On the Journey

Luke 2

 ¹ In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while^[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.  ⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

Ice Berries

Just one of the winter wonders around the yard at this time of year. Those thorns look pretty big, but they are only about a half inch long, they do hurt though! This bush has to get trimmed regularly because it grows into the sidewalk!

Joseph has a vision

Joseph has a vision

 
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[d]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet[e] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[f] because he will save his people from their sins.”

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”[g] (which means “God with us”).

24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

NIV

These Little People are so small, I used a couple of LED flashlights to light them
ISO 200 6 sec exposure -1.7EXP Program Mode, Matrix metering, tripod, 50mm lens.

Christmas Caroling

Crossroads bought the old St Peter's Church on James and they hosted the carol sing, Its a beautiful old catholic church inside. The highlight was the huge pipe organ that the organist played from in the balcony.

 After we sang, everyone was invited downstairs for punch and cookies, or Hot cocoa. The girls were so happy at the prospect of cookies.

"You will have a Son"

 

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

 ²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”  ²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
 ³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
 ³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called^[b] the Son of God. ³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”
 ³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

NIV

The Christmas Story - Little People Style

Yep! This is just a teaser for what we'll be digging into this week. Full studio lighting of the Nativity story acted out by Little People from Fisher Price!

Luke 2:8 NIV

 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.

Lit the shepherd with a 9 LED flashlight, hand held by my youngest assistant, Shaniah. Shot at 1600 ISO EXP-3.0, 1/13 no flash. There's a little shake, because I was too lazy to get the tripod, just wanted to see if it was going to work. That -3 EXP makes it very close to ISO 4800.

Lights on the Lake - Walking Edition

What can do you at Onondaga County Parks? Everything! 24mm 1/30 ISO1600(-1.0EXP) hand held

The two nights before Lights on the Lake opened, it's really open for walking. The first night is for walkers and the second night is for the dogs. We went on the second night, it was raining the night before. I've got hundreds of pictures of the light displays, but bring the camera along anyway.

Wonder! 26mm 1/40 ISO 1600(-1.0EXP) hand held

Now I find myself capturing images of what the kids see. Wonder and amazement at the light, right there where she can inspect it up close. Good luck finding a bulb like this at my house, we use CFL's. She's my engineer, so I would imagine that she was trying to figure out how it worked.
She was real impressed with the blue lights.

The Blue Lagoon 24mm 1/20 ISO 1600(-2.3EXP) hand held

You'll notice the pictures were all taken at ISO1600 and -X EXP compensation. With the Nikon D50, that's effectively increasing your ISO, ISO 1600 at -2.0 becomes ISO 3200. It's a little bit of a cheat, but it works when you've got to get the shot in the dark.

Candle Light Vigil

Our little village pulled together for a candle light vigil for Matt McCabe. He had a heart transplant and is not responding well. Many have jumped in to support the family and they are still accepting donations to cover the medical expenses. His birthday was Monday, he turned 52.

Christmas Portraits

There are only 41 days left to get your Christmas portraits done. 

Get those Christmas cards made up and ready for the mail.

Anybody else waiting for snow?

Introducing the Classic Series

The fall colors are strong, but not vivid like some years. It begged to be a black and white.

I think with this weather change, the leaves are mostly gone, but you can enjoy these beautiful limited edition prints available on Etsy.

October is Clergy Appreciation Month

We love our pastor. This month is the month to remember and honor him for all that he does. There would be no great pastor without the great lady that stands behind him, his wife.

October 31st we are giving away a family portrait package to one pastor and his family. The pastor either needs to live in Syracuse, NY or Binghamton, NY areas or be willing to travel to there for their portrait session.

The Prize: They will receive a portrait session, one 8x10, four 5x7, and nine wallets. That's a $100 value.

The Rules:

• You can nominate any clergy or their wife. leave a comment here why they should win, or on the studio blog when the giveaway is posted.
• To make it fair, a candidate's name is only in the hat once.
• They have to be local or can travel to us.
• You can nominate your wife if you're a pastor.

How to enter:
Leave a comment on the blog why they should win. I'll take all the names and throw them in a hat and pick one out on Oct 31, 2010.

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1.02.28

Blue Jazz

We went for a walk last night, well after dark, so the girls took their flashlights along. One green and one blue, the blue had the glowing baton part turned on and was operated by a 2 year old who just wanted to move it around. Hold the shutter open and walk down the sidewalk.

The Waxing Moon

The moon was little more than a sliver tonight. Beautiful, silver and stepping quickly to the west, ever chasing the sun. I had originally gone out to shoot pictures of Jupiter, but it was hiding behind a tree. The moon was off to the southwest and no trees obstructed the view. For the technical diehards, shot the moon from a tripod with Nikon D50 105mm f/5.6 1/250. I did crop and double the size of the moon in post production. I hope that doesn't throw any tides off tonight.

Syracuse Astronomical Society Public Viewing

We had a blast at the SAS last night. We saw a comet, Jupiter and 3 moons and a nebula. I did take along a camera with a 11-18mm lens to capture a wide swath of the night sky.

