Penning Photography Daily

Tony & Zach, or from left to right, Zach & Tony.

I do believe you can see that they are a happy pair.

One of those moments that happen during a large family portrait session. One of us is taking individual families, and the other is looking for and taking photos like these.

Treasures of smiles, captured in those fleeting moments of joy.

Jerry & Lou, married 50 years.

As their oldest son said about their romance: “A young man went to Europe in service of his country, and came home with a partner for life. He left home as Butch, and came back as Jerry & Lou.” Louise is a wonderful German-born woman, who, together with Jerry, nurtured their love and their four children into loving adults.

When they were married, they vows were witnessed by the base chaplain, and they spent their honeymoon at the army barracks. Their children put together a 50th anniversary party full of the things they didn’t have 50 years ago: Family & Friends together to celebrate, Cutting the Cake, Blessing in their home church, and a dinner with an emotional toast by their son. An evening full of loving celebration.

I had the honor of taking their portrait, and that of their extended family and friends. I also belong to the same church, and was privileged to play and sing at their blessing ceremony this evening, and then share in their dinner celebration.

Karen took this one of me, in Washington Park, taking their portrait. As I was going through the photos tonight and backing them up. Karen said “thats the one to put up!” She liked the behind the scenes view with my arm and flash in the far right.

I’ve got over 900 photos to process. There’s a bunch of keepers in there.

A family full of smiles, and love.

My brother Nick and his Mary Ann.

I love the way the light was falling on Nick’s face and raised my camera to grab this.

Having the two of them in the frame was my intent. Their partnership has been the engine of their love for many years. Even those words are feeble compared to the reality I’ve known. They support each other and through their love, their four girls, all grown up and each of them spreading their positive influence around the globe.

We had a wonderful evening at my sister Trish’s home. Caught up on family and enlightened conversation on all manner of topics.

I’m glad I brought my camera.

A happy accident occurred tonight as I was capturing this patch of dill in our back yard.

This is about 1/4th the full frame of the photo.

See the insect in the upper right third of the frame? It had been feasting on the pollen/nectar in the tiny dill flower buds. Flitting from flower to flower.

I tried to get a good closeup of the insect, but alas, all my frames were out of focus, even as this is of the insect, yet more so.

What makes this a keeper, is the dill, reaching out to the departing insect, as if to say “Stay, don’t leave us yet!” The yearning pose of the flowers, and the attitude of flight of the insect. Even the thick stalk of dill on the right adds drama to the frame.

Life sure is interesting, and down close, even more so.

A different perspective gives a new point of view.

So there’s a stick in the red flower petals.

Karen didn’t like it. I ignored the stick. It’s stuck in the photo.

Life isn’t perfect, far from it sometimes, it seems. Neither are any of the natural beauties I’ve captured in photographs. Not perfect, but they still evoke an emotional response.

Even with the stick, this zinnia is is something I love to see, especially up close in this macro view.

The green leaves surrounding it’s shades of red and orange, are a nice contrast. The splash of yellow in the center, draws my eye. Up close, viewed large, the tiny frosting of pollen on the yellow leaves, is the added detail that a macro brings out.

Stick and all, a nice display.

The silica gel beads found within a packet of desiccant, used to keep (in this case) computer equipment dry during shipment and storage.

We recently had 22 network switches swapped out for new ones. Each box had a couple of large (2×3 inch) desiccant packs. What to do with 44 of these bad boys? Not throw them away, for sure.

I asked that they be pulled from the boxes, and ended with a pile on my desk. I brought most of them home and put them in my photo storage boxes. That is what I had in mind: to keep my cameras, lenses and the like, nice and dry. Just as they should be.

Being a curious sort, one recent day, took one of these and opened it up for a closer inspection. These tiny beads popped out. Each one is about 1/2 a centimeter in size. Very small.

I went off on a merry search and learn mission through Wikipedia tonight, learning about desiccants, silica gel and the like.

As a lad, I used to enjoy reading the copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica that we had in our home. Wikipedia and other online sources of knowledge are a deep delight for me, a knowledge junkie.

The Panasonic LX3 did a nice job of capturing the macro of these micro beads.

Stay dry out there (all you fragile components)!

A bit of pink for this day.

I’m fighting a bit of a bug, and this flower cheered me right up.

Take that, you bounder of a bug!

That and some garlic and yogurt, my natural remedies for colds and such. Tasty meds.

This one is found in our back yard. A sort of a mum? Not sure, but it’s beautiful even if I cannot identify it.