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I don’t know how old the church is that houses this dome-shaped steeple with its arched portals and peeling paint (and questionable status as candidate for a new facelift anytime soon). But I can tell you that the cemetery adjacent to the North River Community Church, a fun discovery one early evening as we were driving along isolated country roads, was dotted with many old tombstones with birth dates and death dates in the late 1700’s and mid to late 1800’s, respectively.

It was unclear as to whether the church is still in use. We may have to check it out some Sunday morning to observe the comings and goings to this grand old specimen, situated on a beautiful winding gravel road with corn fields stretching out as far as the eye can see.

An oldie but a goodie!

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Older Than 50 Years

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My camera of choice, the one I use most of the time, has been the Canon PowerShot SX50-HS. I’ve gotten some decent captures with it over the years and I have no complaints. Our very first camera, however, was a Canon EOS Digital Rebel 300D. We purchased it in 2004 and later supplemented our tool bag with a 70-300 telephoto lens. After an eight week night class, taught by an old school film photographer (somewhat ignorant – as were we! – of the new digital technology), we enjoyed playing with the new camera and our ‘hunting expeditions’, driving rural country roads, was a fun activity for the two of us to do together on lazy weekend afternoons.

It wasn’t long, however, before I switched gears and opted instead for something a little more user friendly (read: basic point and shoot) and purchased a smaller pocketsize camera. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I stepped it up a bit and got the PowerShot. Occasionally, my husband and I would play with the Rebel, experimenting with night photography and using it for family photos. After our trip to Colorado last fall where the only camera I packed was the PowerShot, we realized an SLR camera (with a larger display screen and easier to manipulate buttons for my sometimes very arthritic hands) would provide us with more of what we wanted so we purchased a Canon 70D and, just yesterday, we became the proud owners of our first piece of ‘good glass’: a Canon 17-55 f/2.8 lens.

My husband’s worst fears are now coming to fruition for no longer am I content to (just) use our original Rebel with the kit lens it came with or the telephoto. Now that I’ve got a bit of a taste for the Caddy, the old Ford just won’t quite do – especially with the new 2.8 lens. Bill’s strength is his patience for mastering the technical aspects of photography (I’m workin’ on it!) while mine is composition and a more creative eye. So I’ll relinquish the 70D (soon enough) so he can figure it all out and then show me how it works.

For now, however, here’s a (very small) sampling of some of the photos I shot today. Lots to learn so nothing too special here but I’m having fun with the effort!