A Belated 4th of July

My long weekend was relatively uneventful, but I did take some photos that range from "meh" to midly interesting.

I took a few firework shots on Thursday night of the Yankee Doodle Pops fireworks, from my roommate's work's rooftop:








I probably should have left the shutter open longer, but for a first go, I'm fine with these.

After the fireworks thing got really interesting. We were standing on the roof, talking with some new friends who had snuck up their too, when over their shoulders I noticed a large, black plume of smoke coming from behind a building or so away. As we looked below, we could see the orange flickering glow of a fire. Naturally we all had to investigate further, so we left the roof, to find two cars engulfed in flames. I took some photos of that too, because it was just that insane.







Speechless.

The next day I took some not that great photos of the Des Moines river (because it's flooded, and looks cool) and of the new pedestrian bridge.






I'm going to try those photos in black and white later.

I'd say this weekend could be summed up as such: fireworks, fire, and flood.

A Prophet & a Promise Photography

{The final art work}

I was asked to do an art piece for The Gateway Church for their next series on Isaiah.

Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!
For the LORD has spoken:
"I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me. (Isaiah 1:2)

Like ancient Israel, God has a plan and desires for everyone from their birth, but also like Israel, we run, we hid, we rebel.

I took portraits of myself and friends, holding baby pictures; a visualization of where we each have come and grown from. Nine different people, nine different lives, but one God, who is redeeming us like Israel.

Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool. (Isaiah 1:18)

When I started this project, I thought of having people looking at a variety of different points, but when I assembled everything, with everyone looking around, it looked very Brady Bunchy, so I stuck with everyone focused on the camera. You can check out all of the photos here on Flickr, plus look at the other photos that were taken.

PICTURES!

It's so exciting, it deserves caps lock.

flickr

And there you shall see my pictures from the trip thus far.