Just north of Chicago, in the suburb of Wilmette, stands this amazing piece of architecture, the Baha’i House of Worship. It is a fantastic sight, standing approximately 13 stories high. The entire interior is open space from the ground floor to the top of the dome.

(click on image to enlarge)

Construction began in 1921 was completed in 1953, with a delay of several years during the Great Depression and World War II. The Wilmette House of Worship is the largest and the oldest surviving Bahá’í House of Worship. Known by Baha’is as the “Mother Temple of the West” and formally as the “Bahá’í House of Worship for the North American Continent”, it stands in north suburban Cook County, on the shores of Lake Michigan. –Wikipedia

Last weekend, the Foy & Curran clans spent 3 days vacationing in Wisconsin Dells, the self-proclaimed “Waterpark Capital of the World.” Saturday morning, we enjoyed a “Lumberjack Style” breakfast at Paul Bunyan’s Cook Shanty.

“Lumberjack Style” = all you can eat, seated buffet.

The food was surprisingly tasty – especially the home made cinnamon doughnuts (not shown). However, being forced to shuffle through the cramped gift shop to wait in line to be seated was an annoyance for me.

A couple of days ago, I grabbed my camera and tripod and went to Rosehill Cemetery & Mausoleum to take a stab at HDR photography. I thought the different types of stone markers would make great subject matter for HDR imaging. Plus, it was an overcast day and I thought it might add a dramatic mood to the images, too.

These images are comprised of 5 different exposures -2,-1, 0, +1, and +2. My camera (Nikon D700 w/24-70mm 2.8 lens), while mounted to a tripod, was put into bracket mode, set to 5 exposures (one stop apart as previously described), and the shutter release set to CH (continuous high).

HDRsoft’s Photomatix was used to compile the images and tone mapping was selected to create the final HDR image.

Kitchen chair + mop bucket = DANGER!

This was my view looking down while taking this photo.

I really need to buy a stepladder, or increase my health insurance. Purchasing a stepladder has been on my To-do list for months, but for some unbeknown reason I cannot commit to one.

This is Erica and Eric; and their three dogs Kodi, Krissy and Godiva.

I photographed them last weekend for their 2008 Christmas card photo.

Up until this photo session, I had only photographed individual pets. Trying to convince three dogs to sit and look at the camera takes Zen-like patience. I have much more respect for pet photographers now.

Peering into a family mausoleum located in Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago.