Merry Christmas! Our King is Born!
Merry Christmas from Capturing His Glory Photography!
Into the world
Back into the world
The hardest part of any religious retreat is when you leave the protection of the cloistered environment and must return to the real world. This weekend Father Jack presented a talk on living your faith in the real world, and not turning a faith community into a faith ghetto. He said this at the beginning of the retreat. It gave us each plenty of time to meditate, pray and plan for the afternoon exit.
For Catholics practicing the magisterium, we face many challenges in the current political and economic climate. In just a single keystroke any one of us can, and eventually will, experience a portion of the sufferings of Christ for our faith. If we are lucky we will not face the physical harm being put on christians around the world, but this is also not guaranteed even inside the once secure United States. The daily newscast is enough to prove these two problems a dozen fold.
Despite these threats, traditional Catholics and christians cannot retreat from society. We must continue demonstrating, even to those who hate us, we respect the image of God embodied in each person. We hope and pray one day, all will celebrate in full communion with our faith as children of God. We must in word and deed demonstrate the faith Christ taught us through the apostles. This is the daily witness of the faith required by all, and the most effective means to evangelize one person and moment at a time.
As a father I often find myself challenged when faced with worldly threats and my calling as a Catholic man. Instinctively I possess a built in desire to protect my family from all evil. I also have a desire to remove threats at their origin. (I've had St Michael the Archangel as my working patron for 25 years, so yes I do mean protect from and root out all evil! ) Despite this, I am a practical man. I recognize one day my number will get called, and I'll be walking with St. Joseph towards Jesus for a little talk. If I do not prepare my children to assume the mantle of defense of the faith and evangelization, I failed my grandchildren's grandchildren a hundred fold.
The solution is easier to conceive than walk. We must maintain the protection of children and families to permit evangelization of our successors in some type of safe environment. As adults we must continue to engage the world as Christ-bearers everyday, no matter the cost to ourselves. This is our cross to bear as we evangelize in word and deed. As the generals of our households, we also must do what all great combat generals do. Be willing to sacrifice the things we love most in this spiritual war. This means slowly introducing our children into the conflict. As their intellect and faith allow, our children must replace our tired bodies standing watch at the gates of the city of God.
In the spiritual war, can we offer no surrender and no retreat. For this is simply how it is in the real world.
-ehw
The little girl no more...
The Recital
Something happened on the way to her fourteenth birthday...see found grace, beauty, poise and calm. You see here a little lady making her Daddy proud for her dedication to rehearsal, and making the most of every opportunity she gets to dance. It is with gladness I see a strong Catholic woman growing before me, and sadness when I realize how fast my time with her is drawing to a close. I also find touch of humor when I find a grey hair or two popping out after a night like tonight. I just hope it means I will get a crown of glory like proverbs promises!
-ehw
P.S. Yes this was done on my Fujifilm X-T1. Mirrorless has come a long way with autofocus and sensor tech. It is still one of the few nights a year when I long for a 35mm sensor DSLR on a tripod with a good F2.8 lens....But after looking at this I really cannot complain...I got a few great shots and that is all I need.
Happy Easter!
He is Risen!
The title of this post comes from an ancient Christian tradition that during the Easter season you should greet on another with the words: "He is Risen!" and the receiver will reply: "He is Risen Indeed!"
So with that simple, glorious thought I leave you to enjoy your day with family and fellow Christians around the world!
HE IS RISEN!
-ehw
Shelby Cobra 67-500
Shelby Cobra 67-500
This Shelby Cobra is the last of the 67's. Number 500 in fact! I saw the documentation and original window sticker to get all the proof I could need.
So it is also the last of the Cobras in the original Mustang body style. As you can see the car also wears a special badge signifying the good work of the owners to maintain it in original form. Yes it still has that wonderful throaty engine sound. It has about 14,000 original miles on it (well if I remember accurately).
This photo is available for sale if you'd like to have it adorn you wall, christmas cards or coffee mugs....please contact me at www.ehwphotography@gmail.com! It will help me pay for the website! Let me know the size you are looking for, and I will get you a price quote!
