Sunset Meanings

I love sunsets! Sunsets are so different depending upon where you are in the world and the time of year. People attribute many different meanings to sunsets when they watch one, depending upon their mood, time of life, and who they are. Sunsets can mean the ending of a day, maybe promise of another day, riding off into the sunset of living happily ever after, to show someone God's beauty at what he has created or maybe it is just the different wavelengths of light that create the different colors that you see in the sky. However you choose to view sunsets, they are pretty spectacular to see.

Nikon D90
ISO-200
Aperture F/8
Shutter Speed 1/500 sec.
18-70mm @ 65mm
Natural Lighting

For me sunsets make me pensive and are thought provoking. I'm back to Brandi's moments in life. When the sun is setting that means that day is done, over. I sometimes ask myself what have I done this day? Did I make a difference for somebody, spend enough time with my family, tell the people that need to hear how much I love them? Did I do what God wanted me to do this day? Maybe you think these same things, maybe not. Maybe you just sit back and enjoy the moment of watching a sunset with your family and just enjoy its beauty.

My connection to Scott's is in the color red and moments with family. My family and I all watched this sunset together down in Key Largo, enjoying each others company (though my son had been pretty bratty this particular day as well). I hope everybody had a chance or gets a chance to enjoy a beautiful sunset with their family as well.

Sere

My Smiling Fireman

This is Brandon, my "terrible-twos-all-boy" bundle of mischief. He's the sweetest little guy and yet lately, I'm thinking more like he's the son of Satan! Sometimes they just know how to push your buttons (can I get an amen parents?). Today was one of those days. From the word go Brandon was pushing buttons at the speed of a court recorder. But then I said to him "want to help me take a picture?" and he immediately turned into a professional model. Seriously, I'm thinking of calling Baby Gap. What kid does this? I literally said "let's get your fireman hat and some nice smiles for Daddy." And that's exactly what he did! So once again I'm forced to admit that he's a pretty awesome kid. And let me point out that he's got his head completely craned back because his daddy can't take a normal shot (what of it?). Typical of good models, he didn't complain.
Canon 30D
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L, focal length at 42
Aperture f/2.8
Shutter 1/60
ISO 400
Natural light from window

My connection is fairly obvious in that I connected with the fire theme. The funny thing is that Brandon insists on wearing it backwards, which is hysterical when you see it. Talk about your over-sized brims! Furthermore, my connection is that Brandon never failed to put a smile on Scott's face when we'd visit. Like the music he loved so much, Brandon made Scott happy. He has that ability, just like Scott did, to make people smile.

I'm sitting here wondering if it's appropriate to still mention Scott on this blog and I realized the biggest thing I've learned from Scott and Brandi is that thoughts, emotions, and feelings are not something to be ashamed of. The very things that make us human are the most beautiful. Our joys and happiness are great. But so too are sorrow and pain. We all have these emotions and when it's shared, it's beautiful. So I'm mentioning Scott because I'm still thinking about him and the time we spent together. I love thinking about the jokes we shared. I love that every time I saw Scott he complimented me on my 2 boys. I love that I was able to make him his favorite dessert. I simply love that I got to know him in the short time we spent together.

When I look at Brandon I will be reminded of Scott for a long time. They were buds. And frankly, I have to keep an eye on Brandi - I think she wants to steal him! All kidding aside, I know our audience is by and large either friends of the Witts directly or has read Brandi's blog. So you'll understand that we chicks and dude are wrestling with last weeks events. Bear with us and we'll be back to our normal antics in no time. Until then, here's to you Scott. You will always be remembered fondly by this dude and his little hellion.

Scott

Colonel Albert

Cannon Rebel XT
manual
1/2000
f4.5
33.mm
Natural light
ISO200


For Scott,
My tie is two fold.
The last album my husbands band and Scott made was "Colonel Albert"
and the color red from yesterdays girly toes.
We still have about 400 plus copies of that CD. I remember being in the Carbondale studio
and designing the jacket and CD face with them. Good, good times were had by all.
Good night.
Jay'me

For Scott and Brandi

Scott was all about his girls. He loved his family deeply and that was what was most important to him. Brandi is all about enjoying the moments in life, those precious moments with loved ones that keep you sane through lifes cruelty and frustration and sadness. It's the little moments piled one on top of another, captured in our case a lot of the time on our camera, but also those that aren't, that make life bearable and wonderful and worth living. It is in that spirit of these two wonderful people that I am posting this picture. In this case it's not the greatest picture I've taken, but it portrays one of those precious, special moments in life.


It was taken with my Nikon D90 but I am not going to post the settings because to be honest I had it on full auto mode. I'm sorry, I shudder as I write this, but it's the God's honest truth.

