Stand In the Rain

The lightning flashed
and the thunder crashed
and heaven opened up its windows
and down came the rain.

And we stood in the pouring rain
out in the cold
with broken and bleeding hearts
Crying from the depths of our souls
Waiting for hope
Longing for comfort, for an escape from the darkness within
And a bright horizon.

As long as life remains, there is hope, hope that a new day will come.
Don't wait any longer - run to His arms; He's a loving father who's always ready to hold and comfort you.

Remember, there are always be people who care; never forget it.
My heart goes out to those the hurt and broken; this image is dedicated to you.

Pale
Stand In the Rain
Song for the Broken
Porcelain Heart

Are You Looking for a Camera Bag?

Here's a good deal I found out about thanks to Scott from Weekly Photo Tips.

If you're in need of a good camera backpack with lots of space, the Lowepro FastPack 350 is a good one to consider, and you can get it for $75 right now instead of $125! Using this code on that page will reduce the listed price of $125 to $75.
This offer expires on June 30, so if you're thinking about making use of it, you'd better do it right away.

The amount of savings is pretty good, but if you're wondering about the bag itself, here are a few things about it (I've had the bag for some time now and take it with me nearly everywhere):
1) I was able to fit a Canon 5D MkII with battery grip and 24-105 f/4L attached into the main compartment, and although it fit quite snugly because the battery grip makes the DSLR body much taller, it worked fine and I was still able to fit some other lenses in the bag, such as the 24-105 and 50 f/1.4. When I attached the 70-200 f/4L to the MkII, I had to rearrange the velcro dividers to make more room for the telephoto lens, but I was able to fit at least two smaller lenses next to that one.
With something small like my Rebel XS and EF-S 10-22, 55-250, or the "fat pancake" 35 f/2 attached, there's plenty of room for the camera as well as between 3 and 5 small or medium-sized lenses.
2) Yes, the bag isn't very small, so it does take up more space than a bag that will just hold a camera body and a lens or two, but that's because this bag does have a lot more space.
3) The shoulder straps are padded and pretty comfortable.
4) There's a space for a 17" laptop in the back, although I've heard it's a fairly tight squeeze with one of that size - my 11" netbook (I forget the exact size, but it's probably around there, anyway) naturally fits quite easily.
5) There are a few other pockets that I use to stash my 10-22's lens bag (which I no longer use because the lens now fits in my bag, unlike when I used an old Sony camcorder case bag) and various other things such as my wired shutter release. And there are a couple of little SD card pockets as well.

You can see a not-very-clear photo of the bag in my photo, here (it's the one on the right):

Here's Scott's post where I got this from: I got me a new camera bag...

Nature

I originally had this tacked onto the end of my previous post, but that would have made it entirely too long, and it would not have been nice to Riah and Lys to make them go all the way to the bottom of it. So this is technically continued from the last post...

I have my entry for Riah's and Lyssa's "nature" theme (I'd use a new one if I had one but didn't take any good photos recently):
Hm, this is a hard choice...wait a minute, is there a limit on how many photos can be used? Otherwise, I can just bombard this post (I remember that Adam Young did that on his blog once and said, "I have a camera. I like to take pictures", and had a lot of photos on it). :P
Yes, that's what I'll do; correct me if I'm wrong, and I'll just choose one as my entry, which might take me a while - I'm not a fast chooser.

SOOC

This one is SOOC too

Some of these might not technically be "nature" photos, but they're some of my better ones...hopefully I'll be able to create images that are better than these soon.

Random Reflections and Recollections

Until I can get to writing a better, more meaningful post, here's something to bore you in the meantime.

One of my former coworkers told me, "I wasted 20 years at a job...young man, don't go get a job; get yourself a career!"
Although you can define your career, your career also defines you, so choose wisely.

I know there was something else I wanted to write that I thought of earlier, but like so many other things, I can't remember what it was...perhaps it'll come back to me later.
Update - I think I just remembered it:
"A fool and his money are quick to part", the proverb goes. Therefore, a rich fool is quick to part with lots of money. But where did the fool get his money to begin with?

I have many concepts and themes in mind that I want to develop in both photographs and words, but I don't want to show them until I'm confident that the results are at least somewhat satisfactory - at least most of the time, I am not going to produce a pathetic excuse for art just for the sake of delivering a message I want to convey; not only would I be embarrassed about my work, I don't think such a half-baked attempt would impart the same emotional impact (or at least make people think as deeply) as one done well. After all, like one of my Flickr friends (and one of my biggest photographic inspirations), Rob Woodcox said here, "One of my goals in photography is to make people think and inspire change." That's something I'd like to be able to do as well.

