CGMC. Canada's Gospel Music Celebration

Several of you have asked me to share more pictures of my time in Red Deer,Alberta at CGMC

I hesitated to share these, for several reasons.They are not great quality and in too many of them, this old woman is showing up, but be that as it may, here they are.

I may be at a Gospel Music Festival,but that doesn't mean that I can't watch the skies.During intermission one day,I stepped out of the building to get these pictures.

"Note that all pictures are taken with my phone."

There were some weather watches out, but all we got was some wind and even that wasn't too terrible.

 I love getting pictures of the various groups and this is one that I had never had a picture of before.These are The Ball Brothers.

L-R are Andrew Ball,Daniel Ball,Chad McCloskey and Matt Davies.

This group is known for it's tight harmonies.For friends in or near Manitoba,they will be in Winkler at the Harvest festival in August.

The afternoon and evening concerts are amazing, but so are the morning chapel services.Pastor Leon Thrones from British Columbia is a wonderful speaker and a great worship leader as well.There is never a question as to whether or not we will get up early to go to chapel.I wouldn't want to miss it.

I have met these guys numerous times and finally got a picture of all of them. Triumphant Quartet have been together for 15+ years.

L-R are Clayton Inman,Eric Bennett,Scotty Inman(Clayton's son),David Sutton and pianist,Aaron Dishman.

 This is a fairly new group to me, but they have already won a place in my heart.Yes,that old woman had to make her way into the shot. This is 11th Hour. Great singers and just plain great folks.

L-R are Amber Eppinette, Jaquita Lindsey,me of course, and no I don't sing,Logan Smith,a young man with a powerful voice.

Here is 11th Hour singing on stage.

 This is Triumphant on stage.

This was a shot during the afternoon Hymn Sing showcase, while Legacy Five was singing.

L-R are Josh Townsend,Legacy Five pianist,Gerald Wolfe from Greater Vision,leader of the Hymn Sing,at the drums,Micheal Booth of the Booth Brothers,next,Trey Ivey,who came to play piano for this event, and on bass guitar,Rodney Griffin of Greater Vision.

 My friends Legacy Five.

Top left-Matt Fouch,Josh Townsend,Scott Fowler,group photo,Scott Howard,Josh Feemster.

This is a great bunch of guys, who love the Lord and can sing their way into your heart very quickly.

Legacy Five on stage.

Greater Vision on stage.

L-R are Jon Eply,Rodney Griffin,Chris Allman,not shown ,at the piano is Gerald Wolfe.

Had to get my picture taken with this young man.Logan Smith of 11th Hour. For those familiar with Southern Gospel music, he started out singing like Vestal Goodman and did a fantastic job of it.His voice has matured, but the quality is only richer and fuller.

Last,but certainly not least are my friends The Freedom Singers,during an afternoon Canadian Showcase. Although two of these fellas live stateside, the founder of the group lives in British Columbia,so it is still considered a Canadian group.

L-R are Simon Ivascu,Jake Losen,Doug,Wiley.

Once again, if you are near Manitoba,these guys will be at the Morden Corn and Apple Festival in the end of August.You won't want to miss this.

So these are a few of the many pictures I got.To me each picture holds a wealth of memories and I cherish them dearly.

It is like a touch of Heaven to be at this event, surrounded by like-mined people and all worshipping together.

As Seen Along the Way

As many of you already know,I went on a one week road trip.It was an enjoyable week, albeit,somewhat tiring.I,together with three friends went to Red Deer,Ablerta to take part in Canada's Gospel Music Celebration.The music and singing were awesome.Perhaps at another time I will share some photos of the event, but for now,I want to share a few sights I saw along the way.

The first night, after checking into our rooms,I was told that the area was under a tornado watch.Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but it gave me reason to watch the sky,as if I need a reason. The storm clouds passed over, without incident and then I saw this sight. This is taken through a less than clean motel window.

The drive through Saskatchewan and Alberta,can be quite lovely.The bright yellow of the Canola fields, with a sky partly clouded, but showing enough blue to be pretty, make for a fun drive. Yes,I did stop at the side of the road to get each of these shots.

As we were approaching the Calgary area, the majestic Rocky Mountains of Canada came into view.Even from a long distance away they are gorgeous. Once again the Canola field adds extra interest.

One picture just is not enough of a sight like this. This particular scene was on our way home.Part of me wanted to turn west to get closer to this beauty, but the pull toward home was stronger.

It was part of my goal, for this trip, to photograph one of the Pronghorn Antelope,so often seen in Alberta and Saskatchewan.I finally had my chance, and it was a thrill. I have seen these animals often, but not when I had a camera with me.

At a roadside stop,I was amazed by the simple beauty of the landscape.I might say that this is a typical prairie scene, open sky and a view that goes on for many miles.

