Engaged

While at home in Conyers this Christmas I had the amazing opportunity to photograph my brother Will and his fiance Farley. They were the first couple I have photographed and they were such a joy to work with.

I'd love some feedback from friends, family, and others reading my blog regarding my first attempt at engagement photos.

Click the photo below to see their gallery

One semester remains

You may remember some of my first attempts at HDR that I did at Washington and Lee. While those were done from a single RAW file, the photographs below are my first attempts at true HDR photography.

Moonset



A different angle of my favorite scene on campus looking from the library to the Chapel.
Chapel Sunrise



Belltower Moon

I am Second

I just completed a research project looking at Web 2.o for political purposes, but until now I had never given much thought about Web 2.0 for the church.

I come in contact with hundreds of websites daily, but every once in a while one really stands out. If possible, take a few minutes during lunch and check out some of the videos from the site below.

http://www.iamsecond.com/

During exams and the busyness of this season, I must always remember I am Second.

Traditions Pt. 1

After a great Thanksgiving with my family I began to get ready for my next holiday tradition. Black Friday shopping. Most people cringe thinking of this day, but since I could drive I have gotten up early and have always found some deals. If you know me well, then you already know I'm thrifty and always looking for a way to save or make a dollar - creating a perfect fit between myself and this consumer holiday.

The picture to the right is at 5:30AM or so and the line had already wrapped around the building. This is typical, and it sure beats the line at Best Buy which usually starts about 5:30PM on Thanksgiving day.

It is not too exciting to shop alone, so for the past few years some of my best friends have joined me and we always have fun waiting in line together, making loud references to cheap laptops that don't exist, talking with others to see what they're buying, and enjoying the competitive atmosphere that ensues. We always conclude our day by heading over to Mamie's Kitchen.

You're probably wondering what items lead me to be in line so early. This year it was nothing too exciting just some blank dvds, thumb drives, dvds, etc. I also bought my first pair of cowboy-type boots. I really could have bought these items anytime, but spending these moments with my friends and experiencing an American phenomenon makes it worth the early morning alarm.

Rockmont

The photos below are from Camp Rockmont for Boys where I have worked two of my college summers. It was such a blessing to be able to lead and mentor young men in a Christian environment. If you haven't, please consider sending your child to camp as they grow up. It is a great opportunity for them to grow physically, socially, mentally, and spiritually.

Prayer Labyrinth

Ephemeral

The leaves have fallen, but luckily I had the opportunity to visit Asheville and Hendersonville the first weekend of November. Click on each photo to go to my Flickr page.

Looking Glass Falls - Brevard, NC

Looking Glass Falls - Brevard, NC

Sunrise - Hendersonville, NC

Jump Off Rock - Hendersonville, NC

Jump Off Rock - Hendersonville, NC

Roadside - Hendersonville, NC

Jump Off Rock - Hendersonville, NC

Blue Ridge Parkway - Asheville, NC

Veteran's Day

My friend, Nathan Guinn, also captured some stunning fall photographs at Furman - Click here for his set.

Final Countdown

I meant to make a post regarding this a long time ago, but now it seems even more timely.

After religiously following election news for the past few months and watching all of the debates and forums, I believe that the best interviews with the candidates occurred at Saddleback Church.

If you missed Saddleback Church's Civil Forum I recommend that you watch it in full. Both candidates had an hour of one-on-one questioning by Pastor Warren and it painted a telling picture of each candidate, their world view, and how they would approach the presidency.

To watch the Forum go here:
Saddleback Civil Forum in full

Life

While I am not Catholic, I still found this to be a very powerful video in regards to the upcoming election.

Many issues are at stake
Some more important than others

Update: Prof. Robert George - "Obama's Abortion Extremism"

State Fair

A few friends and I headed out on Friday night to the South Carolina Upper State Fair. We rode the Fireball, saw some chickens, elephants, tigers, and of course had some cotton candy.

Update: A friend of mine, Kate Hofler, wrote about our experience on the Greenville Forward blog.

