Christmas Magic

    This morning was the first day our tree was up...we follow the old tradition of decorating at the last minute...and out of her room like busy bee on a mission sprang child number four.  Kellie ran to the kitchen, grabbed the stool, and without a skip of the beat sat before the well lit tree (thanks to Kevin lighting it before she got up). "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells..." and the partially remembered songs flowed through the house punctuated by "Kalen sing...Kev Kev sing....Baby Jesus!"

    This is the Christmas Magic we long for in our memory of ages past.  It was the time giants roamed the earth. Mom made magic cookies.  Hugs felt heaven sent.   In these memories, even Dad smiled as we enjoyed another magic tree tree lighting and train run.  This is the memory we wish every child could have, and we could share.  Experiencing it in our children makes our hearts warm and pulse quicken in joyous anticipation of seeing what St Nicholas left once again...

    As parents we too often miss these moments.  Just minutes after I snapped this golden memory, I found myself assaulted by four excited children and one just wanting a diaper change.  The noise became defining...well for our house anyway...and I lost all sense of the magic moment.  I lost it until I developed my "negative."  When the image appeared, I felt the magic arise in my heart once again.

    Our childhood faith filled Christmas Magic images are glimpses of the promises in heaven.  Like the Star of Bethlehem, these moments can lead you to the home Christ prepared for us all.  This Christmas I pray you will find your moments, keep them close to your heart, and let them lead you home.

-ehw

Christmas Eve Traditions

In our home we switched up traditions a few years ago to get a little peace back into our Christmas worship...and also to enjoy our Christmas Eve traditions a little more.  See we get the house ready, make our Christmas Angel Food Cake, then we have a nice dinner, light the Christ Candle and sing to our Lord and Savior.  Truthfully the house is so full of nervous energy I am amazed everything gets done and enjoyed!

After dinner we set the family gifts out under the tree, say our prayers...and the kids get off to bed so the good St. Nicholas of Myra (the good Bishop who smacked Arius) pay us a visit!  Oh I mean Santa Claus in the red suit.  Except for a last minute requirement to find eggs (thank you Bunn family for letting us share your egg coop bounty at 945PM!) everything was perfect.

More later...but all is good in the Wojtkun Home!  Our Lord is made incarnate!  He is ready to show us the word spoken and expressed in creation since before time began!  What a wonderful, wonderful blessing to the world!  I also love how my children love each other.

So enjoy a glimpse into our home, celebration of Christ's birth, and understand my poor wife only looks a little green because Baby E is doing well and will make his name known next August.

-ehw

PS  These are the very first photos from Mr Fujifilm X-T1...enjoy!

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Merry Christmas Aunt Suzi and Uncle Steve!

Set out the Cookies with care

Can you feel the excitement?

A brief timeout!

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I am so blessed my Children love each other!

Raise a Veteran

    The theme for the day is to honor veterans for their service, both those who died and those who continue to serve.  In its original form, Armistice Day recognized the War to End All Wars.  Americans and Europeans moved into isolationism, turned inward and also sowed the seeds for the next war.  Free nations cast down their arms, and allowed others to prepare the engines of war to enslave them until it was almost too late.  Today we see the same problem around the world.  Engines of tyranny now spin up and prepare to pounce when weakness reaches its most critical point.

    As a historian, and man of Christian faith, I cannot in good conscience follow that example today.  I know there are good people in this world.  I also know there are those who give into evil.  Those people seek to either turn me to sin as an accomplice or make me their slave.  The enemies of freedom will never rest.  The enemies of building the Kingdom of God will never cease adapting to our transient strengths in their attempts to tear it down.

   In a nation of almost 350 million we have only about 1.5 million under arms today.  The nation's recruiters cannot get enough young men to join the service due to lack on interest, poor fitness, and (frankly) intellectual incapacity.  Many men get rejected due to gang affiliation and drug use.  So the administration is actually trying to bring foreigners (legal and illegal) into the ranks to defend this country.  As a reminder of history....when every great nation began to commission others to defend their statehood they fell.  Just look at the history of Rome.  Republic to tyranny.  Native sons to mercenaries.  

