+J.M.J.+ Mike's photostream  

+JESUS, MARY and JOSEPH+
Pray for us and the whole world.
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The Buggles I Am A Camera:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOTd1MzQdBg&feature=related

cool song!


Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA.
M.A. Fine Art 1998.

Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA.
B.A. Fine Arts emphasis in Photography, 1992.


Hello to you all. I have become a part of flickr to share with you my art and to look at yours as well. I hope to get some help from you to be a better artist and photographer and hopefully do the same for you.



My Photography / art is created first by a Nikon digital camera D300s or D70s. Then I use my computer with PHOTOSHOP Elements 8 on on a Mac . I consider my art to be fine art, rather than computer art. The computer is only the vehicle for my expressions to grow, the computer did not do the art work. all my images have been photoshoped in some way. Im not a purest in any way at all. if it is a landscape it is not real history of what I did the photo of.


I like doing Abstract images but some times I will do a set of Landscapes. but I like to do images of people the very best. but I don't show them on flickr much. I will show some if they say its ok for me to do so. well some times you might see some of that.






Some of the current abstract images I am showing now here on Flickr, are Collaboration's with my son A.J. He is 11 years old. We make all the images in the camera first, then I /Dad works on them in photoshop to find the best parts from several images to make the finale composition. All the images start from motion and movement of toys and other objects that my son has. A.J. is very unique. He has a way of helping me to see things in people and in the surroundings of my life in a newer way then ever. He inspires me to work harder in understanding my life in art, photography, people, spiritual things, and so much more...


I believe A.J. came in to my life to change every thing I understand about life. AJ was born Dec. 17, 1998 at 36 weeks gestation. He weighed 3.7lbs. He is a kid of special needs. He was born with broken femurs although he was born by cesarean. He has scoliosis of the back. His legs do not move and his right arm is flacid, the left arm has limited range of motion. He eats by a "G" tube in his tummy and can't swallow. He has a tracheotomy in his neck to breath through SIMV, a ventilation device to assist with his breathing. He’s extremely nearsighted and what he truly sees we just don’t really know. Most would describe A.J as a quadriplegic. He cannot speak. AJ is a wonderful inspiration to my wife and family and we are very honored and thankful to be his parents.


OK now you are asking your self or me how a kid like A.J. Collaborates with me. he likes light and lights that move. toys that fly over his bed. he has a large mobil near his bed that we have hung toys on all his life. one day many years a go I was doing my normal daddy thing doing a photo of him and I found that the toys looked cool in the photo. I began to experiment on how to have more fun looking at this toy thing that happened. I wonted to control it more but I did one thing I made a rule that he must be a part of it as much as I could help him to be. it was his stuff that cot my eye. now that mobil of his is run by a switch that he pushes on or off. it dose not seem like much to some but it is his part and all he can do. so I don't know which way it might turn. the shutter speeds are long and some times I move the camera or hold it still. A.J. adds all the magic to it and he is the true energy. yes I did try many shots that he was not part of but when I have done this it is just not as wow as when he and I work as a team. it is a fun way to play with him and be a bigger part of his life. I show him the photos in the back of the camera after we do a few, or from a lap top. he just looks. I don't know if he likes them or not but I do. I get a lot of joy from working with him like this. it is one of the only things I feel that I can truly look in to his secret world by. we have ben doing this for several years now. and I have built a large collection of cool images to share with you doing this part is a new thing for use to do. I hope you have fun looking at the images we have here. we have only printed a few on paper so far.
but we hope to some day get in to some galleries in the real world not just flickr.




to see my sons web pages only if you would like to know more on him or us. go to:

www.ajpatnode.com

or a short movie of AJ I made a few years back:

www.grandpascreativeconstruction.com/aj/videos/aj-patnode...


now Im at Face Book also:

www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1352725821&ref=name#/...





DON’T EVER GIVE UP ON GOD OR YOUR SELF! ...

What ever you are doing in your life, you can and you will do all the things GOD want’s you to do. GOD made us for Himself and we belong to Him always. GOD will see to it we get to the place He needs us to be at the end of each day. Yes our life sometimes is very difficult, but that is how we grow to know ourselves and GOD better. GOD lets the bad things happen to us, not because He wants us to suffer but because He knows more then we do about our lives and our true needs. We are meant to become perfect before GOD’S eyes so GOD lets only the things we can handle and grow from happen to us. GOD will not let us fail in his works when we trust in Him.


I have had five open heart surgeries in my life and a pacemaker device implanted in my chest to regulate my heart. Growing up was not always fun. I did not get to do a lot of the things other kids did, like sports. I also have dyslexia and was 22 by the time I could read at the high school level. I now have a B.A. and an M.A. in Fine Arts. I read better now and still spell very poorly. I did not like all the things this stuff was about in my life. although GOD was there all the time. I can see now that Jesus was carrying me all that time.


In 1998 I thought my life could not get any harder. I had paid my dues by then I thought. I got married to beautiful loving Loree. We soon had a son Albert (we call A.J.). Our son is the coolest kid I have ever met. He has taught me more than any one person ever has. Not just because he is my kid but because he truly belongs to GOD first before he belongs to us. He came into my life to change everything I know about life.


My son AJ is a kid of special needs. AJ was born Dec. 17, 1998 at 36 weeks gestation. He weighed 3.7lbs. He is a kid of special needs. He was born with broken femurs although he was born by cesarean. He has scoliosis of the back. His legs do not move and his right arm is flacid, the left arm has limited range of motion. He eats by a "G" tube in his tummy and can't swallow. He has a tracheotomy in his neck to breath through SIMV, a ventilation device to assist with his breathing. He’s extremely nearsighted and what he truly sees we just don’t really know. Most would describe A.J as a quadriplegic. He cannot speak. AJ is a wonderful inspiration to my wife and family and we are very honored and thankful to be his parents. our family tries to focus on what AJ can do and to nurture those developments. Giving up is not an option.


I am also inspired by two beautiful daughters who motivate me to accept what God has planned for me. they unknowingly as my son has done, helped me to live a better life full of fun and wonder. I become a better man and human from all they show me as they grow to be there own persons.

My only sister Maureen 40, February 25, 2009 Ash Wednesday. took her life by suicide. this has been the most pain. I have had in my life. but I for give her of it. she was and is my best friend! she is who I looked to to hold me up when I was having a hard time. I am to small to wrap my mind around whys. so I have to give it up to God to handle for me. God knew before time began this would be the way of my sister. God will hold me up in a new way. GOD is the unfathomable abyss of Holy mercy that has no end. any thing we do is so small in this it is as if it was not. no doctor heals a human. it is the Hand of God that heals us that are human.

life is not easy to live in some times. I get afraid some times and for get to look that God is always next to me. there is nothing in life that is so BIG that I can not overcome it, especially the bumps that used to look like mountains. I have had the opportunity to grow much in my life. I have joy in my life, from all the love and kindness GOD has given me. Every day I get to live is a miracle from GOD to me.


Thank you GOD for my life. Thank you Christ for carrying me all this way. May GOD bless your adventures and all that you do in your life. Do not lose sight of Christ in your life. JESUS is the only way home.