As nice as it is to go away, home is still the best.With the heat we had, one of the first things I needed to do was water my plants. 

Something To Think About:

All beauty is God’s handwriting.

Heavens Above

Hi everyone, my name is Steve Hiebert, Ruth's son.  She asked me to make a guest post on her blog for her about a series of images which I captured recently.  I plan on taking you on a little walk through and deep into the night sky.

This first image is shot of our own Milky Way galaxy which is roughly 100,000 light years across, a staggeringly huge number when you consider that light travels 186,000 miles per second.  At the lower right hand corner you see a brighter area which is the galactic centre, roughly 30,000 light years away from us.

Nikon D850 10.5mm DX lens (180 degree field of view at the corners) 6400 iso 15sec

Now lets start our journey into this amazing world that surrounds us.  Below is the full image again but you see several boxes marked off... these represent the next few images that I have in this post and show an idea of scale of each image.

This first image is a wide shot showing again the galactic centre of our own Milky Way.  This area is rich with star clusters and nebulae.  Many of them located in Sagittarius also known as "The Teapot" because of it's distinct teapot shape.  If you look closely at the lower right area you can see the constellation.

Now into some technical details.  So often people feel that photography is just a simple "snap shot"... now for the real story.  This image is made up of no less then 45 exposures showing the stars and 15 "darks" (images taken with the lens cap in place to get a black frame that shows only the noise generated by the sensor). Using specific software you are able to blend all these images together to show a virtually noise free image at 6400 iso.  So if you do the math this image has 11 ¼ minutes of exposure time.  This, as I mentioned, removes noise found at higher iso images, and brightens the details and colors.  A very time consuming task, but I think the results are totally worth it.

Nikon D850, 16-35mm f/4 6400 iso 15 second exposure x45 &15 Dark exposures to remove noise.

Moving in a little closer, we are more focused on the galactic centre of the Milky Way and focused in on the "The Teapot" which is located to the left side of the image.  You can start to see some reddish areas in the image which are nebulae.

As above this image is a stacked image with a total of roughly 5 mins of exposure time.  As many of you may know that when doing a time exposure of the stars, they move or streak across the frame.  So in order to avoid this streaking motion each image is only 6 secs long.  Problem number 2, I have a static foreground in the image, how do you keep both subjects stationary and not blurred?  Starry Landscape Stacker, I came across this amazing piece of software and it is truly a life saver.  Now a word of warning, this is strictly a Mac only software.  The software takes each individual 6 second image and aligns only the sky portion of the image to give you a bright starry sky while keeping a sharp stationary foreground.

Nikon D850, 50mm f1.8 6400 iso 6 second exposure x45 & 15 Dark exposures to remove noise.

This last image is really pushing the limits of the above software and camera equipment.  This is the smallest portion of the original image.  This was done with a 200mm lens and only 2 second exposures... to counter act the short exposure time due to the long lens I had to push the exposure in Lightroom after the fact making this an equivalent of 102,400iso... a crazy number that should never be used, but again via stacking these images you are able to reduce most of the noise and bring out the detail.  You can clearly see the Lagoon Nebula (M8) at the lower right side and just above it is the Trifid Nebula (M20).  To make these images even better tracking the stars with a telescope or motorize mount would allow for longer exposure times at lower iso's which would create an even better image.   I'll save that for next time.   I hope you enjoyed this walk through the stars.

To see more of my work feel free to add me on Facebook or follow me on Instagram

Treasures at The Lake

As most of you know,I enjoy our local lake,Lake Minniwasta. No,I'm not a boater, or a swimmer, but the beauty I see from the shores of that lake are enough for me. Come with me for a slow walk at the lake and let's take note of the beauty around us.

Before we even get to the lake, the early morning sun lights up this fence and draws our attention to it. I find myself wondering, just how many people have walked right by this spot and never noticed any beauty.

Along the path the Wild Roses are putting on a show, just for us this morning. This one has an added interest. We stop and enjoy the beauty.

On this day, there are just enough clouds to make the sky look extra lovely.It is peaceful as we meander down the trail. Can you hear the birds singing away in the treetops? 

As we reach the canoe launch area, we are greeted with a special  surprise. The local K-9 unit has taken their dog Chase out for some fun.I am certain that Chase would have rather been playing in the water, but his handler commanded him to stay on that rock, so I could get a picture.Thank-you Chase.

We move along, but don't get very far as two White Admiral Butterflies catch our attention.

Anytime a photographer can get this close to two butterflies, we must stop and get those shots.

Once again, we enjoy the beauty of these delicate looking insects.

The sun is beginning to heat up the day,so we had best, get back to the car and head home, but not before we take one last look at the lake. It's hard to walk away from such peacefulness.

I have enjoyed your company on this morning walk.We really need to do this again, either at the lake or along some other path.

