Starting Over...

(sigh).....I don't know about you but have you noticed that starting over in life can sometimes be a bitter sweet thing? I saw "Up in The Air" a couple weeks ago and George Clooney gave a speech about carrying around a backpack full of all of your earthly belongs and relationships..then he talked about losing all of the contents of that backpack or the whole backpack itself in a fire. He said it is a sad and difficult to lose absolutely everything but at the same time it is freeing..because now you have a little less entanglement with the things of this earth..and you have the opportunity to begin again. Then a couple of nights ago I saw "Precious" about a teenage girl who had a horrific life and after one particular night of getting into a major altercation with her mother she walked the streets that next morning and said  ," Thats why God gives us new days..." the idea was that we have the chance to start all over again and hopefully we can do better or things will be better this time. Letting go and starting over is never easy. Getting used to the new "normal" without that person or those things will never be simple or easy or without a time of heartache. I thought of my mother 5 years ago when my father passed away.. and how she had to get used the fact that the man that she loved and known since she was 18 years old, the one she had woken up every morning next to for the past forty seven years would now be gone everytime she woke up and looked at the empty pillow next her...a constant reminder of his absence. Still, I know that as the late Tupac Shakur said  "there is hope that blossoms like a rose growing from a concrete sidewalk"... the truth is we are given a new day to start things over...every day..as long as we are breathing. The truth is things will get easier the farther away we get from the situation..the more time passes..the pain will become less and less acute... My close friend Henry said,"Letting go doesn't mean you are weak..letting go actually means you are strong enough to let go". Thanks Henry. Hebrews 11:1-2

Thank you for waiting.....

ahh.... I am back. I have been shooting like crazy. I have a lot of catching up to do. What's crazy is that I honestly didnt realize how many people read my blog... I am truly humbled by it actually. A lot has transpired since my last blog ( sorry its been so long).. thank you for waiting.....These are some images from Neal and Heather's Wedding..... I though they were a lot of fun....

Konichiwa to my friend across the sea! I hope you are having a wonderful day and beautiful day!...I had a great weekend...I shot a wedding in Long Beach and an engagement shoot in Dana Point. The wedding was for Wade and Candice...this couple was so much fun and full of life and absolute humor...I have never had so much fun at a wedding before.. their engagement shoot was a blast but the wedding was even crazier! Picture this.....in the middle of the first dance....the music stopped was interrupted becuase Wade surprised Candice with a special guest appearance by the "King" of rock and Roll...yep...Mr. Elvis Presley!!! He performed a few classics and every one went crazy...Here are a couple of images from the wedding...enjoy...

Finding the song in your soul..

I am sitting at my computer tonight. 1 am. a little overwhelmed. pretty exhausted. yet at the same time I am excited about some of my upcoming sessions... I am anxious about what this week will bring. I was "divinely inspired" with the idea of a very unique publication. a very very unique magazine and emagazine. I presented the idea to a friend in the entertainment industry and he LOVED it. I am meeting next week with some interested parties and venture capitalists. Pray for me. its all happening so fast. He then added some of his own ideas and really completed what I was feeling and gave me very clear next steps. The resources are already there. Its just a matter of stepping out in faith and doing. its funny because with each step I take in this venture..a new piece is added to the piece that makes this bigger and wider then what I first thought. The beauty of it is it incorporates everything i know and love and all my passions, music,photography,entertainment,people helping people, and our demographic is everyone from age 16-46. all races,all walks of life; all music genres;all languages; it is completely universal. I am truly humbled by this idea because I know if used correctly it can bring us all a little closer together. In the months to come I hope you can, like me..watch it unfold and blossom. There is a song by a group called Switchfoot called "My Only Hope". The opening lyric in this song goes," there's a song that's inside of my soul....its the one that I tried to write over and over again.....". I know as i am in the daily grind, working, shooting, being dad; etc..etc.. my heart screams," what else am I here for?", What is my ultimate purpose for living?" Sometimes I feel like there is this song that is locked in my soul...my part to play in the world's chorus, my solo... I used to song write all the time...more than finding myself at the end of completed; polished song I more found myself writing, incomplete, half ideas, great one liners ..In life I often feel like the person that starts an idea on a piece of paper, only to ball it up and throw it floor.. the starts another lyric..gets half finished and then erases it and balls up the paper and throws it in the trash...over and over and over again..there are often a lot of alternate or bad versions written before the final version comes to life. Here is what I discovered tonight. like a lightbulb in my head..I thought... "That's it!" THAT is what makes life so meaningful and full of beauty. It is not just writing the finished, completed and polished song.... it is all of the ideas, incomplete thoughts,late nights; short quips,scratch ideas, scribblings and bad ideas that lay all over the floor in balled up crumples of paper that get you to the polished or finished song. Its not the summit... its the road you took to get you there that makes the summit or peak so beautiful and meaningful and appreciated. Sometimes, like right now..I get a overwhelmed with my work load but I know that with each session..with each click of my camera's shutter, with each late night labor over image after image...I am getting closer and closer to the completion of the "song that is inside of my soul". Here are a couple of images that I liked..... I hope you can see the simplistic beauty in them like I do..