    So today please consider something a little different for Veteran's Day.  Don't just thank a veteran, raise a veteran.

   As a parent myself I can now feel the fear and angst felt when the child raises their hands to say, "This I will defend."  Despite the angst I know my life is but a transient one.  My days of quality service as a front line fighter now extend far into my past.  If my children want to be free, and give that gift to their children, they must one day put veteran somewhere on their resume.

    It is time we all realize it is not enough to just thank someone else for the gift of freedom.  It is time for each man to serve where able.  Service in the active duty military, guard, and police, fire and rescue all keep us safe.  It does not have to be a career...just a portion of life holding the line against the terrors of the night makes you a worthy veteran in my eyes. 

    So today do more than thank a veteran.  Raise a veteran.  Your grandchildren will thank you one day for giving them the gift of liberty.

-ehw.

A Lenten Lesson

Ash Wednesday!  The preparation for the most important day of the year started today.  I attended mass near my office at the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary here in Atlanta.  The priest provided a great suggestion on a Lent tradition.  The usual tradition is that we give up something we really like for Lent.  Our celebrant put a twist on that tradition.  He reminded us Jesus does not mind us giving things up that we like as a method of preparing ourselves for a spiritual journey...but what what makes him happiest is when we give up the things he does NOT like before we meet him!

That matched up pretty well with my daily devotional in the Liturgy of the Hours.  So I'm working on giving up a vice everyday (lets say improving my language and vocabulary skills)....and a an extra vice (coffee) on Fridays.  Accomplishing #1 on a normal day will be interesting....without coffee on Fridays?  Oh maybe I'll find a way to stay in bed and hide!

I hope and pray that you too will grow in faith and wisdom on this Lenten journey.

-EHW

P.S. Fuji X-E1 with 18-55

Two years of Joy!

How fast can two years go?  For child number four, my precious Kellie Marie it is like a stroke of lightening across the sky.  Here are just a few highlights....

Thank you God for every minute I have with each of these incredible people you graced my family with, and charged me to care for.  I can only pray I am doing right by them, and get to do it for a lot longer before you call me home.

-ehw

A child's eye silent night

A great photographer I met once, and listened to often, Scott Bourne once said to explore the world creatively you need to see the world from the mind of a five year old.  Well I've been doing that with my now six year old. Today I reviewed photos he took over the last four months on my old Canon P&S.  My wife mentioned several times he imitates me when he shoots...he was actually doing quite well!  He does video much better than I do!  Well in his photos I did see the sense of wonder I often miss as I get older.

So tonight I set the tripod up and looked at the tree from the level of my two year old.  I just fell into the wonderful world of bliss.  I saw the lights, the shiny ornaments, the dark spots, the smiles on faces, the tassels and beads.  It was fun.  It was like my first memories of Christmas growing up...and when I made up the HDR images I just had to capture the feeling of the moment of when I can remember looking at my family Christmas tree a the age of four or five at Fort Devens, Massachusetts in 1974 or 75.

Then I thought about the most important part of the evening...the arrival of Jesus.  A hundred thoughts started running through my mind.  I can see so much of the story rushing together, and my mind is just too slow to understand or explain it right now.  I turned my lens on the family nativity scene, and turned of the lights.  I felt a peace come over me as I worked the light and tried a few different angles.  I began to reflect, that on a night like tonight I don't think Jesus wants us to think too deeply.  He wants us to look at his arrival like a child who can feel something special in the air, and now that in the darkness of the night a child was born who gives peace to our souls if we but choose to listen for the sound of his voice.

-ehw

P.S. Fujifilm X-E1.  These are HDR processed in HDR Efex Pro 2..the second one got a touch up in Perfect Suite 8.

Getting Ready!

A few weeks ago I was able to walk around town and snap some images on a cold November morning.  Our town works hard to create an old city center worthy of visiting, and the business owners do their part to make it inviting.

