posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 11:26 am
Imagine if you didn’t eat anything from noon today until dinnertime tomorrow — that’s a long time — 30 hours without food. According to World Vision, 30 hours is about the length of time many people in struggling countries have to last between meals. And even then, it’s not as if the meal those people have is particularly satisfying.
This past weekend, members of the youth group at my church held a 30-Hour Famine, fasting for 30 hours to get a sense of what it might feel like to not eat for that long.
If you’re a member of the church, or a youth who attended the event, and you didn’t see the slide show yet, please e-mail me and I’ll provide the link and password.
At the start of the event, each teen was assigned an identity within a tribe. Most people in the tribes had some sort of disability they had to deal with for most of the weekend. The few who had no disability had to pick up the slack for everybody else, carrying things for people, and taking care of those who had a hard time moving around.
For example, she was blind.
Blindness can be caused by a vitamin A deficiency, just one of the hunger-related problems the youth learned about.
Throughout the weekend, we were only allowed juice and water, but, as in many areas where starvation is a problem, the juice and water was not necessarily distributed fairly. (Even so, our young people had plenty to drink.)
To learn about the difficulties faced by communities that don’t have enough water, the water was turned off in the church building. Each tribe had to fetch their water from three long blocks away. And they had to be careful about how much water they used, conserving their precious commodity, and protecting it from other tribes.
The water they carried over in jugs was used for everything from brushing teeth and washing faces to flushing the toilets. That was challenging, and it was a good lesson for all of us to think about how much water we use every day.
The water outside was turned back on Saturday morning for a car wash. On empty stomachs, the youth worked from 9 until noon scrubbing cars and raising money for a Habitat for Humanity mission trip later this summer.
They even made their own t-shirts, decorating them using stencils and fabric paint. The one above says, “I starved so others wouldn’t.”
From home, each person brought ingredients to make stone soup. They worked in the kitchen in shifts all afternoon preparing the meal from scratch that they would eat later that night. It was torture to smell the food cooking. Sampling was not allowed.
To get a sense of the sheer number of people who die from hunger and hunger-related illnesses, the teens placed 1,200 crosses, each one representing one person who had died of hunger in the last hour, in the church pews. The kids had to keep going back to re-space the crosses in the pews, making them closer and closer together, because the boxes of crosses kept coming. Eventually, the walkways outside were also lined with crosses since they wouldn’t all fit inside.
By Saturday afternoon, energy levels were at a major low.
Once we blessed our food — and what a blessing it truly was — most of the food was gone in minutes! That was the best stone soup I’ve ever tasted!
People who came to church on Sunday morning had to move the crosses in order to sit down, and Pastor Curtis Lane Paul II, the organizer of the Famine event, used the experience to tell the congregation about the weekend.
The visual of each person holding up a cross representing someone who had died of hunger in the previous hour was very powerful.
If you meant to donate, but missed your opportunity to sponsor one of the teens, you can still send a donation to the church.
The best news is that all donations are being matched FOUR TIMES by the U.S. government, so if you were to send in a donation of $20, a total of $80 would go to help feed people in struggling nations. Make your check out to “World Vision” and mark “30-Hour Famine” in the memo field.
Please send your donation to
First Presbyterian Church
270 Woodbridge Ave.
Metuchen, NJ 08840
Special thanks to all the youth for making the commitment to work towards ending hunger. What a truly admirable thing to do. I am so proud of you all!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 2:07 pm
Memorial Day in Metuchen
is dedicated to the honor and support
of United States service personnel,
past and present,
especially those in harm’s way.
Click the picture above, or click here, for a slide show from the 2008 Metuchen Memorial Day parade and ceremony. Turn up the sound! When the show is finished, it will jump back here where you can leave a comment showing support for the troops, and thanking the parade committee. They did an excellent job!
I challenged myself this year to think of ways to capture the full spirit of Memorial Day in small-town America. Above, the names of New Jersey residents who died in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, are displayed at Freedom Plaza. According to memorials here, a Revolutionary War battle was fought in the area as well.
