Preserving What the Eyes See

 

Last week I mentioned that one of the reasons people take photographs is to preserve beautiful or interesting physical images. In other words, many of my photos are meant to transfer what my eyes see to film—or rather to a digital medium—so that I can come back to it again and again. That’s the primary reason I took the photo at the top of this blog, although it also reminds me of a trip to Puerto Rico with Roland and my mother in 2004.

I love castles, and I love lighthouses, so here are a couple of other images I wanted to preserve. The first is Eileen Donan in Scotland and the second is Wind Point Lighthouse in Wisconsin. These pictures also remind me of trips but, again, I took them primarily to preserve the images my eyes enjoyed.

This final one did not have a dual purpose. I took it simply so I could enjoy the image.

So if your eyes see a beautiful or interesting sight you want to preserve, take a picture.

Photos Record Memories

 

Last week I wrote about looking for photos to submit at the Lake County Fair. Most of my photos aren’t competition-worthy, though, and that’s fine. In fact, I rarely, if ever, take a photograph solely with competition in mind. I take photos primarily for one of three reasons: 1) to record memories, 2) to preserve a beautiful or interesting physical image (e.g., flowers or scenery), or 3) to document my research. When I get one that’s competition-worthy, it’s simply a bonus.

I’m going to spend the next three weeks blogging about those other reasons for taking photographs. I’ll start with recording memories.

First, though, a word about cameras. When I’m on vacation or a field trip where I expect to take photos, I take my Canon Rebel T8i. I won’t go into technical details other than to say it is a digital camera with exchangeable lenses that take great closeups as well as zooming in on animals and objects hundreds of feet away. It’s the type of camera that is used by many hobbyists but not by professional photographers.

That said, there is nothing wrong with taking photos with your cell phone, which create some great images these days. There is a saying among photographers that goes like this: “The best camera is the one you have with you.” If I see a photo I want to take and don’t have my other camera along, I don’t hesitate to use my cell phone. In fact, there are times when I actually switch to my cell phone because it creates a better image under certain conditions. I even know some serious photographers whose only camera is the one on their cell phone.

So if you don’t have a fancy camera, don’t worry about it. Take the photos you want anyway. Those cell phone pictures are a great way to record your memories.

Roland and I travel a lot, and it’s nice to keep a photo record of each trip. The photo at the top of this post shows us in front of the Coliseum in Rome. Or here we are with the kids and my older brother on a trip to the Middle East in 1998. Obviously I didn’t take the picture, but the guide took it for us on whatever camera we had at the time.

Then there are memories of other things we did as a family, including sailing. Here we are with our first sailboat. My brother belongs in the picture, too, since he is the one who got us hooked on sailing.

Of course, not all recorded memories have to include people.  In fact, most of our vacation photos don’t. This one of Florence, Italy, is an example.

Photos such as the one above often serve a second purpose besides recording memories—they preserve beautiful or interesting images. That’s the subject of next week’s blog post.

Evaluating Photos for Competition

 

The application form for the Lake County Fair arrived in the mail recently. Technically, it is not due until July 10, but there is a limit on the number of entries so I try to get it in as soon as the application period opens. Since the entries have to be listed on the application, that means I just completed the process of selecting the photographs I will enter this year.

I have been exhibiting photographs at the Lake County Fair since 2015 with varying results. My long tenure at the fair puts me in the advanced division, where I compete against a tough field. Photos can be submitted in 12 subject-matter categories, with one color and one black-and-white photo allowed in each. That means I have the opportunity to submit 24 photos. That sound like a lot, but there are several categories, such as sports, where I often have nothing to enter.

Most of my photos are either landscapes or buildings. So my biggest dilemma comes in the scenic and architecture categories, where I may have to select among several of my favorite photos. Then there are those categories, such as floral and wildlife, where the competition is steep and I don’t expect to win. Still, the cost of entry isn’t based on the number of photographs exhibited, so I have nothing to lose by entering something that may not be competition worthy but doesn’t embarrass me. That’s why I entered the Northern Lights photo at the top of this page in the weather category last year. I entered it because I could, but I didn’t expect it to win anything. Certainly not the blue ribbon it did receive.

Photography is art, and art is in the eye of the beholder or, in this case, the judge. As an example, I also enter photos in the monthly competition held by my camera club, and one recent entry there got a score of 23 and an award in the April competition, a 22 when it went up to the umbrella organization to compete with other clubs, and a 19.5 in the end-of-the-year competition back at the club level. Those numbers probably don’t mean much to you, but a 23 is a good score for someone with my skills and a 19.5 is barely adequate.

The point is that choosing entries based on what a judge might like or even what I think might win is a futile exercise. Every judge is different, and I can’t predict the outcome. So in the end I change the saying to “art is in the eye of the photographer.” I simply choose what I like best.

Sometimes that works, and sometimes it doesn’t.

We’ll see what happens this year.

"To God Be the Glory"

 

Fanny Crosby wrote thousands of hymns in her life, but one of her best known is “To God Be the Glory.” The words make it clear that she is glorifying God for his greatest gift of all, the sacrifice of His own son for our salvation.

Still, she seems to have given Him glory throughout her life whatever the circumstances she found herself in. That includes the loss of her sight in infancy.

