Photo Friday

A couple of weeks ago, Micall and I headed out west to Seattle. I met her family and we had a great time tasting wine, watching the Mariners, going to Mars Hill and getting overwhelmed at the Market. A great time.

The second shot is out my window in the evening while I was reading. The light was really nice in the evening. The weather here in Chicago is great right now.

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Photo Friday

As many of you probably know, I went to Disney World a couple weeks ago. It was a great time to hang out with my family and my girlfriend. I took well over 1000 pictures, but cut about half of them. Here are two of them.

Many more are on Flickr and Facebook.

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Photo Friday

Last week the weather was beautiful and I walked from my apartment up to the Map Room. I took about 30 photos and kept about half of them. Pretty good for me lately.

The first is a shot of the tree that is budding outside my apartment; signs that Spring is somewhat upon us, despite the 30 degree temps. The second is from a mural at Division and Hoyne.

This past weekend I was in Disney world and shot off about 10ish gigs of photos. Somewhere around 1000+. It'll take a while to get through them all. But I'll be sure to let you know when they're done!

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Photo Friday

Today I bring you horses. Two shots that somehow I overlooked last week as I put photos up.

These horses live in Wisconsin.

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Photo Friday

I'm starting to get through some of my photos from my weekend in Wisconsin. It was a great time to hang out and relax with friends.

Photo 1: Micall. I added that lens flare.
Photo 2: Horse. Just wanted to clarify. I might do a bit more with this picture though. I feel like it's lacking something. Maybe more lens flare.

I gotta have more lens flare.

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Photo Friday

I grabbed a couple of SD cards recently to see if I had forgotten anything on them, and lo, there were a couple hundred photos on one of them. I haven't even gotten to the other one yet.

And yes, I did use "lo."

This was mid-construction in December, just before Christmas. A lot has been done during January. A new floor, new electrical wires, other stuff. Still a very long way to go.

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Photo Friday

I didn't think I would have a photo for today. I even brought my camera to work to see if I could find a shot. I didn't try very hard. I did manage to balance a mini-water bottle, a Pilot Precise V5, a Stanley Steemer business card and a Sharpie on top of one another. I've been very productive today.

But I have this photo of Michael from over Christmas. I took some shots of him and his beautiful and pregnant wife Katie. She should be having a baby any day now. So beware people: this man is about to be a father. Holy Crap.

I think he'll be alright.

Friday Photo

Gosh I almost forgot. Today's been oddly busy. Not only is it odd that I'm busy; the day itself has just been odd.

These are my favorite shots from New Years Eve. The first one is my most favorite.

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Photo Friday :: Bon Iver Edition

I made sure I remembered my camera this time. I was purposeful in doing so.

And what do I hear as I'm waiting outside to sell my extra ticket? "No Cameras." Dang it. And while I felt comfortable sneaking in a burrito, if my camera got confiscated, I would not have been happy.

On another note. People: if you're going to a concert and taking photos, please don't use your flash. Especially if you're in the balcony. It won't reach that far. It'll distract from the lighting that trained and paid professionals have set up already. Turn your ISO up on your camera and convert to black and white.

The music was great though and I bought my first vinyl. I feel this beginning to be a long downward spiral. But a warm sounding one.

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Photo Friday

Haven't gotten out too much lately, but here's some more from early November.

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Photo Friday

He wants to marry her.

She thinks he's funny.

He has a girl's name.

She does too.

June 20th, 2009, she'll have his name.

He'll still have his name.

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Photo Friday

A couple weeks ago, Chris and I went on a walk. It was a nice day, so Chris drove down to my place and we walked up to Smoke Daddy's for lunch, then down Milwaukee to Michigan Ave. A brief visit at the Apple Store, then down to Grand and back to my place. These guys were doing some road work on Grand Ave, right near the Red Line stop. They were moving big metal plates to cover the big holes in the road. Every time they dropped the plates, a loud boom rang between the buildings, and dust billowed up everywhere. It made for some great shots.

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Photo Friday

About a month and a half now Chris and I went up to Wisconsin on a Monday because we can and we heard they had apples. Apples they did have and then we had and then we ate the apples and now we have no more. But I still have about 250 photos that I haven't gone through from that day that I need to. I figured two would be a good start.

Yes, I realize there are no apples in these photos.