In my attempt to capture that Memorial Day spirit, I got out really early and walked around town, ending up in the old Colonial Cemetery where new flags had been placed by the tombstones of Revolutionary and Civil War soldiers. I also noticed the addition of a beautiful new memorial marking the cornerstones where the first Metuchen Meetinghouse was constructed in 1717.
Children young and old were decorating bikes all over town.
That’s Justin Manley, above. Justin is running for Borough Council and was helping children with their bikes. I used those shots, plus pre-parade shots of scouts, as the slide show introduction. So many children are involved in the Memorial Day events here, that I thought it was a realistic segue into the images of troops and veterans. It is my hope that we teach our children to appreciate the sacrifices that have been made for our freedom, including the freedom of a democratic process of elections.
I love this shot of the Metuchen High School band.
It was a beautiful day, yet difficult for shooting because of the full sun. I sought a few shady spots to get lots of variety in my pictures.
I love this one!
A float in the parade listed the names of troops who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq. That can’t have been an easy float to make.
Cdr. John A. Rizzuto, left, watched last year’s Memorial Day slide show while on duty in Afghanistan with the U.S. Naval Reserve. I still have the email he sent telling me how meaningful it was for the troops to witness small-town-America from afar. Welcome home, John. We’re all glad you are safe!
Capt. Frederic Primich, of the U.S. Naval Reserve, was the Reviewing Officer and speaker at the ceremony.
Girl scouts were putting flowers on all the memorials at Memorial Park. As a mom, I can hear my mom-voice freaking out thinking, “Don’t get in front of the procession!” But my photographer-voice was jumping for joy. Photographers LIVE for photographs that tell a story. This one is a story of juxtaposition, and a moment that wouldn’t happen on any other day.
The flag-folding ceremony always makes me cry.
Youth in the Lincoln High School JROTC have participated in the Metuchen parade for years. Their dedication to their organization is obvious and I applaud them for setting a high standard for leadership and commitment.
The Metuchen Memorial Day slide show would not be the same without this face.
There were a lot of dogs in this year’s parade, escorted by members of the Metuchen Environmental Commission. This particular puppy was hanging out at the American Legion Hall after the ceremony. When I was taking the picture, the owner was saying, “It’s ok, he won’t eat your camera; he just ate 5 hot dogs.” Thus, I was not afraid!
Vietnam veterans salute their fallen comrades with the playing of Taps, following by the sacrificial pouring out of their beer.
There are a few pictures included in this year’s slide show that I took in the evening at Cloverleaf Memorial Cemetery in Woodbridge. It was an interesting way to end my Memorial Day — all alone in a cemetery. The wind was blowing thousands of little American flags by the gravestones, giving the grounds an eery sense of life, and the reality of the thousands of lives lost. I went there on the advice of one of the veterans at the parade. Thanks for sending me there. It really was beautiful.
I love how those Cloverleaf pictures add a sense of drama to the end of the slide show.
Memorial Day is a highlight of living in Metuchen. Presented by the Metuchen Area Chamber of Commerce, the parade and ceremony requires many volunteers and many hours of work in preparation.
If you have a moment, please leave a comment below thanking veterans and their families for all they have sacrificed for our country. And be sure to thank the Memorial Day Parade Committee for all their hard work!
May God grant us peace and protect our troops,
~julie
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 5:30 pm
We’ve been watching all week to see if the dogwood might blossom in time for Easter. Considering the fact that she normally blossoms around the middle of April, I figured there wasn’t much chance this year. But we watched anyway, just to see if there would be any sign of life in the winter bud. While she has looked pretty much the same every day in terms of bud-opening, or not opening, she certainly is colorful when we look closely!
The picture above was taken before the sunrise Easter service at my church, at around 6:30 a.m. The golden color is the light in the dining room glowing in the window. She’s not blossoming in time for Easter, but true to my promise, look for a picture a day until she does blossom!
The rest of the pictures below follow in chronological order, generally, through my Easter Sunday, starting with the sunrise service in the church cemetery, above.