Race42008

Check out this news/information aggregation website that I put together for the new freshmen seminar "Race to the White House." Be sure and click on each of the tabs for more pages. Warning, this may be information overload for some.

http://www.netvibes.com/race42008

W&L

These are my first attempts at HDR - High Dynamic Range photography. I used the tutorial from a photographer named Trey Ratcliff who has many amazing images on his site. These images are of Lee Chapel, on the campus of Washington and Lee University, which I took while I was in Lexington for a KA conference. W&L truly rivals Furman in terms of a beautiful campus.

Salem

From Campmeeting

Campmeeting

I will go ahead and make the bold statement that Salem Campmeeting is my favorite week out of each year. It is hard to explain to people who have never heard of campmeeting so here are a few resources.

Salem Campmeeting Home Page
Wikipedia - Campmeeting

I have written a few papers on Salem while at Furman. Here is a creative writing paper I wrote freshman year. If you would like the full bibliography please email me.

Family, Fellowship, Food, and Friends

The bell clangs loudly as it swings back and forth. Screen doors slam shut as everyone walks toward the music and finds a seat inside the tabernacle. “Hallelujah, Thine the Glory, Hallelujah Amen” is sung without a hymnal, and the offering plate is passed around for the second time that day. A little boy sprinkles sawdust on his feet and then rubs his toes together letting the sawdust pass through and return to the ground. With a sheet of paper he found next to him, the boy fans the sweat dripping down his brow throughout the service. The preacher prays, “We thank you for the fact that there are bicycles lying on the ground all around this tabernacle, symbols of young people, of kids, who are coming to love this place, and consequently to love you” (Nearly 180 Years Old). It is early August, and Camp Meeting has begun.


The scene above is unique in today’s culture. To an outsider it seems unusual, but to those whose families have been going for decades, it is another sacred tradition. In today’s world of hustle and bustle, Americans all over the country step away from society for one week to enjoy this time. Unique to America, the concept of Camp Meeting started in the early 1800s, revolving around the First and Second Great Awakenings. Thousands upon thousands of people traveled from all around, where they crashed upon the camp grounds like waves (Shore 2).


Thirty minutes east of Atlanta in Newton County, one of the oldest running Camp Meetings continues as it has for the past 175 years. Taking a glimpse into a week there helps one to understand why and how this tradition has continued until today. Just like in 1898, laptops, televisions, and Playstations are nowhere to be found. No pool floats or sand buckets were loaded into cars for the journey, even though for many families this is their only summer vacation. They arrive and gather with many friends and relatives for the first time since last Camp Meeting. In many tents, four generations of people from the same family are united once again. Those who have passed away during the year are mourned for, and babies’ new lives are celebrated.


Bunk beds fill rooms where small children sleep the humid summer nights away while their parents and other family members pack into the other rooms. Each family stays in a unit referred to as a tent, an allusion to the days of old, before the wooden structures were built (Bruce 71). The tents aren’t just sleeping quarters; the history and stories behind each unique one add to the sense of community and ritual (Kendell-Taylor 20). Giggles and talking can be heard throughout these tents because no ceilings exist, only tin roofs that crackle in the sun and fade to rust in the rain. Six feet over, an even larger family sleeps, providing another link in the horseshoe of tents which surround the tabernacle.


At 7:30 in the morning the tabernacle slowly fills. Old and young alike try to stay awake during the short devotional. This start to the day is the same as it has been for hundreds of years, being seen as an indispensable preliminary by all who have attended (Johnson, 122-144). Families retreat for buttered biscuits, and then everyone splits into classes to learn age-appropriate Bible lessons before the 11:00 service. Joyous singing can be heard as the latecomers slip in the back of the tabernacle. Soon after, the clinking of change can be heard as coins drop into the tin offering plates. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God,” the preacher remarks midway through his sermon. The fan above slowly provides relief, for his perspiration has plastered his shirt to his chest. He asks the crowd whether anyone wants to come to the alter, but no one accepts the offer that day. People quickly file out to go and savor the pimento cheese sandwiches and sweet tea.


Instead of taking afternoon naps, people sit on their porches and the campground comes alive with chatter. On one porch, an eighty year old man tells his grandson’s friend to be careful with girls when he goes off to college, “A girl will you leave you high and dry, but God will always be there.” Filing through old index cards with scribbles of family recipes, a lady tries to teach some little girls how to cook. One man, who goes by Bubba, describes this aspect of Camp Meeting like this, “We get too busy in the world. We need to sit down on a porch and swing for a while” (Hendrickson). He and others share updates on what they have done throughout the year, advice on raising kids, and reflections on the sermons from the week. Children swing on the playground under the sweltering sun, sharing embellished stories about their schoolmates, memories of Camp Meetings past, and questions about life. At 4:00 the bell rings again, and all the men and children slowly make a pilgrimage to the softball field.