-ehw
The older Brothers
Morning Coffee with a few Legends
This morning, before the raindrops came falling down around us...I got to spend some time with two legendary cars (as well as two younger siblings). Yes I visited a Shelby Cobra collector and it was fantastic.
These are a '67 Shelby (number 500) and a '68 Shelby KR. They are wonderful automobiles. True museum pieces if I ever saw one...except these are working samples. Both got back inside before the rain started coming down to protect their original coats of paint. Hearing the engines was also a wonderful experience. I wish I could give you a sample of the sounds along with the photos. The owners were fabulous hosts!
I'd just like to extend my thanks to the owner and his family for welcoming me into their home today. I am excited to return soon and complete the job on a drier fall day. I'd also like to thank them for letting me add these to my public portfolio!
Thats right, the work you shall see in coming days is now part of my portfolio, and therefore available to you through EHW Photography.
-ehw
The orange VW Bug
Our old Bug
My parents were not hippies (not my Army officer Dad!), but we did have this type of camper back in the 70's. Since the statue of limitations is over I can tell you we sat five in a car with only three seat belts for several years. My sister and brother both slept on a hammock over the driver's seat as toddlers. I can't remember if I was in the tent or not. I think I did, at least once. We also went to see the first Superman movie at the drive through in this big bug as a family. That was a fun night. I also remember holding the check from the back used to pay for it...and as an adult I drove past that spot and memory every day for two years 30 years later.
This automobile may not be a horse, but it does foster bonds between who we are today and our past. Maybe it is because we associate travel with growth and freedom here in the USA. I know this is a poor way to explain an American and their automobiles. I just had to get those stories out. The car made me do it!
-ehw
P.S. X-E1 with HDR Efex Pro2, Slight color treatment in Nik Color Efex 4.
Just too nice not to capture this image
Classic Lines
This car sat right next to my booth on Sunday. It was screaming to be photographed. This is one of my favorites from the car. The light and reflection of trees in the chrome makes it almost magical. Well in my opinion! I hope you agree. Any feedback is appreciated.
As with so many cars at the show this one brought back memories for my childhood. This was the car of the Rich and Famous in my teen years. I could never hope to own one (still can't) but they were very refined and lovely cars for their day. Today they are just plain old classy.
-ehw
P.S. jpeg HDR conversion, nine shots +/-3EV. Done in HDR Efex2 by nik. Color Effex4 chrome correction, and finished in Perfect Effects 8.
I will be there, but not driving this Chevy
Caffeine and Octane Tomorrow
EHW Photography will be at Caffeine and Octane tomorrow morning from 7A-11AM at 12600 Deerfield Parkway, Alpharetta, Georgia. I'll be selling photos, and hopefully capturing a few new ones to share! Over 600 people and their autos usually attend. So if you want to see classics, hotrods, and modern special editions come on down!
-ehw
A Mimosa Blvd home in Roswell, GA
A night out in Roswell
The last week was a crushing one around the house. Two boys in baseball (at different fields for four nights in the week), dance four nights a week for the eldest daughter, homeschool bowling league, Blue Knights for the boys, American Heritage Girls for the eldest, Lego Robotics Club for the older son....can you identify a few of these event occur simultaneously? Oh and the two year old always has something going on! So please forgive the slow photo blog postings. It just will not happen when the first time I sit down at night is 9:30PM...and 5:35AM looks too close to the dial.
Friday was a treat thought. I took the Mrs. out to dinner using a little saved up cash from the weekly allowance. We talked about the children of course, while they made pizza at home. Oh the joys of having a responsible teenager and eleven year old working together!
Saturday came, and with it about five and half hours on ball fields for me. A drizzle of rain in the morning game, and a glorious afternoon of high seventies. Both boys had to get hit by pitches though. For Kalen it was the fourth time this year...the boy is a ball magnet! Since the youngest had a special trip with Dad to the park a few weeks back, the oldest daughter needed a treat. So I took her downtown last night to Roswell, and found some relatively inexpensive food. It is wonderful to talk with her about the book she is writing (and I'm the editor of), school, life and the scene around us. If I don't take those minutes she'll be out the door and I won't even know who she is!
