The Lord is Close to the Brokenhearted

Psalm 34:18 (New International Version)
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

According to Wikipedia brokenhearted is defined as a common metaphor used to describe the intense emotional pain or suffering one feels after losing a loved one, through death, divorce, moving, or being rejected or neglected or other means. For me it can also be defined as a state of being discouraged and demotivated due to various reasons.

Can you identify with this feeling? Can you see yourself in this state right now? Or maybe a better question is have you been broken-hearted before?

The Lord through His WORD had said, "He is close to the brokenhearted". Praise the Lord!

That's one more promise that each one of us can cling onto. God is actually saying that when people reject you, when people leave you, when people neglect you, when everyone else deserts you, HE DOESN'T. When you feel like the world has left you all alone, He stands by your side.


Let's read a Passage from the Book of Acts to prove this point.

Acts 23:10-11 (New International Version)
The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks.

The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, "Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome."

Paul experienced so much pain that even the commander thought he'd be torn into pieces. Now, imagine how painful that is! And God saw this and the following night, He stood near Paul to comfort him and give him courage.

In the same way, whatever you're going through right now. Problems? Trials? Please know God sees you. God surely will never leave you alone. He'd stand near you to comfort you and encourage you.

So the next time, we encounter situations that would tear and break us down, let's TAKE Courage and know that the "Lord is close to the brokenhearted".

creating an eddy ~ Eddie Ross on The Skirted Round Table

Long before the designer competed on Bravos 'Top Design' Eddie Ross was creating a vibe in the world of design and the art of living. With his year old blog and his collaboration with partner Jaithan Kochar, he's creating a serious stir. Listen as Eddie tells us what this past year has brought for him, how he does that magic that he does and what's next for this power couple. {I promise, you're going to need a nap when you hear these guys' schedule ~T I R E L E S S }

The Skirted Round Table

bustin' out

For those of us smitten with the shell encrusted bust featured on yesterday's post, we are in formidable company. Former editor-in-chief at House Beautiful, JoAnn Barwick's Boca Grande get away was featured in this month's Traditional Home Magazine and shows this beautiful bust.....

the house, overall, is a beautiful example of beachy, Island, Swedish goodness. Not to be missed read more here.

Yuri Arcurs: Mr. Microstock

Do you dabble in stock photography? Maybe, say, a little microstock photography?

If you do, this is the guy you are up against.

To say Yuri Arcurs has the game figured out would be a bit of an understatement. He sells nearly 2,000 images a day, 24/7/365.

Hit the jump for a video tour of his insane, made-for-micro studio, and a look at his lighting techniques.
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Made for Micro

I have to admit that when I first started watching this I thought it was one of those parody videos. But then I realized that Yuri (a nom de photo used by Jacob Wackerhausen) has basically beaten the microstock equivalent of the Kobayashi Maru by creating an entire facility based around the needs of microstock.

Insanity? Genius? Maybe a little bit of both:




(If you are reading this via email or RSS, you may have to click on the post title to see the vids.)

This being a lighting blog we are not gonna let you out the door without at least a little lighting tute. Yuri has everything down to a science, and his lighting reflects a quest for repeatable, predictable quality -- designed to make those warm, happy photos that make a microstock purchaser dig deep down into the couch cushions and cough up 40 cents to seal the deal. Over and over again.

(The lighting info starts at the 2:56 mark.)




You can see more about Yuri at his website, and you can also follow him on Twitter.
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[UPDATE, via Anders C., in the comments:]

For those who wonder about his studio: Back in January a Danish photography magazine arranged an interview with Yuri in his daylight studio (as opposed to his business office).

After driving around for a while the journalist had to call Yuri and tell him that he simply couldn't find the studio in the area where it was supposed to be - all he could find was a lot of very large, industrial greenhouses outside the city. After a few seconds with Yuri on the phone, one of these large greenhouses started flashing!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you create a bloody large daylight studio: An industrial greenhouse combined with loads and loads of white, semi-translucent material.


Indeed.

she sells seashells

There's such a fine line between elegant shell designs and those that are kitsch appearing as though they came out of a little shell shop on The Redondo Pier.

But when you see the real deal, you know the difference {and it's not just the sticker reading 'made in china'}

Heather Kendall Designs, is the real deal and her work is truly, elegant {'shell-egant', shall we say?}

Kendall's work can be found in beach homes spanning the country from L.A. to Nantucket and some of those beach-less, beach houses in between. Custom orders are welcome and encouraged. Heather Kendall Designs

Jesus: You are my bestfriend!

Here's one song from Hillsong that I have been personally blessed with. It just sends out the message that Jesus is our Bestfriend and NOTHING will change that. Which is soooo true.

The Bible says:

Romans 8:38-39 (New King James Version)

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.


See, absolutely nothing can take us away from HIS love.

And when he's your bestfriend, you share everything to him, right? You tell him your secrets, successes and yes problems and struggles. A bestfriend would always want to listen.

The question is, would you like to accept his friendship? He's just waiting for you.

Best Friend by Hillsong (Marty Sampson)

Have you heard of the one called Savior?
Have you heard of His perfect love,
Have you heard of the one in heaven,
Have you heard how He gave His son'
Cause I found this love,
I believe in the Son. Show me Your way.

I believe in the One called Savior,
I believe He's the risen One,
I believe I'll live forever,
I believe that my king will come,
Cause I found this love,
I believe in the Son. Show me Your way.