That’s Bradley singing in the choir — he’s the tall one in the center in the tie. I promised him that every year after he sings at the sunrise service, I’ll take him to Dunkin’ Donuts. That’s worth getting up at 6 for. No?
The light was beautiful.
But man, it was COLD! Somebody said it was around 30 degrees when the service started.
Love the light in this one too.
In between services, I took the obligatory boys-dressed-up-for-Easter picture. Gregory just LOVES having his picture taken. He sang at the 9 o’clock in a robe three sizes too small. Next year, I promise, Gregory will have a robe that fits.
My choir fully appreciates Brenda, our director/organist, especially after the later services on Easter Sunday when she plays that Toccata for the postlude. I always know it’s Easter when I hear that Toccata. And I love to hear Amy sing “Was It a Morning Like This?” I especially like the lyrics, “Did the grass sing? Did the earth rejoice to feel You again?” Thanks, Amy and Brenda, for being such a big part of Easter for me!
I’m not saying a word.
The senior choir sings at two indoor services on Easter. In between, we are treated to omelettes courtesy of Ramon. (I paid for mine with a picture.)
My omelette was delicious and there were NO BUGS!
All joking aside, Ramon, you are the OMELETTE KING of the Easter feast! Thanks!
After church, I went hunting for proof of spring. Found it in one little tulip on the verge of blooming in my backyard…
…Found it in the games of wiffle ball too…
…and in the bird watching.
Found spring in the outdoor child supervising.
…And more wiffle ball.
I love this picture of all my boys.
Did I mention the G-rex loves having his picture taken? (Not really, but he LOVES being on the blog so I promised I’d get a post done for him as long as he gave me a nice picture! Yay!)
Was it a beautiful day or WHAT?!
Name that park. (That’s TOO easy!)
It’s still cold enough for ice skating.
Bradley is the man of many colors today. From choir boy in a tie at sunrise, to bird watcher, wiffle player, military virologist (yeah, don’t ask, trust me on that one)…
…to slurping jello through a straw in the evening.
I love my family!
Thank you to all my blog readers for taking this “Walk Through Holy Week” with me. I’ll continue to update you on the dogwood until she blossoms. I have faith that she will eventually show us her colors, reminding us of her Easter story, even if Easter has come and gone so early.
Peace, my friends,
jules
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 10:28 pm
Lots of pictures of Alex’s Christening below, and if you didn’t get a chance to see the sweet slide show yet, please email the family for the link.
Above, his eyes are beautiful!
I love the lights and the colors in the Sanctuary.
Capturing moments like this one is what I love about lifestyle photography.
This one was taken from back in the pews. As I’ve mentioned before in this blog, when I shoot religious services, I never use flash, and I try to be as invisible as possible. I only take as many pictures as I need, and I never use rapid fire shutter release in a place like this. To me, the most important thing is for the worshippers to experience the moment and not be distracted by a photographer. That said, if the family wants me to capture moments during the service, I will do my best to keep my shots as real as possible without being a distraction.
Not using flash allows me to take advantage of the natural light too! Beautiful.
After the service is over, though, my focus shifts to capturing all the other people capturing posed group shots.
I sneak in a few of my own too.
After the service, I found some nice window light for a quick portrait of mom with her sweet baby.
Love this one.
At the reception at the Saltwater Grille I obviously had a lot of window light to work with!
In this one, I isolated the designated baby-rocker. I love the simple white background, which is really the bay outside the window completely blown out.
You can see the bay in this one, and the snow on the deck. What a gorgeous sunset.
This is a nice portrait of the grandparents by that big window. (More “mug for me” shots in the slideshow.)
This little girl and I became fast friends.
I couldn’t help following her around. She reminds me of my niece, Hope, when she was that age.
Isn’t she adorable?
He’s only two months old in these pictures. Time for a nap.
And a lot of looking around to check out all the people checking him out.
I love this shot of the baby snuggled in dad’s arms.
This one is nice too. May God Bless you, sweet child.
