F-Stopps by David So

For someone who has lived less than an hour away from the Oregon State Fairgrounds, the past 18 years you'd think that I would have been to the state fair prior to this year. But NOPE! This year was my first year. To be honest, fairs really aren't my thing. My parents have ingrained in me a wise fear of fair rides, and the food is always overpriced (and also incredibly fattening). On that note, I was able to get an elephant ear that was a solid 18 inches in diameter all the way around. But anyway, fairs aren't my thing. The only reason why I went up this year was for KING & COUNTRY was playing and admission was only $2. That's a deal that you can't pass up. Anyway, the concert was pretty great. They were awesome and I think most everyone there had a great time. However, during the entire concert part of my mind was thinking about everything outside the amphitheater. Everyone. I think at least a solid 90% of the people who went were Christians. I thin...

This past week, my buddies and I hiked up to one of my favorite places around Oregon: Mary's Peak. The view up there is always amazing. Add to that sunset, and it's a gorgeous view. Anyway, so we hiked up and were sitting there and enjoying the view. After jamming and singing a bit (there's a trend when I'm with friends...), one of my friends brought up a really interesting point. "You know how we can easily sing and play worship songs for a half hour or even an hour? Why does it seem to be so hard to do that when we pray?" We discussed a bit about prayer and faith, and he then suggested that we pray for 15 minutes. He started a stopwatch on his phone, and we started to pray. And boy. That was an experience. To be honest, in preparation for the hike, I thought that I was going end up writing about how the hike is worth it, and how in the Christian life it takes effort but the end result is worth the pain blah blah blah. You know. But, God, in Hi...

Left: Original, Middle: Old Editing, Right: New Editing (and yes, the middle one is a different photo, but burst mode makes it almost all the same) So this is strange post... but hey, it's about photography and I enjoy photography. I've done portraits for a year or so, and I've always done them the same way. Shoot RAW, import to Photoshop, adjust white balance, blacks, whites, shadows, highlights, as needed, boost contrast and vibrance, then export to JPEG. Easy, simple, done. Well, today, I figured that I could really still improve. So I sat down, watched a 23 min long YouTube video, and spent the next few hours tackling old portraits and honing my skills. Above, you see Savanna, one of the people from my prom group. When I did my first edit a couple of months ago, I wasn't SUPER happy with how it turned out. It wasn't bad per say, but the lighting on her face was off (she was under some branches which gave in unfavorable shadowing). Yet, at the time, I...

Last week, my friends and I jumped into my friends car and took an adventure off into the back roads of Oregon. After taking a break in a random field and jamming out on a guitar and a ukulele, we decided that it was time to head home. Then the fun part began. Rather than just reversing the same route that we took to get there, my friend started going in a completely new direction. We adventured down the gravel roads, kicking up dirt and dust (funnily enough, my friend had just washed his car...). After a bit, we asked if he knew where he was. "Nope, not really." But we kept on driving. Eventually, we hit a road which we recognized and we got back home and that was that. So is that it? Ha ha! NO. Along the way we discovered a lot of really cool new places, places that I think I'm gonna try to visit again. Along the way, we jammed out to Switchfoot, singing at the top of lungs. Along the way, we made memories. I think many times it's tempting to ...

F-Stopps? Wat? Well, I wanted F-Stops, but the domain was taken, so, like the cool 21st century youth that I am, I change the spelling (duh!). But why even F-Stop(p)s? Well, f-stop is a photography term for aperture (that's a whole science lesson there). But for me, (and to keep the cool title), f also stands for faith. Faith stops. Stops? Yeah. Faith stops to listen to God. To listen to what He says. It's pretty easy to run around in life, never taking a break, always GO GO GO GO. To be Martha so to speak (Luke 10:38-42). But, while doing is important, listening and learning is also important as well (Mary). So, here, I'll be talking about life lessons and all that kinda good stuff and what I'm learning. So, join the ride! It should be fun. (oh, and because I do love photography, expect photos as well). Remember. Stop and listen to what God has to say in your life. Because if you do, you'll be changed. God Bless, David