history – nancy merrill photography

A Photo a Week Challenge: Nostalgic

I’ve mentioned before that my mom’s dad built a cabin in the Uinta Mountains in the 1950s. He was a postal worker by trade, so it’s a bit clumsy, but after nearly 70 years, it’s still standing. When we go up for a weekend, there are a few things that are “must haves”: s’mores roasted in the fireplace, sugar wafer cookies, and breakfast toast cooked on the old wrought-iron griddle. This is seriously the best toast ever. I’ve tried making it at home. It doesn’t taste the same. Not even close. Years and years of seasoning have gone into that iron, and there’s nothing else like it. Anyone up for a nice mountain adventure?

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF THINGS THAT SOMETHING THAT MAKES YOU NOSTALGIC.

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.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Over 100 Years Old

This is the Box Elder Tabernacle in Brigham City, Utah. It was built by the Mormon pioneers who settled the area in 1897. The tabernacle is still used as a meetinghouse now, seating approximately 1600 people. It is also a wonderful venue for concerts and other special events and is open for tours during the summer. It was put on National Register of Historic Places on May 14, 1971.

Whenever we travel to Europe, it’s easy to find buildings and points of interest to photograph that are 100-1,500 years old or even older (Stonehenge, Colosseum, Pantheon, etc.). To us newbie Americans, that’s amazing. In a few years, we will be celebrating our 250th anniversary as a country, so anything that’s 100 years or older is very old to us.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF THINGS 100 YEARS OLD OR OLDER.

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.

Thankful November 17th: The United States of America

In January, my husband and I started a class on the United States Constitution. It included the history of the American Revolutionary War, the Constitutional Congress, and many of the writings from the men (and some of the women) who helped to create my country. We studied the entire Constitution, from the Declaration of Independence through all 27 amendments and what they mean. It was a fascinating deep-dive into history and government. It made me eternally grateful for my country and the men and women who put everything on the line to fight for its beginnings. All things being equal, the colonists should never have won the war. Britain was the greatest empire in the world with the strongest navy and best trained ground troops. King George V hired the best skilled mercenaries from Germany to fight for him as well. The colonists were out-manned, out-armed, and under-trained. Many miracles happened over the course of the war that ensured the colonists would win, and in his Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1789, George Washington covenanted that this nation would serve the God who had preserved it. I love history, but I especially love the history of my own nation.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Over 100 Years Old

100_years_nmp

I’m not sure if the building is over 100 years old, but the Dole Plantation on Oahu was founded in 1900, which makes the plantation over 100. If you’re planning a trip to Hawaii and haven’t been to the plantation, it’s a lot of fun. And you can get some great pineapple treats at the refreshment stand (for a small price, of course). Whenever we travel to Europe, it’s easy to find buildings and points of interest to photograph that are 100-1,500 years old or even older (Stonehenge, Colosseum, Pantheon, etc.). To us newbie Americans, that’s amazing. In a few years, we will be celebrating our 250th anniversary as a country, so anything that’s 100 years or older is very old to us.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF THINGS 100 YEARS OLD OR OLDER.

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.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Signs

signs_nmp

A couple of weekends ago, we headed to Chicago to visit our daughter and son-in-law. We had mild weather, which made it possible to visit some really fun places in the Windy City. One of the most fun places was the Billy Goat Tavern, made famous in the Saturday Night Live Olympian Restaurant skit. Of course we had to get a picture of the sign. Signs are wonderful subjects for photos. They are as varied as the human imagination.

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

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: History

If you’re visiting Honolulu, it’s worth a couple of hours to take a tour of the Iolani Palace. The grounds are beautiful and the building is fascinating. The decor and items displayed date from the late 1700’s through the late 1800’s. The palace was the seat of the Hawaiian royal family after moving from the Big Island to Oahu. In the 1800’s, the United States basically tricked the queen into giving up her sovereignty for protection, promising to give it back, but that never happened.

I love history. I love learning about places and people and cultures. I fully believe that if we don’t know and understand our history, we will be doomed to repeat the horrors and failures of the past.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE OR…) THAT REPRESENT HISTORY.

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.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Recording History

Photography is one of the mediums that allows us to capture history. The recent movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty depicted the end of an era of photojournalism with the end of Life Magazine in print. So many iconic images graced the covers and pages of that and many other chronicles throughout the years as photography has developed and enhanced out lives.

A couple of months ago, I had the opportunity to take pictures of my mother and her remaining siblings. It was a fun shoot, and it allowed me the chance to capture some of my own family history. This photo makes me happy and sad at the same time. Happy, because they all enjoyed getting together and have told me how much they love having the photos. Sad, because one of my uncles passed away last summer, so we missed the chance to include him in the shoot. It lets me know that we cannot stop the passing of time, but we can capture it in images that will hopefully live in the hearts of generations to come.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE YOUR FAVORITE SHOTS OF HISTORY THAT YOU’VE CAPTURED.

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.