Chorus:
Jesus, you are my best friend,
And you will always be,
And nothing will ever change that,
Jesus, you are my best friend,
And you will always be,
And nothing will ever change that.

Bridge:
Nothing will ever change that,
Nothing will ever change that,
Nothing will ever change that,
Nothing will ever change that.

You are a WINNER!

We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed
2 Cor. 4:8-9

Reflection:

Here's one great promise we can hold on today. Whatever happens, the enemy shall never defeat us. When God is on our side, we are indeed more than conquerors.

It's like as if you are in a movie and you're the main star. Usually in the movie, there will be times that the main star struggle, suffer and even beaten but in the end you'd still emerge as the winner. Oh I'm not talking about tragic movies, alright? Our movies (lives) in the Lord are always victorious and happy endings.

So take heart, whatever you're going through right now, just continue to hold on. You'll soon win. As i always say, if you're not winning, the war isn't over yet.

Praise the Lord!

Bible Believer and Networked Blogs @ Facebook

I have started a new group through Facebook. It's called the Bible Believer. This is different from the Networked Blogs that this site has been registered in because through Networked Blogs, you'll receive notification of the recent and newest blog posts while this group, if you choose to be a member, you will receive Word of God everyday for you to meditate in and reflect on.

So if you have Facebook, please go ahead and join the group or better yet follow Your Daily Word through Networked Blogs. I would like to encourage you to invite others to join as well.

Here are the links:

1. Bible Believer Group

2. Your Daily Word @ Networked Blogs

God Bless you more and more!

Your labor in the Lord is not in vain

1 Corinthians 15:58 (New International Version)

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Whatever you sow, you reap. If you sow good works, then you will reap good works. If you sow honesty, you reap honesty. This simply follows the golden rule: "Do unto others what you like for them to do unto you."

To those who are working, what is your boss like? Is he understanding? Does he give you rewards and recognition? Does he give you rest if need be? Or does he keep on pressuring you to do something you think you're unable to do? Do you feel like your boss has asked you so much but is paying you so little? A lot of us my have very good bosses that some really are proud of maybe because he listens and is fair (always). But some of us also have bosses that are super strict sometimes (unnecessary strictness), unfair (those who have favorites), or maybe bosses who are indecisive and are driven by things said around him. We all have various bosses ranging from good to worst based on our standards. But I know a master who is the best master of all!

It's Jesus, of course. Who else? He's the most fair master in the entire universe. Romans 2:11 says: "For there is no partiality with God."

What does this mean?

Everything you do for Him will never be in vain. A whisper of prayer for your brother. A tap on the discouraged friend to encourage him. A smile to a person. A show of love to an "enemy". Being excellent in your job knowing that you're wokring for God and not for men. Giving to the poor. Praying for the needy. Living a life worthy of your calling. Being a blessing in more ways than one. In sharing the gospel. In being proud you're a CHRISTIAN and a bringer of His name. In not compromising your character. In not giving in to temptations.

All of these and more will never be forgotten by God. You may not be experiencing the "rewards" now but take heart "Your labor in the Lord is not in VAIN!".

Just continue. Keep on running the race. Soon you will reap what is due you. Know that God when he rewards, he rewards tremendously. Remain faithful and be expectant for that!

God bless you!

Boot Camp II, Assignment 1: Results

I have now been through the 700+ photos that were submitted for SCBII's first assignment enough times to be thoroughly sick of every single photo in the pile.

Kidding.

They are great. But I did go through them a lot.

A few standouts, some notes and a lucky winner -- inside.
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First of all, it was neat to see so many people go to the effort to talk someone into letting you photograph them. I know this was not easy for many of you, and I hope it ended up being a growth experience. It was also great to see so many of your faces, and I will admit to that being an ulterior motive of the second portion of the assignment.

Second, I was impressed with the sheer number of photos that would have looked right at home in A-list magazines -- including more than a few potential covers. Bearing in mind that most of the readers of this site are amateurs, that rocks.

Now the hard part -- picking a winner. It is, of course, subjective. And any of at least a hundred photos in the stack could just as easily been featured here today. I had time to leave some notes on a few pictures -- although not much, as we are both finishing up moving and closing on the old house this week. (Kinda crazy around here.)

That said, I pulled up some entries to talk about and use as examples. I hope you will indulge how personal (and, thus, seemingly arbitrary) picture editing can be. The important thing is that so many of you jumped right into the deep end.

And, hopefully, benefitted from the experience.

Some of the photos below are dual-pic composites, others have the photographer's headshot in a nearby frame in their Flickr stream.

As always, click on the pic to see it bigger and see who shot it. And please take a moment to leave a note under your fave.

Enough yapping. On with the photos, and the reasons they stood out to me.
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Because looked like it jumped off of the pages of WIRED Magazine.

Because of the DIY biz-card gobo on the key.

Because of the in-focus background that could have been a weird distraction, but instead carried the shadows from the low-fill in a cool way.

Because the photog shot his recently unemployed dad, which probably injected a fun, purposeful shooting session / family activity into a stressful period.


Because of the impish expression on the subject's (top) face.

Because of the use of graphic lines and color.

Because of the inclusion of background context while still keeping a headshot framing. The photo has layers of of interest.

Because of the confidence exuded by the subject -- he looks like he is ready to take on the world.


Because of the inclusion of vocation-specific background, but not in a way that hammers you over the head.