The younger kids change into swimming suits and cross the busy road onto an old concrete path under a canopy of pecan trees. At the end of the path they find a piece of history accidentally trapped in urban sprawl. They stick their heads under an old pipe and chilling natural spring water rushes over their heads. A feeling of shock and refreshment overcomes them, the same sensation people who were baptized there hundreds of years before received. While they play, a man by the name of Casey tells the story that if a couple drinks from the spring together, they’ll get married and that it has been tested time and time again (Thorpe). The kids promise that it’ll never happen to them as so many have before.


Family, fellowship, food, and friends are simply not enough to keep an institution like this one going for 175 years. Swinging on the porch, while fireflies light up the night, Bubba passes on wisdom as it was given to him so many years before. He tells some young boys, “Camp Meeting provides a time and place for everyone to stop and meet with the maker of life. We need Camp Meeting to remind us of who we are and who we are meant to be” (Hendrickson). One of them asks, “That’s why people keep returning every year isn’t it?” Bubba simply nods his head and realizes the boys are starting to understand.


As the sun goes down behind the tabernacle, the tenters gather for the last service of the day. The suburbanites cruise by and honk their horns. Some are bewildered since for the first time all year, the grounds are vibrant with life and light.


Front and center, the scene is the same as it has been for hundreds of years. The messages that are delivered from behind the old oak pulpit cannot be dodged, even by the teenagers who sit on the last row, eager to slip out any chance given. An altar call is given this night and one college boy feels the calling of God on his life to become a minister. A new passion wells up in him and the cycle continues. He will one day stand behind the same old oak pulpit while his family sits in the pews. His children will play in the spring and one day grow to hear a similar message that changes them.

The Fourth

The Pride of all the South

I have been at Camp Rockmont for the past month and the summer has been amazing thus far. I am in the oldest tribe and in a cabin with eight rising 8th and 9th graders. Two summers ago I worked with rising fourth graders and after working with my current age group I enjoy it tons more and I believe my skills are better suited for them.

Tribal Campout

Currently I teach Bible Study and assist in Fly Fishing. My summer goal was to learn how to flyfish and I am slowly achieving this feat. In regards to Bible Study, I was asked to lead this a few days before the boys arrived. I had heard the old adage "God doesn't call the prepared he prepares the called" many times, but this summer I have seen it come true in my life.

Making the summer even better, I have Salem Camp Meeting to look forward to beginning July 11
Facebook Event Here

Presidential

It is hard to put into words the feelings I had when President Bush's motorcade pulled into Paladin Stadium.

The stands erupted and as I turned around from the press box I saw the Furman community on their feet welcoming the President. Soon after, I heard the reports of the thousands of citizens who lined Poinsett Highway welcoming his motorcade. Suddenly the 50 people on campus who dissented seemed pretty insignificant. After all of the anticipation, excitement, stress, debate, and controversy I was more proud than ever to be a student at Furman University.

His speech was very well done and was filled with hilarity, humility, and insight for our futures.

Some of the shots I got:






Update: Furman Magazine Article and Furman Photographer's Gallery of Commencement

Professors and protest.

You may have read my post about how excited I was about President Bush coming to campus. Of course, not everyone was excited and now protesters will be lining Furman's mall and some professors won't be attending. It has simply provided for the latest controversy on campus. The following is one of the best editorials I have read on the issue. I'll update how it all goes down after commencement on Saturday.

---

Professors and protest.
From the blog of Joshua Treviño

When the news came that President George W. Bush will speak at Furman University’s Commencement on May 31st, I was immensely pleased. I am an alumnus of the Class of 1997, and though I’m not as active as some of my peers — as Furman’s alumni giving department might attest — I do retain enduring ties of friendship and affection for my alma mater. Coming from a peripatetic military life, Furman and Greenville were the closest things I’ve ever had to a hometown. In that light, news of the President’s planned visit inspired pride: my University was always a place of excellence, and it is at last getting its due.

