WooWhoo! 289 images!

I did it. Too cool. I set a goal of posting a new image every day back in March 2008. I think I may have missed a few days, but not many. So now I have 289 pictures in my Image a Day gallery. The image below is the last one for 2008. Go visit the site and check out all 289 pictures.

This is the last image for 2008.

Just a few buildings somewhere near Tower Grove Avenue in St. Louis.
Adams School.

Just a Tree Across the Street

Captured with an infrared-converted Nikon D70s.

Moore-Montgomery-Meyers Christmas Feast 2008

I just uploaded about 75 images from last night's Christmas feast at the Montomery's. Great time. Thanks to Maggie and Joel for hosting it, as always. If you want to see all the pictures, you can find them all in this gallery. Here's a sample of the craziness.

It's Christmas Eve!

The Children of Providence

Here are a few more images from Providences Service of Lessons & Carols this past Sunday evening. You can view over 100 images from the service here.

Service of Lessons & Carols

More to come!

Image of the Day

Gee, I wonder who this is?

Circuit Board

Albino Christmas Trees

Captured with an infrared-converted Nikon D70s.

A Retro Tree Christmas

I made this!

Last Minute Gift?

I have a book recommendation for you. This book might be especially helpful for friends who are troubled this time of year. The book is called A Table in the Mist: Meditations on Ecclesiastes. Yeah, it's my book.

You can order A Table in the Mist here or here or here.

Here's the Preface I wrote for the book a few years back at this time of year:

As I sit in my quiet basement study writing this preface the world outside is buzzing with commotion. It is Christmas time. With less than a week of shopping left before the big day, there is a great whirl of activity everywhere. Everyone is franticly making preparations. Businesses are throwing parties. Families will be gathering for annual feasts. Dazzling decorations have been strewn over buildings, homes, and even doghouses. Bright lights, evergreen boughs, multi-colored bulbous ornaments, glittering silver strands of garland, and more garnish windows and doorways all up and down the street. It would seem, from all outward appearances, that everything is right in the world, that peace and joy reign supreme.

But, as everyone knows, colorful Christmas decorations often mask dark depression for many people. Even though the feast of Christmas ought to be a time when even those who have much to be troubled about experience a ray of divine joy and happiness around the table with relatives and friends, oftentimes the season itself exacerbates people's problems. How can this be?

The Christmas holiday season has been increasingly cut loose from its foundation in the Bible and Christian tradition. Modern Christmas seasons provide us with little more than sentimental, syrupy niceness. Nice thoughts about a mistily glowing baby Jesus. All we are left with is the commoditization of vague religious sentimentalism. There is no spiritual power in this. What's worse, because of this the Christian faith seems to many in our culture to be little more than an attempt to stir up comforting religious feelings to mask one's real troubles in the world. But this is so far removed from the Bible and genuine Christian tradition that it has to be considered another religion, one that plays make believe with the dirty realities of this life.

Kirkwood, Missouri

This is the larger version of the banner image.
Captured with an infrared-converted Nikon D70s on the S. Clay bridge over the RR tracks.

The Retro Tree Again

Our Retro Tree

This is an old aluminum tree complete with motorized base and spinning color wheel (not pictured).

Spinning!

Image of the Day

Assault the Sky - St. Gabriel's in St. Louis Hills
This was captured with an infrared-converted Nikon D70s. I deliberately have not corrected for the 12mm lens distortion in order to highlight the converging lines in the church's architecture.

You can keep the change

Does anyone know if these are for sale? I want one!
The only think they should have added is "my religion," but then it might have been too long.

Infrared Puppy

We're not in Kansas anymore, Spencer!

Corrected STL Miniatures

After a few months of trial and error, I think I finally figured out how to do these "miniature" or "tilt-shift" images right. My earlier attempts with the St. Louis images were too blurry. And I was using the wrong kind of blur. I also figured out the best set of color and light adjustments to make them look like models or toys. Here's the corrected STL set.
St. Louis Toy Town

The Old Cathedral

Bush Stadium (or is it now InBev Stadium)

The Courthouse

STL Front & Center

Little American Jet

Water Fountain Deity

Stud Photographer

What a man. What a photographer. Never mind that I almost died, let's get a picture of it!

Dallas & Monroe Miniatures

Here are some miniatures I captured on the plane from DFW to Monroe, LA. They are the best quality because I was shooting with my little point & shoot camera through a scratched window in the airplane.

Train Set

Subdivision

Cloverleaf

Motel

Hanger

White House

Dallas

Bulls Eye

This is not the most artistic capture, but it was a fascinating moment I was lucky to get. We were flying to Monroe, LA, from DFW. There was a thin layer of clouds below us. The sun was somewhere behind us and was reflecting off of something on the plane and projecting a rainbow on the clouds below us. I think that was what was happening. Just as I was about to snap a picture of the circular rainbow the shadow of the airplane passed through the center of the rainbow. It was only there for second or two. I just happened to have my camera up and ready to capture it.

Advent & Guilt

I love Angie's analysis of this Advent Conspiracy video. Read it!

Compton Hill Water Tower

The images of the day are of the Compton Hill Water Tower (built in 1898) at the SE corner of 44 and Grand in St. Louis.