That's the Milky Way running vertically through the center. This is nearly overhead with a slight tip to the east. For you photo junkies out there, this is ISO 1250 F/4.5 11mm manual focus to infinity.

Here's another shot of the Milky Way looking east off the horizon.

Red light is easier on your night vision, so they have red lights inside their observatory building. There's one more public viewing next month, weather permitting. You can find out more about this little slice of amazing on their website. These are best seen in original size on black in a darkened room.

Flooding

Had an errand to make at lunch on Friday and found my short cut closed. Road flooded. Lots of people were cutting through anyways. I wasn't going to try it, I like my car too much and it's pretty low to the ground. That's moving water by the way.

Butternut drive was flooded at both ends, ironically in front of the Manlius DPW and the State DOT garages. Must be the budget cuts.

 All license plates have been blurred out to protect the guilty from disobeying the road closed signs.

Red Rocks Ampitheatre

Went out to Colorado on business and worked my tail off during the day. Couldn't resist the opportunity to ride along with some of the guys on a trip to Red Rocks Ampitheatre. It was built by the CCC during the depression. Hit the link to see the whole gallery from Red Rock.

BCA Dance Recital 2010

I was only going to shoot my two dancers at the recital, but there were so many on stage, I couldn't help but get a few more in the frame.

This was the opening number. A Fairytale Story and it was for the youngest class of dancers, the older kids "helped".

You can see lots more of the recital in this gallery: http://oracleondelhistudio.com/BCA2010

Enjoy.

Mini-Sessions

We are now offering Mini-Sessions. These fun fast and on-location shoots. Typically we are looking to book these usually 7-8:30 AM slots or 5-6:30 PM time slot during the week for 20-30 minutes in front of the camera. Why those times? Great light! We can shoot around lunch time, but the light is not as good. We do shoot on weekends. We'll fit you. What's so much fun about these mini-sessions? The location! You get to choose the location, may be its:

• Armory square
• Franklin Square
• Onondaga Lake Park
• The gazebo at Upper Onondaga Park
• Ryder Park
• Thorden Park with all the roses
• A gritty graffitied alley somewhere down town  is your style
• Beaver Lake with a touch of mist, and still lake under a new day sky is your backdrop
• Your local park in Syracuse
• A corner of your backyard in the quiet morning.
• Shove Park
• Outside the Everson Museum

What's the catch? There really isn't one as long as the location is in Syracuse or a short commute away, like Liverpool, Camillus or East Syracuse. How much is a mini-session? $15 + your prints that you choose from an online gallery within a couple of weeks.

Wearing of the Green

St Patrick's Day is coming and that means Irish Step Dancing! We'll be at the Mahoney School of Irish Step Recital March 21st for portraits. It'll will be a busy day for the dancers, but not as busy as St Patrick's Day itself with 4 or 5 stops and exhibitions across the northern Finger Lakes.

Time Lapse

This is my first time lapse video taken the day after the big snow storm. The view is due south and the clouds are blowing from east to west.

I Spy!

I was up to the nature center this morning and who did I spy, but a an owl sleeping in the sun. Heading back there now with a bigger camera to see if he is still there.

Church Nursery Project

My current contribution to the nursery is this cutey and I was busy taking pictures of all the kids in there. Just for the record this one I can publish because she is mine. We are working on a bulletin board full of the kids in the church nursery. It's a fun little project, there just wasn't very many kids at church today.

Maternity Shoot

Finally got around to my better half's maternity shoot. Girl number four is on the way! We had some fun matching up these shots with maternity shots from the last one.

Free visit to the zoo and a contest!

As we enter 2010 and it finally begins to look like winter, you're invited to enter the 5th annual Winter at the Zoo photo contest at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo. Amateur photographers are encouraged to enter this year's contest for a chance to win some fantastic prizes. Contest details and rules are available by clicking here.

All photos must be submitted with an entry form. Word document (for those submitting via e-mail) available by clicking here. PDF file (for those submitting via mail) available by clicking here.

The 2010 contest begins January 2 and ends January 31; winners will be announced February 19. Categories include:

• Youth (ages 5-12)

• Teen (ages 13-18)

• Adult (ages 19+)

• Best "Winter at the Zoo" photo

• Best action shot

• Best digitally enhanced photo

Complimentary zoo admission is offered to contest participants who show their camera and present the coupon available here. The contestant must fill out the coupon in its entirety before giving it to the ticket booth attendant. This coupon allows one entrant, with a limit of one entrant per household per day, to enter the zoo free of charge.

Please e-mail info@rosamondgiffordzoo.org or call (315) 435-8511 x110 with any questions.

Download your calendar here.
Put this up on my 365 Project blog, but here it is in the main blog. Enjoy.

Christmas in Small Town Americana

In my home town there are many old houses and folks just dress them up with lights for Christmas. Here they are in their holiday beauty.

We don't even need Macys, we have our own beautiful windows that change with the seasons.

There are many more beautiful Christmas lights to see in our little slice of Americana. Check out the Flickr gallery here.