Sorry ..It has been a while since I have blogged...

Good morning,

I have been blessed in many, many ways.... new friends that I have made and found...old friends that surrounded me to wish me a happy birthday. New places that I have traveled to and discovered. There is a verse in the Bible that says," His mercies are new every morning". Every morning I wake up, I am amazed at how much I am blessed and how much I have to be thankful for. This is going to seem totally random but I was laying on my bed yesterday, looking at the corner of my bedroom at my clothes closet and thinking," God, I am so grateful to have all the clothes in that closet "... then thinking," not only am I grateful to have clothes in that closet but I am thankful that I even have a closet to put them in". then thinking," not only am I thankful for having a closet that is full of clothes but I am also thankful for having a roof over my head with a closet full of clothes."I think you get the drift of where this train of thought was going. This time last year, my situation was much different than it is now, not bad; but much different. Every day is a gift to be unwrapped by you. I think this is the way that He has set up this life. I remembered reading how life is like a woven tapestry. If you have ever seen a piece of woven tapestry you would notice that the back looks very different from the front. The back looks like a very disorganized,disjointed; seemingly random mess...full of white threads going up and down , red threads zig zagging back and forth, and a streams of black threads moving diagonally,vertically and horizontally in a what seems to be an unresolved pattern . Then when you turn that tapestry over you very quickly discover that all the thread patterns are not random at all but very purposeful. Each thread is there for a reason, each color is placed in the absolute correct spot it should be to create the beautiful picture you see before you full of shadows and light and shades of multiple colors. Life is very much like that to me now... there are good days and bad days. Sometimes the days are bright and green and clear and sunny...other days are dark and cold, windy and rainy and make me question why they are allowed and why did that day even happen... I'm positive that one day it will all make sense when I see things from the "other side".

Alec and Catrina's engagement shoot

Well..well..well... the start of a new year...take a deep breath....inhale the new morning air.....the start of a new year...the start of a new day... forget the past ..forget the mistakes of yesterday....we all have the chance now to begin again...These shots are from an engagement session I had with a great couple...Alec and Catrina... I remember when I met Catrina and she told me the story of how she met Alec and how she knew He was the one she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with. Her life has never been the same since he has been in it... Amazing how just meeting the right person at the right time can completely alter the very course and direction of your life......... congratulations guys...see you on the big day!!!!

Wow...2009 is around the corner....

I think I have made it through my first solo wedding season....whew... I feel like I can finally take a deep breath and relax. This reprieve couldn't have come sooner.. Christmas time..my favorite season.. it is so easy to get caught up in shoots and work and life and not stop to enjoy the simple things like the smile and laugh of my daughter and seeing the gleam in her eye as she looks at me like I am superman..I am reminded once again to stop and reflect and enjoy these times because I know there will come a day and a time when she will be "too cool" for me =).....I can now stop and enjoy....the smell of mom's homemade sweet potato pie and candied yams on the stove...the gentle and cold winter breeze across my cheeks... this is what life is all about. Its about enjoying people and things while you have them. its about not taking anyone or anything for granted. Or at least making an attempt to not. I have seen so many people come and go in and out of my life..I truly long for the day when I will never have to say good bye to those closest to me. The images here are from a family that I did a couple weeks back.....the Moss family... seeing Sarah's niece picking up handfuls of leaves and throwing them in the air and dancing and laughing and playing around them as they fell and swayed in the wind that morning landing wherever they felt like... reminded me again of a truthful statement.. There are certain things I can control and certain things I cannot and so I must enjoy life and let God work out the details. I can pick up the leaves and throw them into the air...but where they land and how they fall..is not my choice. So I must do all I can and let Him work out the details of my life .. enjoy....Merry Christmas. For those of you who actually read my blog... I want to say thank you and also..I want to let you know that January 1st or before, My website will have a brand new look...so be on the look out...Greater things await all of us in 2009 !