A full disclosure is in order: I worked for George W. Bush from 2001 through 2004. This is not as remarkable as it may sound: thousands of others can claim the same. I was a Schedule C political appointee — selected ostensibly by the President, but really by the White House personnel office, to perform tasks in the Executive Branch. For just under four years, I wrote speeches for the Secretary of Health and Human Services, first on domestic issues, and finally on international affairs.

Depending upon your perspective, then, I am either a public servant or a right-wing operative. What I am not is an unalloyed fan of the President. Having served in the Administration and seen the policy process firsthand, I am well aware of its shortcomings, its errors, and its flaws. Having had classmates from the Furman Army ROTC battalion killed and grievously wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, I am also well aware of the terrible human cost of this Administration’s policies. The injured and the dead were better men than me, and so their loss is an especial blow to our society and country.

All of this is preface: though I believe history will judge this Presidency more kindly than popular opinion does now, I understand and appreciate those who disagree. They are our friends, our family, and yes, our former teachers.

Those who disagree include the members of the Furman University faculty who are dismayed at the President’s imminent visit. They number approximately 220, to judge from the signatures on their cloyingly named “(W)e Object” petition at the University’s website. Furman alumni will note the names and understand most of them — there is always a cadre of professors in any school that cannot resist a good, public display of self-promoting righteousness, especially when there’s media involved.

Other, more surprising names on the petition present themselves as probable cases of departmental peer pressure, which reveal much about academia’s state. The departments that produce few graduates who work in their field per se — English, Philosophy, Religion — are overrepresented. The department that actually deals directly with politics, Political Science, is wholly unrepresented. This is not to say that the Political Science faculty at Furman supports the President. It assuredly does not. It is nonetheless noteworthy that the professors with the strongest grasp of the issues at hand in the President’s visit choose to steer clear of their peers’ politicized emoting.

What we see at Furman University now, in this fracas, is not a case of left versus right, but of the adult versus the juvenile. It is painful to arrive at this conclusion, loving my alma mater as I do, and having had no small part of my own juvenilia corrected there. Yet it is inescapable: the declared rationale of the Furman faculty of “(W)e Object,” set against the facts, reveals a professorial group motivated not so much by politics as by love of self — and tragically unable to distinguish between the two.

Like dramatic heroines in a Victorian penny dreadful, the Furman faculty of “(W)e Object” declare that they must protest the President’s visit because — well, because they have policy disagreements with him. In their minds, these policy disagreements elide into moral differences, and the result is an inability to display the most basic value necessary to the modern university: tolerance.

These professors present themselves as latter-day Cincinnati of Greenville, reluctantly abandoning their plows to serve the greater good. “[W]e accept our civic responsibility to speak out against [the President’s] actions,” intones their petition. The litany of those actions is drearily familiar: Iraq, domestic surveillance, global warming, and — rather incredibly — “reckless over-spending” and “expanding the reach of national government into local affairs.” (Suffice it to say that I recall a silence on those last two during the Clinton years.)

One might assume, then, that the student leadership of the Furman class of 2008, which unanimously approved the invitation to the President, is completely unaware of these things. Or, one might assume that these students are aware, but do not especially care about issues on which 220 of their professors suffer the most grave impetus toward “civic responsibility.” It is now up to the Furman faculty of “(W)e Object” to step in and rectify the moral and factual gaps left by four years under their own tutelage.

Whether this is irony or tragedy is irrelevant: it is damning.

The truth is that Furman’s students are quite aware of their nation, their President, and the critiques of both. They are also aware that they must live in a pluralistic society, simultaneously undergirded by common values and enriched by different ideas. They understand that in our Constitutional order, the American Presidency is an august office regardless of its occupant, and deserves respect as such. Finally, they know that a thought does not demand to be uttered merely because it exists — they know that there is a time and a place for someone else’s protest, and that their day is not it.

Dan Hoover of the Greenville News proposed that the students of Furman are more “conservative” than their faculty. This strikes me as doubtful, but even if true, it does not explain the discrepancy between Furman’s students and their teachers now. There are plenty of leftist, anti-Bush students in the Furman class of 2008. The reality — at once hopeful for our country, and unfortunate for Furman — is that when the President speaks on May 31st, the wisest, and indeed most adult members of the audience will be the young men and women about to leave the University forever.

