Abundance

Abundance makes it easy to overlook our blessings.

Forced Perspective

This is an amazing picture I saw on the Digital Photography School blog...

The picture is of 18,000 men preparing for war in a training camp at Camp Dodge, in Iowa.

A few facts about the image:

Length from base to Shoulder: 150 feet
Right Arm: 340 feet
Length of Torch and flame: 1000 feet
Total Length: 1490 Feet
Number of men in body and head of figure: 2,000
Number of men in right arm: 1,200
Number of men in torch: 2,800
Number of men in the flame only: 12,000
Total men: 18,000

Homework

I can be fairly productive sometimes. Other times I have quite the knack for being counter-productive. This past Saturday I was somewhat productive. After grading papers for the class I TA and doing laundry I thought, "nothing can stop me now, on to homework!" That's about when I saw what my roommate Scott was working on. It was some graphic design type homework, which looked much more enticing than my homework. Naturally I started working on his homework instead of my own, and I came up with this banner/poster:

(It's original work, picture and all. I started with a picture of a quarter I took.)

In case you can't read the quote it says,

"I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man."

--George Washington

The Mother of Beauty

"Death is the mother of beauty. Only the perishable can be beautiful, which is why we are unmoved by artificial flowers."

-Wallace Stevens

Top September Photos

September was a good month for photography (with another trip to yellowstone, how could it not be?). The following are a few of my favorites:

This osprey dove into the river and snagged a fish while I was taking pictures of it (lucky, I know).

Idleness

I'm reading Cliff Young's autobiography right now and I found a quote that I thought was worth sharing.

"Too much idleness is a bad thing for anyone and it's all too common now for wives to have an affair with other men and their men with other women. Or, they turn to drink and drugs to overcome their boredom. Happiness thrives on work, respect and admiration for one another."

Jackson Hole

Last weekend I went on a camping trip with a group of friends up near Jackson Hole. It was amazing and quite the adventure. We started the trip Thursday evening leaving Salt Lake around 8:30pm. We got to the campground we wanted to stay at sometime after 2am, if I'm remembering right. The stars were incredible and made driving that late worth it right away. The rest of the trip included a near moose encounter in our campsite, rafting the Snake River, wandering around Jackson Hole, driving past the majestic Grand Tetons, seeing Old Faithful, hanging my body out the suburban window to get pictures of buffalo, and celebrating Cynthia's birthday in Paris... Idaho. What a trip! I took almost 800 pictures, most of which I haven't had a chance to do anything with. There were a few good ones, and a lot I probably won't show anyone. But that's just what I anticipate anytime I'm taking pictures. After such an eventful trip it's probably no surprise that we got home at something like 3:30am Sunday morning. Don't worry, I managed to stay awake in church all the way until Elder's Quorum.