Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Some LOST stuff! The big day is getting closer!!

We already know John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) is dead—and we are über-pissed at Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) for doing the deed—but could another Lostie be joining Locke very soon in the myserious island show's ever-growing body count?



When Lost returns Feb. 2 to ABC, there are more than a few stomach-churning surprises in store, and our latest dish from Kristin (as part of the 12 Days of Lost-mas) involves the life-or-death fates of two Losties we love. Word of warning: This is the final season, so anyone can be killed off.



Read on for the dish...

According to my spies, the following statements are both true:

One Lostie we've known for a long time (a dark, handsome and mysterious someone) will die within the first four hours in the first shocking death of the year.

Another Lostie we've known and loved since day one of season one will come this close to dying—at his own hands—but the good doctor (Matthew Fox's Jack Shephard) will save him.

Who will die? Who will nearly take his own life? (I know the presumed answers if you want to know)

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Some Christmas history.

Josef Franz Mohr was born to an unmarried woman, in Salzburg, Austria, in December of 1792. His father deserted her before Josef was born. An illegitimate child of that century and culture had very little advantage unless God intervened. Josef's mother found him a sponsor who provided him with a chance for higher education. Josef chose the priesthood as his profession. Ordained in 1815, he was sent to pastor a church in a remote Alpine village.

Three years later while preparing for Christmas services at St. Nicholas Church, Josef experienced an event that would prove to not only bless him and his congregation, but the world over. The church organ was broken, which in Father Josef's mind made it very difficult to plan an effective Christmas celebration for his congregation. The young priest took his problem before the Lord. God reminded Josef of a poem he had written several years before. Father Josef quickly jotted down the words, took them to his organist who composed a tune.

December 24th, 1818, with just a guitar for accompaniment, Stille Nacht was sung for the first time. Shortly thereafter, the organ repairman heard the story, took a copy of the song and began to spread it throughout Austria. It eventually came to the attention of a local tailor, Herr Strasser, whose children were singers; local celebrities. Much to the delight of their audiences, the Strasser children added Stille Nacht to their repertoire. The fame of the children and of the song began to spread to the point that the Strasser's were asked to give a performance of Stille Nacht before the king and queen.

In 1838 Stille Nacht was published in a German hymnbook for general congregational singing. Germans who moved to America brought their songs with them to the new world. It wasn't long before Stille Nacht was translated into English, and Silent Night became America's most beloved carol.





Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and Child.
Holy Infant, so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night,
Shepherds quake at the sight;
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ the Savior is born,
Christ the Savior is born!

Silent night, holy night,
Son of God, love's pure light;
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth,
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.

Silent night, holy night
Wondrous star, lend thy light;
With the angels let us sing,
Alleluia to our King;
Christ the Savior is born,
Christ the Savior is born!



“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”(Romans 8:28 )

Saturday, December 19, 2009

My momma

I haven't updated my blog in some time. It has been a difficult time for me and my family. My mom has not been doing very well and I recently went to OK to visit for a week. While I was there, I took this picture of her. I was relunctant to share it because it is such a personal, private shot but I think that is what makes it so beautiful.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Sneak Peek

I had a blast today with the Britt family. They are very dear friends of mine and it was such a pleasure to be able to capture some of their family moments! Here are a few I have finished editing. More to come!!










Thursday, November 19, 2009

Friday, November 13, 2009

Give yourself breathing room.

One of the first things I learned about photography is to always leave room around your subject (breathing room). I am guilty of not doing this from time to time. Sometimes I fail to get it right in-camera, and other times it is a PS crop issue. Luckily, if it is a PS crop issue it can easily be fixed by undoing your crop. However, if it is in camera, you don't really have a lot of options. That is what happened in this image of my kids.

I cropped too tightly on the left of my daughter's arm. I really liked this shot though and wanted to find a way to make it look a little better. First I increased the canvas size about 5 inches. Then, I grabbed another shot of them sitting in the same spot and merged a little bit of the open area from the other pic onto this one. I used the clone tool to blend the two and this is what I got.


It looks and feels much better to me. What do you all think?

Monday, November 9, 2009

A few more from the park.

This was an action. Not sure about it. What do you guys think??









Saturday, November 7, 2009

A day at the park!

I love having Friday's off because it gives me a chance to spend quality time with the kids. I took them to the park Friday for a McDonald's picnic and then we played on the equipment. I also got some shots of them on the nature walk! It was a great day!










Thursday, October 29, 2009

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Back in the saddle!!

After what seemed like YEARS to me, I finally got my camera yesterday!!! HOORAY!!! I was so happy to go out and test it this morning. I am still learning all the new tricks but I LOVE this camera. I feel like a kid on Christmas morning! I am so happy to be able to share my passion with everyone again. Hope you enjoy these.













Tuesday, October 20, 2009

LA X (LOST spoiler, kind of)

Not sure if I have posted this yet, but the first two episodes of LOST Season 6 will in fact be titled "LA X". Speculation is that we are going to be seeing the Losties actually landing safe and sound in LA as they were supposed to (in an alternate reality sort of thing). I thought I would post these two set photos from DarkUFO. Not much longer to wait!!!


Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Proud.

As most of you know, my son graduated from basic training in Fort Jackson, SC, this past weekend. My husband and I took our two little ones down to visit with him and it was soooooo great to see him. I have never been away from him that long in his whole life so needless to say, I was missing him just a little. ;o) He has changed so much in these past weeks. He was so excited and happy to see us, and he was so proud of his accomplishment. Of course we are extremely proud of him too. He will be at his Advanced Individual Training (AIT) station for 18 weeks now in Fort Gordon, GA. Luckily he won't be under such tight lock and key here, so we should be able to talk to him more and he gets to come home for 2 weeks at Christmas!!! Maybe I will have a new camera by then so I can practice on him!!! (thinking seriously about the T1i). I will keep everyone updated on his progress. Thanks for all your support.


Monday, September 28, 2009

Amazing artist.

I came across some artwork that I just had to share. These are really amazing and done with graphite pencils. If you want to see more, go to http://hatterandharestudios.deviantart.com/