Gus - Faces of Brazil

   Another neighborhood friend of Johnathan's is eight-year-old Gus.  Though a few years older than Johnathan, they have a great time together!  Here's a picture of him in the middle of a game of "Connect-Four" with Johnathan in our back yard.

Paulo Victor - Faces of Brazil

   At eleven years old, Paulo Victor is one of our neighbors and one of our best friends here in our neighborhood!  He has been extremely helpful to us - always ready to assist in the littlest, or biggest, way possible!  Our kids really enjoy him and he enjoys making them laugh!  Even though he loves to have fun, he's always respectful toward us and our children!  We are so thankful to have many good friends here in Brazil!

Two Boys - Faces of Brazil

These two are good friends of ours and good friends of each other - which is great since they are related!

Lucas - Faces of Brazil

     This boy is one of our neighbors here on our street.  Although he came to our Vacation Bible School, he does not usually attend our church and I don't believe that he regularly goes to any church.

     One of the blessings of living in where we do is that we are constantly surrounded by our mission-field.  The idea of communicating with our neighbors like Lucas, is a huge motivational force for me to learn the language quickly.

The Brasilian Pastime - Futebol

    Anywhere you go here in Brasil, you'll see kids playing futebol (soccer).  The amazing thing is to watch them play without shoes in the unpaved road or in a rocky field!  I wouldn't last a minute; I'm bad enough even when wearing shoes.  Everyone here has grown up playing like this and so they can control the ball as deftly with their feet as most people could with their hands!

     I have played with them some - fun but humiliating!

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Quote of the Day:
     The Vision of a Champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat, and the point of exhaustion, when no one else is watching.
       - Anson Dorrance (Head coach of the women's soccer program at the University of North Carolina. ...Under Dorrance's leadership, the Tar Heels have won 20 of the 28 NCAA Women's Soccer Championships. - wikipedia)

J. P. - Faces of Brazil

    With our recent move to Brazil, I have not been able to post many photos.  However, now I have a whole new array of subjects for photography.

     This little boy is the son of a couple who go to our church here.  We had an outdoor church fellowship yesterday and this guy was having a lot of fun playing in the dusty parking lot along with all the other kids.  He is fully Brazilian, though his natural blond highlights are not common for people in this area.  He is about the age of our son and so they get to play together after church.

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Quote of the Day:
        Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, their lack of good fortunes or the quirks of fate. Everyone has within them the power to say, "This I am today, that I shall become tomorrow." The wish, however, must be implemented by deeds.
          -  Louis L'Amour (1908 - 1988)

Untimely Knight

   This is a scheduled post.  It was written quite some time back, but I knew that with our move to Brazil, South America, my time for putting up new pictures would be quite limited.

   Many of the kids in our neighborhood in NC just got new "Swords" and so you can only imagine the fierce battles that have been taking place.  Here I got to capture one of the young "knights."

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Quote of the Day:

     If your knees aren't green by the end of the day, you ought to seriously re-examine your life.
         -  Calvin (Bill Watterson)

Summer Weather is Here! - Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday


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Quote of the Day:
     “If you find it hard to laugh at yourself, I would be happy to do it for you.”
              - Groucho Marx

Cowboy Hat - Wordless Wednesday

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Quote of the Day:
     The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.
         -- Albert Einstein

Looking In - Before and After

   This is a before and after of a recent photo of mine.  As shown in the graphic, I used three textures by Shadow House Creation.  I shoot RAW and then use Adobe Camera Raw with Photoshop Elements 9 for Mac.
   For this photo I also used a B/W gradient map, boosting contrast.  Then I used a slight warming gradient map on his skin, leaving the background a slightly cooler tone.

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Quote of the Day:

      “Knowledge is like money: to be of value it must circulate, and in circulating it can increase in quantity and, hopefully, in value.”
          -  Louis L'Amour

I Heart a Slice of Life

    This week the theme at "i ♥ faces"is "A Slice of Life."  This picture is a good snapshot of a slice of my son's life.  He just loves playing in the park; I think he'd live in the park if we'd let him!

