Photo Deletions

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, ESV).  The leaves in this photo are already gone.

So far, Flickr has hosted most of the photos on this blog.  However, recently, SmugMug acquired Flickr from Yahoo, and announced new pricing plans and impending photo deletions.  Because I’m not willing, at this time, to commit to paying SmugMug a monthly fee for the rest of my life, there will be deletions of old photos.

This has happened before.  When PicApp went out of business, this blog lost the pictures on some of its best and most popular posts.  What man does comes and goes, but

whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it.  God has done it, so that people fear before him.  That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.

— Ecclesiastes 3:14-15, ESV.

Because of this change, I plan to transition my Flickr account away from documentary evidence and more toward artistic photography.  SmugMug will stop uploads in January, and will begin photo deletions in February 2019.  Right now, photos are already disappearing because I’m attempting to proactively save the best artistic by deleting the older documentary.

Internet companies come and go, but the Word of the Lord endures forever.  Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum.  VD+MA.

Advertisement

365 Days on Flickr

One of the activities photographers engage in on Flickr is creating a photo set with one picture from every day of the year.  This helps photographers to expand their skills by challenging their abilities to shoot in different kinds of light and under different conditions.

The two pictures above were both taken at Hartman Creek in Wisconsin, on the same warm October day.  Evergreens are always colorful and photogenic.

However, not every tree is an evergreen, so sharing a beautiful photo from every day of the year in Wisconsin would be a challenge, especially if one is not particularly into self-portraiture.  Even though every day does have its own kind of beauty, some months might consist of 29 pictures of gray.

Sometimes beauty is hidden.

One October Day in the Kettle Moraine Forest:

Maybe someday I will attempt a 365 day photo project, but in the meantime I have decided that I should better utilize Flickr by posting and sharing more photographs.  The pictures below are all from one day in the Kettle Moraine Forest near New Fane, Wisconsin.

Here, a single-track mountain bike trail winds its way through the golden Kettle Moraine Forest.  In Wisconsin, October is a colorful month, and some days are worth more than one photo.

Above, a fiery warm sunset illuminates golden trees in the Kettle Moraine Forest.  The sun is at our back.

Below are three pictures of trees from the other side, with the sun towards the front of the camera:

Autumn leaves, filled with golden sunlight, glow against a dark background.

Sometimes, I think the lives of Christians are like those leaves: just as the leaves are filled with and reflect the physical light of the sun, so also our lives are filled with and reflect the spiritual light of the Son of God.

If “anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”  (Philippians 4:8, NIV 1984).

The sun sets at the Kettle Moraine Forrest near New Fane, Wisconsin.

Even if one does not take a beautiful picture every day; in Christ, every day is still a good day.

Photo Sharing & Autumn Leaves

One of the benefits of internet photo sharing is the ability to receive input from others as to the quality of particular photographs.  The above photo was not originally one of my favorites, but a number of people have commented that they really like it.  One photographer nominated it as a “SuperShot,” another gave it a “SuperShot” award, and still another featured it in one of their galleries.  In this way, Flickr can be both fun and a useful peer review tool.

The picture is of biking on the Bearskin Trail in northern Wisconsin.  It’s not only a beautiful memory, but a beautiful picture as well.

This closeup of a leaf hasn’t received any awards, but I still like it.

WELS Churches on Flickr

There is a new photo sharing group on Flickr with pictures of WELS church buildings.  To see the group: click here.  To see the group’s pictures in a slideshow: click here.