Blog - Randy Bayne Photographer

October 9, 2017October 9, 2017

Low percentage goal

The travel-log was a low percentage goal.

You make big plans. Let’s do a travel-log and post it to the blog while we drive across the country between eight and ten hours every day. We can take some pictures and post them while relaxing at the hotel each evening. People will love it, and hotel wifi always works great.

Who was I kidding? Big plans are not always good plans. There was no way I was going to write after driving all day. No way I was going to stop along the way and spend time making images. It would have been great and I would have loved visually documenting our trip across America, but I had no interest in extending our time between stops. Our goal was to get to Georgia. A travel documentary was not going to help me reach that goal. I knew this, but I said I would do it anyway.

The travel-log never became a reality. From the beginning it had a low percentage of success. It was a low percentage goal.

A high percentage goal would be something like this. When we finish our trip and get settled into our new house, I will get back to work and begin photographing and posting again.

Goals should have a high percentage of success.

It’s football season and I’ve been watching a lot of football, and taking some pictures at my great-nephew’s games. That’s him getting his face masked grabbed. It was missed by the referee, but not by me. Unfortunately, they don’t have replay in high school football, and I’m not sure this qualifies for review anyway. There is something else I have noticed about football, and so have you. Reaching the end zone is not the goal of every play.

The rules of the game actually encourage smaller goals. Goals of ten yards at a time over a hundred yard field. If you can make it just ten yards in four tries you get to have another four tries. Repeat this lesser, high percentage goal and the greater, low percentage goal will eventually be reached.

Why? Because going the length of the field on a single play to get into the end zone doesn’t usually happen. There are times when it does, but even then the goal is usually to get the next first down. Moving the ball ten yards every four plays has a much higher percentage of success.

A series of smaller goals will reach a bigger goal faster.

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Now that we’re settled in Georgia, for the most part anyway, I can take the the next step in reaching my goals. There are still a lot of images to go through before I post them for you, and my goal is to get them done by the end of this month. In the meantime, another high percentage goal is to post something at least weekly. Sign up to be notified.

Next Steps

What about you? Do you have a goal you’re trying to reach but it seems to far away? Try smaller pieces.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. – Lao Tzu

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Hope you found this helpful. I would love to hear from you. Leave a comment or send me an email. You can also get notified of future post by subscribing to my newsletter. Thanks.

See more of the pictures from the football game here.

August 14, 2017October 8, 2017

On the move to Georgia. No turning back now.

Georgia barn

This is my first post in a while, and with good reason. For about the past two months I have literally had Georgia on my mind. Not much else, just our move to Georgia.

Getting ready for our big move has taken me away from most of my leisure time activity. Things like photography and blogging have been put in the background giving way to packing and other moving related activities.

Most of the packing is finished. We’re just waiting for the truck to show up cleaning up a few things, and getting rid of junk. After two purges in five years it is amazing how much stuff we still have. The bigger question is why.

There are a few details to wrap up, but good planning on Marcie’s part (I’m not the planner) and focusing on a prioritized set of tasks has helped us get to a point where we can relax a bit.

One of the ways I relax is writing. So….

On the move to Georgia – A Travel-log

In this post I want to announce what is coming up over the next couple weeks. The next week anyway.

The plan is, and we all know how plans can be, to take a few minutes each evening on our cross-country to drive to write a short post with pictures from our travels.

Not at all certain how this will work out. There isn’t really much more to this plan. The main goal is to get to Georgia. So, who knows.

I don’t want to put big expectations out there. No promises that I can’t deliver.

Actions you can take

Look for posts about our travels on the blog.

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. I’ll post when I can, but there’s over 2,000 miles to be driven. Don’t post/text and drive. Just don’t, and I won’t either.

Distractions

This post originally appeared on the blog on April 26, 2016.

I started this post about two weeks ago according to my revision timeline. Why do I mention how long it has been? Because that is too long to let a draft sit, particularly when there hasn’t been anything else posted. In fact, the last article I posted was a month ago. My goal was to post more regularly once I retired. What happened?

Distractions.

Retirement has freed me up to do more than when I was working. Instead of sitting in a cube doing one thing for eight solid hours, I now find myself doing several things and running from one activity to another with little or no time between. Sometimes activities get combined. Dog walking and photography for example.

These images of Acorn Woodpeckers were made two weeks ago while I was walking Roxie, our four year old terrier mix, in the park where we rescued her.

