Tuesday, February 22, 2011

At the Cross

My church asked for photos of crosses, so I took on the mission, stopping by churches and any other venues where crosses might be, including a graveyard. I find cemeteries to be so beautiful and peaceful.

I took my youngest along to look for crosses on this particular day; the others are not quite as patient as she is with my photo obsession. The cemetery we went to had the perfect cross, and I asked Audrey to stand underneath it and look up at it.

With no disrespect to those whose names are on those tombstones, I wanted this photo to focus on Audrey at the cross. Plus, as a church photo, I thought it would be best without the graves. It took awhile - a lot of cloning and touch-ups, but I finally got the photo to look like I wanted it to.


Audrey at the cross (color)

The sky in the original photo was rather gray, so I inserted a bluer sky from another photo I have.



Touch Up Tuesday's at the Paper Mama


I then decided to go black and white. I had to blur and smudge the sky a bit with this one, though, because the fun cloud texture from the blue sky looked a little odd in the black and white.


Audrey at the cross (b&w)




the long road


This photo is a special treasure to me because of the conversation with my sweet little Audrey that followed our little photo shoot at the cross.

"It's pretty here," she said thoughtfully.

"It is, isn't it?" I responded. "It's so quiet and peaceful. And so beautiful."

"It seems like a Christian graveyard," she continued.

"You're right! There are lots of Christian symbols, aren't there? Like crosses and statues of Jesus and of angels."

"Was everyone who died here a Christian?" she asked.

Although it was sobering for me to explain to her that, unfortunately, not all of these people likely asked Jesus into their hearts before they died, I had a sweet moment with her where I could tell her about Jesus' love for her. This was probably the first opportunity I have had to explain salvation to her in a situation where I think she really understood.

I assured her that her mommy and daddy are always here to answer any questions she has. My hope and prayer is that she will soon make a decision to come back to the cross.



Sweet Shot Day

20 comments:

Ky said...

What a very precious moment you had with your daughter. A very special memory for you.
Great editing, although I have to say that I really liked the original photo. I really like cemetaries too. So peaceful and quiet and very sobering. I often wonder the same thing about the people that are buried there...if they had given their heart to Jesus.

Susan said...

What incredible shots!! Loved it one.

A day she will remember.

Ashley Sisk said...

I really love the black and white.

Chelsea said...

REALLY sweet and powerful shot. I love your edit on it. Thanks for sharing!

Rachelp said...

What a good mommy you are! She is so fortunate..

tsinclair said...

Lovely photos and precious moment to lock away forever in your heart.

Kaye Swain - SandwichINK for Grandparents and Caregivers said...

Oh awesome! A treasure in your heart of family memories! And what a great shot. I love the solemn emptiness of the scene focusing our attention on just the child and the cross. Lovely!

Dana said...

SWEET mommy/daughter moment! Those little conversations are so huge. I like the way your editing turned out, both in BandW and color. You must have worked a while on that!

deb duty said...

Beautiful photo and you did a great job cloning.

Mommy2Four said...

Beautiful shots, and really deep conversation with your little one :) Blessings!

DawnS said...

I love your edit and conversion. Very striking!

Angela@the crazyness that is me said...

Beautiful photo!

Gina Kleinworth said...

I love that second one- with just the cross & the girl against that gorgeous sky! WOW

Courtney said...

Wow. Simple and stunning!

Brownie said...

Beautiful job on the photos!

I like cemeteries,too. We used to be the sextons for the church cemetery and I mowed the lawn when I was pg - that's how I came up with my daughter's name: reading headstones.

This is a cute pic I have of my kid in the cemetery... not nearly as gorgeous as your's - but funny cute :)

http://brownieblogging.blogspot.com/2010/07/company-is-gone.html

Michelle R said...

great job on the edits -- but even greater job on telling your girl about Jesus!!!

praying for her to find Jesus!!

CrossView said...

Beautiful! The shots, the day, and the one-on-one time to talk about important things...

Amber said...

The edits are beautiful! Thanks for sharing that sweet story :)

God Bless

tabi said...

Amazing shots! I especially love the black and white edit. :)

Jessaca said...

WOW what a spectacular job of editing!!! The end product is...just WOW!!!