I have some bad news.

I have a new best friend. Sorry old best friends; you have been replaced.
My friend's name is Olivia (also affectionately known as "Oli" "O's" and "Livi")
She is Sarah's little sister
(By the way, Sarah has a good re-cap on her blog of what we have done so far...)
I baby-sat her while the rest of the Barlow's were out.
We read books, played duck-duck-goose-capture (?) and did a photoshoot, of course!
We have a Panera date planned soon. Should be awesome.
From the moment I arrived she has been my little shadow - helping me in ANY way she can. She is a joyful servant!I love you Little Miss!(ps. Isn't she a cutie?)

(pps. DudeMan - Happy Happy Happy 8th Birthday! I will never forget the day you were born. You are more precious to me than you will ever know and I am so sad I am not there for your birthday. I love you!)

broken, and yet alive.

(photo credit: Janelle)

Like the rest of CLC bloggers, I am asking for prayer for the Davis & Miller families.
This morning their "little man" went to heaven after long fight with cancer.(photo credit: Davis Blog)
He has entered "the gates made of pearl" (Revelation 21:21)
He is toddling around on "streets of pure gold, transparent as glass." (Revelation 21:21)
He painlessly plays in a "city that has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light." (Revelation 21:23)
And, God - the Creator of Heaven and earth,
Sustainer, Maker and King,
Our Savior who is Christ the Lord;
The Holy One;
God
has welcomed Micah into his eternal, perfect home. (photo credit: Davis Blog)
I didn't know Micah personally, but I miss him. I ache for the Davis's.
Micah laughed a lot. He adored his brother and sister.
He loved chicken nuggets, Mickey Mouse and his orange Croc's.
Now he is in Jesus' arms.
(photo credit: Davis Blog)
Let's pray for Mr. Davis while he leads his family in mourning. Oh Lord give him strength!
Let's pray for Mrs. Davis as she supports her husband. Please, Jesus, flood her with peace.
Let's pray for Braeton and Cianne, Micah's siblings, as they walk through this tragedy as such young children. We pray for overwhelming mercy, God.

Thank you, Jesus, for the cross.

Thank you for heaven.

Back in March I posted about Micah and another little one with cancer, Alivia.
She is also in heaven with Micah, as of July 6. Please also pray for the Haughery family.

It's official.

I have decided that I really, really like country clubs. Call me 57, but jeez, I am so hooked!
The McShea's (every photographers dream family) had me go up to the Manor Club
with them for some family portraits.
There were polo shirts, and newly-cut-grass-smells, and golf carts, and a live guitarist singing Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's Somewhere Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World. There were oak trees and the sun was setting, and I loved it :D



(I know that people probably don't read the words to the songs I post, but this one is a really good song, if you have the time to follow the words...)

Remember When - Alan Jackson

Remember when I was young
And so were youAnd time stood still
And love was all we knewYou were the first, so was IWe loved
And we criedRemember whenRemember when we vowed the vows
and walked the walkGave our hearts,
Made the start,
It was hardWe lived and learned, life threw curvesThere was joy, there was hurtRemember whenRemember when old ones died
And new were bornAnd life was changed,
Disassembled, rearrangedWe came together, fell apart
And broke each other's heartsRemember when(So, this is the instrumental part of the song, and I am going to honor the McShea's during this time.
The McShea's have been through a long road as a family. They have faced trial after trial, and yet have remained steadfast and faithful. Now, they have a mature, beautiful daughter who helps with the THREE little boys! God is so kind and I love this family for their joy and their trust in God.
Thank you for your example!)

Remember when
The sound of little feetwas the musicWe danced to week to weekBrought back the love,
We found trustVowed we'd never give it up
Remember whenRemember when thirty seemed so old
Now lookn' back it's just a steppin' stoneTo where we are,Where we've beenSaid we'd do it all again
Remember whenRemember when we said when we turned grayWhen the children grow up and move awayWe won't be sad, we'll be gladFor all the life we've hadAnd we'll remember when


...

