Let us begin and end today, with photos of storms.

Changing light, changing image.

What I write below, is my best recolection as these first two images were made on film a long time ago.

I decided one day to grab a few architectural images of a light house that lived on the shores of Lake Michigan. I did what I did and got what I got, but the skies in back of me told me there might be an afternoon storm brewing. I left the scene anyway and went several miles down the road to photograph flowers. I spent a good, long time with the flowers, but then noticed that back to the north there was indeed an afternoon storm coming, and it looked to be a big one.

I jumped in the car and raced back to the lighthouse. When I got there the lighthouse was so covered in storm clouds that it was almost beyond photography. Then some light from the west broke through the blackness. Just enough to capture the pier and lighthouse, as well as some screaming gulls. The mood and atmosphere, something that I speak of a lot on these pages, was haunting but beautiful.

Not too far in the future in these parts, our roadsides and meadows will be dripping in Phlox. White as well as pink and purple. Get out your cameras.

A male Goldfinch showing off.

An itchy Barn Swallow.

The first shot of a Caspian Tern below, might at first glance appear to be a tern with a caught fish, getting ready to eat it. Not so

Below we see what is not a fight over that fish. This is a male of the species. He is not fighting over the fish, he is bribing a female for sex. Usually illegal among humans, but just another romp on the beach for Caspian Terns and a way to procreate.

Common Grackle at the bird feeder. With a shot like this, your depth of field will not cover the whole bird with sharpness. Shoot for the eyes first (they say they are the window to the soul), and get as much of the face as possible.

Young Great-blue Herons at the nest. These birds are nearing their first flight.

I would photograph anything. I love natural patterns that contain a rhythm to them.

Bighorn Sheep, including one that has been collared, in the Badlands of South Dakota.

Finally we have another desert storm coming our way. Monument Valley Utah.

You will never get the picture if you don’t chance the storm.

Below we have some great lyrics from the Simon & Garfunkel song, The Sounds of Silence. Paul Simon did the writing. There are great words, and there are sad words in this song. He (Simon) was clearly saddened by what he saw in the world around him. The prophets he speaks of in this song, are the punks, the crooks, and the lonely. It is about the sometimes sad way the human race goes about its daily life.

Hello darkness, my old friend
I’ve come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence
In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
‘Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
No one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
“Fools” said I, “You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you”
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, “The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds of silence”

Finaly we have even greater words by the Apostal Paul, as given by God. Paul speaks of a better way for us than we often choose on our own. . He lays out the route we must take. By what Christ Jesus did for us, we have been offered Salvation from God, if we have Faith.

It is simple and uncomplicated, but not easy for sinners such as us, to accept God’s gift of His Son, and His substitution for us. The Son is as the Father is, and is the Holy Spirit, the one God.

Romans 5:1-2
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by Faith, into this Grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

God gave us freedom to decide for ourselves. It is a reason to rejoice, but we must be careful how we use it, less we will never be free again.

May God Bless,
Wayne