The Historical District of Hot Springs, AR

I finally got around to processing some test shots using my new Nikon 7100 in downtown Hot Springs.  I seldom go downtown.  I should change that now that I have more time.  There are a lot of things to take pictures of in this tourist center.

If Not Higher

I recently ran across a reference to a story by Isaac Loeb Peretz called If Not Higher.  I hope to someday find this story and read it in its entirety.

The story can be summarized something like this:

On every Day of Atonement a certain rabbi always disappears from the synagogue for a few hours.  People wonder where he is going.  One of his followers suspects that he has an appointment with God.  To satisfy his curiosity, he follows the rabbi one Day of Atonement.  He discovers the rabbi taking off his fine clothes and putting on the clothes of a poor person.  The rabbi then goes to the shack of a crippled woman and cleans her room, prepares her meals and generally serves her for a period of time.  

When the follower is satisfied that he knows the rabbi's secret, he returns to the synagogue.  The people ask him if the rabbi ascended to heaven and he replies, "If not higher."

Maybe we should strive for heaven, if not higher.

Quote for the Day

God in heaven, I thank Thee that Thou hast not required it of man that he should comprehend Christianity; for if that were required, I should be of all men the most miserable.  The more I seek to comprehend it, the more incomprehensible it appears to me, and the more I discover merely the possibility of offense.  Therefore, I thank Thee that Thou dost only require faith, and I pray Thee to increase it more and more.
Amen.

-- Soren Kierkegaard.

Tai Chi in the Park

Last Saturday some members of our Tai Chi class did a demo as part of the Park Palooza in Arlington Park here in Hot Springs, AR.  This is a class to improve the health of old-timers and not training for a group of warriors.  The pictures and video will make that quite clear.

To see a photo album of the demo visit:  Tai Chi Park Palooza

Here is the video of the Tai Chi for Arthritis routine.

What Creates Such Hatred?

Watching the unfolding identification of the Boston bombers, I can't help but wonder what it is that is causing so many people who came to this country at a youngish age as their families fled dangers in their homelands to become so embittered against the USA that they join terrorists groups. There have been numerous Somali youth recruited and others from middle eastern countries. I find it hard to believe that they came with their families intentionally planning to become terrorists. Something happened. 

 Could it be that we have been to unloving to them? Have we alienated them by the way we speak about other countries, ethnic groups or religious groups? Shouldn't the way we live our lives and relate to them be creating a sense of acceptance and a growing love for their new homeland instead? Many come to this country and become even more devoted to it than masses of people who were born here and never develop an appreciation for the treasure they have. 

We need to prevent future terrorist events, not simply by increased security and restrictions on immigration, but by winning the hearts of our neighbours.

Boston and the World

The pouring rain and the wind blowing so hard this morning inspired Kathy and me to decide not to go out to our Tai Chi class.  Instead we watched the memorial service in Boston.  I'm glad I did.  It was very inspirational over all.  I especially appreciated the youth choir and some of the scripture passages used.  The tributes to the brave heroes who rushed to the aid of others were uplifting.

The most significant insight for me came when I heard the Muslim leader speak.  He told of having just received his US citizenship and the pledge to service all new citizens make when they swear the oath of allegiance to their new nation.  He challenged all citizens to join in service to their communities.  But more importantly, he told how as a 7 year old student, long before he came to America, he encountered a car bomb on his walk home from school one day. Monday brought those memories back to him.  It struck me that we  as Americans are feeling so unique in our tragedy and feeling especially targeted by this rare attack.  Yet, for many in our world, bombings and terrorist attacks are a regular part of their lives.  Car bombs.  Suicide bombers.  Attacks of other kinds upon innocent non-combatants who are directly targeted or happen to be near targeted individuals.  It's the life they have to live.  Day in.  Day out.  It's their normal.

The attack in Boston could have been much worse.  Not every bomb attack in our world happens near some of the best medical facilities in existence. Most happen away from trained medical people or where there are no brave volunteers rushing to give immediate assistance.  It is a truly blessing that the bombings in Boston did not kill more people.  Give thanks for the resources that were readily available on Monday.  Remember, others are seldom so blessed in resources.

My prayer is that as we work our ways through the anger and pain, sorrow and grief of our national experience of terror, as we raise ourselves to the determination to overcome our fears and defeat the bomber's effort to demoralize us, my prayer is that we will remember those around our world who also live in danger of terror strikes and join in solidarity with them in striving to overcome evil with good.