The Winner is....

Summer Celebration!

Better than the riches of this world
Better than the sound of my friends voicesBetter than the biggest dreams in my heartAnd that's just the startBetter than getting what I say I need
Better than living the life that I want toBetter than the love anyone could giveYour love is
You hold me now in Your arms
You never let me goAnd You, oh Lord, made the sunshine The moonlight and the night skyYou give me breath and all Your loveI give my heart to YouBecause I can't stop falling in love with You I'll never stop falling in love with YouBetter than the riches of this world Better than the sound of my friends voicesBetter than the biggest dreams in my heart
And that's just the startBetter than getting what I say I need
Better than living the life that I want toBetter than the love anyone could give
Your love is
You hold me now in Your arms
You never let me go
And You, oh Lord, made the sunshine
The moonlight and the night skyYou give me breath and all Your love
I give my heart to You
Because I can't stop falling in love with You
I'll never stop falling in love with You (photo credit: Kate Price)
Okay, so I need to point out something about the last three pictures.
1. Emma (the b&w picture)
On the very first day of camp we learned about Gratitude. During the teaching she leaned over to me and said "I was complaining to my mom this morning." I asked her about what and she said "About wearing these shorts. When I get home home I need to tell her thank you."
Yep. My 7-year-old camper just whupped me in the confession department. I don't think I have ever been convicted, confessed and realized what I need to do to change in about one minute - let alone at age seven! Praise God for the work in her!

2. Caroline (in the red shirt)
She is a little dancer! During a game of Squirt (think volleyball, but with a wet sponge. Actually, think catch but with a volleyball net.) Caroline was trying to catch one of the sponges.
She missed pretty badly. I was just watching her with Julie and I'm like "It's okay Caroline! Keep trying!" Without flinching, looking at me, or anything she popped her arms in the air and yelled "Everybody dance now" and started dancing around the field.
She really brought so much joy to me and the rest of my team!
3. Team Picture
So, there we are. Quite a team. I loved every moment of coaching these girls. Seriously; every moment.
(and I had THE best assistants ever.
Monica - thank you for just doing anything I needed you to do. You have my respect for doing the hard stuff!
Kelsey - thank you for being so enthusiastic with the girls. They really enjoyed being with you!
Megan - thank you for taking an interest in the girls. Thanks for asking them questions and helping them get excited about the games!)


Umm. See you Summer Celebration 2008?

Quite A Day...

07.07.07

On this rare Saturday, on the most "wedded" day in history, I was able to photograph a wedding.
And not just any wedding. A wedding that made me cry.
I am not a cryer, and let me say, Amy and Jon made me cry.
I have never seen any two people more in love. I am not exaggerating.
I know that all brides and grooms love each other very, very much.
But something was different about this wedding
I will go into more detail about how special this wedding was for me to observe and photograph, but for now, here are some pictures :D

At Last
Etta James

At last
My love has come along
And lonely days are over And life is like a songOooh, at lastThe skies above are blueWell, my heart was wrapped up
In clover
The night I looked at you
I found a dream
That I could speak to
A dream
That I could call my own
I found a thrill to press my cheek toA thrill that I have never knownYou smileYou smile
And the spell was castAnd we are in heavenFor you are mine at last
...

This is one of my favorite pictures. It was right after the were married and they had to wait in a little room for a while. I was spying on them through the door and they were so excited!We headed off to the reception - and little did I know that I would soon be crying some major tears!
Jon wrote Amy a song to sing to her.
He sat on the stool and she sat in her chair.
He started to play the guitar.
And he kept playing and playing.
I'm thinking "Pretty music... are there words, though?"So, I turn to take a picture of him, I realize that he has tears running down his face.
He started to sing a few times, but he always had to stop.
He kept playing the guitar, though.
He just really could not get the words out.
At one point he just stopped all together and sat there quietly crying.
Amy jumped up gave him a big kiss, then ran back to her chair to watch him more.He never really finished the song, but it didn't matter.
Their emotions communicated more than any lyrics ever could.

