st. mark's Archives

Confirmation – 2017

June 5, 2017
Blog

Again this year I did the pictures for St. Mark's confirmation. Such a nice group of young adults! Group pictures can be a challenge especially at St. Mark's where there is a lot of back light from the windows at the front of the church. The natural light has to be balanced with the flash on the people to turn out correctly. I used 2 Alien Bees B800 strobes with 64 in white shoot through umbrellas. The strobes were placed just behind and above me to the left and the right. Everything was shot in manual. Knowing I wanted most…

Water

March 8, 2017
Blog / Event Photography

Water and the Spirit. A young girl receives a precious gift! While the picture looks so peaceful in fact the baby cried the whole time! No matter - still was a beautiful ceremony. Taken with Canon 135mm f/2 and is a crop of a much larger scene. With the 135 I find I need a shutter speed of at least 1/200 to avoid motion blur - fortunately f/2 is totally great with this lens. You can see how much detail is in focus even wide open. Canon 5d mkIII | Canon EF 135 f/2 L | 1/200 at f/2 500…

Sunday Morning

July 12, 2016
Blog

It's Sunday morning and the children's sermon is waiting. I think this is just a cool portrait! I know it's just a stuffed animal, but all the components of a great portrait are there. Good color, a nice setting, great "eye" focus. Most of all, it is an interesting story (at least I think so). That is what a good photo really is - a good story. A good portrait makes you wonder "what is she thinking?" or "what is going to happen next". Personality comes through but mixed with mystery. You enter the picture and your imagination is an…

Flower Sale

May 16, 2016
Blog

It was Flower Sale Day at St. Mark's. This was my favorite shot of the day. Not sure why... Not a perfect flower and not the best lighting. Maybe I like it because it looks real. So often photos are over processed and over saturated and over sharpened and they just don't look real. They might look beautiful - but life isn't perfect. Neither am I! Canon 5d MkIII | Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L | 1/80s at f/5.0

The Night Before Easter

March 28, 2016
Blog

It was the night before Easter and I was practicing music for the sunrise service. As I left St. mark's I was struck by how beautiful the scene was! The altar was bathed in a single light and all was prepared for Easter morning. Kind of like the original Easter. All creation waited on the night before the resurrection - was the plan a failure? What was going to happen? The followers of Jesus waited too, for what they did not know... This is a composition of two pictures to catch the range of brightnesses. The top of the…

Shine Like The Sun

September 16, 2015
Blog / Video

Pastor Phil was out guest vocalist this Sunday in worship. Here is his rendition of Shine Like The Sun. Shot with Canon 7D and processed with Premiere Pro CS5 and After Effects. Shine Like The Sun from Jalanlee on Vimeo.

St. Mark’s Prayer Vigil

July 21, 2013
Blog / Video

St. Mark's hosted a 24 hour prayer vigil starting at noon on Good Friday. There was continuous prayer during this time in the sanctuary. We also had a number of people praying from their homes. Prayers were said for our church and the world, people suffering illness and for peace. Some people prayed for the entire church membership. After the vigil we sat down to record some of our thoughts and experiences. Following is a short version of what happened - longer version to come later. St. Mark's Neenah 2013 Prayer Vigil from Jalanlee on Vimeo.