Because the lighting is simple, elegant and does not call attention to itself.

Because the subject exudes professionalism and warmth -- her expression makes her look like someone you would want to work with.

Because the composition -- including contextual background -- is still tight enough to work as a Facebook and/or LinkedIn avatar and still be readable. The photo can be used in a variety of ways.


Because of the strong graphic quality.

Because of the quirky expression.

Because of the creative use of a light modifier as a quickie background.

Because of how the high-key, airy exposure brings the whole picture together.


Because he placed the subject on a background that many people miss as they are walking around on their background looking for a background.

Because of the way the expression, hair, grass and everything work together.

Because of the composition that makes the flower in the ground look as if it is in her hair.

Because the shooting angle allowed the photog to use an umbrella as key and the cloudy, overhead fill as a huge, on-axis softbox.


Because of the intensity.

Because of the tight crop, which adds to the above.

Because of the keyboard reflection being pulled off very well in the curved glasses. Not novel, but done very well.

Because of how the B&W conversion added to the simplicity of the photo.


Because the subject (left) oozes cool.

Because of how well the specular highlights were handled with the glasses.

Because of the color palette and tonal range. The internal separation is great -- the face works perfectly against the background.

Because how many sons can pull off a photo of their dad that "oozes cool" on Father's Day?


Because of the expression and connection in the subject (left).

Because of the lighting.

Because the background, which at first seemed too busy, is actually composed of the DIY crafts the subject makes.

Because of the diagonal crop to the headshot.


Because of the well-executed profile lighting. (Lighting from a little behind the subject, as here, is a better bet than straight-on profile light.)

Because of the expression and moment.

Because of the photographer seeing the design on the background and using it to add a dynamic element in what could have been a static photo.


Because of the composition of the subject (left) and how well it works with the lighting.

Because of the distillation of the photo that happens with the conversion to B&W.

Because of the connection between the subject and the viewer -- and how well the two brothers' photos go together. Probably not a bad thing to pull together a few days before Father's Day.

Because most brothers I knew at this age could not stop beating each other up long enough to pull of two photos like this.
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So, there are a few sweet examples in a huge field of entries, many of which could have just as easily been on this page.

To see a slideshow of all of the entries, settle into a very comfortable chair, grab some caffeine and click here.

Oh, yeah -- and to see which one of these photographers has won the Speedlight Pro Kit, the Strobist Lighting DVDs and the Trade Secret Cards for the first assignment from SBCII: Click here.

Who will stand in the gap of this land?

Ezekiel 22:30 (New International Version)

"I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none."

Now with A (H1N1) spreading somewhat uncontrollably and with the global economy dipping deeper down everyday, the best questions to ask are "Have you prayed for your nation lately?" and "Have you stood in the gap for your land?"

The Lord is looking for people who can stand in the gap on behalf of this land. And we are supposed to be those people. Especially in times like these we are to represent our countries in praying to God. It is by all means our responsibility to mediate for our countries, to pray for the government, to intercede for them. Yes, our countries are our accountabilities.

It is so sad that some of us just allow for all these things to happen and pass us by. When we hear news about people dying due to the A (H1N1) virus, we feel sad but that’s just it. We cannot take time to pray unless it’s already our family or a church member who is affected. When we hear people getting fired and companies closing down, we won’t care that much unless it’s already a family or a church member who is affected. Let’s all be reminded to pray and take part and do our role. Maybe we can’t help add jobs or create a vaccine for the virus but we can do MORE with our knees!

The Bible says

2 Chronicles 7:14 (New International Version)
"if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

Take this time now to pray for your country and the world.

peace out

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, originally uploaded by annfrau.

shelter pop is up

AOL has a great new design blog filled with great ideas and finds-Shelter Pop . Fellow blogger and friend, Erin Loechner, asked if I would contribute to a posting on "The Perfect Summer Bedroom" read my 10 tips >>here<<

Death is Inevitable | A look into Michael Jackson's Death

When everybody is still shocked with the death of the former Charlie’s Angel Farah Fawcett, another news broke out about Michael Jackson being rushed to UCLA due to cardiac arrest. And as of this writing UCLA had pronounced the Pop Superstar dead. When I first heard this, my first reaction was “Michael can’t be dead. He’s like Michael Jackson: the superstar!” I mean a powerful man as he is can’t easily die just like that. I hope you understand where I am coming from. But then again, we need to accept it he really is DEAD. Gone forever.

What’s my realization?

Death is inevitable! All of us will surely die in one way or another. Some may just go ahead of us but really we will just follow them. But you know what, God didn’t design this to be this way. God’s plan didn’t include death. His plan was for man to multiply and fill the earth. But when Adam and Eve fell, that’s when things got mixed up. That’s when things got deadly.

Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of SIN is DEATH.”

It was when Adam and Eve sinned that Death became inevitable.

But Romans 3:10 says, “There is none righteous, no, not one;”

What does that mean?

We’re all going to die.

What’s the point?

God has great plans for our lives. In fact his plan for you is not to harm you but prosper you and plans to give you hope and a future. It’s when we choose to do our own thing, that things get mixed up. It is when we listen to the devil, it is when we choose our own way and plans instead of God’s plans that things get messy. Just like what happened with Adam, Eve and the whole mankind at that, death then came in. It is when worry, discouragement, disappointment, unnecessary struggles, came into our lives when we live our live our own way.