I had come up to visit Brandi and Scott and while I was up there I was able to visit with my family. Now I have all boys at my house so girly things like painting toenails and that sort of thing I just don't get to do very often. My wonderful sis-in-law and brother have two adorable girls that she is willing to share with me sometimes so I can do those girly things. In this case, we all sat around chatting, laughing, loving and painting each others toes and fingernails. I was able to paint my niece's toes the color you see here (the top toes in the picture) and on her hands she had one hand a bright purple color and on her other hand a bright blue color. It was one of those precious moments in time that make life worth the pain of living it.

You will be soo missed Scott.

A Tribute of Sorts

We here at 3C1D are a family. We're definitely a little dysfunctional but we share a common interest. And more importantly we are joined through friendship and love of life. Tonight, we are hurting. As Brandi mentioned, her husband is battling a terminal illness. Today he lost his fight and has passed away. The world is a little more gray now and I find myself at a complete loss. He was an uncommonly good person, a fantastic father, a loving husband, and an extremely loyal friend. We will all miss him a great deal.

If you care to offer condolences for Brandi, you can certainly leave them here. But you can also visit Brandi's personal blog here and read more about the extraordinary Witt family and all that they've been through.

Brandi, you are an amazing woman. And you have an incredible family. We are thankful that you've chosen to share your family with us and we're better for it. I've decided to post one of yours tonight. It's already been seen here on 3C1D but it just feels right. I hope that's okay.


Scott, we'll miss you buddy. More than you know.

Sad

Ladies and Gentleman, boys and girls, chicks and dudes...

It's with great sadness in my heart that I submit this as my last photo for the blog for a little bit.
This blog is a piece of my soul. It's my brain child and all the friends are tied together by Brandi glue. It's not easy for me to leave (and it's not permanent).

For those of you that don't know me and don't follow along on my other blog, my husband is terminally ill. He has a rare genetic disease that has ravaged his body. Things have progressively gotten worse since the beginning of the year and this past week (last Tuesday to be exact) we brought in hospice to help assist me in caring for him in his final days. Taking care of him and our 3year old little girl has to take precedence at the moment.
Rest assured I will be returning when life gets a little less crazy. I just cannot in good faith continue to attempt to post on my day. The photo I have for today is less then stellar (not that that matters around here) and to be honest I didn't give it a single thought that today was my day.
I love all my photo friends and hate not honoring my commitment to the group. I know they all support me in my leave of absence and will continue on without me until I can return.
If there is anyone that would like to take my place for the time being please contact us at 3chicks1dudephoto@gmail.com. I know my friends can handle a 3 day rotation but it's better with 4 the way I intended it.

In saying "see you soon" I offer you slobbery dog kisses from my new friend Sedona.

Nikon D300s - yipppeeee
Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 - swoon @48mm
ISO 3200 - say what?
Shutter speed 1/320
Aperture f/2.8 did you expect anything else?

I am LOVING my new gear. Sadly, I haven't been able to really study it much. This picture could really benefit from some post processing. Brighten things up, sharpen things up and remove the noise. I could have helped some of that noise by turning down my ISO but I just didn't have the mental capacity to make such a correction today.
I'll still be here with photos whenever the time allows and I'll be here all the time with my love and support for my "family". I look forward to my return.

Love you much,
Brandi

Sunday with Dan

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope you had a great weekend and are ready to plow into another week. Joining us tonight is Dan, our regular urban coorespondant. Here's his post:

Pilsen, two to three miles southwest of the Loop, is noted for its murals. Historically, the murals have given this largely Hispanic community a colorful means to state its aspirations and reject the chains of prejudice that sometimes hinder immigrant groups. The murals portray many themes; from native Aztec religions to the Virgin of Guadalupe; from images of violence to priests blessing babies; from militant uprisings to children's education. One of these murals has served as the backdrop for Santana and his band in a street scene in the video, "Game of Love". The church on whose wall it lives had a fire in December of 2000, severely damaging the sanctuary. Now the church had already been closed for a decade and the rest of the complex used as a state of the art day care and child education center, so the sanctuary was not in use. However, when people entered the room after the fire, the mural depicting the Virgin of Guadalupe was untouched even though the stained glass windows next to it had melted. This, then became the rallying cry for continued efforts to rebuild the sanctuary and its surrounding community and a local artist painted an additional mural of the Blessed Virgin on the outside of the church, thus entering the Santana video.

Well, it's 2011 and the sanctuary still has not been rebuilt. The steeple tower shows broken glass and signs of disrepair. The street in front of the church has been closed off with concrete barriers to keep gangbangers from having easy routes to the arterial streets after a drive-by. The child care center, however, is going strong and they have painted their own mural on the side walls of the historic church. Even in the midst of violence, continuing poverty, and unsuccessful rebuilding projects, grace remains alive in the education of the children. Education and encouragement of communities - isn't that what murals really do?

My tie in with Scott's post is "Smiling Faces".


Nikon D3000
VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6
18 mm Focal Length
F/ 18
1/160s
ISO 800

Outstanding once again Dan. I especially love your prose. Thanks so much for joining us Dan and keep up the awesome work!

Scott