Now, I’m not saying that any of those things I did to “go green” was wrong, in fact I encourage people to do them.  Please don’t think that I am standing up on some pedestal or sitting up on a “high horse” looking down on anyone.  What I am is a person on a journey that just may be a little bit further along the trail than many, but still lagging behind many others.  I’m here to offer what little guidance and insight I can to what lies ahead if you decide to undertake a similar journey.

Though I would say that God has been preparing the trail for me throughout my life , we can take a look at where I began to tread this particular section of trail:

Even though I have considered myself a nature photographer for about 10 years or so, I really wasn’t very knowledgeable about the health of our environment nor did I really care to learn.  Sure I wanted to keep nature pretty (so I could photograph it!) and didn’t like things like litter (it isn’t pretty), but my UBER-conservative political views told me that ideals like “the free market” and “personal property rights” would take care of things and that the “environment” was the political playground of those bleeding heart liberals and their silly theory of “global warming.”  I believed that this world was created for us to use however we saw fit.  I was even part of an organization that lobbied to keep the U.S. from signing the Kyoto Protocol.

Again, I don’t tell you this to sway you toward any political party or even to say that either of our current major political parties are “right or wrong” or “good or evil”.  In fact, though I will write more about this another time, I will tell you that I think that our current system is a mess and that both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party no longer serve “We, the People.”  I write this to give you some background and to encourage you no matter where your political views may lie to listen (well, read) carefully to what I have to say because I have no political agenda.  The only master I serve now is God (and I’m sure He even finds me quite uncooperative at times.)  So now that you know that I was once a part of  “the vast right-wing conspiracy” we can get on to the pertinent details.

A few years back my ever so beautiful and patient wife, Kristie, was diagnosed with celiac disease.  If you are thinking, “What’s that?” then you know exactly how I felt.  Celiac is basically an allergy to wheat gluten and can really mess up a person’s intestines.  That diagnosis led me , the family grocery shopper and cook, to start looking at the ingredient labels on all of our food.  If you’ve never looked closely at the ingredients in the foods you buy, I can tell you that it is an eye opening experience.  There is a lot of “stuff” put into our food that we wouldn’t choose to put in there ourselves.

Not long after I started paying more attention to the food we ate, the price of gasoline skyrocketed to nearly $4 a gallon.  This caused me to look at my driving habits and make some pretty severe changes.  Having 3 children in carseats we had bought a 4-door Jeep Wrangler accommodate the entire family, but while about as efficient as most minivans it certainly wasn’t fun to fill up.  Errands were consolidated and I took far fewer trips to the mountains (& far fewer photos).

Consolidating errands especially shopping errands got me thinking a lot about my spending habits.  Looking at my spending habits during a period of high fuel prices got me thinking about where the products I bought originated.  That in turn got me thinking about the materials of which the products made.  And so on.  I started examining everything I bought and even the consumer mindset that drove me to buy them.  This last discovery linked up with another inward journey I had been undertaking.  More on that tomorrow…..

Come over here and step inside my Wayback Machine.  We are going to take a trip back into ancient times, to a day when film ruled the photography world.  Yes, dear readers there used to be a time when photographers thought in terms of “grain” rather than “noise” and had to wait a whole day or so to see the fruit of his efforts.

This particular image was shot on Fuji 100 ISO print film which at the time was some of the finest grained color negative  film on the market.  Now, some of you may be thinking, “Didn’t ‘real’ photographers shoot with slide film?”  That is partially true and I did predominantly shoot transparencies, however, I already had a foot in the digital world.  You see, I’d been scanning film almost as long as I’d been shooting with  it.  The reason I sometimes shot with color negative is that it had a wider exposure latitude (basically, held more information) than transparency/slide film and I could bring some of that image detail out using Photoshop.   (On a side note used I’ve Photoshop since version 2.5 in the early 90’s.)

Anyway……back to the image…

This photo was shot along one of my favorite sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway near Blowing Rock, NC.  I had driven past this tree that stands on a hill overlooking the picnic area of Julian Price Park countless times.  Every time I would pass it I would think, “Boy, that sure would be a beautiful image under the right conditions.  But the conditions were never right.  Over and over I would see this lonely tree up there begging to become a great photograph, but my timing was always off.

One late Spring (maybe early Summer) day I had been shooting further South along the parkway and was heading home because a line of thunderstorms was moving into the region.  As I neared the picnic area I glanced over and saw the storm clouds moving in behind the tree, but there was this beautiful backlight making the grasses practically glow.  I pulled over quickly and grabbed my equipment.  I jumped out of my Jeep and ran with my camera, a Canon Elan 7, and my tripod across the Parkway, over the barbed wire fence and up the hill as fast I could.