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Friday Photo

A couple of photos I took around Bethel. The first is an old speaker in the nursury that would broadcast the sermons downstairs. Neither of which are being used now. The second is of old hymn booklets that are from the 1950s. They have quite a few of them. They're not used either.

Bethel's been an interesting place to photograph. One that's been stilled in time for some years now. It's getting to the end of its time though. This Sunday we're holding a Celebration Service for Bethel Reformed Church to commemorate the 100+ years it has been around. Then we're dissolving the entity of Bethel to be reborn a month-ish later to be CrossRoads Community Church. Hopefully God will bless the work that is being done and transform the community here.

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Photo Friday: October 31

October 31st is more than just Halloween in my family. When we lived in Edmond, OK, my dad would decorate our house throughout the whole month of October leading up to Halloween. He had servos and strobe lights and miles of fishing line. All this added up to moving decorations in the windows: witches floating up and down and skeletons dancing. But the real excitement was taking place on the inside.

The foyer was transformed into a seating area for ghouls, gorillas, and giants, but the famed "Bonesy" was the one who lead the show. The kids would line up down the front walk and on to the sidewalk to wait to get in on the action-- and by action, I mean "get the piss scared out of them." Upon entering the house, there would be a monster and a gorilla seated in front of you. A 7 foot tall monster was standing off to the left. Dead in the center was the candy pot and not so dead behind it was Bonesy, a talking skull. Bach's Toccatta and Fugue in D minor would be playing in the background. Once the door was closed behind the kids, Bonesy would begin the show. Introducing them to each of the monsters around them. The older kids would play it cool, sitting on the various monsters and exclaiming inexhaustibly how they weren't scared. Eventually a rhyme came that they had to solve. Their attention would be directed to the stair landing where a strobe would reveal a gruesome scene and capture their attention long enough for the youth pastor in the gorilla suit to stand up to his own 6' 8" with his hands raised above him and styrofoam peanuts to blow out of the 7' monsters mouth. Blood-curdling screams would emit from the "coolest" of kids. Many moms that came through tinkled themselves.

I remember wanting to go in the front door after a night of trick or treating and my dad was still dressed up. He came out to greet me, using his own voice, rather than the digitally processed one. I had nothing to do with him and countered his approach with my own retreat. I wasn't cool. I was scared. And I didn't care who this man said he was, I'd been witness to what happened throughout the night. I wasn't going to fall for it.

But my dad didn't put on the production just for the pure joy of scaring hundreds of kids and adults throughout the night. It was also his birthday. And still is. So Happy Birthday Dad. Here's to many more years of scaring bowel movements out of both the young and the old.

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Friday Photo

Early this week my friend Chris and I met up at IKEA, so I could take back my flat-packed furniture I decided would just not hold all my clothes. Sad, I know. But after unloading the still boxed fake wood furniture, we hopped in Chris' car and headed north, leaving the city. It is a difficult task to leave Chicago. It takes effort and planning. Neither of which we really did. But with little more than some directions scrawled on a scrap of paper, we headed north in search of fall color and apples. We did find both, at a small little orchard, nearly sold out of many of the varieties already, near Sugar Creek, Wisconsin. We also found this little country church. It seems to have more property than the church that I'm currently at, and way more than the church I was previously a part of and the one that Chris still attends. It's great to see country churches still expanding and reaching the community around them. It would be great to see that where I am.

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Photo Friday

Yeah, I know, I'm early. Trying to make up for all the weeks I didn't post, or posted way late. It is called Photo Friday .

I work at this church. It has two signs outside. One very obvious and pointing toward the neigborhood. The other is more subtle. It's smaller and is on the side of the building. But it's still there and may speak louder than the other.

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Friday Photo

Yeah, yeah, I'm late.

I keep wishing that I had my camera with me almost everyday when I left for work or just to hang out. So when I stepped out to go to dinner on Thursday night, I decided I'd take it with me. I found this bike just waiting to be photographed. Beware of the Rat Patrol.

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Photo Friday

Friday Photo is BACK!

I was able to get through some old photos this past week. The above photo is one that I took the first day I was at Bethel. The second is when I was in Bent Harbor, MI, getting assessed. The photos may have turned out better than the assessment.

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Photo Friday

Pastor's Study, originally uploaded by notashamed.

Yeah, I took a little hiatus through August and have had very little internet access since moving off campus into my temporary residence.

I started working though and went around the church and took a bunch of pictures. I'm going to try to incorporate them into my sermon next Sunday. I hope it drives the point home. It should.

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