“Rest in reason; move in passion.”
Khalil Gibran
Tag: Jen Baptist
Hello There
“Look as long as you can at
the friend you love, no matter whether
that friend is moving away from you or
coming back toward you.”
Rumi
We are all gems… with Faith
“Faith is indeed the energy of our whole universe directed to the highest form of being. Faith gives stability to our view of the universe. By faith we are convinced that our impressions of things without are not dreams or delusions but for us true representations of our environment. By faith we are convinced that the signs of permanence order progress which we observe in nature are true. By faith we are convinced that fellowship is possible with our fellow man and with God.”
Brook Foss Westcott
Put another way…
“There is no such thing as a lack of faith. We all have plenty of faith, it’s just that we have faith in the wrong things. We have faith in what can’t be done rather than what can be done. We have faith in lack rather than abundance but there is no lack of faith. Faith is a law.”
Eric Butterworth
What you place your faith in, becomes your reality… be wise and select carefully.
Sign of Growth
“The growth of understanding
follows an ascending spiral
rather than a straight line.”
Joanna Field
To The Point
“Loving someone who doesn’t love you back
is like hugging a cactus.
The tighter you hold on,
the more it’s going to hurt.”
Unknown
Red-freshed
“To serve the cause of water adequately… We must get to know it in its true being. And how do we do this? Why, by treating it in the very way exemplified by its own behavior; that is, whenever we encounter it, we wash the tablet of our souls clean of all other impressions in order to allow the being of water to make its imprint on us.”
Theodor Schwenk
Water: The Element of Life
Aquatic Greetings
At the Seattle Aquarium sometimes feel forced, especially on a busy Saturday with small children all vying for the attention of the many creatures within the tanks, but this visit produced some intimate moments for myself and my daughter. The most memorable being while camera in one hand, I displayed with the other how the sea anemone will greet your finger… all you have to do is hold it close. The squeal of delight when one sticky polyp after another began investigating her finger, was priceless!
The ability to see all the legs of a starfish was also a special treat…
With the back-lighting bringing to life the intimidating urchins and ‘giant green’ anemones…
We didn’t miss the timid, ‘hello’ from a ‘fuzzy’ crab and spotted fish…
Or the salmon passing through the ladder…
Overall, we got to meet some amazing beings and the photos barely capture the experience.
Tripod… What Tripod?
OOOOOHHHH yeah, the one that never made it out of my backpack – DOH!
I really did schedule this macro shoot at a local botany research lab in order to practice using my tripod (I hear it’s a great tool and suspect when I get familiar with mine my photography will improve)… but I got lost in the textures my lens kept finding around every turn.
Before I knew it I had overstayed my 2 hour invitation and had to make arrangements to come back again for future visits… next time I will resist the excitement, hunker down, and get to know what it’s like to ‘walk’ through the world with three additional legs.
Ruffled His Feathers
after a stare-down via my lens at the Oregon Zoo.
It was interesting to watch the transformation from the regal bald eagle shown below… to one in such an agitated state.
For a split-second I actually sensed the intimidation, but as instinct have it the camera dropped several times while I couldn’t help smiling in kindness and awe at the beauty I witnessed, then shortly later much to my surprise another transformation occurred…
What an amazing portrait experience, that lasted moments!
The Birth of a Blog
Should be considered an important event, but in reality it is more humbling for me than any other form of self-expression I’ve conquered. The thought of sharing truly quite daunting, the legs of my voice weak at best, and yet I step to the challenge by sharing the moment I became a photographer.
It happened on June 9th, 2005… when intent became reality. I remember the moment that intent was verbalized clearly, I had just finished a delicious dinner of clam chowder & fresh seafood, while socializing and laughing upon the patio of Mo’s Restaurant in Cannon Beach, OR and the sun was almost done making a spectacular decent when the call came to me… I turned to my friends and unexpectedly said, ‘would you please excuse me, I need to go take an amazing photograph of our sunset?’ I don’t recall waiting for a response, in no time I was off the patio and my toes were in the sand. At precisely 8:56 pm I answered the call and my intent became this reality…
The significance of the event truly escaped me at the time, it was weeks, months, and years later that it became recognized in my mind as a birth. The writing of a blog sort of feels the same way to me. When I released the shutter, literally basking in the beauty of an amazing sunset, I didn’t think many would even notice if I did or did not live up to my word… I was doing it because something pulled me to it. It was an act of the heart. That night the call took up residence, a photographer was born, and since that day more realities have been created. Today the pull is to share my intent & the experiences that surround my captures, so therefore… I blog.