As I set up the tripod I could already already feel a sprinkling of rain starting to fall.  I composed my shot, fired off the shutter twice, then adjusted the exposure & composition a bit for the next shot.  I fired off that shot and as I heard the “click” of the shutter the heavens opened up on me.   Hearing & feeling thunder booming around me, seeing flashes of lightning, and getting plastered by huge, heavy drops of rain, I put the camera under my shirt and ran faster than ever thought I could.  I don’t even remember climbing back over the fence.  Before I knew it I was back in my Jeep, soaked but safe.

The image you see above is that last frame.   It may not be the best photo in the world, or even one of my best, but is and always will be one of my favorites.

I’ve learned a lot from this photo and the experience of shooting it.  You see, at the time I started focusing on getting into nature photography I was pretty angry with God.  I believe that He existed, but I didn’t want anything to do with Him and, especially, not anything to do with religion.  I had trusted God and trusted a group of people who called themselves Christians.  I was hurt by that group and blamed God for it.  (I may go into more detail at a later time, but not today.)   It took a lot of time, 10 years, but I eventually came to realize that God promises his love & his grace, but not a life free of pain and trials.  Just like this image.  I got scared and soaked in the processes, but I ended up with a thing of beauty that I will always cherish.

Created & Creative by God’s Design,

Rich Nicoloff

Don’t forget to check out my photography: Photography from the Journey

& become our Fan on Facebook

When I close my eyes and let my mind wander I tend to see 2 different scenarios play out.  Why there are 2 different streams of this same vision in my head I don’t know but I’ll try to outline both of them.  For convenience sake I’ll call the 2 scenarios “Country” and “Town”:

Country

• Multiple acres in a rural mountain area.
• Hopefully find property that already has a house and multiple outbuildings.
• Set up like a hybrid of a co-housing and an intentional community.  A handful of families that have their own small homes but would also have shared common areas such a “Common House” that would have a large children’s playroom, a movie/tv/game room, a large kitchen and dining hall, guest rooms, etc.
• The common threads that weave us together would be our faith in God, a desire to be good stewards of Creation, and artistic/creative expression.
• There would be a building filled with artist studios, workshop and office space.  May even have a coffeehouse.
• Another building would contain a large meeting space to worship together, hold larger workshops, etc.
• Artists would hold workshops teaching their craft.  Would also like to have workshops on sustainable practices.
• Lots of gardens both vegetable and flower.
• Maybe some small livestock such as chickens & goats.

Town

• Multiple families buy homes & move to the same small mountain town.
• Buy building(s) in the downtown and aid in revitalization.
• Art studios, Coffeehouse, Gallery, Indoor Farmers Market
• Artists would hold workshops teaching their craft.
• Start community gardens.

I see either of these scenarios needing 3-4 families to start.   Obviously , either scenario would take a good deal of capital to start and I have no idea where that is going to come from.  That is why I’ve said all along that I cannot do this.  I know that I’m supposed to do this, but it certainly isn’t going to happen just through my efforts.  This is a God thing.  I’m throwing this out there into the vast Internets in the hopes that some of you will help in whatever way you can.  Some of you may feel called to help out financially, some of you may pray for me & my family, and others may feel this idea calling to them.  (Some of you may just think that I’m nuts in which case I can’t say I blame you!)  Please let me know what you think by commenting below.  Thanks for reading!

Created & Creative by God’s Design,

Rich Nicoloff

Don’t forget to check out my photography: Photography from the Journey

& become our Fan on Facebook

While I have been learning a LOT, the whole process feels like taking baby steps.  You know the shaky, unsure, off balance kind of steps I’m talking about.  They are cute and part of the learning process, but they don’t cover much distance.   Here is a sampling of some of the baby steps I (along with my family) have taken:

I planted my first all organic garden.   Most of the plants were grown from seed & the garden was watered using rainwater collected in my 2 rain barrels.  I planted sweet peas, carrots, potatoes, a variety of beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, red peppers, snap peas, watermelon, & pumpkin.   There was a decent harvest but not the huge bounty for which I was hoping.  The true harvest, though, is what I learned about the timing of plantings,  integrated pest management, location, harvest times, etc.  This year’s garden should be a big improvement.

My family & I have been eating much more local produce & meat, though we still have a long way to go.