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Quote of the Day:

     I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.
         - Mark Twain 

A Day at the Park and a Train Ride!

      Today I took my son to the local park.  This is the largest park in the area, and Johnathan had the time of his life!

      There is one huge area which is divided up in three play areas for various age groups, and then a large swing-set as well!

      He turned out to be quite a little dare-devil!

      His favorite part was the train that takes passengers on a track around the entire park.  He has always been fascinated by trains and he was just transfixed by this "real" passenger train.

      Finally I broke down and let him take a ride!  Ok, so that was actually the whole purpose of going to this park.  It was all a surprise to him, and it was very rewarding for me to see how much he enjoyed it!

      And we rode off into the sunset . . .   Or however that goes!

Sugar Doughnuts! - Wordless Wednesday

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Quote of the Day:

     It's not denial.  I'm just selective about the reality I accept.

          - Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes)

How Right They Are! - Wordless Wednesday

Sunset Portraits

     Tonight I took my son out to do some sunset portraits!

     We started about half an hour before sunset, but it got dark fast!

     He is quite a goof ball and doesn't need too much coaching for his poses.  The hardest part is getting him to stay in one spot long enough to take a few photos.  I'd take a few photos and then the moment I'd step over to adjust a flash, or change a setting on my camera, he'd be gone!

And one of his cheesy poses!

If you're interested in the Strobist information, here was my setup:
    All manual settings - ISO 800, F 5.6 - 8, 1/80 - 125
    Yongnuo 560 Speedlight - high and to the camera's left - Full Power shot through an Umbrella with a 1/2 CTO gel.  Fired optically by the other flash.
    Cobra 240 Speedlight - On camera Right, even with my son - 1/2 power, full CTO Gel, triggered by Youngnuo RF602 radio triggers.



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Quote of the Day:
      “Victory is won not in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later, win a little more.”
            - Louis L'Amour

Two Years Old!

      My son just turned two!  I can't believe how fast the time has flown!  He is growing into such a handsome little man!
     The day before his second birthday, I asked for just a few minutes of his precious time (he's so busy, you know) to take a few pictures to mark the historic date.   Here is what I got:

So much fun!

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Quote of the Day:
     “To disbelieve is easy; to scoff is simple; to have faith is harder.”
          - Louis L'Amour

I Heart a Winter Wonderland

      This week we had the biggest snow fall that I remember having in North Carolina since 2003! Contrary to the title of this post, I really don't care for snow at all! 

      I did take Johnathan out to play in it for a little bit. He calls the snow, "bubbles" and enjoyed playing in it. I thought these photos would be perfect for this week's theme, "Winter Wonderland" over at "i ♥ faces"

   And here are a few more, not to be included in the "i heart faces" competition, but just for the fun of it!

      And here he you can almost hear him saying, "Come on Dad, hurry up and take the picture!  I'm Cold!"

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Quote of the Day:
   Imitation is the sincerest form of television.
       - Fred Allen

Merry Christmas

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas.  Remember, that Baby in the manger is The Creator and The Promised Messiah who came to be your Savior!  He is now our Advocate in Heaven and will return as the Triumphant King!

Merry Christmas!


And have a great day with family!

Ok, if you thought my son looks a little young in these photos, you're right.  We haven't opened our gifts yet  this year so I decided to put up a few from last year.

Merry Christmas!

Ready or Not - Here Comes Winter!

     I am not ready for the cold weather - but it seems to be coming anyway!  I guess that's another reason why God is moving us to Brazil; no more winters!

     I took this picture of my nephew with my Nikkor 135mm F2.8; which must be used fully manually on all Nikon DSLR's.  But it is such a sharp, crisp lens!


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Quote of the Day:

     Someday we'll look back on this moment and plow into a parked car.

        - Evan Davis

Young Boy

      I took a whole set of photos of this young boy.  He had the most amazing eyes and we had a great time of fun and photos! 

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Quote of the Day:
     Laws are like sausages. It's better not to see them being made.
         - Otto von Bismarck