The Ren of Photo

A journey home....

2009-07-04T17:29:00.006-05:00

Evening Shoot 6/29

2009-06-30T13:00:00.004-05:00

Amos In Dreams

2009-04-16T10:03:00.002-05:00

amos in dreams
2008

Produce

2009-04-08T10:30:00.000-05:00

Lots of color in this produce stand

New York 2009

Libertas

2009-04-08T10:27:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I know. Typical shot. But I like it anyway.

Libertas
New York 2009

Freedom

2009-04-08T10:25:00.000-05:00

monument commemorating freedom from slavery. powerful.
new york 2009

Lion

2009-04-08T10:21:00.000-05:00

lion
new york 2009

Triumph

2009-04-08T10:16:00.000-05:00

i love triumphs.

new york 2009

Caricature Artist

2009-04-08T10:12:00.000-05:00

caricature artist. new york. 2009

Graffiti

2009-04-08T10:10:00.000-05:00

I like graffiti.

New York Soul

2009-04-08T10:09:00.000-05:00

\

within the first hour, saw this guy. couldnt pass this shot up.

New York Series #2

2009-04-03T09:39:00.007-05:00

These arent edited or tweaked, but I give them to you in the "raw"

New York Series #1

2009-04-01T10:06:00.007-05:00

Hi there. Been a while. Here are a few from my recent trip to New York. There will be more.

Butterfly 2007

2009-02-28T10:43:00.000-06:00

an oldie, but i like it.

Coopers Hawk 2008

2009-02-28T10:31:00.000-06:00

Once on the endangered species list due to agricultural use of the pesticide, DDT, the Coopers Hawk has bounced back and is seen in our neighborhood fairly often.

2009-02-18T09:11:00.001-06:00

I like the poem Desiderata by Max Ehrmann, 1927.

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let not this blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams; it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.

Abraham Lincoln, 2009

2009-02-16T15:25:00.001-06:00

Abraham Lincoln Museum 2009 Springfield, Il

Lincoln's Eyes

2009-02-16T15:21:00.001-06:00

Abraham Lincoln Museum 2009 Springfield, Il

Lincoln Museum, 2009

2009-02-16T15:20:00.002-06:00

Abraham Lincoln Museum 2009 Springfield, Il

Beer Still Life 2009

2009-02-16T15:18:00.001-06:00

Anheiser-Busch Hospitality Room 2009

Bevo The Fox, 2009

2009-02-16T15:14:00.001-06:00

During prohibition, Bevo the fox was Anheiser-Busch's main line of marketing with their non-alcoholic beverage, "Bevo!"
Anheiser-Busch Grounds 2009

Clydsdale, St Louis Missouri 2009

2009-02-16T15:10:00.002-06:00

Anheiser-Busch Grounds 2009

Two for Valentines

2009-02-13T10:09:00.003-06:00

Two for Valentines. 2009

Gull-February 2009

2009-02-12T12:43:00.001-06:00

Lunchtime Gull. 2009

Sky High - 2006

2009-02-11T12:16:00.001-06:00

Springfield Il - 2006

Landscape 2007

2009-02-11T09:33:00.000-06:00

Landscape. Illinois 2007

Evening Panorama

2009-02-09T19:41:00.000-06:00

an evening panorama with a hawk in flight. 2009.

Untitled - 2006

2009-02-09T15:31:00.000-06:00

Untitled - 2006 Fall

Poured Out 2005

2009-02-09T15:28:00.001-06:00

self portrait. poured out. summer 2005

Portrait: Birth

2009-02-09T15:17:00.001-06:00

Portrait: "Birth" 2005.

I've posted a lot of nature. Now for some humans.

Chieftain-Summer 2006

2009-02-09T12:58:00.000-06:00

So the story goes, Grandpa got pissed at this car, got tired of dealing with it and in 1960 pulled it into the timber with his tractor vowing to never return to it. And aside from glancing at it when we were driving by on a tractor, he never did.

I remember...

2009-02-09T12:43:00.000-06:00

Its warming up. Im trying to enjoy them and not think of the hot days of summer approaching. Man, do I remember those days when I was young.

The humidity hits you the minute you leave the building or house you've been in--it blasts you with this hot vapor like damp air; takes your breathe away and you wipe your forehead, look to your destination (which may only be 10 feet away) and wonder if you'll make it there.I know a guy that is a flippin diehard. He will go on this long ass bike rides that extend to 20-30 miles, come home with this shit eating grin acting like it was a life changing experience, dripping with sweat. Camel pack empty. And I wonder if Ill get the garbage taken out tonight or my lazy ass can make it downstairs to play on my computer for a while.I didn't used to be like this.I used to love life and drink it in.

When I was younger, and it was this hot, I would race through the cornfields down the waterlanes in the fourwheeler. The hot air passing me by with scents of wetness, sweet corn leaves, and pollen. The wet ground would show tracks of critters that had visited for a drink in the night; racoons, deer, skunk, possum, and even an occassional coyote would make way through our fields for some water in the scorching hot dry central Illinois sandlands. I'd look back over my shoulder and see Boomer, my black dog, following at a distance to keep a watchful eye on me. He was a great dog, very protective and gentle with me. No matter what part of the field we were in, we could hear a distant roar of the irrigation engine which powered the pumps that sent the water through the pipes to the winch and gun. It was a constant, and in the night, Grandpa and I would duck our heads out the door several times in the darkness to make sure we could hear it running.Sometimes, we would heart it running but something wasn't right, it was almost a "feeling" we would get. So we would jump on the four wheeler---shoot through the darkness into the fields and find that the winch had gotten off track, ran over its own hose, got stuck etc.

