Tag Archives: Weekly Photo Challenge

Weekly Photo Challenge: Let There Be Light!

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I missed a week of participation in the photo challenge (11.29.13), but still wanted to contribute something to that theme. I live on a corner and for a while the sodium-vapor street lamp, emitting its yellow hue, cycled on and off through the night. Recently, the city installed an LED light that is much more intense over the intersection, but creates less overall light pollution. However, it is positioned to illuminate my front yard quite well. With our first measurable snow occurring this past Sunday, the new light caused my bare maple tree to cast some long shadows, nicely contrasting the fresh, white ground cover.

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Of course, this is the Season of Light as Christians observe Advent, preparing for the celebration of Christ’s first coming. In one of the seven “I Am’s”* of Jesus in the Gospel of John, very clearly asserting His claim of deity, He spoke of His illuminating nature:

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

May this be a time in which many people discover the true Light of the World!

*Here is a short but thorough article on The “I Am’s” of Christ by Henry Morris.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Unexpected

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I’m a little late in this contribution to the photo challenge of “unexpected” (posted 11.22.13). But, better late than sorry:

So, your photo challenge this week is to capture something unexpected. You can also interpret the theme in other ways: a street scene or landscape that just doesn’t look quite right, an impromptu portrait of a loved one, or any other image that reveals a sense of surprise.

During this past extended Thanksgiving weekend, a beagle, who we owned during her first year of life, came to visit while her current owner went out-of-town. We gave Bailey to friends after we found her a little too high-strung for town life. She needed a rural area to run free and other dogs as companions, and both needs were supplied at her new home. However, she still loves to visit. If she is not outside on leash, she takes her spot on the back of the couch and watches for squirrels in the front yard.

On guard duty

On guard duty

Her visits always necessitate “dog-proofing” because she loves to shred tissues from the garbage cans and scavenge for other odds and ends to chew. With my home office door closed and off-limits to her, I’m less concerned about that area being pristine. However, I left the door open as I was reading in my recliner, and Bailey came in to see me. After rooting around my chair for a minute, she made signs of a hasty retreat (indicating she had something I would not approve of her having). I quickly grabbed her collar and then my camera at seeing the unexpected protrusion from her mouth.

After dinner toothpick

Who doesn’t occasionally need an after-dinner toothpick

We’re sorry to see Bailey go when she leaves, but we don’t regret giving her up to have a richer life of snake hunting, rabbit chasing and rough housing with her dog companions.

For more “unexpected” photo, check out WordPress – Weekly Photo Challenge.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Layers

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A sunset without clouds is “blah.” So, I always hope for a non-obscured drop of the sun below the sea’s horizon, but to have clouds in the sky to reflect layers of the sun’s final hues. This was the last sunset of our vacation in Florida and God painted a masterpiece with textured layers of color!

Last Sunset 2013

For more examples of “layers” go to Word Press Photo Challenge: Layers.

Here is an additional video of that sunset:

Weekly Photo Challenge: From Lines to Patterns

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This week’s challenge submission comes from a recent bike ride on the High Trestle Trail between Madrid and Woodward, Iowa, USA. The paved trail was built on a former Union Pacific railroad bed. We planned two short, 2.5 mile rides from Woodward – late afternoon and dusk – to see the highlight of the trail, the 1/2-mile, 13-story high bridge across the Des Moines River valley, making it one of the largest trail bridges in the world. Forty-one steel cribbings, representing the coal mining industry for which the region was once known, encompass the bridge’s path.

After the daytime observation, we made our way back to Woodward for a wonderful dinner at the Whistlin’ Donkey Sports Bar and Grill. Then, we repeated our trip at dusk for a special treat. Twenty-three of the 41 cribbings are illuminated with blue lights, marking the riverbed below. Because each cribbing is angled differently, the lights give the impression that you are moving through a time warp and the illusion that the cribbings are curved. The following video of the entire half-mile crossing shows this effect. Hope you enjoy the ride!

Here are more entries to this week’s photo challenge.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside: My entry is inside a simple truss bridge that I came across this summer in my rural Iowa wanderings. A gravel road leads up to this wood-decked bridge, and the reflected sun on the trusses drew me off the highway. I liked the contrasts of silver/primer paint and rust inside the bridge against the green fields and cloud-filled blue sky outside.

