

i chose 12

2012-01-08T15:16:00.000-07:00

I love aspens in the fall

2012-01-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

Alison chose this picture for today by picking a number between 1 and 36. This one is #17 taken that day, so if someone will chose a number other than 17, 8 or 20, I'll post that one tomorrow.

would you say I have a plethora of colorful leaves?

2012-01-06T11:42:00.000-07:00

vancouver from Burnaby Mountain

2012-01-04T00:00:00.000-07:00

psalm 65:8

2012-01-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

...where morning dawns and evening fades, You call forth songs of joy.

this treeline looks like my brother's hairline

2012-01-02T09:55:00.001-07:00

looking for the sun

2011-12-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas from the Bryants (and Stu the snowman)

2011-12-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

happy pig

2011-12-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

sun and green and red

2011-12-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

my view every Sunday night in November

2011-12-22T00:00:00.001-07:00

For the last three years, we have done Sunday nights in November with the teenagers in our backyard for Bible study, smores, hot dogs and whatever else we decide to roast over a fire and eat.

I already miss fall

2011-12-21T00:00:00.000-07:00

looking through the corn

2011-12-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

trees and stars (again)

2011-12-10T00:00:00.001-07:00

Remember how in yesterday's picture I lit the trees with a flashlight? Here is the very next picture I took, this time without the trees lit up.

trees and stars

2011-12-09T09:51:00.002-07:00

I went in and removed some noise from this one, and very slightly brightened it. When I took the picture (Thanksgiving night), I actually lit the trees with a flashlight.

life (or the lack thereof)

2011-12-07T15:42:00.001-07:00

back to antelope canyon today

2011-12-06T00:01:00.001-07:00

the virgin will be child...

2011-12-05T00:00:00.000-07:00

Taken with tilt shift on my phone.

time for my annual "throw your camera around" picture

2011-12-04T00:00:00.000-07:00

To do this, you get right in front of your Christmas tree and flip your camera up in the air while it takes the picture. I had a fire in the fireplace as well which is the wider lights in the picture.

Sedona river bank

2011-12-03T10:15:00.001-07:00

weird cloud

2011-11-30T14:23:00.000-07:00

we decorated for Christmas tonight - that means a tree picture!

2011-11-29T00:00:00.000-07:00

And before Daniel says anything, yes, I know there is no wood in the fireplace.

star reflections on the durango

2011-11-28T00:00:00.000-07:00

a waterfall in fall

2011-11-18T00:54:00.001-07:00

aspens

2011-11-17T00:00:00.001-07:00

I really hated the fact that I had a huge smudge right to the left of center on my lens the day we were here. It really ruined some good pictures.

arizona's red rocks and blue skies

2011-11-12T00:40:00.000-07:00

straight shot

2011-11-09T08:52:00.000-07:00

support

2011-11-07T12:34:00.000-07:00

this guy is hanging out with his friends

2011-11-05T11:44:00.001-06:00

This was taken at the end of September on the Hardin-Simmons campus.

the grand canyon watchtower

2011-11-03T11:38:00.001-06:00

an antelope canyon picture

2011-11-02T00:00:00.000-06:00

bright background sky

2011-11-01T00:00:00.000-06:00

a perfect afternoon

2011-10-31T00:00:00.000-06:00

Cloudcroft railroad trestle

2011-10-28T11:52:00.000-06:00

I'll try to be around more. No promises though.

Matthew 6:28-30

2011-10-18T00:19:00.002-06:00

Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for the grass of the field that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, He will certainly care for you.

Abstract canyon

2011-10-17T12:48:00.002-06:00

I wanted a pretty picture today, and this picture of Antelope Canyon works for me.

