Beth + Ryan = Engaged

Steve Nichols has been a friend of mine for years.  I had the pleasure of filming his wedding video for him back in March of 2006 and meeting his brother Ryan in the process.  He reminds me so much of Steve I’ve had to stop myself from calling him that several times lately.
Beth & Ryan are the kind of couple I would pay to work with – so much fun, hilarious, love to laugh and so in love.  We met a few weeks back to talk over their September wedding which I’m so excited to shoot photos & video for.  I think we hung out for an hour and a half and could’ve gone longer.

Then came their engagement session -

The morning was dreary, cloudy and rainy.
I had a new place in mind I wanted to shoot with them and saw it in my mind, but the weather wasn’t cooperating. We were also supposed to shoot some at a baseball field (which is still to come!), but we decided to see what happened and bring some umbrellas incase.
Just before our session, the sky opened up in a beautiful way –  Here’s a few of their shots -

These guys are big ice cream fans so we hit up Cold Stone for a bit -

one of  my favorites from the day:

Thanks, Beth & Ryan for letting me be a part of telling your story!

Meet Casey.

You’ve all seen the cuteness that is my nephew Grady, well, it’s that time…to meet Casey Jay – his little brother.

Born last week, here’s a few shots for you -

just kidding. (Aaron brought this along so he could drop it in front of people walking in the room to scare the heck out of them.  It worked on me at least.)

Food for the Hungry

I just added a few videos to my vimeo account that I’ve done for Food For the Hungry over the past couple years.

The most recent is “Imagine What is Possible” which I wrapped up last week.  I’ve got a handful of videos for them in the next few months so I’ll keep you posted. I’m most excited about the potential to go to the field and film & photograph for them in June or July.

If you’d like to know more about them, swing by their site at www.fh.org

a quick preview…

This past Sunday I got to hang out with Beth & Ryan for their engagement session…
I don’t want to give too much away just yet, but here’s a preview of what’s to come…check back soon!

A birthday in Weston…

My dear friend Amy turned…let’s say “27″ the other day.  She’s cool enough to watch Big Bang Theory with on Monday nights AND doesn’t talk during LOST which is the number rule in our house!   Jewel, Ryan, Amy and I decided to load up some cameras and head to Weston, MO to shoot, eat and enjoy the incredible weather – We realized at dinner that we would’ve annoyed anyone else that would’ve come with us if they weren’t totally into photography – here’s a couple shots from the day -

Jewel is such a rock-star!

Amy’s birthday present:

Ryan shot this one of me taking the pic right above this one

The Moment.

I just spent the last two days in a photography workshop put on by Tyler Wirken & Brooks Wittington.

My head really hurts right now given the amount of knowledge they crammed into it, but it’s unbelievable.  These guys have a craft like I’ve never seen.  I’ve always been a big fan of Wirken Photography, but to hear how they do what they do and the mental skill that it takes to pull off is just unreal.

I’m not 100% sure what I’m going to do with all this information, but hopefully you’ll see the difference in my images soon.

check my links to the right and you’ll find the one for Wirken Photo.

Perspective.

In case you’re having one of those days where you need a laugh, I thought I’d share this photo.

I love how kids don’t seem to have a care in the world, let alone food on their face.
I get to experience that a couple times a month with the 4 &  5 year-olds at Heartland.
They say the funniest things too.
Last weekend as we finished the story in children’s church we began singing some songs.
One of the kids looked up at me and said “Who pees in the river? I’m not going to pee in the river”
“No, no, ‘Peace Like a River’, we’re just singing it”.

A few weeks before that I had a 4yr old walk up to me and say, “let’s not be weird about this, but I have shorts on under my pants.”
What do you say to that?  I just laughed.  I later asked his dad who explained he was wearing his KU shorts under his pants because that’s all he wanted to wear that day, but it was too cold.

It’s been a great perspective shift, and over the last year and half of working with the kids, it’s been a stretch in who I am. I don’t have kids and it’s not necessarily on the top 5 things I want to do in my life, but I knew so little about them when I started.  How old are they when they can walk, talk, understand things?

I could go through life being the sound-guy or the camera operator and stay hidden in a behind the scenes role, but I would never grow or become better at other aspects of my life.

I know now a lot more about them, how to hang out with them and fly them around the room in a giant bucket.  I also get to be a kid for awhile with them and look at life through a different lens.

So there’s your challenge after reading this. Maybe it’s time for a perspective shift.  Maybe you’ve been doing the same things over and over and getting the same results in your life.  How’s that working for you?  Maybe it’s time to try something new.  Just do it, and quit saying “maybe”.  Fear regret, not failure.