Saturday, July 21, 2012

Color Splash

Chicago River Touring

Black Duck, The Big City

Blowing An Afternoon On The Water

Washington's Dog Lake

Cottage Grove Sundown

Beautiful Photography Award #7



This month's winner of the NikonSniper "Beautiful Photography Award" is ... KenRockwell.com.

This month I decided to put a very different website on my winner's list. Usually you will see that I am after sites that show me tons of ability in a specific discipline of photography. This month, I decided to make you aware of a great source of information regarding photographic equipment.

I am often asked for my recommendations regarding various camera equipment. I believe that every photographer can benefit from the information and easy to use knowledge on Ken Rockwell's website.
Consult his wealth of information and ideas often. Consider contributing to his website if you find the information helpful.

Hope you all find this information as valuable as I do! Great job Ken Rockwell.

nikonsniper steve

Friday, July 20, 2012

Painting With Light On Digital Canvas

California Caddy

I'm Gonna Be Luvin' Me Some Frog Tonight

Meet You At The Fork In The Driveway

Love Sitting In A Cold Drizzle All Day

Buffalo Valley

What We Do In Life Echoes In Eternity



The famous words of Russell Crowe as Maximus Decimus Meridius in the move "The Gladiator are true. Maximus was using these words to mount his troops for battle.

The apostle Paul had a very similar reminder to call the Corinthian church to the sober reality of living a righteous life of faith in Christ. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:10, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

May God strengthen us and give us wisdom to prepare for that day!

NikonSniper Steve

Thursday, July 19, 2012

St. Louis County Skies

Chicago Light House

Colors On Mount Rainier

Thunder!

Mount St. Helens


Thank you so much to all of you who continue to follow NikonSniper. This website started less than three years ago at the prompting of my wife and kids to place photos in a place that they could see them. For years, I had taken photos and had just stored them away on hard drives and no one had access to view them. I had no idea that they would receive this much interest. Last month NikonSniper received 8,500+ hits. That's crazy! All I can say is thank you. In actuality, your comments have become the majority of the words found on this blog ... and they are so appreciated. I enjoy looking at your blogs too! I learn so much from you and your ideas. They help me to keep improving at this art.

This photo is very special to me. Here are the words I wrote on 6/21/09 after taking the photo. I wrote this while seated at the Alaska Airlines gate in Portland getting ready for a night of flight back to Chicago after a two week road trip in Washington and Oregon.

Today, I took my last sidetrip before my flight home. I drove up to Mount St. Helens to kill some time while waiting for my cheap-o flight back to the Windy City. My flight is one of those "red eyes" that departs Portland at 9pm for Los Angeles, then another jump to Dallas before I reach Chicago a little after 9am on Sunday. I am not as young as I used to be!

After checking my bags and passing through security in Portland, I saw an open power plug at my gate, plugged in and accessed the Airport wireless network. I just had to post one of these incredible photos from Mount St. Helens before I left.

Earlier today, while heading to Mount St. Helens, I stopped in the tourist information center and was told that there really wasn't much to see on the south side of Mount St. Helens. I just kept going anyway because I really didn't have enough time to go to the north side.

After seeing what I saw on the southside ... I beg to differ on the worthiness of the south view. The photos I captured there did not do justice to what I saw with my own eyes. I saw an absolutely beautiful array of violet flowers growing in the lava path from the volcano. The people at the information center said there was nothing to see. HA!

Isn't that just like SO many things we take for granted if we see them everyday? Being a flatlander from Illinois, I found this location to be truly stunning. In fact, I called home this afternoon and told my son that I may have taken the best landscape photos that I have ever seen in my life. I did wish that the sun would have popped through a bit more today while I was there but I'll take these 1000 photos anytime. I am so glad I added them to my collection.

Look at what the hand of God did and continues to do with His on-going creative power! I know that I have been fortunate to have taken some pretty cool photos in my lifetime ... but this photo had nothing to do with me. I simply held the camera, pushed a button and became the beneficiary of collecting evidence of God. The 2nd law of Thermodynamics states that things left to themselves lead to chaos! God intervened to leave this stunning fingerprint on the surface of His Earth.Hope you enjoy what you see here! Thanks Washington and Oregon for these and future memories.

NikonSniper Steve

Braving The Elements