June 22, 2017 FaHoLoscapes

There are no horses at FHL.  These horses belong to the neighbors and can be seen up close on the path around the campus.




The corn begins to grow on a plot of land adjacent to the north grove.




The Sandhill Cranes of FaHoLo.  They are only a little wary of people and can be seen sauntering around the property.



I captured this image while sitting in the waterfowl observation pavilion.  Unfortunately, the pond was overtaken by the marsh shortly after this was built.  The waterfowl have moved on.



A single flag waves in the distance.  A few years ago, water separated the distance between where I took the photo and the trees seen in the background.




Not a landscape.  This is the old hay wagon that sits along the path.

The Lakefront.  Perfectly calm and with the reflecting the clouds, it is a peaceful prelude to the controlled chaos that will follow when the summer camps begin.

June 3, 2017. Grass Lake Softball

Bats and Hats.  The helmets and the bats are lined up and ready for the umpires' pre-game inspection.  Once in awhile I find an illegal bat.  Usually, it's a cheap bat that a dad found thinking he was getting a deal.  Almost always, it is a slow-pitch only bat, or a bat without a sanctioning sticker.  

The Grass Lake Lady Warriors waiting for the game to start.

Missed the Corner.  Dennis Lupo is the umpire behind the plate.  

Illegal Pitch.  Pitching "trenches"  develop where the pitchers drag their foot on the push off.  This makes it hard for high school umpires to judge whether a leap has occurred.  In this photo, the pitcher is leaping for an uncalled illegal pitch.  

Making it to 2nd.  Down a run, this double provided some encouragement to the team.  Grass Lake would eventually lose the game and end the 2017 campaign.

June 21, 2017

Girls by the Lake.

I was practicing with a new piece of equipment when the neighbor girls came to the lakefront.  I managed to get a couple of shots off before the scene would no longer be candid.  A half dozen children live in homes on the grounds of the FaHoLo Conference Center.



It is also home to a half-dozen dogs.

Tahquamenon in February

Tahquamenon in February, originally uploaded by parsonseyephotography.

The falls are gorgeous any time of year, but I especially like how they look in the winter.

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