Bridge

Truss bridges have always fascinated me. From my childhood, I recall that bridges with a truss design gave me a sense of security. Perhaps it was because the surrounding structure, giving the sense that you were “inside” the bridge, made the journey across whatever abyss my parents were taking me seem a little safer. I remember crossing the Mississippi River by train and being somewhat terrified to see that the bridge had no surrounding truss to keep the train from toppling over into the waters below. This led to several minutes of agonizing fear despite the reassurances of my mother.

Additionally, any trip across the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge, a cantilevered through truss bridge over the Mississippi River, signaled the beginning of a family adventure, usually a trip to visit family in Missouri and Iowa. With my other four siblings in the car, the first bit of fun we had was to see who could hold their breath over the almost one mile span.

So, this entry brings with it some deep emotions tied to childhood memories that make being inside a truss bridge a “happy place.”

Weekly Photo Challenge: Focus

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Focus by Cheri Lucas Rowlands on August 23, 2013

For this challenge, get out there and take a picture demonstrating the concept of focus. 

  • Snap a photo of something or someone in focus, against a blurred background.
  • Share a panorama or landscape in sharp focus, in which you can see details far away.
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Shallow depth of field – corn stalks in the foreground

I live in an agricultural area with corn and soybean fields almost within a stones throw of my home. One of my church members, who sells crop insurance, recently asked me to take a few pictures of corn for his website. The scene, just down the road from my church featured a seed company’s test plots with the local grain elevator in the background.

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Greater depth of field – Grain Elevator in focus

Thanks for coming by to see my photographic take on “focus.”

Now let me give a spiritual take on the topic. As harvest is just around the corner, and the grain elevators will have semi-trucks lined up to store the farmers’ bounty, I think of Jesus’ parable (Luke 12:13-21) of a rich farmer who had a great harvest. He decided to build bigger barns and to selfishly live off of the fruits of his labor “for many years” with no concern for God and others (the repeated use of the pronouns “I” and “my” give evidence of his self-ward focus). The Father’s response was:

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you have prepared—whose will they be?’ 21 “That’s how it is with the one who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:20-21 (HCSB)

At times, it is difficult for us to have anything other than a self-ward focus – a shallow depth of field – especially in the midst of life’s difficulties. However, we must remember the temporary nature of this life and focus on the greater depth of field – the eternal.

These green fields will soon be reduced to the rubble of decaying stalks – in the same way we see our earthly bodies deteriorate over time. However, if our focus is toward God’s call and obedience to His purposes, we will be accumulating treasure in heaven.

16 Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. 17 For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. 18 So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

(2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

So, is your life focus on a shallow depth of field (selfish) or a greater depth of field (eternal)?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Carefree

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Carefree by Sheri on August 16, 2013

In a new post specifically for this challenge, share a photo that means CAREFREE to you!

Having gone to the Iowa State Fair twice this past week, I would have to say that it is the epitome of the word “carefree.” This eleven-day event in August typically draws about a million visitors, who meander through the displays of 4-H (Head, Heart, Hands, Health) and FFA (Future Farmers of America) projects*, eat food on a stick, wait in line to see the Butter Cow, spend time on the midway rides or take a leisurely trip from one side of the fair to the other on the Sky Glider. There is no better way to end summer in Iowa than to attend the Iowa State Fair.

Sky Glider

Sky Glider at the Iowa State Fair, Des Moines, Iowa, USA

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*I must say that for many fair attendees, it is anything but “carefree.” For example, the youth, who take part in 4-H and FFA, spend many hours in preparation for almost the entire year for the honor of showing a project or livestock at the Iowa State Fair. Their dedication is admirable!

Weekly Photo Challenge: One Shot, Two Ways

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For this challenge, capture two images — a horizontal and a vertical version — of the same scene or subject. There are no concrete “rules” here, but a) it should be evident that both shots are of the same place/location or person/thing, and b) your photographs should ideally have been taken during the same shoot. – by Cheri Lucas Rowlands on August 9, 2013.

The first pictures were taken as I was traveling near my home in Iowa last Spring. The blur of wild blue phlox in my peripheral view caused me to turn around for a few photos. But the rusting gate and topless grain silo in the background captured my interest, wondering how many times that silo had been filled with corn, or imaging a farmer’s child jumping off the tractor to open the gate for his father as he brought in a full grain wagon from the harvest.

The next shots are of the garden angel and petunias growing there. The angel was given to my wife as a memorial at the time of her mother’s death. She loves her perennial garden with a splash of annual colors and the comfort of her mother’s memory in its midst.