In these final days of preparation for Christmas, don't forget the reason for the season of advent (and it has nothing to do with present lists or parties).  Do your best to ignore the last minute sale emails ,and focus on getting your heart ready for the arrival of our Lord!  Take a walk, dodge raindrops, and look at your fellow man for all the reasons he came to die for us!  Then ask yourself...have I made a home inside of me for him?  Have I risen to the challenge?  When I failed did I beg forgiveness and make amends?

Ok...time for me to get ready for church myself and get my own head in the right place!

-ehw

PS-Fujifilm X-E1 with 18-55mm.  Cropped in camera using the square framing option.  It is fun to see the world in different framing formats than the standard 2x3.  It think it really allows you to do some extra mental calculus, and come closer to making the final product in your camera.  If you spend less time behind the computer the better off you are!

For my Babcha!

Each year, right now, the gardenia's bloom in my back yard.  When we moved into the house I was drawn to their complete package of beauty and fragrance.  If I had seen these flowers before, I had no memory of them.  I just knew they were something important to capture and enjoy.

Last year I shot a few of these wonderful flowers and sent them off to my family, only to hear a wonderful love story.  See paternal grandfather, DjaDja, brought these to my Babcha (grandmother) when they were dating since she loved them.  This was expensive during the war, especially up in the cooler climate of Boston.  My Babcha enjoyed them so much, they made up her bridal bouquet!

That love story took place during World War II, but I only found out about it the day I sent her the photos some seventy years later.  For years that lovely story laid dormant, untold and a my connection to these flowers unknown.  Only by sharing this image, which cannot compare to the real thing, did I learn how they are part of my story.

Since that day last year, when my Babcha sent me a lovely note, I've found myself anxious for them to reappear.  I've also shared other flowers with my wife a little more impulsively than in the past.  With each gift I think of my Babcha and DjaDja as I knew them as a child around thirty five years ago.  Two people very much in love, smiling together, and loving each other through the better, poorer, health and sickness parts of life.

So with the gardenia bloom I think of those two people in love, and try to show my wife the same devotion I remember my DjaDja doting on his bride.  That is a legacy I don't want to ever forget.

So as i used to tell him....Thanks Dja

-ehw

Angel Flight

As the new year dawns I hope some light can break through the storms and make your days a little happier!  It was just what my wife's guardian angel would order up to make her smile after such a run of doldrums.

We were joking at work that with the storms it seemed like the Mayan calendar was a few days off...Thankfully we had a break in the weather today and the sun buoyed up our spirits on an almost warm winter day.

-ehw

Brotherly Love

Just a quick picture to illustrate something the great Tony Corbell said at Skips Summer School.  5.6, Auto Flash and be there.

I know i-TTL or e-TTL for those of you shooting the big brands..or me with P-TTL on the Pentax...is supposed to be "the solution."  Well I think it often is, but sometimes a little "old fashion" goes a long way as well.

In this case I ran the whole day with the camera on Aperture Priority, ISO 100, center weighted metering and flash on Auto.  This is a sample of what I got right out of the camera.  I only cropped the photo a bit for the web.  I think exposure was pretty good, the reaction time of the camera acceptable and I could understand why it happened.  The last part is most important to me since if I understand what happened, I can either modify my work to change the results or repeat it if it works correctly.

Either way I got a photo that really summed up Christmas Day with my four kiddos and loving wife.  It was fun, relaxed, family and God centered.

-ehw

PS Go visit Tony Corbell at http://www.corbellproductions.com/

Five Year Old Saves Christmas

My five year old saved Christmas!

The last few weeks pressed me from every angle. Work, not being able to get my dream moving, the evil at Newtown and in my own town..All felt like a bone crushing weight on me. Even my picture taking, my refuge for sanity, was falling flat. The spirit of Christmas felt as far away as the moon. I could recognize the evil was in a person's choices, not the wonder of creation.  I was just overwhelmed by the amount of darts thrown at good people of late.  I had closed myself off to the spirit of Christ's power because I was letting things other than keeping God foremost in my thoughts and family's development matter.

