The sun sets behind a tree near Shawna's grandparents' house.

I was able to travel outside of my immediate surroundings this week, which afforded me numerous new opportunities for exciting pictures. I didn’t take advantage of most of those opportunities, but I did get this nice shot of a sunset hidden behind a tree near Shawna’s grandparents’ house. It’s a bit cliche, perhaps, but I haven’t done anything like this yet for my photo of the week, and I liked it, so there it is.

Melissa Booth paints the cheek of a girl at the TNT back-to-school event on Tuesday night at Tamina.

I’ve been working at Tamina on Tuesday nights for a while now (most of the year, I think) but have never taken pictures there. Well, with this big back-to-school bash, the opportunity presented itself, so I brought my camera and got some shots off! There were lots of kids, and we listed to some preaching and ate food– a southern church kind of thing. I was happy with this photo of Melissa, but the lady in the back had a distracting turquoise shirt, so I made it black-and-white. For original color, go here.

Nathan is offered a free Coke at Six Flags on Saturday.

I dig this photo. Not sure if it’s the framing, or the fact that Team Coke is ridiculously sold out, or the posing, or what, but I enjoy it. Off-the-cuff shots, unplanned, can often be your “favorite” of the week.

A bird waits on the steps of the castle on Saturday night.

I came home on Saturday night and this bird was sitting on the front porch of Chris’ house, right by the door. I was able to get nice and close for pictures, which made me think something wasn’t quite right with it. It didn’t mind the flashes and clicking. The following morning, the bird was still there, and equally unperturbed by my photographic endeavors. I assumed it would be dead once I returned from my tasks that day, but interestingly, it was gone. I’m really not sure what happened.

As an aside, anyone know what kind of bird it is? I don’t think pigeons usually come that color, but I could be wrong.

A man plays a trombone outside of Cafe du Monde in New Orleans.

Since I was in New Orleans from Saturday to Monday, I was technically there for two of my photo weeks. So I feel using two week’s worth of New Orleans pics. This guy was just playing music (along with two others) on the street by the line to get in to Cafe Du Monde. I should have used a smaller f/stop to make him pop out of the background more, but I’m still happy I was level-headed enough to put on the 50mm at all instead of sticking with the 16-35mm for this photo.

Children gather around a lamb held by one of the members of Crossroads Baptist Church on Good Friday.

This picture basically looks like something you’d see on the wall of a Sunday School classroom. That’s what I was going for, so… success!

Crossroads had a big focus on Jesus being the lamb on Good Friday, so they brought in some animals and suburban kids got to see what they’re really like.