The nice part of being with her though, is that she is a budding artist. So I was able to pull out the little camera, set it on multiple film types and show her the color of Roswell at night Fujifilm style!
The Old porch at night...
A reception house set up for a wedding
Julia's catch
If you followed me this far...enjoy this last shot. Julia saw the moon rising over the church and asked me to see if I could capture it in the photo.
So after a day praising God we're back into the thick of it! Two more weeks of baseball..then it is serious Lego Robotics....then the holidays...thank God I can enjoy this life with such a wonderful family!
-ehw
Imagine this as a 16x20 metal!
3rd Place!
EHW Photography took home 3rd place in the 2D art category at the Roswell Art Festival! There were over ninety vendors total, and over twenty outstanding 2D vendors. So I am thrilled to receive this recognition for the hard work of my little crew.
It was a good weekend meeting great people. Our next show I hope will be with the ROMEOS on the first Sunday in October in East Cobb, and then Octane on Caffine on the third Sunday of October. I will also be setting up personal car shoots with many people I met this weekend. I hope to show you that working the coming months!
Much more later...but for now I'm still excited and recovering from the long weekend.
-ehw
A fast start....
Roswell Art Festival! Start your engines!
The Roswell Art Festival is on Saturday and Sunday! Come on down and enjoy over 100 vendors selling just about everything from lemonade, paintings, metal works and pictures like mine! I'm also a little nervous since it is a festival with a set of judges looking for best of show. Don't know how I'll fair there.
Take at look at the homepage and you'll see my Fall Portfolio. If there is a gift you need for Christmas...you just might find it! Check my online store and you'll find everything you need!
Something not in the portfolio? Is it in the archives? Well call me and I'll make it for you! You want your own car, family or event photographed? Give me a call! It would be darn fun to make something for you!
-ehw
A little memory of childhood fun
Memories of Childhood
Walking through Old Car City an International Harvester pickup sat thinking of glorious days long past...and I thought of shifting my first gears at the age of 7 or so...
See we once had a 1970 Scout, made by IH. It was the fancy model with dual gas tanks and a four speed manual transmssion. It ran on anything according to my Dad. It was pretty smooth going to school down Poverty Lane (yes there is such a road in West Lebanon, N.H.) It was so smooth in fact that my Dad could drink his coffee in an open cup while changing gears!
I know you are now asking how do you drink coffee nicely when you are driving a stick shift? Well that is of course easy when you deploy your optional automatic child transmission to shift on command. I think my Dad was WAY ahead of his time. I mean this transmission was voice activated! "Second! Third! Fourth!...slowing down now Four, Three, Two.......stop...First!" Google car eat your heart out!
I was the proudest second grader on the planet when I got to school. Not only was my Dad the ONLY Army officer in the state, the only one to understand how to build a Army standard bunker...but I was the ONLY child shifting gears of an automobile!
-ehw
P.S. As for the image this is my first image in the Fall Collection. After reading the HDR Book by RC (www.aboutRC.com) I went back to work on several older photos. Using new ideas, tools and skills many images found themselves re-invented...and much improved. That is the beauty of digital and art...it can grow with you if you challenge yourself from time to time to not live on your laurels. This will be available for purchase on 12x12 metallic floating mount for $115 by the end of the week. Larger sizes available on request...I promise you will not be disappointed..Why later? I am awaiting the proof copy right now to make sure it is just the way I want it!
Miami Day 2
Good Morning Miami! @ 540AM
After a rough introduction Sunday, Miami provided a lot of fun today. The town is an engineering marvel. Everywhere I turn in downtown there is something fantastic to capture. The people also have a rather nice temperment here to us tourists...especially those that don't speak the prefered language downtown, Spanish. The town does shine with a Central and Southern America twist. You can see it in the business links, food, culture, and vibrancy of the town. Despite all that it does really have an American flavor to it all. In the business district there is the normal go get 'em attitude I found in New York earlier this year. So all in all I am finding exploration here rather fun.
