California Love.

Story – Atlanta Creative Meeting

Met up with Ben Arment and crew as they discussed ideas and such for the Chicago event Story. They have some pretty cool things in store and it was exciting to hear all these gifted and creative hearts come together!

Unhindered

Atlanta’s band Unhindered played at the Childrens Hospital of Atlanta Thursday night for the annual “Lighting of the Tree” Service. They came together with many of the kids and staff to sing Christmas carols.

Portland

Spent my Labor Day weekend in Portland, Oregon with my mentor and good friend Kerri Kenyon. We had 3 very full days and I took a lot of pictures. Here are a few.

Rock the River

Went out to St. Louis to shoot the all day free concert, Rock the River Tour.

Redeemed Love

Took a couple pics today to bring more of an image to the vision of this great organization called Redeemed. Redeemed was created from a desire for every woman and teenage girl trapped in the sex trade industry to be restored to a place of hope, security, love, and dignity. They are doing great things!

Congrats Jennie and Mark!

I had the honor this past weekend, up in Minneapolis to be the Maid of Honor in my best friends wedding. I didn’t shoot the wedding but I did enjoy being apart of the weekend and capturing some fun moments.

Jamaica

Just got back from my mission in Jamaica. Port Maria/Galina. It was incredible…doing construction, tutoring, loving on kids and the old people, visiting homes, painting…i am exhausted, but ready to go back. ACE (American Caribbean Experience) is doing it right! 

the river

I am not the usual “nature” photographer, macro flower shots aren’t my thing. Today, was an exception. I had a brief opportunity to play hookie from doing work today and went to one of my favorite places that was on my way home. The Riverpark over by the 2nd Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee.  I love being in nature, spent some time just meditating, praying and reading. I was ready to go, but felt that little voice telling me to stay till 11:30…weird, but i have learned that those hunches, nudges have always come of something, so i waited…about 15 minutes after 11, to my right I saw a family of geese, mom, dad and chicks. I ran to my car and grabbed my camera, and prayed that they would still be there. I saw this at Piedmont Park about 2 weeks ago and this time, for some reason it just brought joy to my heart, it was like a little, “I love you!” from the One who created everything. So i wanted to share one of my faves.

My second home…

I went down to south florida with a couple friends this past weekend, short weekend. I will need to be going back soon, I needed more time and the weather didn’t really want to cooperate either. Still got to see some good people and relax a bit, which I needed.

Happy Birthday Nikki

1974-2004

Today is my sister Nikki’s birthday. This is her 4th year celebrating with Jesus. I miss her terribly, and her life has greatly influenced and affected my life, more than she’ll ever knew. Looking forward to the day of my promotion and being able to hug her again. I love you.

notfashionable.com

I wanted to give a shout out to my friend Ryans’ cause, Not Fashionable. An effort to help the hungry, especially amongst children. I wore one of his shirts while we were out shooting the other day…if you want one and want to support this, click here.

Fun with Cameras

So, today my friend Matt and I went and had a little photography session. He is taking some time off and traveling in Europe, Africa and Israel and wanted to get somewhat more accustomed to shooting…so i took him to the “LG throwdown”, my secret place that i like to shoot…more to come on Saturday.

Cityview

I have been doing some contract design work for a company called, Next Marketing. It hasnt been anything really challenging but just finishing up business that was left that needed to be done. I work from their office, and one of my favorite parts is the view from the 14th floor.

The joys of working freelance…

I am not working at home today…thanks to AT&T…who for some random reason cut off my internet Friday. So in cases like this i have to find somewhere else to work. Normally i hit up Octane (where i was yesterday) but i decided to stay close to home and come to Land of a Thousand Hills, where i have found that their coffee is a lot prettier, and my money actually supports a pretty awesome cause, check them out…i am going to work now. 

Catalyst One Day 2009

Enjoy a few captures from todays event, here. For more info on Catalyst, click here.

My funny Valentine.

There honestly is nothing better than sharing Valentines Day with a bunch of good friends, funny stories and a lady named Ida, who makes some mighty fine pizza, then finishing it off with a laugh-a-thon. Good times.

Photo Editing and Composition

Editing is one of my favorite things to do. It allows the graphic design part of my brain to play. I consider it a challenge sometimes, esp cosmetic editing. Liquify and the Clone tool are 2 of my favorites. I realized that I need to post some examples that I have done so hopefully, people that are in need of not just design or photography, but they can see some editing and composition work I have done.

I have gotten a few requests to give some tutorials on my editing…even though a magician never shares his tricks I will definitely explain a few that I use a lot, I am working on it. Being a Graphic Designer, this part of photography is just as much fun as actually taking the picture. I would encourage you to take a class on photoshop if you haven’t already. Lynda.com has great online classes, and if you do work in Lightroom/Camera Raw/Aperature, take a class on that as well, the more you know what each thing does, the less intimidating. BUT I will say, in the words of Zack Arias, “Don’t take a picture thinking you can fix it in photoshop, thats lazy.” Post-production is soley to remove/add things God didn’t give you, and enhance or subdue the composition…piggybacking on all of this…take a Basic Digital Photography class too, know the settings. I am still learning.

Laurus School

I got a request to do something different, but it was actually fun. I took marketing pictures for Atlanta’s Laurus Technical School, 2 campuses.

2009 is gonna be a great year.

It has been a great few days. I made a new friend, Daley Hake, a photographer from LA, as well as some others who share my love of art and photography. So the past few days has been a educational and fun social time, assisting Daley and also just playing around with the ole camera. I think i need to take a trip out to Cali…