I found fall today

2011-10-15T00:00:00.000-06:00

sunset

2011-10-12T00:00:00.000-06:00

changes

2011-10-11T00:00:00.000-06:00

orange leaves at a blue house

2011-10-10T00:00:00.000-06:00

taken last year

green leaves

2011-10-08T13:51:00.000-06:00

Taken on the first day of the 2011 Autumn Challenge.

out for a walk with a flashlight

2011-10-03T00:00:00.000-06:00

I am feeling lazy tonight, so I am just going to post the same thing I did for my daily post over at autumnchallenge.com. You should check it out; the family is really taking some sweet pictures, and we're only on day #2 of the autumn challenge. I'm excited about seeing what they do over the next few weeks.

Autumn Challenge 2011 is here!

2011-10-01T09:01:00.001-06:00

Last year my family challenged each other to go out and take pictures everyday in October, and we're doing it again this year! Starting today through around Thanksgiving, you should go to autumnchallenge.com and check out the pictures everyone takes. It is a lot of fun and a great way for my family to all enjoy the greatest season. This was taken during the challenge last year in Cloudcroft, NM, and I really hope I get a chance to go back there again this year.

alumni wall at Hardin-Simmons

2011-09-30T10:01:00.000-06:00

behind

2011-09-26T00:00:00.000-06:00

I enjoy G. K. Chesterton's poetry. You can read his poem "Behind" after this picture from Cloudcroft taken last October.

I saw an old man like a child,
His blue eyes bright, his white hair wild,
Who turned for ever, and might not stop,
Round and round like an urchin's top

'Fool,' I cried, 'while you spin round,
'Others grow wise, are praised, are crowned.'
Ever the same round road he trod,
'This is better: I seek for God.'

'We see the whole world, left and right,
Yet at the blind back hides from sight
The unseen Master that drives us forth
To East and West, to South and North.

'Over my shoulder for eighty years
I have looked for the gleam of the sphere of spheres.'
'In all your turning, what have you found?'
'At least, I know why the world goes round.'

For Beth

2011-09-24T21:42:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite passages is Matthew 7 where Jesus talks about the narrow road and the small gate that leads to life. This picture reminds me of that passage. And tonight, that passage reminds me of Beth James. Beth was a friend who ALWAYS understood that narrow way and was determined to drag as many people as possible along that way with her. Tonight her 11 month battle with pancreatic cancer was ended, yet death is not the victor here; too many lives have been touched and ushered into that narrow way that leads to life through the lives of Beth and David James. They both have always been the biggest examples of the love and joy of Christ of anyone I have EVER know. Even in the face of cancer and even when things got really rough near the end, Dave would have me laughing even in the midst of tears. Go here to read the post Dave posted last weekend and roll in laughter with me at the idea of "biceps the size of briskets." Before I say anything else, I want to point out that you so desperately need Jesus if you don't know Him; please click the verse at the top of my blog to go needhim.org or fire me an email, and we would love to introduce you to Him. He loves you more than you can ever imagine. I will miss Beth and pray heavily for Dave and their kids and family for the next few months/years. But I look forward to the day when I get to see her again. It (and this picture) remind of 1 Corinthians 13:12 which I will close with today:

Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

angles and curves

2011-09-22T08:47:00.001-06:00

standing by the river

2011-09-21T00:01:00.002-06:00

pinhole photography - flowers

2011-09-15T00:00:00.000-06:00

This is a picture that takes a little explanation. This is a true pinhole photograph taken with a Pinwide lens. The Pinwide is an unique lens, and you go to their website to learn more about it.

A bridge perspective

2011-09-10T09:55:00.002-06:00

Do you know what I find sad? I've only taken 2300 pictures since this one which was taken in early October. Since autumnchallenge.com was going on, most of those would have been taken last fall. And almost all the rest were taken on vacation last March or at VBS last June. I really need to get out more.

the leaf

2011-09-09T01:33:00.001-06:00

a rainy evening in zion national park

2011-09-07T00:00:00.000-06:00

creepy eyes

2011-09-06T00:00:00.000-06:00

fall deorations are out at the bryants!

2011-09-04T00:00:00.001-06:00

c'mon fall

2011-09-03T10:21:00.002-06:00

I really want to go back to Antelope Canyon. Anyone up for a road trip?