The old Miami Freedom Tower..once a newspaper's home and now a museum to Cuban Culture
I am enjoying the juxiposition of the classic 1920's Miami and modern day construction. The bridges between islands are facinating...and the huge skyscapers extending all the way to the water's edge. Wow!
Even inside our hotel there are so many fun things to photograph...outside my room by the elevator these lights just screamed to be photographed.
Oh I hope tomorrow to get even better light to photograph this remarkable town.
-ehw
P.S. All photos shot with the Fujifilm X-E1 and the XF23mm lens. I took the day to practice with one lens and one focal length. I did this to make my mind conceive and execute the photo in a 35mm equivalent on a 35mm film camera. The lens is fantastic. I just need to get better at using it.
One other interesting test I made was to work harder at using the internal controls of the camera to create the tonal curves. One, Three and Four are examples of this with minimal cropping or alignment corrections in Snapseed. The camera is much better than I am still.
Cheers!
Here starts a new leg of the great jounrey!
Welcome to the new home of EHW Photography!
Welcome to the new home of EHW Photography!
This new website is the result of several months of discernment on where this photographic and life journey is taking my misson, artistic interests, and business opportunities. So please let me take the opportunity to explain what you see before you!
Last year when I started this business I had big dreams of what I could do with it. I wanted to understand how the real world works for dinner, pay for my photography habit, give my children a workplace example they could participate in as part of homeschooling, and also express my joy in capturing God's Glory in our daily lives! As you could expect the real job interfered here, general life requirements interfered there, and pretty soon I realized how hard it would be to do anything I dreamed of a few months earlier!
On the really good side I learned people liked my work more than disliked. I just needed to give them a product they could either visualize on their home or use right away. My children did a wonderful job of introducing themselves to potential clients, and helping me with various jobs at the market. One even froze his fingers to the bone helping me get some of this year's selections! This taught me volumes, volumes I'd never learn standing on the sidelines.. For what it is worth, everything I learned merely made me realize how much more I need to learn in all areas of my craft!
I also learned a lot about the technology and services available to business today. Unfortunately for this part time owner, some the of really great solutions didn't fit my model. So after a mountain of research and fiddling I came up with a combination of Squarespace, Smugmug, Square Market, and Shootproof to make my work come to life. That is why I will slowly move away from my Wordpress site to this new one for all my work.
So EHW Photography is ready and willing to help you. I can help you decorate, learn a few lessons about camera operations, composition, editing photos, and even photograph your car if you'd like! Most of all though I want to help you Capture His Glory in Life!
God Bless You!
-ehw
Weakness turned into everlasting life
Christ took on the burdens of all of us. He hung the on the tree, and the weight of our sins pulled him into death.
Christ then showed how the power of God defies worldly wisdom.
In the weakness of death he set all men free.
By ripping open the gates of hell, Jesus brought the gospel to the faithful who died before his word circulated the world. Those who embraced it, I am sure, are now saints in heaven praying for us below.
The words he preached continue today to circulate among us, and possess the power to save us if we surrender our lives to him.
I am working on the complete surrender to Christ's call...I know it is a lifelong process. I know with each step I take, he will be there with me making my cross lighter. I certainly know that this week he lifted my family up through the power of his love, his church's sacraments, and words of wisdom. I could not have done it without him.
I hope you too will make the same journey, because God's love grows with each and every step we take together in his name!
-ehw
20140329-212511.jpg
Something a little different
Today was two days in one, so please forgive me if this is a confusing.
We had one of those days around the house which makes you appreciate each person in your family and close friend circle a little more than when you woke up.
We had the little boy praying for his favorite pastor, now in heaven, the night before surprise me with the things he learned about faith, hope, love of God, and respect for authority this year in Blue Knights (and his catechism!).