Something To Think About:

Psalms 24:1

 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,

the world, and all who live in it;

Some Favourites

Another month is coming to an end and my two month summer holiday has begun.As a school bus driver,I look forward to July and August,to have a little break from rigid schedules.

I am sharing a few recent images that I like.There is no special theme to this post, just a few favourites.

I thought this was a pretty scene.Wide open pasture, mostly a clear blue sky and a few fence posts to frame the scene.

Anyone who follows me of Facebook or this blog, knows that I love to watch the sky. Some dark skies just before sunset, added interest to the sky.

As the sun set,I was looking for something different to use in the photo.A coupe of thistle flowers were the perfect choice at least in my opinion.

The clouds never fail to amaze me.Sometimes they are all billowy and white, and at other times, like this, they send long fingers into the sky.

I can't explain just why I love this shot,but I really do like it.The road, leading to the distance and then those beautiful clouds, make for a pleasing image to me.

Something To Think About:

As both Canada and the USA celebrate special days this coming week,Canada,celebrating Canada Day on the first of July and the USA,Independence Day on the fourth, let's celebrate our freedoms.Let us also not forget to pray for our nations and for the leaders.

Lesson From a Lens Ball

Time keeps on slipping by quickly and I can't seem to get blog posts made.

Trust me it's not that I don't want to or that I don't have any pictures to share.Lots of pictures but too many other things that need my attention.

Well,here I am, with a blog post at long last. I hope that at least a few folks have not forgotten about me.

While driving through a marsh area, this male Yellow-headed Blackbird,was kind enough to pose for me.I find these birds to be very attractive.I can't say the same for their voice,but they are using the talent God has given them.

I have so many sunset pictures, but am always ready to get a few more.Each sunset is beautiful and different from all the others.This is actually not directly into the sunset, but rather the setting sun is painting the clouds a beautiful color to the south and to the east.

I mentioned in a previous post about using a Lens Ball to get some shots.Here are a couple more like that.I did find out, though,that you have to be careful when using it in direct sunlight.While holding this ball and trying to get a shot with the other hand,I noticed a stinging in my finger.At first I thought it was a cramp, but it came back just as soon as I held that ball up again.I finally realized that this ball was acting like a very strong magnifying glass and I was feeling the effects of the sun on my finger.  I realized that I could easily burn myself or start a fire with this ball, if I were not careful.

I do wish I could figure out a way to use the ball without my hand being in the shot.

I love the Irises and used to have a lot of them. Due to cutting back drastically on my gardens,I am down to two Iris plants. I do like this flower a lot.

Something To Think About:

Be contagious with your joy,your positivity and your goodness.

It would be wasteful to not share it with those who need it.

Wild Roses and Sunsets

It has been quite a while since we last met here on the blog.I have been busy getting more pictures and just living life.

On June 9th,would have been my Hubby and my 46th wedding anniversary.Of course,I do not celebrate this day, except to remember the good times. Well,this year,God had a surprise for me.

Many years ago,Jake dug up a Wild Rose for me and planted it on the yard.It never amounted to anything and I was ready to cut it down.Well,this year on June 9th,I walked outside and saw that this little shrub had several blooms on it.What a special treat that was!

It looks like the bumble bee was also enjoying this treat.

Steve has a lens ball and I got to try it out.It gives an interesting perspective.

Of course looking toward the sky usually yields some photo worthy sights.

Not too long ago,I was able to capture this images the sun was about to set.

Something to Think About:

Whatever your age, just keep blooming.

Photos and Memories

These pictures have been waiting to be posted for quite a while now.I wondered if I should post them, but as I think about it, it seems very appropriate to do so and to do it now.You see these were all taken when Jake and I walked these tails together.They bring back wonderful memories,and perhaps even more so, because on Saturday,June 9th it will be 46 years since we said, till death us do part.Death has parted us, but it is temporary.We will be together again and this time there will be no parting.

So on to the beauty that we captured many years ago.I do believe that I have taken all these shots.

If memory serves me right, these were all taken in the Assiniboine Forest,within the city limits of Winnipeg.

I love these white birch trunks among the green grass and leaves.

The above photos as well as the next two, were taken in summer.Everything was lush and green.

Walking along these trails was so enjoyable.I recall that I had to stop every few steps and get yet another picture.

We came back to the same place later that year, just as the leaves were beginning to change color. It was delightful.

More birch trees.The golden light adds to the beauty.

Beauty around every bend in the trail. The fall color is very evident, even in the grasses.

As the sun lights up those yellow leaves, they seem to glow.

 I love scenes like this.The bend in the pathway makes me want to see what is just around that bend.

Truthfully,I have not been back to this place since that day when Jake and I were there. I would love to go back sometime, but would rather not do it all alone.At least I have the pictures and the memories.

Something To Think About:

Never measure God's unlimited power by your limited expectations.