What then?

Romans 12:2 says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Yes! You read it right. God’s will for our lives are good, acceptable and PERFECT for us! Wow! That is one great promise, don’t you think?

Here are the things that must be done for us to know the WILL of GOD:

1. SEEK
- We need to seek that Will of GOD and DO it! And God said when we seek with all our hearts, we shall find it! Jer. 29:13.

2. TRANSFORMATION BY RENEWAL
- Jesus said “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”. It takes for us to be re-birthed and renewed. Taking out the old mind and putting in the mind of Christ.

3. BE DIFFERENT
- Once we are re-birthed, we are no longer citizens of this world which means we should not act like one. Let’s not conform to the pattern of this world. When the world worries, we TRUST. When the world panics, we remain still and know that HE is GOD

At the end of the day, we are faced with two choices: God’s WILL or our WILL? What’s your choice?

chewin' the fat

This week on the skirted round table, we chit chat about the real cost of using a designer. What's an average room actually cost if you're using a decorator? Also up, we discuss whether it's such a great idea to criticize magazine spreads on blogs. Have a listen, while you empty the dishwasher, sort socks etc.The Skirted Round Table

Two Photos that were Tough to Toss

Boot Camp II Assignment #1 yielded over over seven hundred entries, which I have thus far winnowed down to a baker's dozen. It is getting very difficult to edit them any further.

At this point, I have to look hard to find reasons to knock photos out. I just dropped two photos for no other reason than they are not really headshots. But they were both so beautiful I wanted to stick them up on the site and show them off -- and help me procrastinate a little longer in picking a winner.

One of them would look right at home in the NYT Sunday Mag, the other is an art photo mag cover waiting to happen.

Too loose to win, too good to throw away -- after the jump.
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Beautiful Look in Horrible Light

Jerome Love's photo of "Thulani," a youth program director in Soweto, South Africa is a wonderful example of how bad midday light can be finessed with small flashes. (Click the pic for bigger.)

If you look at the area in the right of the frame, you can see what ambient Jerome was dealing with. So he worked the shadow side of a building to build his light in the shade. He cheated the building a little to use the sun as a rim. This added a nice layer of texture to the portrait.

He used two bare SB-28s. The lack of a mod helps in the light output department. The key was high camera right, at 1/4 power, zoomed to 85mm throw. The fill was on the ground in front (on the vertical lens axis) and was set to 1/8.

Note that the key was upper camera right -- same side as the rim. This little departure from convention always adds a different feel to a lit portrait.


Bad ambient light: Free.
Two SB-28s: About $200.00.
Owning midday with two small flashes: Priceless.



I Can't Stop Looking at This One

Toni.R's timeless portrait of her 14-year-old daughter works even before the addition of the seagull, which is posed so perfectly it looks like a suspended movie prop.

The lighting is simple -- a bare SB-26, dialed way down, from camera left. It is working against the sun, which comes from camera right. (Check out the gull for ambient-only light.) Toni's light modifier -- a Tupperware bowl -- was rendered inoperative when it was accidently mistaken for the coleslaw dish.

I'll bet that never happens to Annie.
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These both had beautiful light, interesting composition and an atypical look. But beyond that there was a strong connection between the subject and the viewer in each portrait.

While both of these photos were technically not headshots, they get the highest compliment I can give a photo -- that I really wish I had taken them.

lovely letto

The other day a friend sent me this photo,

asking if it was I who had sent it to her. No, not me but those beds are really cool, if you find the source, lemme know. A few days later she sent me this link, which made them even cooler {by proxy}.

who wants to go to Tuscany?

and I thought I'd mention...

I was very flattered to be asked for commentary on Decorati's Profile page. It's a great feature the site has created, profiling different designers and then dipping into the blogger world for our take on the work. This week, art deco inspired designer Jean de Merry is featured. Jean De Merry's line is really quite something to behold, if you're not already familiar. Read more here.

It's TIME to Do Something

On great story of an Atheist who turned to God and believed! Indeed, nothing is impossible with the Lord. He always comes out victorious over AIDS, over Atheism, over anything. If we only allow our lives and ourselves to be used by God then more lives will be touched and changed, more people will be blessed, more souls will come to know Jesus Christ and more people will experience victory the same way this man has experienced it! Read the story and DO SOMETHING!


The story is something I have read from The High Calling Blogs. Actually, I hesitated in posting this as I have already posted the daily word for today. But I was so touched and moved by the story that I need you to read it as well. It's indeed the TIME to stand up and share the GOOD NEWS that we know.

Here's an excerpt from the post: Covenant Stories: Our First Funeral

Births, weddings, and funerals. These are hallmark events of any church. At Covenant we had seen a few births, including two of my own children, and a number of weddings. But as of 1997, there had been no funerals. The reason is obvious enough: our oldest member at that time was 53. New churches are often started by younger people, but I always felt a little out of balance in those days. In the churches of my youth, there were always plenty of gray hair in the pews. I asked Ben once what he thought we could do to attract some older people to Covenant.

“We might just have to grow our own gray heads,” he said. “And if the offerings keep looking like this, Luke and I will be our first.”

But, as we all know, the old are not the only ones who die. And so death made it’s inevitable first call to Covenant Baptist Church.

