I had a family photo shoot on Saturday at a popular park near Allentown. After we got all of the formal shots, we allowed the kids to run around and do whatever kids do. The two little girls found sticks and started beating on this gong. I love, love, love the way the sun lights their hair. It made me think of angels. This is my favorite shot from the shoot, I think.

We had a celebration at church last Sunday that involved all three services coming together under one huge tent. What a wonderful celebration of faith in Jesus Christ. Of course the acoustics were not the best but the community celebration was awesome. The place was packed with probably over 1,000 people. That’s always a great experience.

I couldn’t help pulling out my iPhone and grabbing a shot of the great shapes and shades that were overhead.

I think zinnias look like happy flowers. Why shouldn’t they be happy. It’s springtime and time to come alive.

I found a private pond a few weeks ago on a drive looking for places to shoot. There were two swans but one didn’t want to cooperate and went to play in his little stoop. This one hung around and I even caught it just after it had ducked under the water so it has a drip coming from his beak. I titled it Tears of a Swan because he looks sad and that drop looks like a tear. Simple enough, I guess.

Have a great Sunday.

I got bored yesterday and decided to look for a Photoshop tutorial. So, I found this one and thought I’d give it a try. I had no idea it would take almost eight hours to complete. This one used seven photos for individual elements in the image. Whew. I’m not sure what I learned because it’s all stuff I pretty much knew how to do. I think I’ll stick with photography.

I took none of these images. They were all free to use.

I did one of the many months ago with a 360 degree panorama. I was asked to write a little tutorial about how I did it but had so much fun I had to try another one. This one is not a 360 degree pano, though. This is a simple wide-angle landscape shot that I used the same effect on. I like the way it makes the building look a little cartoon-ish. I’m going to have to do a few more of the fun little things.

This is the 360 degree pano.

Anyone want a tutorial?

This little cutie belongs to a friend of mine from church. She was a little shy at first but warmed up when I mentioned a dog. Kids are so cute. Her mother was holding her for this shot.

‘Tween a rock and a hard place, I guess. Another shot from Lock Ridge Park. I had a little climbing to do to get up onto this spot. The top of this piling is about 5-6′ high. Getting up was easier than getting down, though. But that’s usually the case. I don’t know the original purpose of this building but it’s definitely huge.

Another shot from my Lock Ridge Park shoot the other day.

I’m reading Today We Are Rich by Tim Sanders. He was the Chief Solutions Officer at Yahoo! and now has two best-selling books plus this one, which is his newest. I’ll have to admit that the book caught my attention because the kindle version is free right now. But when I started reading it, I was pleased to find his writing style is very down-to-earth but will get very close to home. I’ve found the most helpful part so far to be about being positive in all that we do. We cannot be successful when we’re focusing on all that is wrong. And I’ve been guilty of being a little down about things lately. So, I’m changing my ways as of today. Take the negative and make it a positive. If we see it that way, we are rich.