I find it fairly disappointing that although there was an amazing thunderstorm with lightning that was really clear for quite a bit of the time and forked across the sky, I wasn't able to get any good photos (it's actually still going on right now); I don't know how I'd be able to do it unless I had a camera with good high ISO capabilities (mine won't go above 1600) and a faster lens...I tried it on a tripod, but the lightning always seemed to be where the camera wasn't pointed at, and the shutter speed was too slow, and... *sigh*

The door again:

Some swordfighting photos with me with strange expressions:

My little brother isn't a photographer, which explains the blurry photos (which I tweaked somewhat)...
If you were under the impression that I am a tall, dark, handsome, cool guy, you are sadly mistaken. Sorry to disappoint you. ;)

That's enough boredom for one post; I'll let you go to regain your sanity.

Free is Good

I'm sure I'll want to write something of substance later, but I'm going to go edit photos or take a picture in a moment, so here's something you might be able to use for now:

If there's a Checkers or Rally's fast food restaurant near you, you can get a free large order of fries with any purchase or a free small milkshake without a purchase.
I used the latter earlier today and got a tasty strawberry shake for FREEEE (think Bedtime Stories).

You can't get much better than decent stuff for free, eh?
Both the coupons expire on Dec. 31 and you can use one per person per transaction, so if you kept printing them out, you can get one or more per day every day until next year, and give them to your friends who live near one, or let your friends print them out. 

Enjoy! Or wish you could enjoy...

Slickdeals.net is the bomb!

Into the Unknown

I'm coming to a pivotal point in my life...a doorway in which I am walking through, if you will.

I wonder what God has in store for me...

I hope to have better photos to upload sometime...we move early next month, so what will happen remains to be seen.

I've been given the Kreativ Blogger award (I can excuse the purposeful misspelling this time) by Elizabeth, and although I'm not in the habit of passing these on, I don't mind doing them myself. Incidentally, I also got a tag from Hannah Nicole from Aspire on Flickr, here, so I'm killing two birds (edit: I'd actually written "words" instead of "birds") with one stone here. Please excuse the analogy - it's not like I view this as a chore or obligation that I dislike; I actually like tags when they're given out of appreciation rather than just like chain mail.

I think I'm supposed to tell ten random facts about myself, so here goes...

1. I'm fairly small, at only 5'7" and roughly 140 lbs. and not very strong either; my dad thinks I look frail.

2. I like various artistic pursuits, including photography, cinematography, drawing, songwriting, etc., although I don't know how to do the latter things and am not very skilled at the former yet.

I currently have to use freeverse as my poetic style because I'm not able to make rhyming lines that don't sound forced or cheesy and don't make it more difficult foe me to get my meaning across.

3. I like writing as well, although, as with photography, I still have so far to go to get to where I want to be.

4. It's one of my dreams/goals to be able to get to the point where I can be skilled at both photography and writing, and get into conceptual photography (fantasy-style photo manipulations, etc.) so I can have images that not only look good, but also have a meaning behind them..that tell a story...that will be art with a purpose. I want so badly to be able to do that...I wonder how long it'll take me to learn.

5. I have very little stamina, so I'm basically weak and tire easily. :P

6. I like dark colors: black is my favorite color, and I also like dark gray and some shades of dark blue and red, although there are a few others.

7. My favorite numbers are 13, 7, and 3.

8. Some like collecting coins, stamps, etc. I like collecting dice and marbles, both of which I like using in macro shots.

9. Telekinesis (and being able to fly, as an application of it) would allow me to create some totally awesome photos...ok, that's not really a fact about me. Fact: I have four brothers and three sisters, all younger than I am.

10. I don't get see any of my close friends very often, but I am very glad for my online friends; you're all so very nice and encouraging - I wish I could meet you all in person. :)

Well, that's it for now...

Thanks again, Elizabeth. :)

Cars & Coffee

I went to Cars and Coffee in Charlotte this morning with my dad, and although I had to wake up at 5:15 in order to get there on time (we arrived at a little past 8 since it's 2+ hours away) and I found out that I had missed a friend's graduation, I got to see some cool cars and got quite a few photos. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see a Ferrari 599 (or better yet, a 599 GTO), but I hope to see some cars like that if I ever go to the Cars and Coffee in Austin or Houston when visiting my aunt. More later (where I hope to write something of substance as well).