Whattaya know?

So why am I following up photos of my daughter’s wedding with yet another bug photo? 1) Because I can. 2) This isn't just another bug. 3) This katydid was actually a part of the proceedings.

As daughter and newly-minted husband were packing up the getaway car to make the drive to Tennessee and a new life together, I spotted something small and green on the tip of the antenna on the car. It turned out to be a katydid that had somehow perched itself there. Its picture now resides in the same collection as the wedding party, relatives and reception activities.

In Cherokee mythology, the katydid has the ability to forecast the future. This one wasn’t talking, so we’ll leave the future of the newlywed couple up to the One who knows it best.

Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

The bride wore Chuck Taylors

It was a wedding known as much for its footwear as its location and participants. My little Miss is now a Mrs. and starting her new life with a talented and promising young man in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

The wedding itself was a reflection of Kara and Eric – a mixture of adhering to tradition and throwing it to the wind. The location was a century-old pavilion in Lord’s Park in Elgin, Illinois – something old. But there were plenty of examples of something new, too.



Bride and Groom decided to make a statement with their wedding footwear and outfitted themselves, the bridal party and parents with high top Converse sneakers. Bride, Groom and Moms sported custom colors; attendants and dads wore black.





Along with the expected (bride and groom stuffing each other’s faces with cake, for example) was the unexpected (the cake – actually several cupcake trees) were adorned with his and hers Star Wars action figures in place of the traditional bride and groom). Kara was in charge of the sheet music for the cello quartet that provided the music for the ceremony and slipped in the Beatles’ All You Need Is Love for the recessional as a surprise to Eric – and everyone else expecting Midsummer’s Night Dream. Eric had his own surprise up his tuxedo sleeve and jammed with the reception’s jazz combo to serenade Kara with a rendition of All My Lovin.’



A twenty one thousand bubble salute sent husband and wife out into the world.



Dad got to photograph the portraits of the wedding party and families as well as reception activity. Another photographer was hired to shoot the ceremony. Something about me not able to do two things at once.

All went well, Mom and I only melted down a little, friends and family have returned to their homes and the house is quiet today.

Photographs © 2009 James Jordan.

Red barn at morning

Another quick post in a whirlwind week. Youngest daughter gets married tomorrow. Dad's taking pictures at the reception.

Have a good weekend.

Photo: Barn on the Timothy Garfield farm, Geneva, Illinois. Single image HDR. Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

Morning over the meadow

And a good morning it was, too. Taken after a passing storm.

Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

Ah, motherhood

Just when you thought it was safe to visit this blog without seeing extreme closeup photos of bugs, I hit you with this. Mwah hahaha.

I was pulling weeds in my garden yesterday when I spotted what looked like a miniature white styrofoam ball (a little less than 1/4 inch in diameter) moving about in the dirt. Since miniature styrofoam balls tend not to move about in the dirt by themselves, I took a closer look and noticed a spider was attached to the ball. The ball was an egg sac and the spider was a female wolf spider (exact species unknown at this point).

The spider hunkered down under a clod of dirt. I placed a stone near the clod so I could find it again and asked momma spider to stay put for a couple of minutes while I dashed into the house to assemble my insect macro setup.

I returned with camera and flash unit five minutes later, located the dirt clod and was pleased to see that Mrs. Wolf had graciously decided to stick around for a photo session. I coaxed her out into the open (not an easy thing to do) and took several shots while laying on my stomach in the dirt (I wonder what the neighbors think).

Wolf spiders tote their egg sacs around until the young hatch, then the mother bites open the sac and the spiderlings climb onto the mother, where they ride around for a few days and gradually disperse.

And they never call after that.

Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

Country morning

An outtake from the Garfield Farm photo shoot last weekend.

I was there to shoot one particular barn, but I couldn't help but to get views of the other structures as well. I couldn't waste the dramatic skies and the soft morning sunlight filtering through the treeline across the road. And the red rule was calling from that cart.

5-image HDR from a single RAW file.

Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

Summer morning at the Garfield farm

I received an e-mail last Friday from one of the principles of Trillium Dell, a timberframe construction/restoration firm in Galesburg Illinois. He was writing an article on restoration work the company was involved in at the Garfield Farm near Geneva, Illinois and was looking for images to accompany his piece.

He Googled "garfield farm" and my blog posts from last April and May popped up on the first page of search results. After trading several e-mails, I offered to stop by the farm the next morning to photograph the various structures.

The structure at the center of this photo is a barn built in 1842 by Timothy Garfield. The Garfield farm featured an inn which served travelers crossing the prairie.

I arrived shortly after a rain shower had passed through. The clouds were breaking up and the sun was just reaching over the tops of the trees on the opposite side of the dirt road that bears the Garfield family name. I couldn't have asked for better conditions. Interesting sky, soft morning light. And cows.

Photo: Single image HDR from a RAW file exposed to retain highlights. Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.