I should explain, is it real or is it Memorex, was an old TV commercial for recording tape.

I can assure you that my photos below of nature, are real images of real subjects. 

There’s nothing more enjoyable than observing and photographing wild animals. The observation in and of itself is sheer joy, and the resulting photographs allows us to share that joy with others.

Human beings are mammals. We are different than the mammals we find in nature, be we share enough with them that they become sort of visual “suggestions” of who we are.   

Little mammals, in particular Prairie Dogs, are especially fun to spend time with. At one time when I lived in Colorado I leased about ten acres of land where I kept two horses. The property was filled with Prairie Dogs. In between doing the chores needed to keep the horses fed, I spent much of my time watching the Prairie Dogs. The image below is that of a mature White-tailed Prairie Dog and was made in Colorado but about a seventy five miles from where the old property stood.

I would imagine that the property today is a housing development, or a shopping center, or a four lane highway.

Furry critters might be fun, but the number one animal subject for photographers is birds. With good reason.

I shot (with a camera) this young Black-crowned Night Heron in Wisconsin.  It provided me with a myriad of poses with which to work. With this species, young birds out alone are almost too trusting of humans.

I’ve made precious few images of Northern Flickers. This male was too close (to my car) to get the whole bird in the picture frame. I used my 500mm without an extender and I must have been at or close to my minimum focusing distance. A nice problem to have.

I use to photograph pretty much any flower I found, wild or cultivated. This image of a garden flower was created in my own backyard eleven years ago.

I love flower photos with deep, dark backgrounds, but I also love creating flower images that are edge to edge flower. All flower and nothing but flower.

There are great landscapes to be found everywhere, but it does get a tad easier in the Rocky Mountains and their mountainous subdivisions.

This first one is a mountain canyon in Dinosaur National Monument which resides in both Utah and Colorado.

Most photographers do not travel to Yellowstone N.P. in Wyoming, to create landscape images. Yellowstone is about wildlife. I also was there for the wildlife. You cannot photograph wildlife every second and come on now! The beauty of this park is powerful

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Most of you know that I spent a lot of time photographing auto racing in my past. For newspapers, magazines, promoters and to sell to the public. The two images below are not mine and unfortunately, I do not know who snapped the shutters.

They are both of the same type of racecar. They are called late model (or super late model) stock cars. They are in no way stock. This sort of race car races almost entirely on asphalt ( blacktop, cement etc.) ovals. Mainly short tracks from between 1/4 mile and 5/8s of a mile around.

As similar as the photos of the two cars you see below might seem, there is one major difference.  The first car is I believe racing in Vermont or some such place in New England. A race in what is called the PASS Series. The second car isn’t racing at all. In fact, it is not even a car. In fact, it is not real at all It is a software created car that is designed by a person, and made into a jpeg. The car, the track, and the grandstand were designed and created by a builder of virtual race cars. Virtual cars like this are raced primarily on i-racing, and are created on a site called Trading Paints. They share the paint schemes they create, often for profit, with those wanting to go virtual racing.

One day maybe everything will be virtual only. No sports injuries, no auto racing deaths, but no reality.

While I am fascinated by this stuff, I admit I would rather partake in an actual, real world, than a made up one.

With that said, likely 8o% of the world would say that my closing section of today’s post is unreal, or not about reality.

Be careful what you believe, but be equally careful what you deny.
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The Blood of Jesus Christ, washes away sin. I am fortunate to have truly discovered that, via the prompting of the Holy Spirit, as well as studying the Word that resides in the Bible. It happened for me before it became too late. Once the body is dead, it is in fact too late.

Salvation is simple. I said simple as in uncomplicated, not simple as in easy. We play an active and necessary part in every step.

The “cleansing”  and forgiveness of our old sin, does not absolve us from the task of keeping new sin at bay.

Faith in the one true God, and what His Son did for us, will day by day drive us to eliminate much sinfulness from our lives.

Believe and accept what Jesus did for you, and do so sincerely, and you will guarantee your eternal existence in the presence of God. You will also have a better and more fulfilling life while you are here.  Prayer is the greatest catalyst for a better life while we are here. You can pray straight to almighty God. He wants to hear from you personally.

There are in my opinion, some aspects of Salvation that are being improperly taught by some groups and some individuals today. At least, there is much confusion about it.

When you are born again, your repentance of sin does not stop, because your sin does not stop. Sin should become increasingly scarce, but you will still sin. I repent straight to God Almighty, many times a day. I repent more now after salvation than before, because I care more now and am more cognizant of my sin.

There are ministries that teach that God decided before time began, who would be saved and who would not. To that I say, both yes and no. He did such as it states in the Bible because He already knew who would accept what Jesus did for them, and who would repent of their sins, and who would not.

You and I do not know. That is why I say that we all have the opportunity to go to Heaven. If you decide to become born again, and you decide to repent of your sins directly to God and accept what Christ did for you, then you are among those who God always knew would be saved.

It is always difficult for we mere mortals, to grasp some of God’s ways. He is God, we are not.

The Trinity is a fact that all of us find difficult to grasp. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. How can three separate entities be the one and only God?  How can the Father be the Son, and then be the Spirit as well? The Son sits at the right hand of the Father. Yet, they are the same God. The Son is also a man. 

Beware of teachings that attempt to make less any part of the Trinity, or as some say, the Three God Head.

There are some things that are “too big” for mere mortals.  There is nothing too big for God. If there were nothing that God professes that was not beyond my comprehension, I might be suspicious.  I am not, because I accept the Bible as The Word of God. 

Below you find Words of Godly prophesy, and wisdom.

Revelation 21 1-5

1. And I saw a New Heaven and a New Earth: for the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away, and there was no more sea.

2. And I John saw the Holy City. New Jerusalem coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a Bride adorned for her husband.

3.  And I heard a great Voice out of Heaven saying, Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God!

4. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be anymore pain, for the former things are passed away.

5. And He Who sat upon the throne said, Behold I make all things new, and He said unto me, for these words are true and faithful.

Think of all the horrible things we are taught in this world. A world where even most people who call themselves Christians are taught in churches, that the Bible is merely a nice, symbolic story if it is to be believed at all. You know, just a bunch of nice passages for ministers to weave a church service around.

It is either God’s Word to be understood and followed, or it is not. The choice is completely up to us.

God Bless,
Wayne