Yeah, so, pretty much, they made me cry :D

Chicago Shoot

While I was in Chicago, Sarah organized a mini-workshop for her interns and other interested photographers. We had a "lecture" for a few hours, then went off to shoot in an adorable little town in Chicago (actually, I honestly don't know where it was, but I assume it was in Chicago :D)
We had a fabulous time running through the streets - we were seriously jumping in the middle of the road, climbing on newspaper stands and dumpsters, and using anything we could find as a backdrop. I don't think I have ever had such plain ol' fun at a shoot.

The light was perfect, the models knew what they were doing, everyone was helping each other - we were basically better when we were all together...

Better Together
Jack Johnson

There's no combination of words
I could put on the back of a postcard
No song that I could sing
But I can try for your heart
Our dreams;
And they are made out of real thingsLike a shoe-box of photographs
With sepia-tone lovingLove is the answer
At least for most of the questions in my heart
Like "Why are are we here?"
"Where do we go?" and "How come it's so hard?"
It's not always easy
And sometimes life can be deceiving
I'll tell you one thing,
It's always better when we're together
Mmmm, It's always better when we're together Yeah, we'll look at them stars and we're together
Well, it's always better when we're together
Yeah, it's always better when we're together
And all of these moments
Just might find their way into my dreams tonight,

But, I know that they'll be gone
When the morning light singsAnd brings new thingsFor tomorrow night, you see,
That they'll be gone, tooToo many things I have to do
But if all of these dreams
Might find their way
Into my day-to-day scene
I'd be under the impression
I was somewhere in between
Only two,
Just me and you
Not so many things we got to do
Or places we got to beWe'll sit beneath the mango tree, now Yeah, It's always better when we're together
Mmmm, we're somewhere in between togetherI believe in memories
They look so, so pretty when I sleepAnd now when, when I wake up,
you look so pretty sleeping next to meBut there is not enough time,
There is no, no song I could singAnd there is no combination of words I could say
But I will still tell you one thingWe're better together

...

ha!

My dad has a wonderful gift of writing, especially poems. I was going through piles of his poems the other day and this one just made me laugh so hard! So, I am sharing it with the world as a small tribute to my newfound love of big cities - Chicago and New York!

Voices Fade Away
Alan Snyder
Large clouds roll up in the sky
And then crash down upon me. I grab onto old memories to brace myself, But they pull me through waves of endless space. I look out beyond this dream And see faces, People watching me and calling to me. But the clouds cover them, too, Though I still hear them calling. As the voices begin to fade away I'm lonely, And I can't help but sit and wonder If I'm trying too hard to write this poem


And - I have a sad little story. I mistakenly shot all of the Chicago photoshoot in RAW without a small JPEG, so has taken me a bit longer to get these up because I have to convert them all. Sad, right?

hehe....

Sarah has a slideshow of the photo-shoot we did with her on Saturday.
Check it out! And soon I will have the pictures I took from the day :D

Sarah took these of me (you know she is amazing when she takes some of me that I like...)
I need to post them so I can use them for "bio" pics



All of these are Sarah's pictures.

The Bride

The Way You Look Tonight: Frank Sinatara

Some day, when I'm awfully low,

When the world is cold,

I will feel a glow just thinking of you...

And the way you look tonight.

Yes, you're lovely - with your smile so warm
And your cheeks so soft

There is nothing for me but to love you,
And the way you look tonight.

With each word your tenderness grows,
Tearing my fear apart...

And that laugh that wrinkles your nose,
It touches my foolish heart

Lovely ... Never, ever change.

Keep that breathless charm.

Won't you please arrange it ?

'Cause I love you ... Just the way you look tonight.

Mm, Mm, Mm, Mm
Just the way you look to-night.

...klp..

I started to go through all of my pictures from this wedding, and I was having so much fun editing them and applying all the new things I learned from Sarah, I just could not wait to post!

