Chunky Chewy Granola Bars

One of the reasons my grandfather gave me this camera is because I take pictures of my wonderful wife's cooking for her blog. Here is a picture of her latest creation, she calls them "Chunky Chewy Granola Bars," and they are delicious! They are also very healthy, made with the best ingredients. If you would like to see how to make them, please follow this link: Creative-Cravings

Please click on my picture to go to Picasa for a better image. All comments and critiques are welcome!

Green Eyes

Green Eyes

The average lifespan of a fly (at warm Texas temperatures) is 20-30 days. It takes them a week to reach adulthood. They live the remaining 3/4 of their lives eating and mating, and yes, flies do sleep, not for very long and not very deeply. At this point, you're probably wondering why I'm telling you about flies. Good question! Since this is a blog centered around photography, it would probably be a good guess that I took a picture of a fly, but why is the question.

Do you think flies think in long term goals? Do you think they are stressed when they don't get to have sex with the last fly they came across? Maybe they get depressed when their fly family dies. Perhaps they are filled with immense jealousy when they see another fly "rich" with foods they do not possess.

I don't think so, do you want to know why?

Besides the fact that they are small insects and are incapable of producing this kind of thinking and emotion, the answer has already been mentioned. They live for 3-4 weeks! Every second spent on thinking about things that just don't matter is a second lost.

If a fly can understand the importance of time, how much more wise should we be with our intelligent brains? Our time on this earth is merely a breath. We are here one day and gone the next. You simply cannot afford to allow negative thinking and hurdles to slow you down. Know what you want and go for it. Ask yourself what the next step is to achieve your goal AND DO IT. It doesn't matter if it's a baby step as long as it's in the right direction. When you complete it, tackle the next step. Be relentless in your pursuit. Don't settle for anything less than you deserve. It pains me to see people with so much potential convince themselves that they are not worthy of success and happiness. Be positive, take control of your thoughts and actions, and you will not fail.

Finally, here is my picture. We have much to learn from Green Eyes.

The past is the past, the present is earned, and the future is what we make of it.

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts.

-Brent Steck

For the photographers, the techinical information for this picture is located on the picassa photo. Please click on the picture for more information. Thanks!

Magnolia Tree Refuge

Hello, I'm Brent,

This is my first entry for this new blog. Let me first say, that I have been blessed with a wonderful family that has provided me with the tools to make this possible. The theme for this blog will be photography. I am a newbie in every sense of the word. The only pictures I have taken before yesterday were with a digital camera that accompanies every low twenty-something or teenager on a fun night out. Unless you count the wind up disposable cameras from childhood!





My grandfather is a photographer. He has given me the privelege of becoming the next photographer in our family. As a graduation/Christmas present (early in May because he just couldn't wait anymore), he has given me a Nikon D5000 Digital SLR camera. Crazy, I know. It gets better... He also gave me two Nikkor lenses for my camera. One VR 55-200mm F4-5.6G and one VR 18-55mm F3.5-5.6G. The picture for today will be the first of many, many beautiful images that will be processed through this amazing equipment.





Here is my first picture. Please look, think, and if you are a photographer... please give a newbie some advice! All comments and suggestions are welcome. The picture was taken literally 15 feet outside my front door in Dallas, TX from the magnolia tree shading my house.

The full picture looks amazing on my Nikon software, but I am not sure how to post equally large and sharp photos to this blog. Hopefully I will have a further understanding of blog workings by my next post so I can post larger, sharper photos.

Thank you all for looking at my blog! I hope you enjoyed it and I will post again soon!