Category: Photography

Dogs and flowing ,ebbing tides of water bring a calm to most of us. Here is a dog that I find to be the embodiment of both: My late Mom’s dog Little Bit. I took this last weekend when I visited my Brother, who lives within shouting distance of our old stopping grounds, not far from the Mighty Ohio River. You can connect the dots from here.

When I first started my journey in digital photography I used zero photo editing tools. Looking back at that time now I realize I was a wee bit arrogant and a whole lot ignorant. Not that I am saint now by no means but I realize photo editing has its place and I am embracing it bit by bit. To that end I am posting an old photo I took with my old Canon PowerShot S3is. The post processing was done with Corel PaintShop Pro X9 plus a Corel script. I like it and I hope you enjoy it as well.

Almost three years after my last time being part of the Praise part of Praise and Worship, I was blessed to once again be part of the music.

Watches have been a part of my life for a very long long time. I have worn  a wrist watch more on than off for most of my adult life. My Pop’s passed on his love of pocket watches to me. I very rarely  carry one because of my ability to get the chain caught on chairs, in seatbelts, etc. I bought this one for my desktop and so far I have not caught on anything but the figurine I purposely hung it on. Taken with iPod Touch and edited in #snapseed #photogene4.           

Confession time here: My current journey is cutting into to my need for community and the encouragement and inspiration it brings into my life. One thing that has not changed is my never ceasing love for photography but I feel disconnected from that which inspired me: you. 

My heart aches when I am not regularly looking into your world and listening to your heart,stories and lives. In this vein I am going to try to use my iPod as a vehicle to stay connected to here on a regular basis. What that looks like right now is weekly, or maybe semi-weekly posts of pics from my iPod. In turn I will be checking out as time allows your wonderful world. 

Today’s pic is a photo of my cat Julie edited with Prisma and Colorsplash.

As some of you may know My Bride and I had to have Our Boy Ficus euthanized this past Autumn. As Winter set in we discussed getting another dog and agreed a rescue dog was something we wanted to pursue. A senior rescue would be preferable over a puppy or adolescence (under three years of age) dog. After two months or so I had a Corgi rescue brought to my  attention by a customer at the thrift shop I work at. I called and set up a time we could meet. To make a long story short we were introduced to and fell in love with this lovely 7 year old Corgi. Hey Everyone: Meet Teddy!

There are times in this life when you follow your heart but the past is ever present. Not as an anchor that weights us down but as reminder of absolute fact there are those in the past who care for you and your future. For those who know: I am not dead yet and Thank you for caring. Till the next time: Peace~John.

My Lab of late.

I have to be honest I have being pushing back against my calling for about three years now. After listening to the message at church today I decided it is time to heed that call. No matter if I have only one day of life left will I faithful to that calling. Having come to this point I also decided to face why I did not answer the call and take responsibility for that as well.

So what is that calling? Well I believe I have been called to a writer. Now the fuzzy part is I do not know what I am supposed to write about or even if I am to pursue it a way to make a living. These things will come into focus as time progresses. The main thing is to write.

I used to write at a place called Pondering Things and Taking Pictures. The place started as a way for me to work through the loss of my career back in 2008. When the finical meltdown happened late that year the industry I had been in for 20+ years, the Recreational Vehicle industry, almost complete died. The blog helped me look outward even as I was turning more and more inward. Yet still I did not feel it was my calling but I did write though sporadically.

From the conception of Pondering Things and Taking Pictures I had one very big and supportive fan: My Dad. He was my number one fan and encouraged me to keep writing but there was way too much background noise in my life to hear the call. Also unknown to me I would have to face many more challenges before I could hear the call.

Looking back I can see there was this desire in me that I should write everyday but after my Dad died three years ago this month I lost the want to. I actually lost the desire to do a lot of things but that is for a later time. Also the day my Pops passed my blog stats went to zero. He was not only my number one fan but apparently my only fan. I simply loss the desire to write after that, coupled with the fact I am lazy, unorganized and full of self-doubt mixed with self-loathing and fear did not help things either.

Over the next year or so I spent a lot of time outdoors honing my skills as a photographer and apparently running away from my calling. With My Bride about to enter what will be the finally stretch of Nursing school and me developing some back issues I guess I could keep running away from the call or at least postponing it till next year but today is the day. There is no better time than now to do what I should have been doing the last three years.
It is not clear yet as to what direction I will go with my writing, I am simply going to be faithful and write. To be true to one’s calling one must answer it be simply doing it. Sounds simple now but the push back I had to it was way out of proportion to the simplest of it.

I post this here so you who have become my friends and supporters of me know what has been going on. I am not leaving this blog but will be trying to find a balance between writing, being a supportive husband and friend to My Bride (today is our 23rd Wedding Anniversary), making a living and finding times of quiet and still doing my photography. Love you all ~ John