These would be the times, I learned how to curse best. Like in the movie A Christmas Story, my grandpa was a conissieurre of some of the most foul choices of words as he worked to get the irrigation out of the mess. The red faced German in him, I suppose. This made me uncomfortable so I never made eye contact with him when he was having these angry outbursts. I just helped silently. And made it a point to show him that he was not alone.Things would go wrong a lot. But we always pushed through them. They were an adventure. And somehow, God would always find a way to speak to us through the experiences. To let us know he was still there. Im not sure my Grandpa ever acknowledged this, but it seemed like an understood thing.

Twin baby whitetail deer would play with the hose end as we rolled it up one summer, butting their heads against it playfully, their Mom watching from a distance. Grandpa and I relished in watching the deer; beautiful, large, yet quiet creatures would live and cross our land multiple times daily. They would leap, with their white tufty tales pointing up. If you squinted your eyes in the evenings, it would just look like bouncing cotton balls bounding towards the woods.These were good times and I dwell here often in the sandbox of the mind. When these cold days are getting warmer and it wont be long before Im wasted by the heat of Illinois summer in a few months, I remember these as the junkyard of my past, with beautiful gems and rainbows hiding inside.

frozen cluster-winter 2007

2009-02-08T16:09:00.000-06:00

Drip-Winter 2007

2009-02-08T16:04:00.000-06:00

a broken dream-summer 2007

2009-02-08T15:53:00.000-06:00

broken goose egg, scavneger bird attack, most likely. summer 2007

Moon 2007

2009-02-08T15:50:00.000-06:00

moon. night 2007. tripod/300mm canon cheapie lens.

Mature Bald Eagle

2009-02-07T18:09:00.000-06:00

mature bald eagle (zoomed and cropped unfortunately, but i like it) - february 2009

Great Horned Owl

2009-02-07T18:06:00.000-06:00

although long dead, this great horned owl exhibit looks as though its ready to take flight. februrary 2009

Feeding Time

2009-02-07T18:04:00.000-06:00

mature bald eagle going in for a fish. although, its not a great photo, i have
dreamt of taking this picture my whole life. February 2009

Juvenile Bald Eagle

2009-02-07T17:57:00.000-06:00

juvenile bald eagle-february 2009

Empty Nest-February 2009

2009-02-07T17:54:00.000-06:00

Church Door 2006

2009-02-06T10:39:00.000-06:00

Church door in Springfield Il. Summer 2006

Old poem (2006)

2009-02-06T09:51:00.000-06:00

Found an old poem about addiction and how it lies to people. Thought I'd share here

i dont bleed
i dont die
i come within and set up shop
inside you and want
a taste of that which you bring
to me to feast upon
for a while

let me in, a little more
for you don't know how to look to heaven
without me holding your hand
down here
im your inside friend
your secret friend
why, i'm you!

dont look down here--keep looking up
oh, son of man, inside i am yours
I am that which you dont care to see
but lies inside to make you peace
to stir the waters of that embrace
and tuck you in-
embers burning in your bed

i am sin, i am holy
i am you when your worship falls to the dusty ground
and transgressed sins go unclean
your shame keeps them from the cross
holds them back
it keeps them in your tinderbox, fuel to ignite
coals cleanse the undercroft and give way to the kindling
to burn, deep inside, burn, deep inside, burn

Redtail Fall 2008

2009-02-06T09:04:00.000-06:00

A mature Redtail Hawk in flight. Minutes before was grappling with another, but couldn't get the camera to cooperate with all the branches in the way. Switching to manual focus was the only way I could get him.

Fall 2008

2009-02-06T08:55:00.000-06:00

A friend's daughter. Fall 2008. I had a lot of fun with her hair color and the foliage.

Turkey Vulture 2008

2009-02-06T08:48:00.000-06:00

A big boy in flight. Hundreds upon hundreds in the central Illinois area. Some may find it hard to believe, but to cool themselves, they urinate on their own feet. And for defense? Projectile vomiting!

A shy doe in the evening 2008

2009-02-06T08:46:00.000-06:00

a very pretty girl afraid to come much closer. Fall 2008

Redtail Hawk Winter 2009

2009-02-05T15:46:00.000-06:00

a redtail hawk in flight. winter 2009 (click on picture for better resolution)

Winter Orchard 2008

2009-02-05T15:39:00.000-06:00

A cold orchard in Chatham. 2008

Sunset with Treeline 2008

2009-02-05T14:44:00.000-06:00

this picture was a failure compared to what I was seeing. i leave it here as a reminder to keep my lens on what Im seeing with my head, not my eyes.

The desk where Aslan was born

2009-02-05T14:43:00.001-06:00

The desk in which the Chronicles of Narnia were drafted. 2007

Wise old tree 2006

2009-02-05T14:43:00.000-06:00

a wise oak towering up. 2006

Clover 2007

2009-02-05T14:42:00.000-06:00

a dewdrop on clover, 2007

Great Blue Heron 2007

2009-02-05T14:41:00.000-06:00

A great blue heron on Lake Springfield, 2007.

2009-02-05T14:39:00.000-06:00

one of my all time favorite pictures. a true gift that God gave me.

The path less taken

2009-02-05T14:32:00.000-06:00

path at the cs lewis library, wheaton Il.

Portrait Elvis Impersonator

2009-02-05T14:03:00.000-06:00

Macro Bloom

2009-02-05T13:50:00.000-06:00

a forgotten gift with meaning for the ages.

Macro Japanese Beetle

2009-02-05T13:49:00.001-06:00

climb high, little fellow.

wake up o sleeper

2009-02-05T12:54:00.000-06:00

excited to begin a new journey on blogger. this will incorporate my photography mostly, but from time to time i intend on sharing thought.

here's a classic to get me started....