Photo Friday

For awhile now I've wanted to submit a picture for Photo Friday ... each week (on Fridays, go figure!) the site challenges folks for a picture with a particular theme... sometimes it's something pretty "tangible" like "The Great Outdoors," "Fire," or "Purple"... other times it's much more interpretive like "Silence" or "My Little Secret"... best yet, there's nothing to sign up for and no requirements... other than an URL that points to your photo... and you can participate whenever you'd like.

Never would I have thought in my my first submission would be this week's challenge: Religion.

Thanks to our recent travels, I had a bevy of cathedrals and churches to choose from.  I tried not to go with some too obvious, say a tourist-y outside shot of a church... and while afterwards, I realized I had some other good options... I went with my gut first reaction (which is typically wiser anyhow) and submitted this photo:

It is a stained glass window towards the back of Notre Dame (the only cathedral that allowed indoor photography!)... and it turned out just as I'd hope... getting that statue in silhoutte against the stunning window.  Actually came out better than my hopes... since the camera captured the detail on the glass far, far (far!) better than my faulty eyes... here's a link to the pic on Flickr or just check out the large and larger sizes.

Now that I've taken the Photo Friday plunge, I may try to keep giving it a shot... and I can share my submissions here too... though it's pretty intimidating, there are some really awesome photographers out there... but heck, it'll give my pix a bit more exposure (ha! thank you and good night!)!

Also, last night I got out my camera for the first time since the trip.  Scott had alerted me to a wild looking red pre-sunset sun and capture it in full effect in his shot... I pretty much missed that, but still went out and took some pix over our backyard fence. 

When I first started shooting, I thought it was merely due to a bit of dust storm headed into town... and while that was a factor... once I took a break and stopped seeing spots before my eyes from staring at the sun... I realized it wasn't just clouds and dust... but smoke coming from a pretty good brush fire waaaay out on the west side of the Phoenix metro area.  I pulled out and caught the trail of smoke...

Even when something not so good is happening, Mother Nature certainly has a way of making it spectacular nonetheless.

When I was going back and forth and back and forth, Rocky... in a rare moment... decided to stop following me around in circles and sit/lie still for a minute... and I managed to capture it on film (well, digitally on a memory card, that is):

Ain't he cute?!

Comments

[Todd]

I forgot to mention that freaky sun to you yesterday. Really freaked out my Swedish visitors who were already suffering from the shock of the Arizona desert on a really hot day with monsoon clouds threatening. The freaky sun caused by a lightning-caused brush fire just about was enough to put them over the edge.

Oh, and yes, he's cute, if I do say so myself. :)