St. Tikhon’s Monastery 2006 - 29.jpg, originally uploaded by neepeople.

My second trip to St. Tikhon’s Monastery & Seminary happened in 2006. My first trip saw me bring a Canon point-&-shoot; for this trip I had just purchased a Canon Digital Rebel and was armed with several books on photography under my belt. How helpful they were I don’t know, but I do know that I was very inspired.

Early each morning I’d creep out of the dorm where our men’s group was staying and run around taking photos of anything I could find. It was bitter cold, but very quiet and I was happy for the time alone, with no particular schedule, aside from the 8am Liturgy I hoped to attend.

This image shows the top of a little gazebo overlooking a lake close to the monastery church. I don’t think there was a direction toward which one could look without seeing an icon, or cross, or ‘something’ that lifted the mind. It was wonderful. Unfortunately for us, our last men’s trip to St. Tikhon’s saw us staying in a hotel some 13 miles away. The seminary dorms were full of seminarians!