Christmas Day Dinner

Gloucester Cathedral Choir - In the Bleak Midwinter

If this does not reach you -- then you are unreachable!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRobryliBLQ&feature=player_embedded

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

Celebrating Freedom

My first book published on blurb.com was a book containing photos of fireworks of the display by the elite Burnsville development called Mountainair. The book can be viewed in its entirety on blurb at: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/768170. Just click on the preceeding link.

Wildflowers of Wildwood Acres

I recently published a 74 page book of my wildflowers. The entire book can be viewed on line at the blurb website: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2791936. A photo of the cover is shown here with the printed text as it appears on the book cover.

Old Home In The Mountains - HDR

It was a beautiful day and I managed to find an overgrown driveway up to the house that has long been abandoned. Three shots hand-held combined tone-mapped in Photomatix and tweaked in Photoshop CS5.

Click on the image to fill your screen

Dance With Me To The End Of Love

"Dance Me To The End Of Love"

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic 'til I'm gathered safely in
Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
Oh let me see your beauty when the witnesses are gone
Let me feel you moving like they do in Babylon
Show me slowly what I only know the limits of
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the wedding now, dance me on and on
Dance me very tenderly and dance me very long
We're both of us beneath our love, we're both of us above
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the children who are asking to be born
Dance me through the curtains that our kisses have outworn
Raise a tent of shelter now, though every thread is torn
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic till I'm gathered safely in
Touch me with your naked hand or touch me with your glove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

"Dance Me To The End Of Love"

Per a request from Jewel

See Eleanor Powell Dance To The End Of Love

Birdfeeder Action

More Redbellied Woodpecker On Birdfeeder

I actually shot a group of ten photos while on the phone with a salesman from the NRA trying to sell me a 5 year subscription/membership. I am about to turn 79 and suffer from COPD, suck on oxygen anytime I am in motion and sleep with a CPAP machine. When he first started his sales pitch I asked him if the NRA was giving out free ammo. No they are not giving out free ammo. After I agreed to a one year membership subscription and we were about to conclude the call, I asked him to bring the free ammo suggestion up at the next sales meeting. That he agreed to do with a low chuckle in the background.
Who says gun owners don't have a sense of humor!

House Finch Feeding

Just the males showed up this time. They look better in these photos than those I Googled on the web. Apparently their coloration depends on the type of food they eat. Click each image to fill your screen.

Goldfinch and Indigo Bunting Sharing With Both Male and Female House Finch

It is not often that you find both these birds sharing. They are however, sharing together more so than other species that visit our bird feeders.
The second photo was captured with both the male and female House Finch's eating with the Goldfinch and Indigo Bunting. Click on each image to fill your screen.

Redbellied Woodpecker On Birdfeeder

The Red-Bellied Woodpecker visited once in the last month and we were lucky to have camera in hand. It spooked easily as do the Cardinals. With camera set on continuous low I managed to get this half-decent photo. Click to enlarge.

A Colt Was Born on May 4, 2011

I photographed this beautiful colt this afternoon after talking to Karen Cooper the owner. She noted that this newborn has one blue eye and the other is brown. Look closely at the colt's right eye.
It was a struggle to capture the shot because for the last two days I have had difficulty breathing. I actually had to climb up a steep slope beyond Karen's house to get both mother and child.
They kept moving and with the new Tamron 70-300 mm lens (actually 105-450mm on an APS sensor Niko D7000) it was difficult for me to fame both mother and child.
Be sure to click on the thumnail to fill your screen.

Birds On The Birdfeeders

Anyone checking my postings (I have grave doubts that I am the only one checking my postings) will have to had noticed that I keep adding photos to this post. The reason I have been adding photos is do to the acquisition of a new lens -- the Tamron 70-300 mm (4.0 - 5.6). This lens mounted on the new D7000 allows it to function as a 105--450mm lens. The lens was designed as a full-frame lens for 35mm or FX digital format DSLR's. A note about the Indigo Buntings -- the first three are males and the last is the female. She actually looks a little more grungy in nature -- but I could not resist in dressing her up to compete with the male.
I will keep adding as new species of bird wildlife expose themselves to this new lens. I am especially looking for the female Cardinal to sit for a photo. Be sure to click on a photo to fill your screen. Try clicking again and be overwhelmed with the detail of the photo.

Sunrise Photo Shot With New Nikon D7000

This photograph was edited using both Camera Raw and Topaz new plug-in bundle that is free for one month. With discounts from NAPP you can purchase the whole suite for about $149.oo.

I used the noise program and the Adjust filter and this is the result. Click on the thumbnail to fill your screen. Enjoy!

Suzy & Mom

This photograph was taken hand held with the ISO set at 2000. Lesson learned: Check your camera settings.

It was shot with the Nikon D90 that has since been replaced with the Nikon D7000.

Click on the thumbnail to enlarge.

Deck View Due East In HDR

This photo was taken with the Sony A100 using three bracket exposure +/- 2 stops and one shot using the the camera determined correct photo. Click on the photo to fill your screen.

Blessing The Animals

 The Rev Vance Mann, rector at St Thomas Episcopal Church, Burnsville, NC blessing David Johnson's pet Scotty at the service held on October 3, 2010.

Spectacular Sunrise Rendered In Hand-held HDR

Caroline was walking our dog Patch when she called me to look out the office window. The sun was rising rapidly so I grabbed the D90 and rushed out onto the deck and started clicking away. About 15 shots later I realized that this needed HDR treatment.
Because I noted that the shutter speed was very low for taking three photos at the ISO of 200 in aperture mode, I increased it to 800 and set the aperture to f6.5. I then concentrated on a particular cloud to capture the three photos necessary for processing in Photomatix. Yes, I am still using the program to process my HDR photos.
Note that there is still snow on the distant mountains. Be sure to click the thumbnail to fill your screen.