All this started to change when as I put my head down, my lovely wife said...make small changes and the change will come. I slept on it, and through the night the weight of everything started to feel workable. I got up and walked into the living room to watch the sun rise on the Christmas tree. It was then that my five year old came down the stairs and plopped himself right on top of me.

His first words were, "Dad we have a wonderful tree. It is magic." God was speaking through the mouth of a babe. For ten minutes we sat still, and quietly talking about favorite ornaments lest we wake up the other four souls in the house to early. Then he said, "Dad we need to take some pictures of our tree." That was all I needed. Out came the tripod, the light for my first light painting attempts, and photographic direction from my five year old. My soul was alive, and responding to the cuing from God to live and enjoy Christmas in the present.

Every year I look at the Christmas tree form a new perspective. This year I took it from my five year old. Christ does bring grace if we let him. I pray that you and yours can do the same.

-ehw

PS These photos are from perspective of my five year old...his height I hope conveying some of the awe we felt as kids before the Christmas tree.

Palm Tree Christmas

Being born in Hawaii...I should be use to this site...but I was three when I left so I'm not!

Palm trees are fun to look at.  To my mind it is like peeling back an onion that is 60 feet tall!

The moral of the story is that anything can help bring out the Christmas spirit!

-ehw

Christmas Ball

We enjoyed another evening at church with my service and fraternal organization, The Knights of Columbus, at the annual Christmas Dinner.  We enjoyed being with other families, good food, and a festive atmosphere.  During the day my family went to church to help decorate for the holy day coming up, and my wife and four kids decorated two trees in the church.  I was pretty impressed when I heard my wife had the 11 month old on here back while stringing lights!

Well they inspired me to take a look at the trees for something fun to snap!  The hardest part of this was getting me out of the reflective surface of the ornaments.  So this took a  few minutes....and caused my wife to come rescue me from my photographic obsession!

This is yet another photo with my hip bound Oly XZ-1.  Processed in Perfect Photo Suite 7.  Just a note for you tech junkies... I am shooting RAW with my Point and Shoot.  So my files are typically the RAW flat, so I need to post process them.  This is just my normal preference and gives me more control over the product.  If I had no time to process them, I'd really have no problem with the on board jpeg engine or effects filters.  Olympus colors are just great.  I often use filters when I am on the road to get an effect without the post shoot work of RAW.

I am leaning to picking up a M4/3 camera as a slightly bigger "hip" camera.  That way I'll have a few accessories that can be used on either camera.  We'll see what the future will bring.  For now this is a good tool for my mission.

-ehw

Christmas Bird

At the same concert I saw the string of lights...I saw a set of trees made from bird feathers!  The lights backlit the feathers and it really was cool.

I wish I could borrow one for a full day to experiment with. It would be a really good project to play with this type of soft, glowing light!

For this photo all I did was do a simple import preset in aperture, and custom built an S-Curve for some pop.  I wanted to give the photo depth, but still convey the fragile nature of the soft diffused light.

-ehw

Sting of Stars

These lights were part of the decorations at a small dance company's holiday show.  They mesmerized me, so I tried to get at least one good shot of them before intermission ended.

For the techies...shot in RAW on the Olympus XZ-1, edited in One Perfect Effects 7 using a Surreal HDR effect.  I used some blurring effects in Aperture to make the bokeh a little more attractive after the HDR provided a lot of detail in the small lights I did not want.

-ehw

Southern Christmas Glory!

The lights were on in St. Mary's as they prepare for Christmas last week.  It was a combination of lights, pine wreaths, and palm trees!  After so many Christmas pasts up north, this was a new perspective on the season for me.

Thankfully the symbols of Christmas are all there, and it was those symbols that tied me in with every other season I've enjoyed.  The round Christmas wreath of pine symbolizing the eternal God, the celebratory red has many other joyful meanings, and the lights fighting back the darkness as we near the winter solstice all made me feel like I could be anywhere preparing for the Lord's arrival.  Those common symbols are so important since they convey a message from one generation to the next.  They made me feel right at home in their midst.

It was a lovely night for a walk amidst such splendid sings of the season.

-ehw