My wife met George Swisher at the hospital where she was working as a chaplain. George had AIDS and was in the hospital battling an infection of some kind. George was an avowed atheist. His father faithfully took the family to the Baptist Church on Sundays, but then he beat any idea of God out of George during the rest of the week. In George’s mind, his father, the beatings, and the Baptist Church were all rolled up together in a ball of painful memories. It’s not surprising that he hadn’t been in church for awhile.

One afternoon George was in a sleepy, drug-induced state and thought he saw Jesus standing at the foot of his hospital bed. He shook his head a few times and the vision of Jesus faded. About that time my wife walked into the room and announced that she was a chaplain. Normally George would have thrown her out, but the Jesus vision had spooked him a bit, so he let her stay. She did not push God talk on him. The two talked about life, laughed, and ended up becoming friends. I met George at a sandwich shop to talk, and in that conversation he confessed that he would like to come to church, but he felt it was a problem that he did not believe in God. I asked him why he wanted to come to church if he didn’t believe in God. He told me he remembered the hymns they sang in church when he was a boy. He thought he would like to hear that music again before he died.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Okay, come to church. People come to church for all sorts of reasons. Just sit there and sing hymns. You don’t have to do anything else. We won’t bother you or try to get you to convert or join or anything.” George was there the next Sunday, wearing jeans, black tennis shoes, a plaid flannel shirt, and suspenders. He sat in church, closed his eyes during the hymns, and sang along. He had a beautiful baritone voice, and within a few weeks, people were sitting near George so they could hear him sing.

I don’t have time to tell you how George became a Christian, and I don’t remember in any case. We never asked him. We just let him sing on Sundays and come to church picnics and be with us. We became his adopted family, you might say. One day George pulled me aside and said, “I think I’m ready to be baptized and become a Christian.”

“Really?” I said. I was surprised. “What happened?”

He scratched his beard. “Well, I don’t know for sure if there is a God. I still kind of doubt it, to be honest. But I started praying. I’ve been calling God ‘Dad.’ You know, like, ‘Hey Dad, can I talk to you for a moment?’ Do you think that’s okay?”

“Sure,” I said. “God, Dad, Father, Creator, Abba, whatever.”

Continue Reading the story by clicking here.

God Bless you!

The Lord's Prayer Explained

I was reading posts from other Christian blogs/sites as I usually do and I bumped into this one post that surely struck me. It's a post from Look to the Lord. I'm sure all of us especially our Roman Catholic friends know The Lord's Prayer. This is the prayer the Lord Jesus Christ gave when the disciples asked him to teach them how to pray. The story is written here: Matthew 6:9-13.

A lot possibly of us have memorized this and have prayed this prayer before but do we really know what every line of it means? Do we really understand what were praying or are we bordering in babbling words like what "pagans" do. Go over to her post here: The Lord's Prayer Revisited where she explained each phrase in the Lord's Prayer in a wonderful and amazing way to make us understand what this prayer really is all about.

Today let us be warned and be reminded, that Prayer should ALWAYS be coming from our hearts and I'm talking not only about this particular prayer. I'm sure there are times that some of our Prayers have become "usual" that we can't help our tongues from saying phrases and words especially for those prayers before meals or even those prayers before we sleep. We are sometimes so used to these prayers that we can't help praying the same thing again and again. Imagine if you're talking to your wife or husband and you say the same thing again and again everyday! That must be so annoying and possibly irritating, right? In the same way, let's treasure every minute of our Prayer time with the Lord. Let's all be reminded that these are our EXCLUSIVE Talk Time with Him, our creator. Let's get rid of repetitive words and/or phrases instead let's focus on what our hearts really want to say to Him.

Here are some past posts about Prayer that I recommend for you to read:

TAWG: Time Alone With God

Answered Prayers: Shout All the More!

Prayers are Answered by God through faith

Pray the Prayer of Jabez

a midsummer night's dream....

devon cream, england 2007

tim walker

The Word of God enables us to do Good Works

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."
2 Tim 3.16-17

That’s how important God’s Word is to our lives. If Schools have textbooks, Latter Day Saints have Book of Mormons, Muslims have Quran, we, Christians have the Bible. It’s very vital to our lives because after all, without God’s Word we don’t have any basis whatsoever to all that we believe in and hope for. Everything will just be meaningless and vanity. So why do we forget to even read it once a day? Why even though it’s that essential that we forget to bring it even to church services we attend? Why even though it’s very important that we don’t even bother to memorize verses? Why is it that we are just contented with reading the Word to fulfill our obligations as Christians and not even meditating on it? I can remember James, the brother of Jesus saying “like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”[James 1:23 – 24]

In Ephesians 2:10, the Word of God says “We are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand that we should WALK in them.” As Christians, that’s what we claim to be we are supposed to walk according to the “good” works prepared by God for us. But how will we know what these good works if we don’t spend quality time in studying and meditating on God’s Word daily. Please mind the word daily. I have learned that a Christian life is indeed a daily walk with the Lord. It’s dying daily to one’s self and waking up renewed by the Lord. It’s living a life day after day with the Lord which simply explains why God’s faithfulness is new every morning. That’s also the reason why this site is called Your Daily Word.



