China- leaving in 15 hrs

My family has been an international family for as long as I can remember. That partially has to do with my dad's constant travels on business while we were growing up. So all of my siblings and I have been out of the country at least once. Which, I can tell, you has been a blessing for all of us(admittedly or not).

I've been to China 17 times so far and of course that makes this my 18th trip. So basically I've been there at least once for every year of my life, not to mention the fact that I was there while in the womb. So now, I really think of it somewhat as a second home, but I can't help but feel that there is something different about this trip. I'm not sure if it's because I haven't been back in 2 years or if it's because of how much I've changed since the last time I was there. I just know that it will be somehow, very different from the rest of the trips. Maybe it is because this will be the first time I'm going to China as a photographer. I know that this time I go there will be hundreds of pictures returning, pictures that actually say something about my trip, and I that is one thing I am really looking forward to.

Though I'm excited, I can't help but feel somewhat apprehensive in my thoughts of actually leaving tomorrow. I don't know why, it's just this weird feeling I get in my stomach. I'm not sure that it's even really all that bad, I just know it's there, haunting me. All I can think to ask is to keep us in prayer and I'll try to post a few times while I'm there.

*picture from my last trip, February '05

Fenced in Shadows : Second Post today

One thing that constantly catches my eye at this park is the fence, but more than that this trip was the fence's shadow. It was intriguing to me. I also like the sky against the green in these shots. Just a really pretty contrast to me.

China is T minus 2 days, by the way. My brother leaves in the morning for Shanghai and he'll be meeting up with us in Beijing later next week. It has still not really hit me that I'm leaving in like a little over 48 hrs..I'm not rushing.. I'm not freaking out.. I'm like totally mellow and I have a TON to do still. We'll see what happens when I finally realize what is going on.

Side view

These are some odd looking path side prairie flowers . I have no idea what they are , but I'm thinking they may be cousins to the thistle. Anyway, Hope pointed out that the view of these was better sideways. So, here they are sideways and right side up let me kno what you think.

Lace Clouds

I thought it was kind of cool how the Queen Anne's Lace looked in this one. Taken by the same bike path as the thistles, I went back to the park on Saturday because I was feeling inspired. While practicing my manual focus technique, I took about 230(very repetitive) shots, so I'll post from those shots for a few days before I leave for China. The day was sunny, warm, with a nice breeze, tho not the greatest for photography, I still managed pretty well.

Thistles

Thistles along a new bike path near my house. I liked the vibrancy and depth the fuchsia color took from the light of the sunset.

Back to Blooms

The only columbine we have in our garden, not fully opened, but I thought it was worthy of portraiture. These were probably taken about a month or so ago. I loved in the first picture how around the petals there was a ripple effect, not sure what created it, but I liked it a lot. In the third, I liked that you could see that the sun was right on the flower but the trees in our yard were shading the background.

Finding Peace

Today has been a better day. I'm thinking more positively and more objectively. Slowly I see things come into my grasp. I actually thought of algebra in a positive way today, that's how much better I feel. The chaos is still there, but I feel that it's manageable- "How do you eat an elephant,"my mom would always say, "one bite at a time." It's the truth, every seemingly large obstacle is small in God's eyes and can be small in our eyes when we take it one step at a time. I must have forgotten that, but I remember now, and I'm eager to start. Algebra first, driver's license, then China, and then my last year of high school. One step at a time, no need to worry about what comes after all that, God's got it under control. It'll all still be waiting for me and by the time I get to it, I'll be ready. Thanks to those of you who have been supportive and given me advice on finding my peace. I think I have found a small bit and I'll just keep letting it grow and spread on to each area of my life.

July 3rd

Clicking on the top shot will give you better definition of the magnitude of people that were in downtown Chicago for the fireworks on July 3rd. I loved that you could see the lights from The Taste in the middle.
The fireworks are so so.. I'm not entirely proud of this one, although it's one of the only ones I thought would be ok to post with out processing because the brightness and the ISO was pretty good. I have soooooo many pics to process from the past week that my computer and lightroom are both protesting. So it may be a while before I get them up, and instead of like 5000 posts full of fireworks I'll just post a Fotki album for random browsing. That's another thing I've been working on, Fotki albums- who knew uploading could be so time consuming!?!

Needing Peace

A shot from last week's gallivanting around the city, one I call "Peaceful Contemplation". Today, I need peace. My thoughts have been everywhere the past 2-3weeks and I need to slow down and just take a minute to rest my mind. Everywhere I turn there's been some type of chaos, not that I'm not enjoying my life, I am just overwhelmed with my problems and my family's problems as well. So, I'm off to take a break for about an hour, pray in tongues a little, sleep, and just soak up God's peace. Hopefully, it'll be enough to get me back on track a little and maybe help me focus more on finishing Algebra(which, I know, I'm supposed to be done with by now) before I leave for China in two weeks.

P.s. This shot, of Diamond Tucker, was taken with the Pentax, and I'm proud to say I'm pretty sure it was on manual focus(not that it's the greatest feat, but I'm still proud of how well it turned out).

Sooooo behind

I'm so behind in posting and I feel bad because I know I said I'd post more candids, but I think what I did was fell behind because I gave myself an "out"- I said I'd post when I had time.. Really I've had time, I just haven't been using it on posting(Shame on me!) and another reason is because the pictures I've taken recently have needed some processing, which I really don't like to do, even tho I claim to love Lightroom lol. It's the importing and exporting of the pics that annoys me. Anyway, here is a few from the other night that I've already processed.





I'm assuming I'll have quite a few at the end of the week, my friend Diamond is coming to town and we're planning on BIG fun in the city all week long so.. YIPEE!! I'm SUPER excited!