But that’s not important. Distractions are.

Retirement is teaching me the importance of schedules. When I worked in the cube I basically had a list of task to do. Start at the top, work to the bottom. Of course, items kept getting added to the list, so you never got to the bottom. The point here is that all I had to do was keep moving down the list.

Not so in retirement. The only way things ever seem to get accomplished is if I make appointments with myself to get stuff done. The danger in not making appointments with yourself is the ease with which distractions can derail you.

So, I made a point of writing this article today. Well…I blew it. I just looked at the clock and it is tomorrow. Distractions were allowed to intervene into my day and at 12:06 AM I am finishing the post I had hoped to get done yesterday.

Both of these shots and more Stockton wildlife images can be seen in this gallery. More are on the way if I don’t get distracted.

Thanks for having a look and for taking time to read my blog. Your comments are always appreciated.

July 24, 2017October 4, 2017

The Cross

There hasn’t been any time lately for me to write new post, so I’m going through some of my older ones and re-posting them.

This one was originally posted in August 2013.

This is the cross at the front of First Baptist Church of Stockton, California. Every Sunday, some other days as well, I sit in the service and think how beautiful this cross is, and I think how terrible a price was extracted from Jesus, our Savior, on another cross.

We are doing a Bible study on Wednesday evenings at the church titled simply, “The Cross,” based on the book of the same name by John R. W. Stott. The study opened this past Wednesday with a look at Isaiah 52:13-53:12, a passage of Scripture known as “the fourth servant song.” I won’t copy it all here, but you should read it. Grab a Bible or follow the link.

I see the cross, I read this passage, and I am left at an utter loss of words to explain how incredibly awestruck and grateful I am that Jesus would suffer so much for me.

And for you.

Galations 6:14 – “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross – Isaac Watts

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Have questions? Need to talk? You can leave a comment, but if you prefer to contact me directly, you can do that too.

July 9, 2017October 4, 2017

Remember the batteries and other faith thoughts

Faith Thoughts

This morning I’m thinking about where the Lord is leading us. It isn’t always clear. Sometimes He just says, “Go…. I will show you…” And then you go.

Sometimes He just says, “Go…. I will show you…” And then you go.

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As you step out in faith, knowing that His plans are greater than your plans, confirmation comes in ways both small and great. Opening eyes of faith helps you see His grand plan. Slowly at first, and then more clearly as faith builds on faith.

Before you know it, you are caught up with the excitement of what God is doing. Nothing gets in the way of you walking the path to where He is leading.

I wrote this Facebook post a few days ago.

Remember the Batteries

As I continue thinking about where the Lord is leading, I’m doing it from an advanced position. A new perspective.

From the perspective of a backyard in Georgia I’m thinking about batteries. It is a short trip this time, and I didn’t want to bring a lot of camera gear. One lens would do. We are here to look at house, not make pictures, but I always like to have my camera with me when I travel. I wasn’t even going to bring a spare battery, so I made sure the one in the camera was fully charged. When I got to Georgia I quickly remembered where I put the battery. In the charger, in the wall, at home. It’s still there.

Clearly I’m hoping this isn’t some kind of metaphor about our faith on this trip.

What it does make me think about is the faith journey we are on and the need to keep our faith charged up. More than that, we need to remember the battery which drives our faith, the Holy Spirit.

Too often we take steps of faith outside the empowering of the Spirit. When we do we begin to lose power and our faith begins to wane. Challenges arise and we lose faith, feel defeated, and start to doubt. What began as an exciting journey of faith becomes a dessert wandering.

Too often we take steps of faith outside the empowering of the Spirit.

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Remember to keep your faith battery charged. Always invite the Holy Spirit into the walk of faith. It was Jesus who said, “you will receive power” from the Holy Spirit.

That’s what this picture is about

Sitting on the patio this morning, this view of the golf course, and the presence of the Holy Spirit, empowered my faith in what we are doing as we consider our next moves. It was a time of reflection, prayer, and seeking the Lord’s direction. In short, a powerful morning gaining strength for the day ahead.

I would love to read your thoughts on this in the comments. Let everyone know how faith has empowered you and what you do to keep your faith strong. And, don’t forget your batteries.

“Remember the batteries and other faith thoughts” first appeared on Randy Bayne Photographer.

Remember the batteries.

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