Like Fanny Crosby, my primary reason for giving God the glory is because He sacrificed Jesus on the cross for my salvation, as well as for yours. Unlike Fanny, I’m not blind. And that’s another reason to give God the glory.

Four months ago I went in to get cataract surgery on my right eye and came out worse than when I went in. I don’t understand the process very well, but my impression is that they had removed the cataract and were either removing the rest of the natural lens or inserting the new one when the lens shattered in my eye. The eye hemorrhaged, and they couldn’t see all the pieces under the blood to get them out. It took a second surgery by a retina specialist to do that, and I thank God for both the specialist and for the successful operation. Dr. Pelzek put in a new lens at the same time, but the eye took three months to heal.

It was a tense three months, partly because I couldn’t drive at first. Fortunately, most of the places I had to go were ones I could walk to, and Roland and my sister-in-law drove me to the rest. As the eye improved, I did begin driving again. I wore a pair of old glasses to improve my distance sight, but I had to take them off to read, and even then I had to hold what I was reading close to my face.

My sight did get progressively better, but I will always need corrective lenses. I waited another month for those, first for an appointment with the optometrist, and then for the glasses themselves to arrive.

They came a week ago Friday. Yes, my eyesight isn’t perfect even with them, and it will probably never be quite as good as it would have been if the first surgery had gone correctly. And I still have to get cataract surgery on my left eye, although I will wait until after my son’s wedding for that. But a week ago Sunday I sat in church and could read the bulletin and see the hymns at a normal length from my face with my glasses on, and I could make out the facial features of the pastors in the front of the church. Needless to say, I was thrilled.

So I’m praising God for my sight.

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I don’t know who took this photo, but it was apparently taken when Fanny Crosby was in her 80s. (She died a little over a month before her 95^th birthday.) The photo is in the public domain because of its age.

Another Way to Support the Arts

 

If you live in the Northwest Indiana area and believe in supporting the arts, come to the third annual Creative Arts Summit this Saturday, June 1, from 12:00–4:00 p.m. The event will be held at the Merrillville Public Library at 1919 W. 81^st Ave. (U.S. 30) in Merrillville.

The event covers all aspects of the creative arts, from visual arts and crafts to books. I will be selling my books and would love to have you buy one or two or three, but please come to support our local artists even if you aren’t interested in my work. With this kind of variety, you’re sure to find something of interest.

I hope to see you there.

World War I Food Quirks

 

If you read this blog regularly, you know that I’m a stickler for getting the period details right in my historical novels. That includes the foods my characters eat.

I’ve been working on two books that take place in the Midwest during World War I. The subjects are different, but the settings are similar, and so are the meals.

In 1917, the government created the U.S. Food Administration and commenced a heavy propaganda campaign encouraging citizens to grow their own vegetables and eat less wheat, meat, and sugar. While there was no shortage of those items in the United States, the government needed them to feed the soldiers overseas.

Although the restrictions were mostly voluntary, the propaganda campaign was successful and people tried to comply. To do that, Americans learned to be creative.

Some of the substitutions weren’t too bad. Wheat bread was frowned on, but cornbread recipes abounded, muffins could be made with oats or bran, and sugar was often replaced with honey. I cringe at the meatless options, however. Here is a recipe for Mock Sausage, originally published in The Twentieth Century Club War Time Cook Book (1918):

1 cup lima beans

½ tsp powdered sage

½ tsp dried thyme

½ tsp dried sweet marjoram

corn or vegetable oil

salt

pepper

flour

 

Soak lima beans overnight, boil until very soft, drain and mash, season with salt, pepper and a half teaspoon each of powdered sage, thyme, and sweet marjoram; make into rolls about the size of a finger; roll in flour and fry a golden brown in corn or other vegetable oil.

 

I was a fussy eater as a child, but my appreciation for new foods grew as I got older.

Still, I’m very glad I didn’t live during World War I.

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The picture at the top of this page shows a poster issued by the U.S. Food Administration during World War I. It is in the public domain because of its age.

Forty-five Years and Counting

Roland and I were married 45 years ago yesterday. You might think we would get to know each other better as the years go by, but it isn’t true for us, or at least for me. Yes, I’ve learned some things about Roland, including how he likes his coffee, but the thing I’ve discovered most is how much I don’t know.

Gift-giving is a good example. The first year we were together, I did pretty well picking out a Christmas gift. Since then, there have been some occasions where I found the right gift, but those are rare. Roland does a better job overall, but he doesn’t always pick out the perfect gift for me, either.

Part of it is that we both have a tendency to buy whatever we want for ourselves, which doesn’t leave much to give as gifts. But that isn’t all there is to it. Sometimes I’m just wrong when I think Roland will like something. Fortunately, neither of us has gift giving/receiving as our love language.

We went out for a nice dinner for our anniversary, and Roland paid for it. For my part, I put long thought into a gift for him and came up empty. I finally bought him an Amazon gift card that he will probably spend on something he would have bought anyway.

Still, that’s okay. Marriage isn’t about the physical gifts you give each other. It’s about love as demonstrated by willingness to compromise, serving each other, and affirming each other. We have that in abundance.

Which is why it’s 45 years and counting.