Not Wasting Failures by F.C.Hunting

Lord Jesus,

not even my failures are wasted

 if they get me to You.

Failure usually results in me

doing one of two things.

I either want to hide from You, Lord,

or I go to You

"just as I am."

I would do the latter.

From the booklet "Speaking Personally"  by Frank Hunting

Free Photography Training at Edwardstown Community Church

For any who live in Adelaide and wish to take advantage of some free photography tuition please note I will be  commencing some training sessions in the month of September at the Edwardstown Community Church on corner of Delaine Ave and Towers Terrace Edwardstown.
Edwardstown Community Church is affiliated with Churches of Christ in Australia.
This is part of the Church Create programme for expanding and using our talents in Art for our own benefit and the benefit of others.
Here is an outline of what I hope to cover.
It would be good  if people who intend to come would email in advance with
some of their main questions about photography and their favourite subjects.
eg. How do I get the best out of my camera?
What are all the settings for?
Why are my photos blurry or fuzzy?
Why do people have red eyes in my photos?
How do I uses a flash or lights?
What is the best type of camera to buy?
What should I do to become professional or semi professional?
Also if you intend to come as a result of this post please let me  know if you are coming so we are not embarrassed by too many people turning up.

The dates are below; 7pm to 9pm timeslot.
Note : The order of topics and content may vary from what is here.

Monday 9/9/13--Getting started.An introduction.
                Some homework assignments.
                practical demonstration
                q&a

           

Monday 16/9/13  The ins and outs of people photography
                practical demonstration
                Screening and/or critique of participants photos
                q&a

Monday  23/9/13  Photographing Pets and wildlife.
                screening and/or critique of participants photos.
                practical demonstration
                q&a

Monday 30/9/13   Holiday and travel photography.(Incorprates Landscapes,people,cultures,wildlife,architecture etc.)
                screening and/or critique of participants photos.
                practical demonstration
                q&a

Monday 7/10/13   Photographing Sports and Action
                screening and/or critique of participants photos.
                practical demonstration
                q&a
                What next for your photography?

I will use keynote presentations and practical demonstrations and my archives of images and courses to assist in this training programme.
I have more than 38 years experience as a Wedding Photography and General Photographer.
You will find lots of training in photography posts on this blog.

Ps: As at this update we have completed 2 weeks of the training with 25 to 30 people attending each time.
People are enthusiastic.
Here is one response.

"Geoff

the photography session 1 was great. I have little photography theory knowledge but enjoyed hearing about shutter speed, apeture and how altering settings can produce a more creative picture.  I am a point and shoot girl. I do spend some time framing my shot and thoroughly enjoy capturing precious moments. I would love to learn more about taking more balanced photos considering where to put the horizon and subject within the frame etc. but the technical information is not wasted and I cannot wait to try to take more creative pics. I consider myself to be a photograph historian for our family and would rather take one great picture rather than a few average ones. However I have thousands of pictures. Looking forward to tonight. My favourite subjects are usually my children- spoken like a true mum right. I hop[e to become a more educated photographer by the end of this course. "

Something to Ponder

We never know when issues of mental health can disrupt our family and personal life.
follow the link below to someone who has been strong enough to share her journey with others.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/july-august/shadow-of-schizophrenia.html?start=1

Great Nature Photographers

There are some great nature photographers who have successfully passed from the film age to the digital age.

Two of them are John Shaw and Arthur Morris.

They are probably my favourite non Australian Nature Photographers. 

Check out there work by linking below.

http://www.johnshawphoto.com/

http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/about/

Exploramum & Explorason

"Exploramum"  has to be one of the most amazing Australians you could meet.
She is on an open ended trip around the world with her 8 year old son.
They have committed to doing random acts of kindness each day.
Follow her blog here.
She comes from here in Adelaide,South Australia.

http://exploramumourworldtrip.blogspot.com.au/

follow this link to see where all this started.

http://exploramumourworldtrip.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/normal-0-false-false-false-en-au-x-none.html

The Lord God made them all

Yet another new species discovered of God's amazing creations.
A beautiful animal.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-16/researchers-discover-new-mammal-in-central-america/4890918

And what about this?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-07/scientists-throw-more-light-on-mystery-sea-creatures/4869902

Getty Releases Public Domain Images

An amazing opportunity to access some iconic images.

http://search.getty.edu/gateway/search?q=&cat=highlight&f=%22Open+Content+Images%22&rows=10&srt=a&dir=s&pg=1

From the Wayside Chapel by Graham Long

 Below is the latest of Graham Long's Inner Circle Newsletter.
He is the Pastor of The Wayside Chapel in King's Cross,Sydney.
You'll find lots of these on this blog.
Graham has also just launched a book he has written.
You will find a link to media interviews below this newsletter.
Graham and His wife Robyn are family friends of ours and distant relatives by marriage.
His Dad Harold Long was instrumental in my becoming a Christian.
Listen to the interviews and be enriched.

Dear Inner Circle,

My heart is breaking for a woman who each day this week has shown up here drunk, unable to express her pain in any other way but to bash her head against a brick wall. It's a most distressing sight and there is no way to communicate with someone so drunk except to show kindness. Each day we've had to call for help and our volunteers and staff, police and ambos have shown extraordinary patience and care and copped the most vile abuse from the mouth of this troubled soul. Each day she's been restrained and placed in the ambulance which drives down the street to the muffled yells of, "Get F#%^&* you Mother F#$#@%^". To be clear, I probably didn't hear the words, "Get, you or Mother". I'm inspired by the tenderness shown by our people and by police and ambos and I'm left wondering what kind of pain causes you to bash your own head in that way. This is one of those situations when we do whatever we can but are pretty helpless except to feel the pain of a beautiful life being wasted.

