Well, its the last day of the year. I hope everyone had a good one. Any new year resolutions?

"Clara Barton" By; Rosemary and Stephen Vincent Benét

(December 25, 1821 – April 12, 1912)

Clara Barton was a Civil War patriot. She became known as the Angel of the Battlefield because she nursed the wounded soldiers. Later she established the American red Cross.

Brave Clara Barton
Stood beside her door,

And watched young soldiers

March away to war.

"The flags are very fine,"she said,

"The drums and trumpets thrilling.
But what about the wounds
When the guns start killing?"

Clara Barton went to work

To help keep men alive,

And never got a moment's rest

Till eighteen-sixty-five.

She washed and she bandaged,

She shooed away the flies,

She hurried in nurses,

She begged for supplies.

She cared for the wounded

And comforted the dying,

With no time for sleep

And still less for crying.

Clara Barton went abroad

When the war was ended.

Hoping for a little peace

Now that things had mended.

Clara found, as soon,

As her foot touched shore,

that she'd come just in time

For the Franco-Prussians War.

After that, her life, for her,

Held but little rest,

With famine in the East

And earthquakes in the West.

Floods, Drowning Johnstown,

Hurricanes in Texas,

Fires out in Michigan,

Things that fright and vex us.

In between the hurry calls,

Never at a loss,

She founded and established

The merciful Red Cross.

Battle, murder, sudden death,

Called for Clara Barton.

No one ever called in vain.

Clara was a Spartan.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!:)))) I'm having a good time at conference. Looking forward to vacation!

Pictures for Rachel :) And Babies

Joel

I didn't know which one you wanted Joel/Rachel so if this isn't the one then I'll upload the other one. I'll miss all of you people on my trip!!!! :'/ See you Dec. 17Th.

Friends From School

Maeve and I

Doug

Doug and Elisha

Shelby

In our photography class!

Maeve!!!

Amber

Rachel

Jason


Josiah, Allen, Rachel

Me and Rachel! :)

My First Song/Poam

The Growth of a Tree

(tune: I'm a Little Tea Pot)

I'm a little maple, oh so small,

In years ahead, I'll grow so tall!

With a lot of water, sun, and air,

I will soon be way up there!

______________________

Deep inside the soil my roots are found,

Drinking the water underground.

Water from the roots my trunk receives,

Then my trunk starts making leaves.

______________________

As I start to climb in altitude,

Leaves on my branches will make food.

Soon my trunk and branches will grow wides,

And I'll grow more bark outside!

______________________

I will be a maple very tall,

Losing my leaves when it is fall.

But when it is spring, new leaves will show.

How do trees grow? Now you know!

Char's Visit

My Dad's glasses he just found on the grass.

That big building is the art museum. Finally got a family picture! :)

Char's awesome glasses! :p

I think there are six fountains, these are the smaller ones

Trying to get our exercise.

People have their wedding and graduation pictures taken at this park.

The Lake!!!

Looking at cute little couples as they pass under the bridge.

Ahh don't fall in! I'm on top on a bridge. Krystelle, Char, my Mom, and me.

I didn't know I was so strong! :) From left to right: Char, Me and Krystelle on my back.

A little lake you can walk around. Behind us is the art museum

Sunday afternoon we went to Forest Park. If you come to St. Louis I highly recommend it! :) There were a lot of people because it was so nice out. My whole family had a very nice time with Char.

AHHHH!!!!!

Char Char is in town for a while! :) Lot of shopping haha! :p I'll try to get another post in sometime soon. I had lots of homework and cleaning to do yesterday. Soo fun we all know! :) Later...Steph
P.S. I beat someone for the first time in chess I'm soo happy! :D

Rules of Third

Perhaps the most well know principle of photographic composition in the 'Rule of Thirds'

It's one of the first things that budding digital photographers learn about in classes on photography and rightly so as it is the basis for well balanced and interesting shots.

Rules are meant to be broken and ignoring this one doesn't mean your images are necessarily unbalanced or uninteresting. However if you intend to brake a rule you should always learn it first to make sure your braking of it is all the more effective!

What is Rules of Third?

The basic principle behind the rule of thirds it to imagine breaking an image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have 9 parts. as follows.

(My lines aren't exactly aliened but they look pretty close. Its just a tic-tac-toe grid.)

As you're taking an image you would have done this in your mind through your viewfinder or in the LCD display that you use to frame your shot.With this grid in mind the 'rule of thirds' now identifies four important parts of the image that you should consider placing points of interest in as you frame your image.

Not only this- but it also gives you four ' lines' that are also useful positions for elements in your photo (red lines).

The theory is that if you place points of interest in the interactions or along the lines that your photo becomes more balanced and will enable a viewer of the image to interact with it more naturally. Studies have shown that when viewing images that people's eyes usually go to one of the intersection points most naturally rather than the center of the shot- using the rule of thirds works with this natural way of viewing an image rather than working against it.

In learning how to use the rule of thirds (and then to break it) the most important questions to be asking of yourself are:

• What are the points of interest in this shot?
• Where am I intentionally placing them?

Once again-remember that breaking the rule can result in some striking shots-so once you've learned it experiment with purposely breaking it to see what you discover.

Lastly-keep the rule of thirds in mind as you edit your photos later on. Post production editing tools today have good tools for cropping and framing images so that they fit within the rules. Experiment with some of your old shots to see what impact it might have on your photos.

Williamsburg

Governors Palace

Someone getting tared and feathered.

The little play time deals they did every morning.