In Paul’s letter to Timothy, he emphasized the importance of God’s Word and reinforced the basic purpose of it. It’s the Word of God that sets the standard on what’s wrong and what’s right. This is very important, people may have their own standards and do’s and don’ts but it can be settled when it’s brought back to what the Word of God says. All standards must bow down to God’s standards in His WORD. It’s the Word of God also that corrects and rebukes wrong doings in fact it’s likened to a double edged sword that will surely cut through each heart. Without it, we’d end up following the “norm” thinking that it’s right coz everybody’s doing it. It’s the Word of God that lists down everything one should and straightens out any confusion that may come up. For what? For us to be thoroughly furnished unto all good works. For us to be able to work out our salvation with fear and trembling which we have been called to do.



The point is simple, the Bible is our basis, our compass, our map and our standard in this Christian life and that it’s too precious, too essential to be neglected and forsaken. Grab your Bible now and meditate on it and be ready to be taught, rebuked, corrected and trained for the “good” life God has called you beforehand.

Blog Out Loud T.V.~tune in

Blog Out Loud .01 "Finding Your Voice" from Blog Out Loud on Vimeo.

In case you missed the Blog Out Loud event Rebecca {loving.living.small} and I held a few weeks ago, in Venice Beach, Blog Out Loud T.V. is up and running with recaps of the evening.

Seymour here.

Food Photography Made Easy: The Lunch Box

Shooting vittles can be as complex as you want to make it. But it is pretty easy to get elegant, well-lit food photographs with almost no money out of pocket.

Hit the jump for a gastronomic update on a Strobist cheapskate classic.
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Of the 1,000+ posts on Strobist at this writing, one of the most popular is the $10 Macro Studio -- a cardboard box hack that makes it almost impossible to take a bad shot of a small object.

With a little alteration, that same concept can be used to create classic food photography lighting with a light source as simple as a desk lamp. Of course, a speedlight will work great, too...


Thinking Outside of the Box

The classic direction for lighting food is from the top/back. In typical presentation, food has more width and depth than it does height. So the top/back is a logical position from which light can rake across the food to reveal texture and form.


For this walk-through I raided the fridge for some fresh tomatoes. Not complex, but nice and 3-d for illustrative purposes. Here they are with a bare light hitting them from the classic, top/back position.

This hard light almost makes the 'maters look as if they are made of wood and painted glossy red. You can do a lot to manipulate the visual perception of surface quality with different lighting techniques.


Here is the same shot with a wider lens. The light source is a bare SB-800, but it could just as easily be a desk lamp.

You could easily soften that light with an umbrella if you have one. But if your food or setting is specular, those ribs (Mmm-hmm-hmm-hmm... ribs...) are gonna give you problems.

This is one of those instances where a soft box is much better than a shoot-through. But there is no need to shell out for one if you are not shooting this kind of stuff all of the time.

Instead, you can hack a large cardboard box (quite literally) and essentially turn the soft box inside out.


So, here is the basic box -- use a big one -- cut up and placed back together to give you a sense of where the cuts are. The more of an angle you put on that diagonal cut, the more your light will come from the back. I did this one kinda middle-of-the-road, but you might want to crank it up a notch or two.

And if you use a razor knife like I did, please be careful. Or at least bookmark this page before you start. Just sayin'.


(LIGHTING GEEK NOTE: I had fun doing a quickie shot of the cut-up cardboard box. Click it to see bigger, with notes on the locations of the four flashes involved ...)


That big open square on the top is gonna get some diffusion material, so the window will do its job and improve your harsh light source. Tracing paper is ideal, but tissue paper (big, like from a gift) works great. Stretch it smooth. Wax paper will do in a pinch, too.

I scrounged a little Rosco Tuff Frost, which is tough (duh) and uniform, not to mention color-neutral. That last part is important, if you are using some type of mystery diffusor.

Also, if you are using this with a desk lamp, use an incandescent bulb (no CFLs) and set your camera's white balance to tungsten. Everything will work fine.


Here is the part you keep, and by now it should be getting pretty self explanatory as to how to use it to soften that bare flash or desk lamp. If you are more of a food blogger than a photographer, you can do this all with continuous light and a tripod -- just crank that aperture wayyy down for lots of depth of field.

(Not that this is a foodie blog, but you regulars would be surprised at who passes through here while learning to shoot stuff for their site.)


Okay, so lets stick our box in between the light and the subject and see what happens. Right away, the tomatoes look way better. I am using a sheet of black plexi as a background, to get a clean reflection of the new, slicker light source. (The umbrella would suck for this background, because of the ribs' reflection.)


Here is a pullback, which actually is a pretty cool composition. But looking at this (and the photo just above) our next problem is that the bottoms of the tomatoes are too dark. This is because all of the light is coming from the back/top.

That's an easy fix, and we do not need another light, either. We can get double-duty out of our nice main light by adding a reflector:


Since this is a no-wallet Monday, let's fix this with a folded sheet of printer paper (or, if you are over 50, typing paper...) Just fold it and stand it in front of the tomatoes -- maybe to one side, as shown. (You could stick it right in front, too for a different look.)


As you can now see, that one sheet of paper makes a huge difference.

By default, it will not overpower the main light source, either. It's a reflector, and cannot give out more light than it is receiving.


So, let's try another reflector on the other side. It may be that the second reflected light source ends up being too much. But at two cents a pop, go for it and see what happens.

Here it is close-up, which is the same photo at the top of the post. Maybe you like the extra detail, or maybe the second highlight turns you off. That's up to you -- add salt to taste.


Here is a pullback with two reflectors for clarity's sake. Depending on the topography of what you are shooting, these reflectors do not need to be big, or symmetrical -- or even white. You can illuminate those shadows exactly the way you want by placing as many reflectors -- large and/or small -- wherever you want.

