The church sign. I lined up this shot to include the cross in the background. In the summer, this might be more obvious. But in the winter, the snow dominates the photo.

A rite of passage in the Upper Peninsula. My son is old enough and enthusiastic enough to take on the responsibility for shoveling after the snow storm.

I've been wanting to take this photo ever since the village maintenance crew put up the Christmas decorations downtown. I'll take another one in a couple of days when the heavy snow has fallen.

I can't say that I have specialized in any one genre of photography, at least not yet. I'm still exploring the creative opporunities. This is just one of the scenes that I've taken in Grass Lake, Michigan at the Fa-Ho-Lo Camp and Conference Center. It's a relatively small place, only about 130 acres, so it's challenged me to look at common sights from different perspectives.

This photo was taken of my sister and her husband and new baby, Emily. They sat for the picture at the end of the day on Thanksgiving as we were all getting ready to return home. All things being considered, the result was pretty good.

Every year, we take our "Lesters in the Leaves" portrait. Obviously, the photo is taken in the fall and involves my family being in a pile of leaves. The cool thing is that the village landscape dump is across the street from the house, thus giving us a large pile of leaves in which to jump. I'm going to try and convince my wife to pose for the "Lesters in the Snow Pile" photo.

Tabitha had asked if I could drop by and take some photos of her family who had gathered for her birthday. I saw it as an opportunity to not only help make a memory for her, but to practice taking family portraits. I used one umbrella with flash, an attached flash, and my Canon. It was a beautiful day. There wasn't much time, so I took the pictures as efficiently as I could. When I got back to my office, I realized that I had taken the entire shoot with an ISO speed of 1600. It was still on the setting I had used while shooting a volleyball match the night before. With a little photoshop work, I think I have managed to make something reasonably good.

I appreciate people and things that stick out from the crowd. In a world were people try to blend in, it is refreshing to meet someone or something that whose character grabs my attention. This cardinal takes up very little space in this photograph, yet it grabs the attention of the viewer. It reminds me that one doesn't have to be loud or large to stand out, only different.

Fa-Ho-Lo

It's amazing how many times I can see something without really seeing it. Then, about the thousandth time I go by, something gets my attention. This carving doesn't look very impressive, usually. But what if I get down low and and face it so that the Fa-Ho-Lo sign is showing in the background. It goes to show me how many interesting perspectives can be given to an otherwise mundane subject.

The Mackinaw Bridge inspires me to think about things that seem impossible and to try and achieve them, anyway. Every trip "below the bridge" and back require at least a ten-minute stop for a photo shoot.

This is the most viewed photograph on my Flickr.com site. I've gotten reactions ranging from "disturbing" to "authentic yooper". I'm thinking about selling this at the Old Bank shop in Newberry in the spring.

Welcome to the Parson's Eye Photography!

Thank you for stopping by for a look at my photo stream. You may have seen some of my work on Facebook or on Flickr. Along with some of the photos on those streams, I am including photographs of interest to my friends and neighbors that may not be of interest to the general public. I don't charge for downloads of any of my photographs to those who live in and around Luce County, or the Assemblies of God (especially Living Water Assembly of God!) If you would like a photograph to download, drop me a line and I will email it to you.

Sean, The Parson's Eye lead photographer