Looking forward to the scene soon!

In slideshow format with a few more to meet the challenge.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Foreshadow

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WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Foreshadow:  – from Krista

100E0458The joy of being a grandparent is seeing the budding of a new generation. With two granddaughters and another on the way, we enjoy watching the cycle of life repeat itself. As much as babies and toddlers depend upon adults, it is always fascinating to see how intrigued they are by one another.

100E0460 My foreshadow pictures are of my granddaughter and friend, who adore one another. In fact, Daniel, a year older than Georgia and living about three hours away, tells his mother that he misses her. Their mothers joke about them being married one day, with Daniel’s mom wanting to work out a betrothal agreement. Will they? Time will tell, but I hope these pictures represent the foreshadowing of a loving marriage to come in both of their futures.

6 “But at the beginning of creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ (Genesis 1:27) 7 ‘That’s why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife. 8 The two of them will become one.’ (Genesis 2:24) They are no longer two, but one. 9 So a man must not separate what God has joined together.”    Mark 10:6-9 (NIRV)

Weekly Photo Challenge: Masterpiece

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Masterpiece. No matter where you are (and where you’ve been), I’m certain you’ve stumbled upon something extraordinary: a place that blows your mind; a work of art or object that speaks to you; or even a location or scene that’s special, unusual, or even magical in some way. – Cheri Lucas Rowlands

My choice of a masterpiece was almost missed. Nestled in a neighborhood, on a hill, overlooking Plymouth Bay, stands the National Monument to the Forefathers. My brother-in-law suggested that we see it, otherwise I might have overlooked it on my trip to Plymouth last Spring. I’m glad I didn’t!

National Monument to the Forefathers

National Monument to the Forefathers – Plymouth, Massachusetts

Standing at 81 feet (24.69 meters), the sometimes called “Forefathers Monument” is the largest, free-standing, granite monument in the world. Primary designer and sculptor, Hammatt Billings of Boston, originally planned the monument to stand at 150 feet (just one foot shorter than the statue of Liberty). However, a reduction in height occurred due to a shortage of funds during the Civil War.

"...for the cause of civil and religious liberty."

“…for the cause of civil and religious liberty.”

Standing atop the monument, “Faith” holds a Bible in one hand and points heavenward with the other. This part of the monument is 36-feet-tall and weighs 180 tons itself. Four buttresses, each with a 15-foot-tall figure, jut out below. These represent the virtues of Liberty, Morality, Law, and Education, all core values of the Pilgrims, who settled in Plymouth in 1620. Bas-relief sculptures are found beneath the four figures, depicting scenes such as the Pilgrims departing England, landing on the shores of Plymouth and encountering Native Americans.

In addition to the dedication panel (see right), three other panels feature the names of the Mayflower passengers and a quote of William Bradford, Governor of Plymouth Colony (see below).

Bradbury Quote

“Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing and give being to all things that are…Let the glorious name of Jehovah have all the praise” – Governor William Bradford

As “Faith” has such a prominent place in this masterpiece, I’m reminded what the writer of the Book of Hebrews in the Bible said about faith:

1 Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. 2 For our ancestors won God’s approval by it. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by God’s command, so that what is seen has been made from things that are not visible. 4 By faith Abel offered to God a better  sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was approved as a righteous man, because God approved his gifts, and even though he is dead, he still speaks through his faith. 5 By faith Enoch was taken away so he did not experience death, and he was not to be found because God took him away. For prior to his removal he was approved, since he had pleased God. 6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:1-6 HCSB).

Just as the Hebrew forefathers won God’s approval for their exercise of faith in Him (v. 3), our country’s forefathers won the approval of God for their faith.

Bas-relief of Pilgrims Arriving at Plymouth

Bas-relief of Pilgrims Arriving at Plymouth

Had it not been threatening rain, I would have enjoyed lingering longer at the monument. Our brief time there seemed more poignant because of the timing of our visit – the week of the Boston Marathon bombing – and Plymouth’s closeness to Boston. The freedoms we have in the United States did not come easily. Due to forces within and without, there is an erosion of some of those freedoms. We cannot take our civil and religious liberties lightly, knowing the great sacrifice demonstrated by our forefathers to secure them. However, my faith in the same God that the Pilgrims trusted by faith gives me an abiding, eternal security that no government can truly offer and no person can take away.