We had a friend race over to help us and another storm heaven with prayers, as Mom and Dad had to make an unexpected trip...and we saw how deeply we love the lives of our children...and the new one on the way...before any saw the first light of day.
I had two big kids step up and grow up just a little more when faced with a challenge. I love them lots. Much more than words or photos could ever show (well no one really gets photos of me with my kids since I'm the photog!)
And then my youngest daughter fell asleep on my shoulder in church tonight while two boys sang in the children's choir (of course now at almost 10PM she just wants to party!).
This photo I played with seemed to fit the day's adventures. A lovely red blossoming flower surrounded by by busy texture. That was today...life unfolding surrounded by the texture of confusion, noise, friends sustainment, and warmth.
All in all it was a day when we could say God is good to us in ways we could not fathom at the first light of dawn. A day reminding me to say thank you to God for all he did in so many little ways and lives to sustain us. A day which makes me say thank you for having one more day tomorrow to recover and praise his name again.
-ehw
Something a little different
Today was two days in one, so please forgive me if this is a confusing.
We had one of those days around the house which makes you appreciate each person in your family and close friend circle a little more than when you woke up.
We had the little boy praying for his favorite pastor, now in heaven, the night before surprise me with the things he learned about faith, hope, love of God, and respect for authority this year in Blue Knights (and his catechism!).
We had a friend race over to help us and another storm heaven with prayers, as Mom and Dad had to make an unexpected trip...and we saw how deeply we love the lives of our children...and the new one on the way...before any saw the first light of day.
I had two big kids step up and grow up just a little more when faced with a challenge. I love them lots. Much more than words or photos could ever show (well no one really gets photos of me with my kids since I'm the photog!)
And then my youngest daughter fell asleep on my shoulder in church tonight while two boys sang in the children's choir (of course now at almost 10PM she just wants to party!).
This photo I played with seemed to fit the day's adventures. A lovely red blossoming flower surrounded by by busy texture. That was today...life unfolding surrounded by the texture of confusion, noise, friends sustainment, and warmth.
All in all it was a day when we could say God is good to us in ways we could not fathom at the first light of dawn. A day reminding me to say thank you to God for all he did in so many little ways and lives to sustain us. A day which makes me say thank you for having one more day tomorrow to recover and praise his name again.
-ehw
Less is more.
Out at Old Car City not all is lost in terms of color! I wanted to combine the chrome and color for a few shots, and this was my favorite if the bunch. This is one of the few I set up that was not HDR. The image just came out better is way. Lesson for the day is that sometimes less is more!
I think that was an important part for me to digest last night at the movie. God really does give us what we need for anything he expects of us. While we may always want more skills, riches, or luck....he equipped us with just what we need. So just work with it and trust in him!
Ok I'll admit I'm working on the last part myself! That is my cross to bear.
-ehw
No Blues Here!
While at Old Car City a two weeks ago I had some fun with hubcaps! Yes those fancy things on your wheels! As with all chrome and HDR I found the hardest two challenges to be removing the HDR blues and keeping myself out of the reflections. I have a lot to learn in both areas, as with everything else experience and review will help me get better in the future.
Now many of you are proficient in Photoshop so removing this blue tint from chrome is not too hard if you know the six mask, layer, etc tricks available in that venerable program.
I on the other hand do not "know" photoshop. I can still get the blue out pretty easily though using two other tools I have on hand OnOne Perfect Effects or Nik ColorEfex.
To get rid of the tint Perfect Effects simply go to the color masks and select Purify Highlights, and then on a second layer select Purify Shadows. Move the sliders left and right to get the effect you want. Don't want it on the whole photo? Select brush in and apply like you would in Photoshop.
In Nik ColorEfex simply select the White Neutralizer, go into the additional modes and select wedding dress. Move the sliders to suite. Done....
I use these not as stand alone options, but as round trips to and from Aperture. You can do the same thing in Lightroom.
Ok that is the tip of the day.
-ehw