We’ll be seeing a lot more of this family over the next year, so if you’re in their circle of family and friends, be sure to bookmark the blog!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 9:27 am
A new edition of Metuchen Musings is coming out! Click the book cover above
— or click here —
and turn up the sound for a little slide show of the writers doing what they do best — writing!
This will be the fourth anthology created by the Writers of Metuchen. It includes extraordinary poems by Marcia Holtzman, director of the Writers’ Room at Edgar School, poignant prose by Jennifer Jolly and Joni Scanlon, charming illustrations by Mickey Waring (who provided the painting on the beautiful cover), memoirs of everyday life by Leah Kane
(from her charming Raising Kane blog), poetry contributions from young writers Jamie Zwiebel and Lauren Hooghuis, and many more. We’re all so excited to be publishing another book! Check back for more information as the book moves along in the publication process, or, if you’d like to pre-order your copy, books will be available for $10 if purchased through a member of the group, and will eventually be available for purchase on Lulu.com. (But with shipping, you’ll save by ordering through one of us.) Email me if you’d like to pre-order your copy!
The back cover
More information on book availability and Writers of Metuchen events coming soon!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 7:56 am
Click the picture
— or click here —
and turn up the sound for the slide show from Dean’s baptism.
When the slide show is finished it will jump back here where you can answer a tree-related question and win a free 8×10 for Dean’s family and lots of blog praise for yourself!
Above, Donna and Dean before the ceremony started way back in early November. I didn’t know if I’d be able to make it to the service, and since it was a last-minute plan for me to be there, I waited to edit their pictures after I’d finished editing all my Christmas shoots and designed all the Christmas cards. Sent the last one to the printer early Saturday morning (deadlines. ugh.) and so I finally had some time! Yay!
I love this one. The ceremony was held in a large chapel. The light was perfect to capture this image engraved in the window. I was lucky, too, that the trees were still changing then, providing a beautiful backdrop.
I think there were 13 children being christened that day.
I love this one. There really weren’t any restrictions on photography, but I didn’t use my flash during the ceremony simply because I feel that the ceremony should be about the moment of worship and nothing should distract worshippers from focusing on the moment. So, my ceremony pictures are grainy and maybe a little bit blurry, but I rather like the drama of how they look.
I especially like this one. I like how the shot focuses on just the father and son in this over-crowded room.
Dean wore the same hat that his brother, Dylan, wore at his christening. It is fondly referred to as the “dough boy hat.”
I love this one. That’s Dean Sr. coming up the street in shadow.
I got lots of nice pictures at the reception. Donna was very smart to bring lots of things for the children to do!
I can’t help it. I am drawn to photograph children. They have a way of staring into the camera sometimes that just makes me wonder if they can’t see through it and into my eyes.
This was taken inside the restaurant. In reality, she is standing in front of a gaggle of adults, but I took all the distractions out in Photoshop. She is so beautiful and I love her dress, so I just wanted the picture to be all about her.
Lots of sweet shots of Donna and her family and friends.
You may remember Donna from her maternity shoot, or from Dean’s newborn shoot. She is a beautiful person inside and out and I love her family dearly now!
TODAY’S CONTEST QUESTION
Which tree in my yard was the first one that Mike and I planted?
Have fun and Merry Christmas everybody!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 9:45 am
Click the picture
— or click here —
for a slide show from the NYC Marathon. Be sure to turn up the sound! When the show is finished, it will jump back here where you can leave a comment for this special team of runners from Finland.
The runners on this team were part of an impressive project to study how people with asthma can accomplish anything with proper treatment and training.
Click here for more information on the project.
More than 38,000 people ran the marathon this year, every single one of them had a story.
The winner of the women’s race gave birth to her daughter only 10 months ago!
I wonder what the runner-up’s story is? Personally, I find it amazing that the lead runners can keep up that pace for 26.2 miles.
But our team’s story is one of a long year of treatment, tests, training and fellowship.
Prior to signing up for the project, none of the athletes knew each other.
