One of the major decisions photographers need to make with every image they create, is whether to go vertical or horizontal.

I speak of the orientation of the camera, not the photographer. Photographer’s are usually are also at their best when they are vertical.

When I “more or less” went full time as a photographer, primarily as a nature photographer, I sold to publishers of books, magazines, calendars, and mailers. The color transparencies we made were difficult to crop or change the orientation of the image, in any way. You could if you chose to, put the image on a light table, and use a camera, macro equipment, and copy the transparency into the opposite orientation in which it was created.

We made more images, especially of wildlife, horizontally. The publishers were often able to change from one orientation to the other in the printing process. Of course, it was a pain for them to do.

I learned as an auto racing photographer, that verticals can get you covers, and horizontals can get you two page center spreads. I was very fortunate to have both covers, two page spreads and more with national magazines, books, calendars and more. Knowing when to be vertical and when to be horizontal, was helpful.

These Milkweed Beetles mating were a natural for the vertical format. All the visual energy in this image is going up and down, not back and forth.

The same can be said with this caterpillar. Having the orientation of the photo, matching the direction the subject is posed at, seems visually logical.

While the bird in this image is not straight up and down, he is plucking out seeds downhill. So to speak.

As I’ve already suggested, it often pays to keep the energy or movement in an image, going in the same direction via the format you use.

This scene was an absolute vertical to me. Two wiry little Prairie Dogs standing as straight up as they can be, demanded a vertical image.

The ability of these critters to search out dangerous predators in all directions, is at its maximum when they stand back to back. The image displays that.

Once again a natural vertical. Here the beautiful winter light was a major factor in the success I had with this photo.

Photographing furious action while using your camera in the vertical position can be difficult at best. The answer? Capture the action (on a tripod) panning in the horizontal position and leave enough space around the subjects as to allow for a vertical crop when you get home. One of the many reasons why digital photography is so much easier than film.

Standup portraits normally look their best vertically. These I believe are both original verticals.

Getting in closer frequently allows for either format to work, although here I chose vertical with this Clarke’s Nutcracker. If this image were only the head and neck, then a horizontal with space on our right, would have been perfect.

I honestly am not sure, but I believe this was shot horizontally and cropped to vertical. The position of the hungry Muskrat is such that either way would work. I suspect it was made horizontally and I cropped the photo in tighter than it was shot.

The pose with this Grackle would also work both ways and I shot this uniquely colored example of the species in both formats. That is in many respects, the way it aught to be done most of the time.

As you can see, I liked the vertical best.

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If you find the text format of the remainder of today’s post at times a bit weird, or super sized, I apologize. The word processing program I am using went a bit wild. Maybe that’s a way to shut me up.

It won’t work.

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A little bit of religion.

One of the hardest things for Christians to grasp, is the Trinity. The triune God if you will. I fully understand why that is. While I personally easily accept the Trinity, spiritually and intellectually, explaining it to someone is another matter.

I will somewhat explain it, but then I will turn it over to some trusted professionals. One is a highly respected Pastor.

There is but one God in the universe, but there are three aspects to that God. Not two and then something else that’s “not really” God. Three!

Every believer of the one true God that I know believes God is capable of all things, except wrong doing. Nothing, nothing is beyond His capabilities.

You cannot say God can do anything, except he cannot be Jesus as well as the Father.

He is either the one true God, or He is not.

The word Trinity is not in the Bible. So what?? I could think of hundreds of words that are not in the Bible yet Christians use them today as a name for someone or something, or to explain something. Language changes, the true Bible does not. I say the true Bible because there are some bad versions made by denominations and others. They do not keep true to the Word of God. We need to be careful.

The Bible was of course written in Hebrew, old Greek, and some Aramaic. Everything we read has been translated. So who did what and how, is important. I use a version of the King James. Not the very latest, but one just previous to that. Then I have another King James that is sixty years old. There are a few others I use at times. Some versions of the NIV are good.

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God can indeed do anything except sin.

There is one God, period. At least if you are a Christian.

One Chrisitan God is of course often called the Trinity. Three aspects.

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Sprit. The Father is the creator right? Well now who was the Word? The Word was Jesus and the Word was there in the beginning. Not the human body birthed by Mary, but the Word who is the Son. The Son is very much God. He became God walking this earth.

The Word (the Son who became known as Jesus) was with God and His Angels, in the beginning. Then eons later Jesus was born of a women, was raised by His parents, taught a trade, and eventually was made aware, possibly by God’s Holy Sprit, of who He was and what His mission was

He was still God.

His body was killed, but He was resurrected.

The Holy Sprit both enlightens us about our position with God, and convicts us of our sin. If you are a Christian, you will feel bad if you sin. That is the Holy Sprit at work convicting you. In other words, your conscience.

The Holy Sprit also fills you up with God’s Holiness. That is why we can rise above (hopefully) bad deeds. He educates us.