I made my first 2 batches of strawberry jam from strawberries grown about 3 miles away.  It is quite tasty and has renewed my love of PB&J.  I am bummed, however, that we only have 1 jar remaining.  (Would it be wrong to hide it from the kids?)  I had hoped to also freeze and can/jar some other veggies, but it didn’t work out to well.  I didn’t have enough tomatoes ready at any one time to can those and while I did freeze some snap peas, I didn’t blanch the first so they went bad.  Learning, still learning…

Yep, these past few months have been focused on a lot of learning.  I’ve been learning a lot about relationships, community (or lack thereof), sustainable gardening/farming, how the “Good news” applies in everyday life, the state of our culture, economy, & government, the role of the Church & my place in it, photography, myself and many other things that often make me feel as if my brain is ready to explode.  Honestly (not that I haven’t ever been honest with you), some of the things I now know and see I sometimes wish I could un-know & wish I could close my eyes.  Sometimes I really wish I had “taken the blue pill.”

Along with the learning has been a lot of waiting.  Waiting, waiting, waiting……and more waiting.  Whenever I start to complain about the waiting (more often than I’d like to say) I’m reminded of the apostle Paul’s years in between his conversion and his mission to the Gentiles.   He spent a number of years learning (& growing) before setting out on his journey.  (Of course, Paul had Barnabas there to instruct and mentor him, but I won’t get into that in this post.)

During this waiting period I’ve also been working.  I’ve done a fair amount of shooting of new photographs.  I’ve remodeled the website & gallery.  I’ve mentored a young photographer.  I’ve given a couple of presentations.  I’ve made some good connections.  And I’ve done a lot of crying out to God.

There have been some  positive signs but nothing I can really share just yet.

And that pretty much brings us back to the present.  Tomorrow’s post (yep, that’s right 2 posts in 2 days.  contain your excitement!) will be a clearer look at what I’ve been dreaming about and how you can help.  In the meantime please pray for God to guide my dreams and visions and to open up the doors of opportunity.

Created & Creative by God’s Design,

Rich Nicoloff

Don’t forget to check out my photography: Photography from the Journey

& become our Fan on Facebook

The funny thing is I really don’t feel like I thought I would.   After all 40 is O-L-D.  I don’t feel old.  I don’t even think I look all that old.

I really don’t feel all that much different than I did when I was a kid on an early summer day in Bureau, IL.  I remember thinking as I lay on the grass of the school grounds looking up at the sky that I would be 30-years-old when the year 2000 came around.  Boy, would I be old then!  That future date seemed so distant so unreal.

Well, now it has been 10 years since the world came to a screeching halt on the advent of Y2K.  I didn’t feel old then (Though my wife thought I was and bought me a wallet for my birthday! But that’s a story for another time…) and I certainly don’t feel old now, a decade later.  In fact, other than being a little slower to get myself moving, I really don’t feel much older that when I was gazing up at the clouds.

Am I really no longer a kid?  I close my eyes and swear I can still hear the sound of a tennis ball hitting the windowless side of our 3 story brick school house as I play “tennis” with Missy Newburn.  I can smell the grass, the dirt, the tennis ball, the laughter.  I can feel the warm gentle breeze and can see the aged dark bricks.  Was it really that long ago?  Sometimes I feel like I just blinked and went from there to here from then to now.

When people get old don’t they become grown-ups?  And aren’t grown-ups supposed to be responsible and, well, boring?  Shouldn’t a grown-up conform to society and play by it’s rules and regulations?  If that’s the case then I am most certainly not some boring ol’ grown-up!

Does this look like a grown-up to you?

Responsible?  Me?  Now I guess there is a part of the definition that might apply from time to time (the being the cause or explanation part), when one generally thinks of “responsible” I doubt that I come to mind.  What?  Well, yes, I am married and, yes, I’m raising my 3 kids…  Hmmm?  Yes, I have my own photography business.  But…But…. Yes, I do take a leadership role when necessary, but I don’t think that…  Alright!! OK, so I am a little responsible, but not in a boring, old person sort of way.

C’mon!  Look at me!  I don’t do old, grown-up stuff.  I don’t wear a suit and go to work in a boring ol’ office and for the most part never have.  I don’t drive a mini-van.  I don’t watch any movies with Barbara Streisand or Bette Miller in them.    I really don’t conform to grown-up ideas of work, government or religion.  I’m quite the rebel, you know.  I believe in working to live, not living to work;  a government by the people for the people, not by the elite for the big corporations; and I believe in loving others, not judging others.

Well, anyway……uh…um…what was I talking about?  Sorry, I lost my train of thought.  The memory isn’t quite as good as it…..Oh wait!  Darn.  I guess, maybe I am old.

Nah!

Seriously, just because we are older doesn’t mean that we just sit around and let the rest of our lives just pass us by.  Get up and change the world. I am and, God willing, I will.

