I love winter. no, really. ‘i do’

Now, Minnesota’s had a pretty mild winter so far with an average temperature about 15 degrees above normal.  Yesterday I shot my first wedding of the year with Lucas Botz Photography!  The morning was really quite beautiful.  There was a light coat of fresh snow that had fallen a day or two prior and the sun was shining – a great day for a winter wedding.  But the temperature was not above average.  Let’s just put it at really cold.

It was great to be shooting with Lucas again.  Capturing some beautiful moments throughout the day and having tons of fun at the Wildbooth last night makes me look forward to more this year!

So, here’s my tease.  I also recently received a ton of photos from Lucas that I captured last year.  I’m hoping to soon have some of my favorites posted soon.  Especially some of the outdoor locations, just so I can pretend it’s once again nice and warm and green outside.  but I do love winter.  really.

NOLA

New Orleans proved to be a great city to visit!  The combination of great food, great history and some warmer November weather compared to Minnesota, my wife and I had a great little getaway to celebrate my 30th birthday.  I didn’t always have my camera with me, but I did grab a few shots on our Plantation and city tours as well as a little stroll through the market.  Here are just a few of my favorites.

       

terrible blogger. wonderful summer.

Ok, I realize that usually if you’re going to have a blog, you should probably write something more than once every couple months.  This is what makes me a terrible blogger or maybe a blogger with room for growth.  What made it a wonderful summer was the fact that I had some amazing opportunities to give some photos!  The numerous weddings I had the pleasure of shooting with Lucas Botz was such a great time!

One thing that was a big growth point for me this summer was intentionality.  I was just reminded about this again yesterday during a conversation with a good friend at the coffee shop.  There’s so many things we say we’ll do but unless we’re motivated to act on that intension, we’ll often put it off until later or avoid it all together.  I can’t say that I’m acting instantly on all my promises, but I’m trying to be better.

Ok, so here’s my promise to you…  My wife and I just got back from a trip to New Orleans.  We headed down for my 30th birthday!  I know, I can’t believe it either.  I’ll put up some of my favorite photos soon.  If they’re not up soon, I’m going to become an accountant.

Crazy June

June proved to be a busy and extraordinary month full of opportunities and travel.  I’m not sure a single week could be labeled as “normal”.  My wife left for Brazil at the beginning of the month and I headed to Guatemala a week later.  My time in Central America proved once again to be so rewarding.  It had been five years since traveling to the Nuestro Pequenos Hermanos Orphanage, but it felt just like I was visiting old friends.  It’s hard to describe just how it makes you feel to be visiting a community, planning to give your all, but receiving more than you can imagine.

There was one evening when I had an opportunity to pull out my camera to take some fun photos of the Pequenos (the children staying at the orphanage).  We had brought some fun wigs and other costumes for the kids to throw on and take some crazy photos.  The quality was nothing compared to the Wildbooth that I’ve done with Lucas Botz Photography due to a lack of lighting, but the reactions and the joy that it brought to the youth there was so rewarding!  It’s such a great reminder of what it means to give photos and not take them.

Guatemala was such a wonderful country with such great beauty despite severe poverty.

The rooftops of Antigua in the morning.

     

In the shadow of volcanos.

Part of Something Bigger

I can’t help myself.  I’ve become addicted to other creatives.  In this world of social networking it’s so easy to find out what other people are doing, creating, dreaming – that is if they’re on the side that loves social media.  There’s a good handful of photographers around the country that I love to be challenged by.  I’ve found myself following them on Twitter, liking them on Facebook, reading their blogs and generally just wishing they’d show up on my doorstep and ask me to hang out with them.  I’ve never been one to be star struck (I can remember seeing Tiger Woods, who I’m a big fan of his golf, at a tournament and being excited that I got to see him play in person, but I wasn’t peeing my pants!) but it’d be really cool if they wanted to be my friend.

I love hearing what folks like Chase Jarvis are up to – about the projects they’re working on because it gets my creative mind flowing and either asking myself what could I do that’s unique, or how can I contribute to this project, adventure, idea that is bigger than myself.

Check out what Chase Jarvis has going on tomorrow!

April showers?

Well, I’m not sure where April went, but I’ve found May.  The old saying, April showers bring May flowers will hopefully come to fruition.  We’ve had a good share of both rain showers and snow showers in April!  Other exciting things have happened as well, including the birth of Ruby Katherine, our second niece, born to my my brother and his wife!  Also, our first niece, Alexis Mae turned 1!  They’re both so cute!

So, today it’s finally suppose to get above 60 degrees in Minnesota!  I’ve had a longing to get outside and explore, maybe get a little work done in the garage, but it’s been below average temps for a while!  We’ve had a few really nice days, but in general, it’s just been cold.  Right now, I find myself sitting in a coffee shop, enjoying a good cup of java, waiting for it to warm up and for Costco to open!  Just a couple errands to run before meeting my lovely wife for lunch!

Just a quick shout out.  This past weekend I was watching my second CreativeLIVE broadcast with Zack Arias.  Zack is such a great teacher and it was so great to geek out watching this weekend.  I’ve decided I should clear my schedule for any upcoming creativeLIVE sessions because I never want to turn it off when I have to go somewhere!

in the NHL

“this one looks like i’m in the NHL,” my little brother-in-law said as we were looking through some of the shots i took at his hockey game the other night.

now, anthony is 10 and following minnesota tradition, he’s growing up playing hockey.  he’s at the age where they can now check and it was slightly humorous the other night when karissa and i went and watched him play at a local arena.  i must admit, most of those little 10 year olds could skate circles around me, but watching them try and balance the skating, handling the puck and trying to give the other guys a shot into the boards was quite enjoyable.  the final score was 5-5 with multiple lead changes and we were so proud of our little bro.

after the game, ant came over to our place to stay the night.  i pulled out my laptop and downloaded all my fresh photos i had just snapped over at braemar arena and judging by the reaction i got from anthony, he was pretty excited about the photos.  despite the rave reviews from my brother and his parents, i knew better.  i knew that they were grainy because i had to shoot at 800 iso because the lighting wasn’t great and really i should have been higher because i still had to bump up the exposure in postproduction.  but my ‘client’ was happy and this made me happy.

i am glad that i was able to bless my family with some good shots of anthony’s hockey game.  that is something i always want to do with my photography.  whether it’s just family and friends or someone’s big day, i want to capture the moment and pass along memories that allow us to tell stories, remember events and relive and retell moments in our lives.

“we aught to give photos, not take them” – i think i saw this on a t-shirt.