Scotland – nancy merrill photography

A Photo a Week Challenge: Backlit

I seem to be visiting photos from vacations past. It’s probably because we haven’t taken many trips in the last twelves month. Ah, well. While I remember very well where and when I took the photo from last week (Switzerland in 2016), the only things I remember about this circumstances for this photo is that it was during our 2014 trip to Scotland and England and that we stopped because we saw a very pretty church and wanted to go inside. However, I do love this photo and feel that it’s perfect for a challenge this time of year because the stained glass is a beautiful depiction of Christ’s Crucifixion, very timely as much of the Christian world just celebrated Easter and the Eastern Orthodox churches will be celebrating in early May.

I do love stained glass. I love how from the outside of the building you can’t really tell what it is going to show you until you come inside and let the sun do its work. I have visited Notre Dame in Paris, and I was so happy to hear that, even with the tragedy of the fire, the great Rose Window was preserved.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO THAT USES BACKLIGHTING.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

Thankful November 19th: Light

I know it may seem obvious and a bit silly to say, but I am so thankful for light, and not just as a photographer. The other evening, we had the most glorious sunset. I was driving and couldn’t stop and grab a picture of it. Sometimes it’s nice to just enjoy the beauty and not worry about angles and f-stops and aperture. C.S. Lewis once wrote “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

Thankful November 18th: Traveling

I know that I’ve already expressed gratitude for the earth and its beauties, but I am also very grateful for the chance I’ve had (and continue to have) to travel many places around the world and also close to home. When my husband and I got married, he hadn’t traveled much. A couple of years after we married, I convinced him that we needed to take a trip to Great Britain to visit a nephew who had been transferred to London for a year, along with his wife and three boys. It was the best thing that could have happened to us. Since then, we have made a few more trips across the pond to the east, across the pond to the west, and headed down south for my first experience in Mexico (besides Tijuana). I’m looking forward to many more adventures around this amazing globe we live on in the near and distant future.

Thankful November 2nd: The Beauties of the Earth

For the beauty of the earth,
For the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies,
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.
Folliott S. Pierpoint, 1835-1917

I have been lucky enough to do a bit of traveling around this amazing planet on which we live (that sentence structure is a nod to all of my English professors at the University of Utah). I’ve been to Asia, Europe, Mexico, Great Britain, and most of the United States of America. Everywhere I go, I find beautiful things to photograph and wonderful people who fill my heart with happiness.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Changing Seasons

Monday was officially the first day of fall here in the northern hemisphere. We’ve had an interesting spring and summer in Utah. We started with a lot of rain in June, followed by almost no rain in July, and then a bit of a mixed bag in August. September has been undecided in its weather loyalties, going from highs in the upper 90s in Salt Lake City, to barely cracking the low 60s. We have a saying (that is probably common to 90% of the world): “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes and it will change.”

We are now in my favorite time of year. I love everything about fall. I love the changing leaves, the crisp feeling of a chill in the air, every holiday between now and New Years, and even a bit of snow.

Whether you are going from summer to fall or winter to spring, the changing of the seasons reminds us of the beauty of this amazing world we live in.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) OF THAT DEPICT SEASONS.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Beauty

Queen's View Scotland

One of the places we wanted to visit while in Scotland is called the Queen’s View. When Queen Victoria visited it in the 1800s, legend has it that she believed it was named for her, but in reality, Robert the Bruce called it that because it was the favorite view of his wife, Queen Margaret. With the recent tragedy in Paris, I wanted this week’s challenge to be one of hope and beauty. Beauty can be found everywhere, even in tragedy. The image below is the ruins Melrose Abbey, where Robert the Bruce’s heart is believed to be buried. The Abbey was built in the 1100s, and after many assaults and wars, fell into disuse and ruin in the late 1500s.

beauty2_nmp

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) OF THINGS YOU FIND BEAUTIFUL.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Rise/Set

wpc_rise-set_nmp

I grabbed this sunrise a couple of week’s ago as we were heading into the gym one morning.

Here are some from past posts:

Utah sunrise

Gilbert Arizona Temple

Wildfire sunset

Big Sur sunset

For more from this challenge, visit the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Rise/Set.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Literary Reference

I had the chance to do newborn photos for a brilliant young couple (who just happen to be related to me) that are super geeky. They love Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. I got to take pictures with stuffed Hobbs and Totoro. Sometimes we set up things to have literary references, and sometimes they just come naturally (like the third photo here of a tree that looked like an Ent from Lord of the Rings). I’m really hoping to some day take a picture that looks like the wind sweeping across the moors in northern England or sand dunes that burn with the heat of the sun like Lawrence of Arabia. There is so much scope for the imagination.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE OR…) THAT HAVE A LINK TO LITERATURE, MOVIES, OR ANY OTHER ENTERTAINMENT.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography. Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.