Need more light? Try aluminum foil reflectors. That's what I used for this cake. Crinkle it up, then straighten it back out for a nice, smooth, pebbled reflector surface. You can choose the shiny or matte surface, too, for different looks.


Here it is, from the side angle.

Again, that SB-800 flash could easily be a desk or floor lamp. And the grey backdrop was just to hide the white wall reflection in the initial shot. Once you get the diffusor panel up, that problem solves itself.
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Fast Food

So, there you go -- an easy entré into food photography. If this kind of thing floats your boat, you might want to consider a medium-sized soft box, which will of course make this kind of light very easy. And it travels well, too.

If you're a food blogger and you decide to play with it, link in and spread the luv -- and post a comment so we can see what a hotshot food photographer you are now...

Tick, Tick, Tick

Just a quick reminder that the first Boot Camp II assignment is due at end of day (local time) tomorrow, June 23rd.

Lotsa entries pouring in from the procrastinators, and you can check out some of the people blogging along with it here.

-30-

The Story of Father's Day

Here's a story of Father's Day I found in YouTube. It's a simple story yet worth knowing. For me, I think it just serves as a reminder to all of us that especially today, let's show our love and care to our fathers. Let's show them how we love them and appreciate all the efforts they do because we never know tomorrow may be taken away from us.

Happy Father's Day!

I recommend for you to read Father to the Fatherless

The Joy of Going to the House of the Lord

For this Sunday here's a song from the Book of Psalms for you to read and meditate.

It's all about David being glad with those who said to him, "Let us go to the House of the Lord". I'd echo that gladness here in this post. Personally I really love to go to church. I would never want to miss a Sunday Service. I even fore go some company outings and/or events so I can just go to church. Because I always think that God has given us 6 days in a week to do "our thing", he just asks us the 7th day for us to go to Him and worship him. Why don't we just dedicate Sundays to him?

Now, Why don't you join me? Let us go to the House of the Lord!


Psalm 122

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

1 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go into the house of the LORD.”
2 Our feet have been standing
Within your gates, O Jerusalem!

3 Jerusalem is built
As a city that is compact together,
4 Where the tribes go up,
The tribes of the LORD,
To the Testimony of Israel,
To give thanks to the name of the LORD.
5 For thrones are set there for judgment,
The thrones of the house of David.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you.
7 Peace be within your walls,
Prosperity within your palaces.”
8 For the sake of my brethren and companions,
I will now say, “Peace be within you.”
9 Because of the house of the LORD our God
I will seek your good.

And oh if you want to check how my Church here in Cebu, Philippines looks like, click here. God Bless you more!

peace out

photo cred: marie claire maison

Word of God: Key to Success

I was browsing through my Devotional Notebook and I read my devotional for 09/09/08 and once again I'm blessed with what God had spoken during that time. That's how amazing God's word is. It's not limited to that day or to that situation only. I encourage you to take notes of your devotions with the Lord and even during Worship Services. You'll never know when God can use those very words again in your life.

Today, I'd like to share my devotion on Joshua 1:8.

Joshua 1:8 (New International Version) "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful."

When everybody is running after and looking (desperately) for ways how to be successful and prosperous in life, I turn to the Word of God. His WORD has the answers. His Word has the Key. His Word is THE KEY.

1. "Do not let the Book of the Law depart from your mouth."
- May every word that comes out from our mouths glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. May it be a fountain of blessings and not curses, forgiveness and not hatred. May we never engage in godless conversation where the usual topic is to to talk about other people's lives. May it be an avenue instead for our mouths to be used to share the good news to other people.
- Aside from that, whatever we say also represents what we have inside our hearts. (Matt. 12:34). Let's all have hearts that follow and obey the Book of the Law no matter what. Let's all fill it with love, humility and let us take out anger, bitterness, jealousy and hatred.

2. "Meditate on it Day and Night"
- Close and Open your day with the Word of God. Let's all make it a pre-requisite. Let's all make it a part of our daily routine. This is the secret in living a righteous life and in not letting the Book of the Law depart from your mouth.

3. Lastly, "Do Everything Written On it"
- Actions. Deeds. They speak far more than words. As James, the brother of Jesus had said, "Let's show our faith with our deeds. Without it, our faith is not true and dead.

What's the point?

All three points are preceding verses of this statement:

"SOyou shall be prosperous and successful!" (Joshua 1:8)

Point: In reality, when you're honest, with integrity, honorable, excellent and God fearing, then success and prosperity will run after you.

When the world says it takes skills and brains to succeed, I say it takes the WORD of GOD (Wisdom) to work in our lives, and through our lives to succeed.

what motivates us to keep on blogging-this week on the skirted round table

This week on The Skirted Round Table, the ladies and I discuss what keeps us going as bloggers. What motivates us? What makes us blog?

Listen in as we discuss............The Skirted Round Table

On Assignment: HCAC Dancer

I am working on several projects this summer, the most enjoyable of which being a series of portraits for the Howard County Arts Council.

I photographed Kassi, a dancer, for this series and got a chance to play with one of the two-light techniques we talked about earlier. This was also the first chance I got to use a new boom setup that is a little heavier duty than the one featured earlier this week.

