The Summit at Sunset Atop a City Shining on a Hill by Wayne Wong on Capture Kern County

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The Summit at Sunset Atop a City Shining on a Hill

Martin Varga and I went for another Holy Spirit-led photo shoot, this time focusing on the architecture of the Canyon Hills campus, the highest venue in Bakersfield.

After a time of prayer and intercession, with the blowing of shofars (ram's horns) at my home, we quickly proceeded to the site.

The Summit at Canyon Hills is constructed with a copper roof that reflects light in a unique pattern. The Beale Library and Canyon Hills are the first buildings in Bakersfield to feature this style of construction, built in the mid-1980's The Summit matches the main campus architecture and color scheme, recently implemented after the Auburn Street redirection to Morning Drive and about the time of the construction of the SR 178 interchange.

The sunset's brilliant light is also caught by the front windows. However, the beauty of the campus atop the tallest site in Bakersfield is not the only outstanding structure; the really amazing structure is not directly seen. Canyon Hills has been expanding its activities in an amazing variety of venues through the community and the world, becoming "the church without walls," where the church is not the building, but the springboard for distributed venues reaching an amazing cross-section of people and needs.

People from all across Bakersfield participate, and all ages and demographics are evident.

Last May, I came at night to photograph the Supermoon event, and ran into a large crowd of young people attending an event at CHAG, mostly of whom I didn't even recognize. It struck me that this huge crowd was here not only for a gospel concert, but to hear the missions report of Project 111, whose participants had just returned from Ethiopia to reach the 1500 members of the Karo, a remote tribe which has never heard the Good News of Jesus Christ. Since then, the Karo tribe has accepted Christ and transformation has begun! A team is now reaching the 10,000 members of the Mursi tribe in southeastern Ethiopia.

Wayne Wong
commented 5 months ago

Richard, that's a long time to let a bad experience keep you from a good thing...hope you can get over it....:)
Wayne Wong
commented 5 months ago

Richard, I appreciate all the good ideas for the D7000....I probably will have to be reminded...seems like it is getting harder to remember stuff, but I am still hanging in there...LOL.
Wayne Wong
commented 5 months ago

Richard, that will work great when I get around to getting a new flash!....:)
Richard Newland
commented 5 months ago

One more thing that works well for me is on my U2 settings I have selected FP 320 flash sync. This alows me to change the shutter speed to anything I want,and still use flash. Just some info that I wanted to share~You will no doubt find the settings that you most often use ,and work best for you~Just a really great Camera thats easy to use once you figure it out~I spent hours reading my owners manual,and it helped to better understand all the features. It can get over welming sometimes with so many options !!!
Richard Newland
commented 5 months ago

BTW you can select Auto ISO in any of the dial options even manual~I ONLY use auto ISO on my U2 settings,because it works for most everything I photograph.You can set the high and low ISO limits to whatever you want~I have the low @ 100 and the High @ 3200~I can use it for bright daytime or low light on stage indoor photography It works fantisticly !! The only modes I use besides U1 and U2 are Manual,and Aperture priorty~ Manual for my studio photography,And Aperture priorty for landscape using a tripod. I never use Auto or Scean,or Shutter speed priority~
Richard Newland
commented 5 months ago

Wayne~The UI U2 is the best feature of the camera. Just decide what settings you most often use the turn the dial to U1 put in all your settings~This can include not only the basics like Aperture ,Shutter speed,ISO~BUT everything else like Matrix metering ,focus prefance,white Bal. flash settings,And anything else you can thing of. After you select all the settings,Just go to the set up menue,select Save user settings~choose U1 then OK your done. When you use your U1 mode you can change anything you want it will stay there untill you turn the dial away from U1 or you can burn in changes anytime and make them stay by going to Save user settings and select U1 then OK ~Thanks for the invite ,But I dont attend church.Havnt been since I was forced to go in the Navy ! Church was required unless you stood guard duty,So I always volenteered for guard duty.
Wayne Wong
commented 5 months ago

Richard, first thing I tried was the auto ISO, and I immediately go into trouble because it wouldn't let me compensate the exposure; it just went to an ISO I didn't want to go to....LOL.

Of course, that is what it is supposed to do...I will have to play with this so it doesn't do me in. I know I can program a function key. I have it in My Menu near the top.

I just took it off auto for the time being and got some shots the regular way. I also discovered that the slowest flash shutter speed had to be set in addition to the normal shutter speed menu settings. This and the auto ISO was driving me crazy for a few minutes until I finally figured it out.

I read Ken Rockwell's review some time ago, so I will use U1 and U2 as soon as I figure out what I'm doing....:)

This old dog still likes learning new tricks, so I here I go...

BTW Glorious Christmas is coming up soon, and I will be shooting at the rehearsals to get set with the positioning.

Hope to see you at the performances, you would love the flying angels!
Richard Newland
commented 5 months ago

It took me a while to get use to my D-7000~But now I just almost can shoot with my eyes closed hahah~ Have you set up your U1 and U2 with settings yet ? I'ts my favorite part of the camera. The D-600 has it also~ I have U-1 with settings for people photography,And U-2 set up for birding. You can make changes any time you like. if you want to save new changes just go to the " Set Up menue " and select ~Save User Settings~Then it will say U1 or U2 you select the one you are changing,and enter OK ~Thats it~Ken Rockwell explains it much better ~If you read his review on the D-7000 you will see why I bought one~ My U-2 is Auto ISO So I can change my shutter speed ,or aperture to what ever I want ,and let the auto ISO take care of the rest~I set the high ISO limit at 3200 ~a little grainy when it goes that high,but not bad~ I read my owners book a lot ,and re read Ken Rockwells review several times~Have fun !~You will really like it once you figure it out !
Wayne Wong
commented 5 months ago

Richard, it kind of reminds me of learning to drive in SF with a stick shift!
Wayne Wong
commented 5 months ago

Thanks, Richard...I appreciate the heads up! Each new camera has its own way of doing things...I tried to shoot manual at slow shutter to get the water in the fountain ti smooth out, but suddenly it wouldn't let me.....there appears to be a number of ways to trigger this...I will eventually get the hang of it!

The eye finds it easy, but the camera finds it hard. A slight change in position will change the entire feel. The mind sees lots of new shots, but just try it, and be ready to be utterly humbled....maybe a good place to stay sharp and attentive....:)