This piece originally appeared in a severely edited form in the Greenville News here, on 24 May 2008.

Beach Weekend

Recently my digital camera started renumbering my photos beginning back at 0001. I couldn't figure out what was going on until I realized I had taken over 10,000 photos on my camera and the counter had to roll over. The photo below is of New Providence United Methodist Church in Darlington, SC. It is where my Papa's mother attended growing up.

Signs

This summer I will be working at Camp Rockmont as I did after my freshman year. I will be involved with photography at camp in some capacity although I am not sure quite what it will look like as of now.

Here are a couple pictures from a recent trip of mine to the Asheville, NC / Black Mountain, NC area.

Quiet Spring Evening

W. at FU

After photographing all of the candidates for the next president, I will now be photographing a sitting president whom I admire and who has been very influential in my political development.

President George W. Bush to be Speaker at Furman Commencement Exercises May 31

Vince Moore, Director of Media Relations
April 10, 2008

President George W. Bush will serve as commencement speaker when Furman holds its graduation exercises Saturday, May 31 at 7:30 p.m. in Paladin Stadium. As has been the case in recent history, a graduating senior will also speak at the exercises.


GREENVILLE, S.C.—President George W. Bush will serve as commencement speaker when Furman University holds its graduation exercises Saturday, May 31 at 7:30 p.m. in Paladin Stadium.

The White House announced today that President Bush will speak at three commencement exercises this spring. The other two are at Greensburg High School in Kansas and the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Furman will award approximately 650 degrees at commencement. As has been the case in recent history, a graduating senior will also speak at the exercises.

Furman has never had a sitting president visit the campus in its 182-year history.

The opportunity for President Bush to speak at commencement arose when the South Carolina Governor’s office contacted the university about that possibility. Furman president David E. Shi met with the senior class leadership, and they were unanimous in their endorsement of the university issuing a formal invitation to the President.

Governor Mark Sanford is a 1983 Furman graduate, and he was the university’s commencement speaker in 2001.

“Mark was remembering his alma mater in this instance, and he was instrumental in bringing the President to Furman,” Shi said.

The university will provide details in the coming weeks about the policy for attending Furman’s 2008 commencement. For more information, contact Furman’s News and Media Relations office at 864-294-3107.

############

Bush in the Furman Dining Hall making his last campaign stop in SC during the 2000 primary:

TR Speedway

Saturday night I went to the opening night of the season at Travelers Rest Speedway with some friends. It was rather chilly for a night in late March but we braved the weather for a great cultural experience. We started off with some boiled peanuts and then bowed for a word of prayer and stood for the national anthem.
After the initial trial runs the heats were determined and we got to see all the races of the main events. After the "Young Guns" class raced they announced the winner of the Kids Club contest. This little boy got to sit on the window of the winning car while they took a lap around the dirt track. It was too dark at that point to grab a picture, but needless to say DFACS would have gone crazy, however that was a dream come true for that little boy.


Now that Jerod, William, David, Millard, and I know the fastest cars, and some of the drivers after seeing them at Waffle House afterwards, I anticipate a return visit later in the season. If you ever want to come up to see me on a Saturday night we will definitely have something to do.

White People

One of the funniest web sites I have come across in a while.

Stuff White People Like

UPDATE: Possibly even better than the above link
Stuff Educated Black People Like

My best friend from home, who is an educated black person, confirmed that all of these were indeed accurate. Funny enough, number 14 on Stuff White People Like is "Having Black Friends".

Get Down

I'm sure there will be different reactions, but I personally find Congressman Bob Inglis's newest campaign advertisement hilarious, and I'll probably attend the event as well.




Inglis for Congress

The Caring Class

The piece below was written by Mo Leverett, a man of Christ who has been working in urban ministry for the past two decades. He used to be executive director of Desire Street Ministries and now he heads a new urban ministry in New Orleans - Rebirth International. I enjoyed his thoughts on the issue of poverty in our nation and the relationship it has with politics and our duty as Christians.

