Penning Photography Daily

95F in the shade, and this wonderful family still smiles.

Ya got to love families who smile, even when it’s tough. They stick together and support each other, through good times and stress-filled moments. They’re family.

As the children go out and find their way, bring their partners into the family, and eventually the blessings of children as well. The family celebrates, and increases the love.

The Harhausen Family is one such family.

You can see it, can’t you?

I had the privilege of spending some time (hot though it was) with them, celebrating family and capturing their joy in photographs.

Thank you for the honor. This and other photos, bring a smile, and that’s a good thing indeed.

Leaving work the other night, I looked up for inspiration.

This magnificent tapestry of clouds was all around. The river of white running through the middle of that blue made me reach for my camera. I had the Panasonic LX3 with me.

Knowing that even with the wide 24mm lens on the LX3, I would be leaving out a whole bunch of the sky, I naturally thought to take a pattern of photos, overlapping, and use Autopano Giga 2 to put them all back together. This is six photos, layered and blended into one.

The sky is such a natural wonder, and so unique in each moment as the atmosphere changes, that I could devote a lifetime to it and still only touch on part of it’s majesty

I’ll settle for looking up, often, and wonder at the miracle of air, dancing just for me, and for everyone.

The other night, I was finished (so I thought) with capturing the sunset, and was heading home. I came to a stop, about to turn left and started to look both ways. I only made it one way when I had to get another set of photos.

This tableau of the brilliant sunset colored and cloud filled sky was punctuated by the set of trees in the middle distance. A perfect as a painting setup. Another stop me in my tracks opportunity for a good photograph. This time, I was fortunate to be stopped with no one coming behind me.

I framed, and fired off another set of five at different Exposure Values (EV).

That put a smile on my face and anticipation as to what would be the result.

Tonight, I’m working on a family portrait session from yesterday, and stopped that for a few minutes to get this one done and up for my photo of the day.

Using PhotomatixPro, I fed it the five raw files, and swizzled the settings, output the result into an intermediate program to remove some overhead wires, then brought it into Lightroom 2.4 for the final render and upload. I’m pleased with the results.

The road, trees, green landscape all serve to anchor that sky that’s on fire with the sunset.

Would that every day were as beautiful, I wouldn’t marvel at those, like this, that are such.

I’ll be happy with being able to stop and see the wonders in front of me. Making time stop so I can gather the beauty of nature in

Sarah & Katherine.

Sisters.

My nieces.

Taken around 6:30PM after a full day of moving, unpacking and putting things away in Katherine’s new home. On the hottest day of the year so far. Katherine, I know had been working most of the week before packing up her and husband Chris’ old home. Sarah & Katherine each have two very active 7 & 8 year olds to mother and tend to, as well as full time+ careers.

I think they look absolutely beautiful, even after all that and the heat of the day.

What’s more beautiful, is their spirit of caring & family and of the grace they both are full of and share with so many of their abundance.

As Karen & I and my sister Trish were leaving after doing our collective bit to help get Katherine, Chris, Charlie & Lewis moved into their new home, I saw the light and asked Katherine and her sister Sarah for a photo.

They were gracious, even after an exhausting move.

They look like they could do it all again tomorrow, but are really and truly glad not to have to!

Thanks for allowing Uncle Matt a moment, Sarah & Katherine. Love you both!

My niece Katherine and her family, Chris and sons Charlie & Lewis moved to a new home today.

They invited family & friends to come over and help unpack and put things away. They provided food and drink and a fun time while working. We had a busy day prior to making the 40 mile trip to Decatur, but we knew we would be helping as well as having a great time together.

After some time passed, unboxing and storing, Chris asked me to set up their new TV for the lower level and hook up the Nintendo Wii. The point being that as more friends were coming over, more children were needing a place to play. I happily took on the task.

With my great-nephew Andrew’s assistance with the Wii, we got the job done quickly. It’s not a permanent install, but it got the attention of the kids for a while!

This is the group that were checking out the Wii, just after we finished. Of the six children in this frame, all but two are my great nephews and one great niece. I’ve got more, lots more than just these four.

I had fun later talking over recipes with Charlie as he was taking a quick breather and looking at one of his books that was unboxed. Andrew and Lewis took turns playing Wheel of Fortune with me, and Mary and I had some moments of shared laughter.

I did my Great Uncle Matt job well today. That made the trip worth it. Priceless memories of family fun.

My kind of sunset.

Wispy clouds all over the sky, and lots of blue. All painted with the reds, yellows & oranges of a summer sunset.

I saw it coming, and headed out looking for the right combination of sky & surroundings.

This was a road I’ve not been on before.

I turned a sharp corner and nearly hit the brakes at the vista before me. The long road out in front to the horizon with that sky!

I moved forward a bit, so I wouldn’t get hit from anyone taking the turn fast, and slowed down to a stop, pointed out my open window and let it rip. 5 exposures, but for this the first and last were blurred, so I grabbed the middle three, all at different exposures to put together in PhotomatixPro for the slight HDR (High Dynamic Range) touch.

I love the angle.

Makes me smile.

I stepped outside to go home yesterday and looked up (a natural habit of mine).

The sky was full of these cloud patterns.

I wanted to get the whole of it, but was in a bit of a rush. I did take time for this one frame.

I brought it into Lightroom 2.4, to convert the raw format, and was again stunned by the beauty without making any changes. I took the defaults without any swizzling by me.

In thinking about the photo, and seeking a response inside which would help me write about it, I thought of the Pink Floyd song: Comfortably Numb. The line that came to me is this one in the last verse before the searing, soaring David Gilmour guitar solo (voted number 4 of the top 100 guitar solos by Guitar World magazine): ” You are only coming through in waves.” The waves of white clouds have a repeating pattern to them that reminds me of the strings behind the song at this point.

I wasn’t comfortably numb at the time, but have been working through many stressful days, and some not so sleep-filled nights. It’s all good, helping me find further resources inside to take care of me.

Here’s the last verse which still gives me a thrill just reading it.

There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship’s smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move but I can’t hear what you’re saying.
When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown,
The dream is gone.
but I have become comfortably numb.