Julie Chen Photography

{Art available here}

Welcome to the behind the scenes of my Isaiah 40 Wings of Eagles Scripture art. I love the story of this photo and we have actually made it a Chen family tradition. But, before I start in on where I photographed this eagle, I wanted to point out the fact that in typical Isaiah 40 pieces, people only quote the last few verses…you know, the famous ones about soaring on wings of eagles, running & not growing weary, etc… In reading the entire chapter though, the part that makes this strength possible and so powerful is the verse about God’s character, so though the passage is longer I really wanted to include it:

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

For the last 5 years now on every Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, us Chens trek out to Starved Rock State Park in central Illinois to eagle watch and take a winter hike. The bald eagles migrate here as there is a dam in the river, so it makes for some great fishing for the birds. This year it was “warm” by Illinois standards {a shocking 34 degrees: my entire family by the way was mad at me because I made them wear so many layers & they kept stripping off layers throughout the day… not me though! I was in heaven}. This year we saw about 10 eagles total. In the past we have spotted 30 on a day. The above shot was the closest I could get, even with my super lens!

This year the kids’ highlight was sledding down a giant ice/snow hill on their butts. They did this for at least a half hour straight, seriously. It was pretty funny to watch them. They are also really into throwing snowballs. How far can it go? How high? Will it land in the river? {who cares about the eagles…this is now old stuff!} Another highlight was the petting farm they had at the lodge where we all got to pet a deer!!!! OH MY GOODNESS. They are truly beautiful creatures. 

We also hiked to the frozen waterfalls. It is so beautiful & quiet hiking in the snow. The kids got to walk along the frozen creek which was of course a huge adventure. We saw tons of animal tracks too. But, their favorite part of all was having Daddy with us & being “a family”… woohoo! His new work schedule is awesome!!!

These are the eagle shots I took back in 2010. It was the first year I ever went & it was just me & my Favorite Little Mister. It was a very cold day & most of my shots were like the first shot of the lone eagle in the sky {above in the post}. Very far away & not too interesting to create art out of. We were about to leave as it was all of 17 degrees out & we went to one last spot & prayed. I really wanted a cool shot & I knew it would only be by God’s grace. Within minutes, there were several eagles diving for fish & 2 of them caught fish {do you see them in the talons?!!!} & proceeded to fly right over our heads {still quite a distance up, but again I have a monster lens.} I kept shooting, really having no idea if anything was being captured as everything happened so fast. When we got in the van, we looked through the images & behold!!! I got my shot!

Every year since, I have NEVER had that experience again. The eagles have never come close. I realize how much grace it was & such a cool answer to prayer.

Grace & Peace,

Julie