As just such a scene was being played out one day and everyone's attention was demanded, I was walking toward Wayside and I came across a man in his thirties, sitting against a wall in our alley way, sobbing. I sat next to him for a bit and asked, "What's up?" He said to me, "Everything I can see is ugly and I'm ugly." I believe I might have caught this man in a moment of "turning". He couldn't see any positive paths ahead of him but he just refused to give up on the idea that his life should be more than what he knows. I said to him, "You know how today is different from most of your days? Today you're not primarily concerned about how to kill your pain but rather you're wondering if there is more and something that up to now, you've not known." Such a moment will not be wasted if he now acts. Sentiment is of no value until it makes the feet move. I'm hoping his feet are going to move him to our AA group.

It looks like a wonderful group are coming to the Imperial Pub at Paddington this Sunday night. The purpose of the night is to create community. We're hoping people will relax, enjoy the atmosphere and a meal. We're suggesting you arrive around 6ish and organise food and then at 7pm I will speak on the subject, "There is no such thing as a single human person." That will be followed by some Q and A and then I hope lots of conversations around the room. "Meeting" is the object. I promised that next month on September 8, Malcolm Turnbull would speak but it now turns out that our General Election will be held the day prior and it would be inhuman to expect Malcolm to do any public speaking that night. He's promised to speak at this event in the near future. When I get a speaker for the September event I'll let you know. There will be no promotion, no fundraising, just community. It's not too late to book a place for Sunday night, just email Guy Cooper and let him know that you're coming.

On my way through the door a big, beaming smile stopped me in my tracks. I said, "You look like you just found $50". The darling man who's been really struggling for some months said, "I slept in a real bed last night." He's been sleeping in parks or riding the train to Newcastle every night but yesterday we found him a bed and for the next 7 nights he is assured of a good sleep. This one beautiful smile today has reminded me that I haven't got much to complain about.

Thanks for being part of our inner circle,
Graham

PS. If you want to catch up on the media around the launch of my book, you can do so here.


 http://www.thewaysidechapel.com/in_the_media.php?utm_source=GraphicMail&utm_medium=email&utm_term=NewsletterLink&utm_campaign=Inner+Circle+2012&utm_content=
Rev Graham Long
Pastor and CEO
The Wayside Chapel
Kings Cross
http://www.thewaysidechapel.com/


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Hans Christian Andersen and Charles Darwin

I recently purchased a couple of bound volumes of "The Review of Reviews"
The "review" was like a modern newspaper that was edited by W.T.Stead who many regard as the pioneer in investigative journalism.
He was regarded as a somewhat controversial figure and perished in the sinking of the Titanic.
The "Review" is none the less an amazing resource on the history of the 1890's and thereabouts.
I came across an article about a person who had spent some personal time with Hans Christian Andersen the famous storyteller from Denmark.
The columns mention Andersen's thoughts on Charles Darwin's theories which were very much in the news in those days as they still are.
According to what I have read Andersen was an Evangelical Lutheran Christian.
His thoughts I believe echo many of today's Christians regarding the Evolution v Creation debate.
I have transcribed part of the article below as it appears in the Review of Reviews 1892 Australasian Edition, January to December .

"Hans Christian Andersen.

In the Century Magazine for March(1892) H. H. Boyesen contributes  an interesting account of some conversations with Hans Christian Andersen in 1873.
At that time Boyesen was staying with a friend of Andersens, who was ill, and Andersen used to come to the house to see the invalid.
Boyesen made his acquaintance and subsequently meet him repeatedly.
They had a good deal of talk ,in the course of which Darwin''s name was mentioned.
Andersen regarded Darwin as an absurd and insignificant crank, and when Boyesen spoke of him with respect  as the greatest Naturalist of the age:-
"Oh it is very sad," he(Andersen) said with a naiveté  which laid bare his simple childlike soul,"that men cannot be  satisfied with what God has taught them,but must question His word as if they knew better than He.
Useful inventions which make life easier and happier,those I approve of with all my heart, and to them scientists ought to confine their labours.
But when they come to me and want to deprive me of my faith in God and His word, then I say to them,"Excuse me gentlemen,I know as much about this as you do,and cannot accept you as guides."

If you would like to read the whole of this original writing as it appeared in the Century Magazine then follow the link below.

http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=cent;cc=cent;rgn=full%20text;idno=cent0043-5;didno=cent0043-5;view=image;seq=795;node=cent0043-5%3A27;page=root;size=100

Dinosaurs. More recent than you think?

When is a Dinosaur not a Dinosaur?

It is promulgated in Natural History literature that the Dinosaurs died out millions of years ago.
I have long looked at animals like the Komodo Dragon and Monitor Lizards and Crocodiles and thought aren't they just modern day versions of Dinosaurs?
Also there are places around the world where there are claims of human footprints embedded in rock alongside dinosaur footprints.
Seems a simple conclusion to me.
Of course I am not a scientist but one nonetheless interested in science.
Well some new information has come to light that seems to support my argument.
http://creation.com/hadrosaur-skin?utm_media=email&utm_source=infobytes&utm_content=au&utm_campaign=emails
Follow my tags to see earlier posts on the creation v evolution debate.

Eba Railway Siding

On driving back to Adelaide from Morgan recently I came across a unique display on the defunct Eba Railway Siding Station.
The railways was closed in these parts some time ago now but some locals have obviously wanted to spread a little good cheer.
See the pics below.
The jar was half full of smiley badges for free taking.
I think the gentleman is waiting for "Thomas" to arrive.

As at 5/9/14 there are new additions to this display.
Locals seem to be adding stuff gradually.There is now a dog and a lady scarecrow sitting on the seat.
See at the bottom of this.

Without the flip out screen on the Canon 600d I would not have been able to take this shot with any confidence.

Morgan Pubs

Blue Bush Country