I had a different photo that I was prepared to talk about but felt compelled to talk a bit about this one instead.   Considering that it is only a couple of weeks until Christmas I think it is appropriate.   Shooting his particular image is also fresh in my mind since I photographed it recently, this past weekend, in fact.

After finding out from the weathergirl, a.k.a. my wife Kristie, that there a chance of snow  I planned a trip to Blowing Rock for the weekend with my family.  Having bemoaned for the past few years the fact that I had very few “Christmas card worthy” images, I was determined to remedy the situation.   I had a few ideas floating around in my head and wanted to finally “see” them become reality.

I was a bit worried Friday night when we arrived at the cozy cottage at the Blowing Rock Conference Center because the snow had not started to fall yet.   All reports had predicted the snow to start falling by 9 p.m., but there wasn’t a flake in the sky.  (Though there was one standing on the cottage porch!)  I set my alarm for a little before 7 a.m. , and not letting my worries get to me, I soon fell fast asleep.

I woke to my alarm in the morning to find:  SNOW!  Glorious Snow!  Trying unsuccessfully to get myself bundled up for an excursion out into the snowy, frozen tundra without waking up my children,  I slipped out the door amidst young voices screaming and jumping in delight.  Luckily for me, all I had to do next was navigate slippery mountain roads during a heavy snowfall.  My wife had to deal with the 3 uber-excited snow monkeys!

Hoping for an interesting sunrise I drove a couple of miles to the Thunder Hill Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Once I got there safely in my trusty Jeep Wrangler, I found that while extremely beautiful in its own way and a deeply spiritual experience for me, the view itself wasn’t very photogenic due to the very heavy cloud cover.   Not to be discouraged I headed back to the cottage taking a few interesting photos along the way:

I ducked into the cottage to grab a few ornaments that I had brought with me to use as props for my Christmas card images.  I had bought a few jingle bells in different colors and some crystal star shaped ornaments that I thought were both simple and timeless.  (The star shaped ones I ended up not using because they were just a bit too large and heavy.)  I hiked a short distance toward the beautiful outdoor chapel at the conference center that had a stately pine near it.  Seeing some branches that I thought would work well, I threw the bells down into the snow to let them cool down to the outdoor temperature.

I hung the bells from various branches and set about my work.  Since the bells had been all snug and warm inside the cabin during much of the snowfall, I had to improvise by flicking snow onto them to get the requisite “look.”  (Oh, stop “poo-pooing” me.  You would have done the same thing.)  Using my trusty 14-54mm Olympus lens  on my hardy, weather sealed Olympus E-3, I spent about an hour in the blowing snow photographing 3 different bells (1 red, 1 green, and 1 brown) on snowy pine branches.

Having thought I was finished for the moment, I started to fold up my tripod and turned walk back to the cottage.  Now, I had left the bells hanging after I had photographed each one thinking I would just grab them all at once.  It’s a good thing I did, because as I turned I saw the image you see preserved above.  It was an “aha!” kind of moment that turned into a “duh! why didn’t I think of that in the 1st place” kind of moment.   I knew that this was the shot I really wanted!

The 14-54mm lens would work for this image so I hurried back to the cottage to grab my 50-200mm instead.   Some of you may be asking yourself, “Why did he need to change lenses?”  The answer is simple: A telephoto lens tends to compress the distance between objects.  You see, the cross in the background is at least 30 feet from where the bell was hanging.  Had I used the wider angle lens the cross would have looked tiny and far away.  The cross is also a few feet below the branch so with the telephoto I was able to stand a bit further up the hill and shoot downward.

Here is a shot of the outdoor chapel with the cross:

The pine where the red bell photo was taken stands about 6 feet further to the right from where I stood for this shot.  The cross in this photo is the same one that appears in the red bell image.

I opened my aperture/fstop (the lens opening) to f8 which rendered the cross as the subtle shape that you see in the photo.  A smaller fstop such as f11 or f16 would have made the cross a bit more in focus and “in your face” while a larger opening such as f 5.6 would have made the cross unrecognizable.  I kind of think that the way I shot it is like the baby bears porridge, just right.

The wind had started to really pick up so I had to set my ISO (the light sensitivity of the camera’s imaging sensor) up from 100 which is what I generally use to 200.  The boost in ISO allowed my to shoot at slightly faster shutter speeds to compensate for the extra movement without adding any extra noise (think, graininess).  Even with that extra help I still had to time my shots between wind gusts.

I’m pretty pleased with how the shot turned out.