2011-09-02T00:01:00.000-06:00

where I see the unseen

2011-08-31T00:06:00.003-06:00

(prayer taken from the Andrew Peterson song, Invisible God).

I give you praise, oh great invisible God, for the the moon in the space of the dark night, for the smile on a face in the sunlight. I give you praise, oh great invisible God, for the sound of the storm on the window, for the morning adorned with a new snow, for the tears on the face of the old man made clean by the grace of the good Lamb. Oh, invisible God.

And oh, I long to see your face, invisible God. All the works that you have made are clearly seen and plain as day, so mighty and tender. O Lord, let me remember that I see you everywhere, invisible God, in the seed that descends to the old earth and arises again with a new birth; in the sinner who sinks in the river and emerges again, delivered. Oh, invisible God.

And oh, I long to see your face, invisible God. All the works that you have made are clearly seen and plain as day, so mighty and tender. O Lord, let me remember Your power eternal, Your nature divine. All creation tells the tale that Love is real and so alive. I feel you, I hear you, great God unseen, I see you in the long, cold death that the winter brings and the sweet resurrection spring. Oh, invisible God.

playing with photoshop actions

2011-08-30T00:00:00.002-06:00

Okay, I was on the website of someone who was giving away their photoshop actions, and I wanted to play around. In order to see what it looked like, I took a not so great picture of the grand canyon and applied an action, and here is what I got. Not bad for 30 seconds of work, eh? Although this ended up way overdone in my opinion and I don't usually like altering my pictures like this...

...far

2011-08-18T00:00:00.000-06:00

near...

2011-08-17T00:00:00.000-06:00

petrified wood

2011-08-16T12:45:00.000-06:00

the narrow way

2011-08-13T12:29:00.002-06:00

Okay, I am sorry I've been gone for 6 days. Crazy week.

For this picture, I had to do some serious white balance work to hide all the purple that really was there. While this is not realistic, I nonetheless wanted it to look this way to see what it would look like. For reference, the bottom picture is the one straight from camera.

twisty

2011-08-07T00:00:00.000-06:00

sunshine

2011-08-05T00:00:00.000-06:00

keyhole

2011-07-31T00:00:00.000-06:00

unaltered colors

2011-07-29T02:08:00.001-06:00

changing seasons

2011-07-25T00:00:00.000-06:00

sam the eagle

2011-07-23T00:00:00.000-06:00

Christmas lights

2011-07-20T00:00:00.000-06:00

jazz hands

2011-07-18T00:00:00.000-06:00

the journey on

2011-07-15T00:59:00.001-06:00

Because of a pretty lousy day yesterday, I thought I'd post what I think is Alison's favorite Antelope Canyon picture.

nevermore

2011-07-14T00:00:00.000-06:00

colorful canyon

2011-07-13T11:32:00.000-06:00

melancholy

2011-07-09T13:38:00.002-06:00

another slot

2011-07-08T01:00:00.002-06:00

Since I posted a picture yesterday from an amazing slot canyon (lower Antelope Canyon), I thought I'd post one today from the first slot canyon I was ever in - a slot canyon in Kasha Katuwe National Monument.

goodbye, lynn

2011-07-07T00:00:00.000-06:00

good night west texas

2011-07-06T08:41:00.001-06:00

yellow autumn

2011-07-04T01:09:00.001-06:00

merry go round fun

2011-07-03T00:00:00.000-06:00

it kinda feels wrong to post fall colors in black and white

2011-06-27T00:00:00.000-06:00

no words can describe this funky picture

2011-06-26T00:00:00.000-06:00

shadows fall

2011-06-25T13:43:00.000-06:00

zion from a high vantage point

2011-06-17T00:15:00.001-06:00

Flipped

2011-06-15T00:00:00.000-06:00

In honor of the 110 degree temps we hit in Carlsbad today, here is a glacier picture.

good morning

2011-06-14T00:00:00.000-06:00