Law From the Shadows

Hope for the Flowers

Even in the desert, even in the driest and most challenging times, brilliant colored flowers spring forth, telling the dirt and rock which try to suffocate, that there is hope for the flowers.

A Graceful Ride on a Young Colt

I Miss My Mitzy

We lost her when the refrigerator repair man came into the house and she was frightened and ran out the door. How I miss my Mitzy!

Bonnie's Gift

Pillars of Freedom: Jefferson Memorial and Washington Monument

Photo taken outside the Jefferson Memorial looking towards the Washington Monument at dusk during a visit to the D.C. area in 2007.

World War II Memorial revisted

Another of my photos from my visit to the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. Shutter priority, F/4. ISO 800.

Self Portrait February 2009

Having fun watching the sun going down up on the moun'tn, a friend turned and snapped these of me.

Inspection at the Tomb

From the other side looking back toward the onlookers at the "Changing of the Guard" at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetary just outside D.C. The faces of the crowd is what caught my second glance.

The Pondering

Again, while visiting Washington D.C. (duh) in 2007, I saw my kids and some friends sitting down in front of the fountain of the World War II Memorial. In the background obviously is the Washington Monument, one of D.C.'s most visible landmarks.

I trust that they will never forget the day they were here. I won't.

A Little Bit of Faith

"I Never Got to Know You"

"Uncle Jim, I know I never got to know you but I am proud of you."

This note was left against the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. This one image made me cry as I saw so many others touching names on the walls like a loved one gently touches the casket of their departed.

You can see the reflection and the bottom of the wall at the top.

Lightning Over Colonial Williamsburg

My visit to Colonial Williamsburg in 2007 began with an evening walking tour about the hauntings that remain in the settlement. As the tour guide was telling a ghost story at the village square, i captured a lightning bolt from an approaching storm with my camera in my hand and without a tripod.

The Beauty In Reaching

I chose this just because...
Sometimes you just have to believe you are beautiful, you just need to reach up and let the light shine in.

Transcendant Hope of a Sleeping Sun

On my flight back to Arizona from a two week tour of Boston, Washington, D.C., New York City, Philadelphia, and historic Jamestown, I noticed a stream of light shining through the window of the young child sitting in front of me. Looking around, most people were either already asleep or dozing off. I think my gasp of "Woooowwwww" woke up several people, and if that didn't do it, the sound of my Canon Xti's shutter going off repeatedly did.

What I captured is currently used as a part of the banner of a website called Transcendgender. The full image continues to captivate my heart and compels the vivid memory on that plane at 32,000 feet. If ever an image could inspire a sense of hope within me, this was it.

I'll never forget the dazzling colors that are now embedded in my memory. So many that even this image could not contain the full spectrum of the Creator's canvas.

The photo was taken at a time when I faced some of the most painful moments of my life. Live a lie, or face the truth of who I really am? Expose your weakness to those who love you or bury the misery deeper into the gray fog that nearly blinded you?

Embrace the light of love, or fall into endless despair?

And even then, I chose to step forward into the road less traveled. I chose authenticity.

The Capitol Ceiling

I visited Capitol Hill in the summer of 2007. These were taken as I stood directly underneath the dome.

Carry Me My Hero

I captured this moment of my son carrying my daughter into Disneyland because her feet were tired. My heart always sings, "Awwwwww" when I view this photo. (Don't worry, her energy came right back when we got inside the gates!)

Capture the moment. Isn't that one of photography's best rules?