I literally have hundreds of pictures that I would want to post, but I am just wiped - I am so tired! So, I figured I would just be the tortoise - slowly and surely! Here is my first batch of pictures (obviously...). I learned so much in Chicago and can already tell the difference in my photography - after just two days with the amazing, amazing Sarah Barlow! I could not be more grateful to her!

:D

So, my last few posts have been sorely unimpressive photography-wise. But that is all about to change. I am working on the pictures of the AMAZING wedding yesterday, and they should be up quite soon!

This is Andrew, Sarah, Beth and me right after we finished the 10 hour job...

A Dream is a wish your heart makes :D


So, I am in love with Sarah Barlow and her family! Beth (the other intern) and I are busy looking at pics and just hanging out in Sarah's office. In a little while we are going to shoot a wedding. I am thrilled to say the least. Those pics will be up as soon as I have a free moment!

Here is us last night. But, it really looks so much better on her blog...

Friends of the Blog world...

At 6:40 Thursday morning, an airplane shall lift from Maryland soil and carry my mom, my sister and me to Illinois.

And I will finally meet Sarah Barlow! I am sitting here trying to figure out what to say to explain how excited I am. I keep typing things and then backspacing. I don't know what to say. I just am purely blessed. God is too kind to me.

My prayer for my business has been Dueteronomy 2:7 which says:

"For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These...years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.”

I do feel like I am going through a "wilderness" photography-wise. However, I can already see how God has blessed me, been with me and has supplied me with my EVERY need. Seriously - everything.

He is good!

Amazing

..Come thou fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace..
..Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise...

Today was one of the most wonderful photo shoots ever. Not just because I had two beautiful, wonderful girls to photograph, but because I see so much of their mother and grandmother in them. I know Jeanie misses her mother awfully and I know that Alathea would have loved more time with her grandma.
Yet, God's ways are not our ways!(that bunny was a gift to Alathea from her grandma - let me tell you, she LOVES it)
Jeanie and Alathea are following in Mrs. Bowers footsteps - they are both beautiful, bold, strong and loving. I respect the Bowers family so much!!! (and, I know this song isn't particularly "accurate" or "doctrinally sound" but I still like it...)


In My Daughter's Eyes
Martina McBride
In my daughter's eyes I am a heroI am strong and wise And I know no fear
But the truth is plain to seeShe was sent to rescue meI see who I wanna beIn my daughter's eyesIn my daughter's eyes everyone is equalDarkness turns to light And the world is at peaceThis miracle God gave to meGives me strength when I am weakI find reason to believe
In my daughter's eyes
And when she wraps her hand
Around my fingerOh, it puts a smile in my heartEverything becomes a little clearerI realize what life is all about
It's hangin' on When your heart has had enoughIt's giving more When you feel like giving upI've seen the lightIt's in my daughter's eyesIn my daughter's eyes I can see the futureA reflection of who I am And what will beThough she'll grow And someday leaveMaybe raise a familyWhen I'm gone I hope you see How happy she made meFor I'll be thereIn my daughter's eyes
...

Bubbles!

Just finished a shoot with Alathea and Jeanie, Julie's neice and sister. I took almost 900 pictures!!! Here is one of my favorites. Check back later today for the rest of them, as well as the Buchanan Family and McShea birthday party - they are all going up!

aaaw...

Gary Allen: Tough Little Boys

::Pictures of the Day::

When tough little boys
Grow up to be dads
They turn into big babies again

"Well I know one day, I'll give you away
And I'm gonna stand there and smile"And when I get home, and I'm all alone
Well, I'll sit in your room for a while""Well I didn't cry when Old Yeller died
At least not in front of my friends"But when tough little boys grow up to be dads
They turn into big babies again" ...

Picture of the Day

I decided that if I don't do a post, I will at least post a picture every day.
The picture will be accompanied by a verse, quote, song lyric, poem or my own thoughts :D

Enjoy the first "Picture of the Day" titled:

"Foreshadowing"

verb [trans.] warning or indication of future event
enjoy your tuesday!