Let us look beyond ourselves and pay tribute to those other victims of terror in our world.  Let us work with more diligence to eliminate the specter of terror that is so common in our world today.

And, rather than being instruments of revenge, let us join our souls in St. Francis of Assisi's prayer, "LORD, make me an instrument of Thy peace. . . ."

"Will it give you more time to pray?"

In his book Rediscovering Values, Jim Wallis recounts an interaction with an agnostic friend.  His friend was interested in the virtual religious experience available through contemporary technologies.  His friend asks this insightful question, "Will it give you more time to pray?"

Shouldn't we be asking ourselves that same question regarding all our "time saving" conveniences?  I'm not sure we'll like our answers.

The Cock Crows

To the extent that we are comfortable in contemporary American culture, we deny Christ.  This is a warning to those of us audacious enough to appropriate the name "Christian" and a rebuff to those of us who make claim to any degree of spiritual maturity.

Nikon D7100 HDR Test

This is a test of using the D7100 bracketing capabilities for HDR.  I shot 5 shots at 1 stop intervals.  Since I can't get the RAW files into Lightroom and Photoshop, I converted to TIFF format.  I ran these through HDR Pro in Photoshop and saved as a 32 bit TIFF with no adjustments.  I imported this into Lightroom and made adjustments there.  Then I took it into Photoshop and finished it off with some adjustments with NIK Color Effects 4.

The D7100 has the capability of doing internal HDR on its own.  I haven't tried this out yet.

Testing My New Camera

Just got the new Nikon D7100 Digital SLR camera.  Did a few test shots Thursday at Garvin Woodland Gardens here in Hot Springs, AR.  Discovered something I should have anticipated but forgot when I tried to import my photos into Lightroom.  Every new camera has a new variation on camera RAW.  Therefore, I can't import my RAW (I always shoot RAW to preserve maximum photo data) into Lightroom or Photoshop!  I've saved my RAW files to disk so I'll have them when Adobe updates Camera RAW to read this new file format. Until then, I have to use the ViewNX 2 software that came with the camera and convert to TIFF for importing into Lightroom and Photoshop.  This means that, for now, I can't fine tune things as well as if I were importing RAW files.  But the results are promising.  Must improve the skills of the photographer as the first task.

Here's a look at some things that were quickly run through Lightroom and Photoshop using the TIFF files.

The D7100 also does good video.

Blogger's video quality isn't so great.  Go to:

Nikon D7100 First Look at Video 

on Youtube and choose one of the HD options for a better idea of how the D7100 performs.

Photoshop and Filter Forge 3D

Just a bit of fun experimenting with Filter Forge plug-in for Photoshop and the 3D features of Photoshop CS6 Extended.  No real significance to this picture other than trying out some features.  (Also a bit of clip art used to add interest.)

A Couple More Background Pages

Still More Fun With Backgrounds

This is really fun.  Blending different things together to make backgrounds for photo albums is a blast!

Backgrounds for Book Lovers

More Experiments with Backgrounds

Here are a few more background examples I've been playing with.

Experiments with Photo Album Backgrounds

I'm playing around with creating page backgrounds for photo albums.  I'm experimenting with blending different things together to see what effects result.  Here are some examples of backgrounds for Oriental photos.

Quote for the Day

She [Amma Syncletica] also said, 'Just as it is impossible to be at the same moment both a plant and a seed, so it is impossible for us to be surrounded by worldly honour and at the same time to bear heavenly fruit.'

-- Sayings of the Desert Fathers [and mothers ;-) ]

Photoshop Fun

This began with two photos of planes flying at a local RC Airplane Fly-in.  With a little work in Photoshop, they went back in time and entered into combat. In reality neither was armed nor were they both in the air at the same time.  It's all a figment of my imagination, inspired by a tutorial in the December 2012 Photoshop User Magazine.

Quote for the Day

Abba Sarmatas said, 'I prefer a sinful man who knows he has sinned and repents, to a man who has not sinned and considers himself to be righteous.'

-- Sayings of the Desert Fathers

Quote for the Day

He [Abba Silvanus] also said, 'Unhappy is the man whose reputation is greater than his work.'

-- Sayings of the Desert Fathers