These two crossed the finish line holding hands so that their times would be exactly the same.
When does a picture of the bottom of someone’s shoe become important?
(At the end of a marathon of course.)
The crowd of runners making their way down Broadway elbow-to-elbow after the race did not end…
… for FOUR HOURS!
One thing I love about the NYC marathon is the sheer civility of it. Here, a jazz band provides soothing music at the runners’ entrance into Central Park at the northern end — about three miles to go at that point.
Congratulations to all the finishers! What an amazing accomplishment! You DID it! WOO HOO!! I’m so proud of you, and so happy to have met you, and to have witnessed your first marathon!
(See my earlier post about the project here.)
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 5:02 pm
This team of marathon runners from Finland asked me to take some pictures the day before the big race.
We met late in the afternoon for some stretching, jogging and sightseeing in Central Park.
One of the sights we came across is the banner that marks the 25th mile. That last mile (actually, 1.2 miles) may be the hardest, but at least the finish line is near!
The runners, a team that is part of an asthma study with AstraZeneca, will be following that thin blue line throughout all five boroughs of New York, starting in Staten Island and finishing at Tavern on the Green in Central Park.
I’m going back tomorrow to meet the runners after the race.
But, for today, we were just hanging out. I have to say, New Yorkers are so cool! Here’s this team from Finland wearing their team uniforms, walking around the park, and just about every where we went, people would wish them luck in the race.
Robert, the team captain is in front. They’ve been training for about a year. This is the first marathon for everyone on the team.
You should all be proud of your accomplishments!
Training for a marathon is difficult and rewarding. The big payoff will come when you make your descent into Manhattan from the Queensboro Bridge. It is exhilirating! Good luck in the race tomorrow! I will be oh-so-excited to see you with your medals!
Check the blog for updates and a slide show coming soon!
In addition to this being the team’s marathon debut, it is also my debut as a marathon photographer. But it’s not my first experience with a marathon. Long ago, in the life of “Julie B.C.” (before children), I trained for a year and ran in the 1993 NYC marathon. It was one of those life-altering days, you know, one of those days, like the day I was married or the days my children were born, or
the day I sang in Carnegie Hall, that I’ll never forget — one of my all-time best days! I am so honored to have the opportunity to photograph this team from Finland. It may not be the same as running in the race, but being in New York on marathon day is the BEST!
That’s me (white shirt, white hat) in 1993 crossing the finish line after more than five hours. I looked quite happy to be finishing, no? Not long after this picture, I sat down — and didn’t get up for week.
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 11:40 pm
Click the picture — or click here — for a sweet little slide show from Jack’s baptism.
When the show is finished, it will jump back here where you can leave a comment for Jack and his family, AND have the opportunity to win them a free print.
I like to hang back at events like this and watch what the rest of the family is doing. I love this shot.
I also like to focus on something a little unexpected, throwing the usual focal point into a blur.
My point in shooting a family event like this is to capture the spiritual emotion of a baptism. To me, part of the story is how everyone pays so much attention to the core family on that day. Someday when Jack’s all grown up, he might like to know who took that posed picture at the end of his baptism. She’s the one in the blue dress, Jack. (I, on the other hand, showed up in dirty blue jeans because this shoot happened on the same day as my trip to the pumpkin farm. See post from yesterday. I barely made it to the cathedral in time! Yikes! Good to know the church welcomed me, dirt and all.)
I did take a few posed shots. (They’re not all in the slide show though.)
I love this one. Jack is such a cute baby!
I tagged along, yes, in my farm-dirty-jeans, to the Cornerstone for lunch. This is another of my favorite shots. I like candid pictures that show connections, and nothing shows that better than spontaneous hand-holding!
Beautiful.
I love the song in
Jack’s slide show. It’s one of those songs that when we sing it in my church, I can’t help but get a little teary-eyed.
CONTEST: Win Jack’s family an 8×10 print by naming the song and giving us a few lines of the lyrics. I’m looking for the lines that make this an especially good song to use at a baptism.
Have fun!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 1:13 pm
