Thursday, August 31, 2006

Danielle & Neemah







Danielle and Neemah's shoot was definitely unique. She was bubbling over with joy because in their relationship they've had to live far apart. But on this day, they couldn't have been more together.
There was certainly a connection in the room that made me smile, especially when I got to shoot my first ever pillow-fight :)
We went to the park and walked along the water, even got to visit the ducks, although we had to share with other park-goers.
This was the first time I've met Neemah, and I have to say he had some big shoes to fill in my mind, because you have to understand, this girl is just about as sweet as they come. She's a music teacher whose not afraid to rotate her tires, if you can get your head around that. I mean, c'mon, you don't find that combination just any 'ol day.
At first take, he was very casual and easy-going, and in some way reminds me of the Mac guy on the TV commercials. Modern, yet comfortable, updated.
Long story short, he stacked up just fine, and I think they're going to make a great pair. I'm really looking forward to the wedding. :)

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Sun

This is my son's first ever poem, written today:

Kari Ann


Is she not the sexiest photographer you've EVER seen??!?!?!?!

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Brianna








Here's a few favorites from Brianna's shoot...
I was working on her pictures as my wife and kids turned on the Miss Teen USA pageant on the tube.
I watched Miss Montana win it, even after I thought she completely dropped the ball when she defined integrity as simply being a driven individual....??
I kept thinking Brianna should have been up there. With her personality and charm, and most of all, her wit, she would have breezed through a question like that and it would have made her a shoe in for the crown.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Mud Bath

Note to self: From now on, when your six year old boy tells you he's going out back to "play", check to see if that includes a water hose...





Friday, August 18, 2006

Kendra






These are some of my favorite shots from Kendra's shoot.
This girl is ready to take the world by the tail. Her attitude is positive, and her future is definitely bright. She's got a grasp on life and a close relationship with Christ, and it shows. It's noticeable in her smile, in conversation, even in her eyes.
She may be this radiantly beautiful woman today, in these senior pictures, but to me she will always be the cutest six-year-old little girl to walk down the aisle of a church.
Kendra, you see, was the flower girl in our wedding 12 years ago...
I don't remember very many details about that day, partly because it was 12 years ago and partly because I was 19 and too young to soak life in, but one thing I do remember was Kendra, crying, becuase she'd somehow got it in her head that we were going to get married that day and move away forever and ever, and she'd never see us again :)

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Casey








I've never seen another woman transform in front of a camera the way Casey did.
One minute, she was this rough-around-the-edges, tough-as-nails Fast Pitch Softball Catcher, which is, by the way, the all-time toughest position. (I know I couldn't last 3 innings).
The next minute she was this beautiful young lady, ready for the ball, poised and striking in contrast.
Then we went outside, and she became this fun-loving girl-next-door, casual, relaxed, ready for the world.
She's full of fire, and she sparkles with life.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Megan & Dustin






Here are a few images from Megan & Dustin's wedding from a few weeks back.
100+ degrees outside, but with these two we still had a good time :)

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

The Difference Between Weeds & Seeds

Last week I was foolishly complaining about Christians who don't give of their time or energies, who just fill a pew...(as if I'm not one of them)
A good friend of mine stopped my rant, and told me that before you can have the hands and feet of Christ, you have to have His heart...

Sunday evening I looked out at my patch of ground that used to be my garden, back when I wasn’t so busy. It was overgrown with chest-high weeds. I realized then why God gave us gardens, maybe even why we were created in one. Not just to see what comes of our labors, and not just to see the good fruit that we can grow.
Honestly, I think it’s to show us what happens when we stand still and do nothing. When we don’t nurture God’s work, his seed, we dry up. And in that dry, cracked earth we think that neutrality is somehow a balanced field, when in reality, it’s only made us prime targets. The weeds come with a vengeance, don’t they?!
They grow up right under our noses, and we realize too late that it’s not just a field for a garden, it’s a field for our souls. It’s our own personal Megiddo, our battlefield. And while we’ve lost the ground through our distractions, Satan has greatly benefited from our inactions, whether we acknowledged him or not.