Now, it’s confession time.  I haven’t been feeling all that “Christmas-y.”  I had hoped that we would have moved out of the city (Charlotte/Pineville) up to the mountains by this Christmas.  Unfortunately, that door hasn’t been opened yet.  I’ve heard some sounds like keys turning in a lock, but so far the door to the mountains has stayed closed.  I let this fact turn me into a bit of a Grinch.

When I looked through my viewfinder and saw this image, though, I remembered why I’m here.  I remembered from where my joy should come.  I remembered that God loves me and is working in my life.  I remembered that He has a plan for me and that I am exactly where He wants me.

I, also, remembered that God has given me a gift, has given the entire world a gift.  It is a gift that he gives over and over and over,  again and again.    It is a gift that is represented in a baby born  in a lowly stable.  A baby that grew up to live a life filled with love and passion for all of Creation.   I remembered this baby whom we sing about in Christmas carols who became a man that taught that it is blessed to be one that seeks peace, that it is blessed to show mercy, that we should remember the needy and love not just those who are nice to us but, also, those who would be our enemies.  I remembered the Creator in the form of a man who taught that it is better to love one another than to judge one another.   I remembered the Messiah who came to set the captives free, who came to abolish the kingdoms of sin, hate, fear, and death and ushered in the eternal Kingdom of God.  I remembered what Christmas is really about.

Merry Christmas!

As I took a break to drink a tasty cup of Organic, Fair Trade coffee I thought about why I prefer gallery wrapped canvas prints over framed prints.   Not surprisingly the realization that I came to spilled over into thoughts of religion and faith as well.  If you have read any of my previous posts you no doubt have seen that EVERYTHING about my life and my photography is bound up in faith and this is what I call my Journey.

I sat on my couch with coffee mug in hand looking at the canvas triptych I had just finished sitting on my fireplace mantle.  My fingers were still burning and tingling from stretching and stapling the canvas prints to the wooden stretcher bars I had assembled.  My fingers still held the memory of the texture of the canvas as I pulled it tight.  I thought of some of my favorite photographs that are hanging in frames all over my house and realized why I love these canvas prints more:  They aren’t “contained”.

When a canvas is gallery wrapped it is open & exposed to the world.  Even now that I’m finished with the print, I can still walk over and feel the texture and see the image “spill” over the sides of the wrap.  It is a tactile, personal connection.  A framed print however is walled off inside a mat and frame and then further contained by putting a piece of glass in front of it.  There is no touching.  I can only get so close and then no further.

I prefer a more tactile approach.  In both photography and in my faith.

I see a lot of people’s faith in God being contained and walled off by religion.  In some practices of Christianity (and other religions, too) there are lots of barriers.  Barriers between pastors and lay people, barriers between classes,  barriers between races, barriers between belief & practice, barriers between life & death, barriers between Sunday and Monday through Saturday, etc.   I believe in a God that cannot be contained.  I believe in a God that breaks barriers.  I believe in a God who exists in the past, present, & future.  I believe in a God who touched (& still does!).  I believe in a God that spills into every aspect of my life.  I believe in a God who calls me to follow His example by going into the world and touching lives.

Let’s just say that I’ll take rich texture over high gloss any day.

A couple of days ago I was working on some photos of storm clouds that I had shot on a recent trip to Florida.  As I was making some minor adjustments in Lightroom I thought about the day I shot them and how beautiful the light was right after the storm.  The rain had washed all the dust, pollen, and local pollution out of the air and the golden light made everything glow with a warmth that made my heart sing with praise.

What I’m trying to say is that we all go through some stormy times in our lives and while they may seem like they never end, the Light is ALWAYS shining behind the storms.  The Light is always there waiting to break through.  The rain from those storms washes the grime off us and goes down deep to strengthen our roots.  The Light will eventually shine bright on you (& me!)

I have decided that despite (and, maybe, because of) the storm that is raging around me, I am not going to hole up and wait for things to clear.  Instead, I am going to throw on my rain jacket and forge ahead on my Journey.  When the storms clear I’ll be able to look back at the progress I made as I let the golden rays of the Light warm my soul.  Come join me!

Don’t forget to check out my photography: From the Journey Photography

Love,

Rich

I headed back to the Cloudland trail to see what it looked like in early morning light.  It was beautiful.  I was glad I went.  On the trail I caught up with CNPA member and organizer of the outing, John Schornak.  The day before John had mentioned that he read my blog and wanted to talk about my dream of starting a teaching community of Christian artists.  We talked a bit about that which was very encouraging to me and then he headed back down the trail as I headed up the trail.

The clouds were rolling in and covered the trail in a beautiful mist.  I did some shooting in the mist, praised God for his love, and headed back to camp to pack up and head home.