More, inside.
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Riaz Redux

I normally like to play around with new lighting styles before trying them out on an assignment. In this case, I used the small-flash lighting class in Dubai earlier this year as the guinea pig for this shoot. You might recognize the top photo as being lit similarly to that of Riaz, the first example in the two-light portrait series.

There are a couple of differences, but the grid key / umbrella fill was a common denominator for both. In shooting Riaz, I had the umbrella squished right up under the lens. With Kassi, I put the umbrella on the floor with a flash mounted to it but with no stand.

I used an umbrella swivel adapter to attach an SB-800, and stuck the assembly on the ground. The umbrella rests at about the correct angle for uplighting a low-to-the-ground subject by itself.

Ratios were done without a meter and without regard to any absolute settings, as usual. I positioned the fill light first and altered my flash power and/or aperture until I saw a nice baseline exposure for the frame.

Generally, I like to get it to a full exposure, and then drop my power level on the flash or close down the aperture until I get a nice looking floor to the fill light. The idea is to use the fill as a sort of safety net, to lift the shadows that will be formed by the key light, lest they get too dark and contrasty. If you are coming from off axis with the fill, you'll also introduce a second angle to the overall light.

I really liked the look of the low-in fill, as it gave its own shape to the subject -- much more so that would an on-axis fill. But as much as I liked the shape of the fill, I was going back and forth on the shadow that it threw over Kassi's head and shoulders.

In the end, I wanted the direction of the light, but not the shadow. So I toned the latter way down in post. There is definitely a procedural learning curve for me, even two full years after leaving the tightly controlled Photoshop environment of The Sun.

I have to remember to loosen up, as my default is typically to "do it the newspaper way." But then I remember if I were personally doing everything the newspaper way today, I would be drowning in debt and arbitrarily lopping off perfectly good body parts in a misguided attempt to get a "good return on investment."


Oh well. Back to the light.

The key, as you can see, is a gridded SB-800. We have already locked in the fill level and shooting aperture, so the key level is set by altering the flash's power level. (We can also move the flash closer or further away, but that would change the look of the light.)

Unlike the grid on Riaz, I wanted to catch Kassi's face and body with the key but mostly miss the wall on the leading edge. This way I could control the tone in the white wall, even though she was leaning against it. To do that, I didn't aim the grid at her face, but rather out in front of her face a little bit. So her face is nearer to the edge of the beam than in the center of it.

A grid on a speedlight is a very small light source and thus produces very hard shadows at this distance. But I know they won't fall too far off of the table because I built my fill light first. The combination is soft vs. hard, high vs. low and tight light vs. everywhere light brings a lot of different contrast layers into play. If I wanted, I could have used a 1/2 CTB on the fill and a 1/2 CTO on the key to add a neat color contrast in there, too.


A Bigger Boom

For another look, we wanted to do Kassi dancing. She is very athletic, and incorporates that into her routines. So we set up to light a photo of her leaping.

I knew she would be looking back over her shoulder at me, and wanted to light her face from a flattering angle. To do that, you have to find the position of her face and then get the light wherever it need to be to hit that angle.

In Kassi's case, to three-quarter light her, we'd have to be above, behind and camera-right of her face when she looked over her shoulder. So we were going to need to get the key up pretty high -- especially considering we'd be going through an umbrella, too.

For that I used a bigger, heavier-duty boom than the Interfit model we talked about earlier this week. I used a Paul Buff counter-weighted boom arm attachment on a 13-foot light stand. I got this to be able to get my bigger flash heads up high. And while it is not super heavy duty, it is sufficient for that kind of work.

You buy it in two pieces -- the stand and the boom arm. The stand is a heavy-duty, 13-foot stand, which is also a great thing to have kicking around when you need it. The boom assembly includes a two-section extension pole, a multi-angle clamp and comes with an 11-pound, slide-able counterweight. They total up to $160.

Needless to say, this is rock solid for a speedlight, and I also have been happy with it in a supporting role for both my SB's and my WL's.


So, here's the setup. The key light is above/behind/camera right, through an umbrella. There is a back/separation light (an SB-800) hiding way back at camera right on a compact, 5-section stand.

The key light location was trial and error, done as Kassi worked through a few practice leaps. In the end, it was a perfectly logical location, given the position of her face. Kassi's leap put her about two feet in front of, and to camera left, of the umbrella.

The fill was a bigger problem, as we could not just open the shutter to let if build up the ambient. By balancing that way, we would have lost the shutter needed to freeze the leap. So it would all have to come from flash.

It had to be soft, come from close to on-axis and reach back to light the back wall, too. So I needed a physically big light source, coming from the camera's direction and pretty far back. Fortunately, our room was a neutral, light color, so the wall 15 feet or so behind me became my modifier.


I fired a WL 600 into that wall, building a nice, soft, directionless fill that would be far enough back to reach back to the background wall without losing too much oomph. My shooting position was about three feet in front of the light.

If you are in a neutral room, always consider your walls as possible huge bounce surfaces that you can employ as everything from a soft key to a humongous soft ring-like fill. But you'll need some power if you are going to use it over a large area.

This is one of many examples of a way in which you can use a monobloc with smaller flashes. Ironically, the SB is my key and the WL 600 is the fill. This doesn't make a lot of sense, unless you consider how much more efficient a close-in, umbrella'd light is than another light bounced way back off of a wall and having to carry another 30-40 feet after that.

Having a big light in your back allows you wallpaper fill light over a large area while accenting with speedlights.
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Read More: On Assignment