Most attempts to describe the Trinity fall flat because it is described by mere mortals like you and I, and we are over our skis so to speak.

The Triune God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We needed a body of flesh, born of a woman but not conjugally’., so Christ could carry the weight of our sins on His back but still remain pure. He took our punishment for us, because we could not atone for our sins ourselves. He paid our fine. He walked as a human to do that. The question of course becomes, will we accept it? That requires faith. To be a true Chrsitian requires faith. Faith comes slow for me. Yet here I am, doing all I can to display it.

When He comes back (not far from now I suspect), we will carry His righteousness within us. We will be as Christ, and we will go to Heaven.

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The Trinity.

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From the website Got Questions

When we talk about God, we use the word person or persons to show that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have intellect, emotion, and will. Each person of the Trinity had a unique role in creation and the Salvation of mankind.

All three persons of the Trinity comprise the one and perfectly unified God. They share the same nature and essence , and they are all the same God, yet each individual Person of the Trinity is distinct and unique.

Once we get past the notion that a “person” can only be a human person, we can readily understand how God can exist as three “persons”.

From one of the best, John McArthur.

The Bible is clear, there is only one God, yet He exists and always has existed, as a Trinity of persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.(John 1:1-2) To deny or misunderstand the Trinity, is to deny or misunderstand the very nature of God Himself.

This next statement is from me.

Our job is to take the Bible to the world, not to rewrite it to suit us.

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I always give credit where credit is due. I often applaud those who I don’t have faith in or care for, when they do what I believe in, and I often criticize those who I care a lot for, when they do what I believe to be wrong. Politically, religiously or other.

For me, it’s the only way to live.

When it comes to Christianity and churches and pastors, I am always happy to cheer for someone I might expect the worse from, when they show me the best.

I for the second time in my life I watched on Sunday morning TV, Father Chapin from West Virginia. His sermon was truthful, held many Godly qualities, and was unbiased in the sense of you did not need to be of his religion to appreciate it, and feel blessed by it. It was not about “religion”. per say.

What I saw that morning is all that I have to go by, so understand, it is that sermon I speak of.

Keep it up Father Chapin.

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When I was a kid I watched every televison preacher or evangelist, that existed.

Some like Oral Roberts even healed people in front of a camera. Imagine how disaponited was when I found out it was all an act.

One who never did that was Billy Graham. One day as I sat in front of a TV I heard Graham suggest that he was there only to preach the Gospel. The enire Gospel, honestly.

He began by mentioning first God, then Satan, then Heavean, then Hell.

He statted that he does not teach fairytails. He’s read the Bible and he preaches the truth.

He stated, that I speak of a real God, and a real Satan, a real Heaven and a real Hell. Litterally!

I never had a preacher tell me that they were real. Not fairytales.

Late in his life he began to slip into the easy way out Gospel. The one where nobody ever gets offended. He stated, whatever your relgion might be, and whatever you believe, it’s okay because it is all the same god.

It is true that almost every religion and many churches teach a different god than the rest.

Thankfully he raised a son named Franklyn very well. By the time Billy passed he went back to his fifty years of teaching, and explained how many false gods are preached. He saiid there is only one God, the Triune God, and Satan and his minions are very real. Heaven and Hell are for real too.

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The biggest threat to true Chiritianity is not from non-Chrisitian religions such as Islam, Hindu or others. The biggest threat comes from some “Christ based” religions and those who have added Jesus over the years to gain parishners.

I have written about this before. I want to make very clear that my personal experiences with the people from the relgions I will use today, were positive and pleasant. They have every right in the world to believe what they do.

I speak of religions who preach a different Christ. One who is not a true Savior.

I write here about the Jehova’s Witness, and Mormon religions. They teach a diminshed, almost humanistic Jesus. A lesser Jesus.

Right now the biggest threat from many “Christian based relgions is the downsizing, and non godly ways that are attributed to our Savior.

He is presented as a worker who is minus His deity.

Some mainstream large religions preach a “slightly” more Godly version. If you hear the term “The Two God Head’, please look deeply at what you are embarking on.

I sometimes wonder how many times I have lied in my life. Especially as a kid. Well, as a Kid, a teenager, and as a young adult. As one year after another passes by, I find lying more despicable. IAfter all , it is in the Ten Commandments which are as valid today in every sense, as they were when Moses carried them down (twice) from the mountain. While I may be wrong at times in what I say, as it is easy in this complex world to become confused, I do my best to not lie. I try not to lie because I believe the Gospal.

The better I become at not lying, the more trouble I have in accepting lies from the world.

We all do have a right to be silent, although I realize that silence, can just be a good way to force ourselves to not lie, while we still mislead others.

We live in not only a confused and often dishonest world, but one where “the world” practices selfishness while pretending to care about others. We see that in government, schools, the media and other places.

Hopefully my closing remarks in my next post will be a bit more uplifting. Maybe I should pay less attention to the world?

May the Lord richly Bless each of you,
Wayne