One of my all time favorite hymns was written in 1901 by Maltbie D. Babcock. It is a call to remember – this world has an Owner and He is in ultimate charge, why should we then worry? Here are the lyrics.
This is my Father’s world,
And to my list’ning ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world:
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas—
His hand the wonders wrought.
This is my Father’s world:
The birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white,
Declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world:
He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass,
He speaks to me everywhere.
This is my Father’s world:
Oh, let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world,
The battle is not done:
Jesus who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heav’n be one.
~ Maltbie D. Babcock
As we come up to the 30th anniversary of my earthly father’s passing from this life, I’ve been quite pensive. Looking back at what I learned from him all those years ago reminds me of God’s love and mercy as well as the positive aspects of my father’s life and teaching. He taught me many things over the years and although he was no perfect father (who is, other than God Himself?) he left a legacy in his children of a love of God and God’s word and a willingness to try to do things ones’ self rather than depend on others. Dad was a very creative person and had amazing skill in many areas, and he passed some of this on to each of his kids.
One of those areas that I learned a little bit of is in the area of photography. Dad loved to take pictures and I can only imagine how much he would have enjoyed the new technologies available via digital photography and digital processing of images. Dad had a Konica Autoreflex TC and upon leaving home I managed to acquire one of my own. I didn’t know too much about photography, but did know that setting that lens on AE would allow me to control the shutter speed and focus and turn out some decent images.
Recently I looked around, trying to remember what camera it was, and eventually found an image and the name and a few details came surging back.
And then came a Sony Mavica with its 640X480 jpgs, followed by a 3 megapixel camera that I can’t recall the manufacturer of and then a number of different cell phones, all allowing one to snap a quick digital image and share it online with others. But again, not much about photography was learned other than “let the camera do it all”, which sometimes is enough, but often falls far short of what one is seeking to portray.
And then we stopped at a Walmart for a bathroom break while up in the US and on their clearance rack was a Canon Rebel XT at a very attractive price. Once more I had in my hands a Single Lens Reflex camera – but with the added attraction of digital imaging. Unfortunately, however, it seemed easier to continue to slough off and let the camera do it all.
A few years later and we were in California and stopped in a pawn shop where they had a Canon Rebel T1i at a very attractive price, due to the fact that the battery was flat and no charger available. So I took the risk, ordered a new battery and charger off of Amazon and it was promptly delivered, allowing me to test and find that the camera was in very good shape and fully functional. And the original battery took and held a charge (and several years later it still does).
But again, let the camera do it all was the modus operandi. But this simply isn’t enough when you want to do a good job of portraying images of the world around. So recently I started delving into the mysteries of ISO, Shutter Speed and F/Stops. And started taking pictures of the world around me to share with others, using my own judgment as to settings and ending up with some decent pictures in the process.
So, in the spirit of “This Is My Father’s World” I intend to share pictures here on my blog, pictures shot with intentionality and and not just happenstance. I’ve already run into some of the limitations that come from the relatively slow “kit lenses” that my cameras came with, so the hunt is on for other options. One aspect of modernity that intrigues me is the opportunity to mate the technology of yesterday with that of today. The hunt is on for one of the Konica lenses from yesteryear and an adapter ring to allow me to use it on my “modern” DSLR. This should give me the chance to finally use such a lens to its potential instead of just running it on AE as before. In fact, mating it to a modern Canon would REQUIRE manual use of settings and focus instead of point and shoot and “let the camera do it all”.
I look forward to developing this idea further.