With all my bravado I began to weed that garden Sunday evening, in my mind seeing that little patch of ground in my back yard as my personal spiritual battle. I was determined to win, to show Satan that this ground is not for the taking. Not this ground! You know the hardest part, the best part of the lesson, was when my hands grew so tired from twisting and pulling out the weeds that they were numb, and I couldn’t make a fist anymore. The sun was setting, and there I was on my knees. For all I’d tried, I still didn’t get them all. Some were just in the ground too deep. Others were just plain pesky, spread out but connected, with hundreds of little roots, too many to get my hands around. Together they formed this kind of carpet on the soil, a perfect defense. That way they can get cover as much surface area as possible, with no real depth or notoriety, and yet they’d conquered the entire garden. What did they know that I didn’t?
In all my efforts, by the time the crickets were signing, I was finished.
Done. At my end.
It was a job bigger than me.

Hello Jesus Christ! Enter my Savior, and the reason He paid the price. Because He knew that I couldn’t. Because this fight is daily.

It’s a war I’m not going to win in just one battle. There will be many victories, but still defeats. And I’ll never come to the end.
See, we all get tired, we all get busy, we all get exhausted, and eventually, we’ll stand still again, we’ll sit down again.
We’ll lose that heart.
And that’s when we most need the encouragement of our brothers and sisters. That’s the whole reason God’s put us together, all the way back to Eve. One worker in the field just isn’t going to cut it for making the harvest. We just aren’t any good at going it alone.
And we’ll never finish the job. It will never be perfect because tomorrow will still come, and another weed along with the rising sun.
My choice then, is to either do nothing and let it grow, or to be about my Father’s business, and pull it out. To be encouraged, one weed at a time.
To instead plant seeds.

I gave my son a rock with a verse on it almost a year ago. He didn't give it a second thought and I didn't think he really cared about it. He had a bucket of rocks...
Then a week ago he walked up to me, fist clinched, out of the blue, and with all the sincerity a little boy can muster, he said, "Dad, Thankyou."
I could tell from his tone of voice and his dead-on stare that this was one of those moments.
I said, "Thanks for what?"
He opened up his fist, and there it was in the palm of his hand, "Thankyou for this rock."
A lightbult went off...Something had clicked.

He's been carrying it with him ever since, and the verse that was painted on the rock is wearing off. He's talking about repainting the faded words back on, but it doesn't matter...he now has that verse memorized. It's in his heart.

That's the difference between weeds and seeds.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

The Prince?

A few more fun shots from Dave & Andrea's wedding....
(you have to read this with your best, thickest Irish accent...and roll your rrrr's.)
;)
Once upon a time, not very far away,
a bride were visited on her wedding day
by a prince who'd been cursed by the spell to break all
to spend the rest of his days, about 2 inches tall...

The only way to break the spell fast
was to steal a kiss from the fair young lass
before the vows could be spoken aloud,
to kiss her there under sun and cloud.
He watched and waited and timed it just right...
then he HOP! HOP! HOPPED! with all of his might!
But despite all he tried, at the end of the day,
He came so close, yet was so far away...

What a magical site we'd all have seen,
to see the transforming of the Prince so green...

but, sigh, alas, i have to end this blog,
the poor, poor prince is still a wee-warted frog.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Dave & Andrea







We just had a wedding up near Madison at The Lakes Resort with Dave and Andrea, a fun couple.
Everyone was very casual, and we got to buzz around with the bride and groom in golf carts, which I will always enjoy. It's like this mixture of Bumper Cars, off-roading, and Nascar all rolled together at the break-neck speed of 10mph :) I'm not a golfer, so to me, they are just adult-sized toys that beep when you drive in reverse.
There was a grove of old, beautiful trees right by the lodge, and well, I'm just a sucker for trees. Don't know why, but it's almost like they speak to me. When my boy was three he saw the trees outside our house blowing back and forth in the wind, and said, "Look Daddy, the trees are waving at us! Hello Trees!"
So see, it's not just me. Three year olds understand it too. :)
Anyway, I wanted to share a few fun shots from the day.
Thank you Dave and Andrea, we had a great time chasing you around the holes.