Lord, as these raging waves dash and thrash, and as we sink deeper and darker beneath these seas of trouble, remind us that your grace is deeper than these seas and stronger than these waves. Carry us in your will as if on luxurious clouds of peace and rest, and lift us out of and beyond this turbulent ocean.

Spring is coming fast and already I can hear the playful chirp of birds returning to their usual roosts. We’ve had a couple birds frequenting our backyard the past couple days. One is a male cardinal, with his bright red plumage glistening like fire in the sunlight. Another is a male eastern bluebird, whose deep, cobalt blue back and bonnet are nearly luminescent.

I captured these with my long lens, but no tripod, since it is very hard to catch these things sitting still long enough to bring out all the gear. Some are more noisy than I prefer, because I was trying to get a high enough shutter speed to counteract my hand-held capture attempt.

Thrown into this mix are a couple of non-aviary images I caught during the same time.

As a result of this impromptu shoot, I’m in the market for a good monopod to keep by the back door.

Gear: Canon EOS Rebel T3i DSLR Camera, Tamron 70mm-200mm f/2.8 lens.

Playing around with my new lens in downtown, Jackson, TN. It’s a Tamron 70mm-200mm f/2.8 lens. It’s pretty awesome with everything internal (zoom/focus). These shots are all taken bare-handed (no tripod), so I shot in burst mode trying to catch a sharp image -the strategy worked pretty well. Gear: Canon EOS Rebel T3i DSLR Camera, Tamron 70mm-200mm f/2.8 lens.

I took this picture of “the tree” a few days ago. Gives a little context to the other images. Gear: Canon EOS Rebel T3i DSLR Camera, Tamron 18-50 f/2.8 lens.

A beautiful tree outside my church. Earlier, during the heart of fall, I laid down on the ground under the tree and pointed toward the sky. I am amazed at how luminous the leaves were due to the adjacent street light shining through them. A few days ago, with winter approaching, I photographed the tree again. It is now barren, with just a hint of it’s former extravagance – but still, so beautiful. Gear: Canon EOS Rebel T3i DSLR Camera, Tamron 18-50 f/2.8 lens.

Angel and I took a much needed vacation. We actually have never gone on vacation for vacation’s sake. There has always been something we had to do while trying to find time for some rest and relaxation. This time, we didn’t even really plan what we were doing on any given day until the day before. We’ve never felt so refreshed.

Various photos taken of subjects near and far – some at home, some in North Carolina during vacation, some at places I like to eat. Gear: Canon EOS Rebel T3i DSLR Camera, Tamron 18-50 f/2.8 lens, Canon 50mm F/1.8 lens, and iPhone 4 (yes, believe it or not).