The Incarnation of the Caring Class - A New Social Revolution


Few know that you'll often find me, during my down time, watching or
listening to political coverage. You might call me a shade-tree
political analyst. News shows get intensely interesting for me when
events become focused on an upcoming political presidential election.

Perhaps many would assume that I'm a liberal - in that I've spent most
of my life around the poor who generally vote Democratic. I'm a social
troubadour, singer-song writer and folk artist. I'm one of the later
baby-boomers and early gen X'rs, born in the 60's and idolize Bob
Dylan. I admire Dr. Martin Luther King. I see myself as partly
contributing to his legacy and in part an extension of his vision. For
many, that is enough to make me a liberal.

However, it might surprise you to know that places of poverty are
mostly responsible for peeking my interest in supply-side economics
and social conservatism. Many would assume that as a southerner,
evangelical and Calvinist that I am hopelessly conservative. But while
I'm conservative, I'm not your dyed in the wool Republican. I'm
something quite different and more radical than that. Nevertheless,
I'm convinced that government policy toward the poor has proven itself
at best ineffective and at worst dangerously counterproductive and
corrosive.

"So you are a moderate then…?", one might suspect. Let me say, of any
option in the array of choices, I am moderate - least of all. As I see
it, the gravest sin on the left is careless social engineering,
compassion from a distance and with other people's money. The
insidious sin on the right is that mostly they could care less. Some
have said that the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting
poorer. This is true. The rich tend to get richer because they
continue to do the things that made them rich. The poor tend to remain
poor because they continue to do the things that make them poor.
However, through the intervention of the caring class, this does not
have to remain this way. There is a way for those who are poor to
become rich through moral transformation, through industry and
financial literacy. I've seen it happen with my own two eyes.

You might say that I'm a conservative who gives a damn (please pardon
my French). But I passionately believe that what is most needed in
pockets of poverty is an infusion of good conservative family values,
the Judeo-Christian work ethic and empowerment through education. More
importantly I believe that the intervention of the word and work of
the gospel and of the church is God's prescription for what ails
American pockets of poverty.

So who should be president?

If we become what God has designed us to be as the church, an
institution that is truly salt and light, pouring ourselves out in
radically transforming ways, it matters little who is governing. The
church frankly has depended too heavily on government either to
legislate our moral framework (conservatives) or to commission our
enterprise of compassion (liberals). The government's internalization
of our values and social vision are more the outgrowth of our
effective evangelistic strategies and our incarnational community
activism.

However, after 18 1/2 years of front-line urban ministry, I see the
multi-generational impact of the war on poverty and its resulting
degradation of culture, family and individual dignity - in the very
place where those components are the most necessary for overcoming the
challenges of poverty. And so I will be voting conservative. But I
will also be applying and leveraging our rich theological and
educational heritage among the poor to such an extent that through our
common sacrifice we will see the poor become rich - in every way. I
hope you will join me in this.

I love his statement in the next to last paragraph.

It reminds me of one my favorite Mike Huckabee quotes,

"I'm often asked why taxes are so high and government is so big. It's because the faith we have in local churches has become so small. If we'd been doing what we should have -- giving a dime from every dollar to help the widows, the orphans and the poor -- we now wouldn't be giving nearly 50 cents of every dollar to a government that's doing ... what we should have been doing all along."

As the Body of Christ we need to realize that governments may be helpful in solving problems, but that the ultimate solutions will come through the Church and lives that have been transformed by Jesus.

When A Leader Appears

This week both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton spoke on campus and I was fortunate enough to get to photograph them with my new job for the marketing and public relations office.

Surprisingly enough, I found Hillary's event much more enjoyable than Barack's. This is most likely due to the fact that she did a policy speech rather than a flowery speech with little substance. And did anyone else realize that Obama uses teleprompters at the majority of his speeches? You can see them on either side of him below. I always thought he spoke extemporaneously like Huckabee does.



My favorite picture I took - a classic Drudge Report style photo.


I can't make an entry for two democrats without plugging my own party. Advance voting in Georgia begins today. Find your county's special advance polling place here. Below is a great new video made by a Huckabee supporter.

Snow day

Last Thursday it snowed on Furman's campus. Being in the South, of course we all dropped everything we were doing and played in it for a while. Click on a photo and it'll take you to the album with the rest of the photos.