God's Paintings in the Sky

During most evenings in the summer, we take the boat for a trip around the lake. I like this time of year. The view is very interesting as the clouds and sunsets are always different. We never know quite how it will look when we head out. It's a very relaxing time and a great way to finish a day.


When you take photos from a boat, you face the challenge of holding the camera steady enough to take a sharp picture. It can be interesting trying to get the picture. The other thing that can be a challenge is  to get the horizon (edge of the lake) level. It's easier on our small lake than when you are on water that has very high waves. Usually the water has calmed down by the time we go out on the lake and this helps a lot.

I like to think of the sunsets and clouds as God's paintings in the sky. He is the One who created the earth and the heavens, and He has made them beautiful - a real pleasure for us to look at. We need to remind ourselves to worship the Creator, not the Creation.

The heavens declare the glory of God; 

the skies proclaim the work of His hands.

Psalm 19:1

A Broken Camera

My camera broke. This was not a nice feeling for me. The main dial no longer allows me to change my shutter or aperture. I was looking into getting it repaired, but my husband and I talked about it, and I've decided to get a new camera.

In the meantime, I wanted to test the different automatic modes out to see if the camera was still working well. It is, and it is possible to take photos using automatic mode, but I am looking forward to being able to use the other settings.

I tried taking the photos with the "flower" macro mode, but it kept wanting to put the flash on. There was no way that I could figure out how to turn off the flash, so I tried it in P mode and it worked fairly well. In fact, when I compare the photos I took with the macro mode and the P mode, I cannot see any difference other than the lighting because of the flash. The macro mode doesn't let me get any closer to the flowers than the P mode. In other words, it may say Macro, but it really isn't. A macro lens would be needed for very close up.

I was able to use the camera I have even though part of it is broken. This reminds me that God can use us even when we think that we are "broken" or not good enough to be able to do things for Him.

 I will praise the LORD while I live; 

I will sing praises unto my God while I have my being. 

Psalm 146:2

Photographing the Beauty of Orchids

A friend gave me an orchid as a thank you gift. I don't have much of a green thumb, so I was concerned about whether I  could keep it living or not. All that I have ever known (or thought I knew) about orchids is that they are delicate and difficult to keep growing. She reminded me that if she had given me a bouquet of flowers, they wouldn't last very long either ... so in other words - enjoy them as long as I have them. I thought this was good advice. And, it sounds like they aren't supposed to be as hard to look after as I've thought.


It looks like the one I have is called a Phalaenopsis. It is one of the popular ones, and is easy to grow. If they are looked after properly, they can bloom for months. We'll see how I do with them. 

When I took the photos, I purposely overexposed them just to see how they would look. I'm still learning and experimenting. Once the photos were taken, I did some post processing in Photoshop Elements - most of this was playing with the colour. 

We can enjoy the beauty of the flowers and know that God has created them for His enjoyment and for ours. 

The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds 

and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.

 And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:12

Fireworks in West Guilford

 West Guilford puts on a pretty good fireworks show. It's held over Pine Lake, and looks great. Lately, we haven't gone right to Pine Lake to watch it as we are able to see them from our own lake. We can stand on our dock to watch them, and listen to them as the sound rumbles around the lakes and hills. 

Fireworks can be challenging to take photos of. The settings I used were: Aperture: f16, Shutter speed: Bulb, ISO 100. 

Standing on the dock can cause some shake in the photo, so you really have to be careful how you take the pictures. I used my remote shutter to try to cut down on some of the shake. You also have to guess at how long to have the shutter open. Using the bulb setting helps a lot.

Fireworks. Why would I put this on my blog that is about Enjoying God's Handiwork? I thought about this when I was taking the pictures. God provides people with the intellect for figuring out how to put the fireworks together. God created people... so, we can enjoy the work that has been made by people, who were made by God.

For by Him (God) all things were created: 

things in heaven and on earth, 

visible and invisible,

 whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; 

all things were created by him and for him. 

Colossians 1:16