Becky’s Bridal Session
Things have been quiet here at the blog lately, but there’s been lots going on. One of the most exciting things on our plate is photographing the wedding of our beloved friends Becky and Danny. Danny has been attending our house church for over four years, and his fiancee (now wife) Becky is the women’s director at The Shack. Among the many reasons shooting their wedding is so exciting are the fact that they’re just good lookin’ people and that Loren (Ethan’s dad and our brother-in-law) is going to shoot with us. It’s going to be an amazing day.
While you wait with bated breath for the wedding images to appear, let us whet your appetite with a few favorites from Becky’s bridal session. She was a great sport as we moved her around from place to place and stuck her in funny positions. We think her tolerance paid off.
Our Spring Trip to Maryland
Wendy and I began our spring break on Friday! This is doubly cool because both Wendy’s birthday and our anniversary fall on this week. We spent some time talking about what we’d like to do, opting for something both fairly economical, but also unequivocally awesome. The conclusion?
Visit Ethan. (Oh yeah, and Loren and Betsy.)
Just before leaving for the trip I bought the Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens, so I couldn’t help trying it out. (Okay, I actually kept it on the camera almost the entire trip.) I really like this lens, but it’s not really designed for portraits, as you can see above.
Betsy and Loren suggested that we take Ethan to an amazing local park that has everything from outdoor percussion instruments to a pirate ship to a climbing wall. Ethan–not quite ready for the climbing wall. Loren, however, flexed his simian side.
While Loren monkeyed around, Ethan found a bridge that swayed and jiggled while he walked on it, and walk on it he did. I’m going to guess that he crossed that bridge thirty to fifty times while we were at the park. Even getting him to go down the slide involved some pretty intense persuasion.
Finally, Wendy had to put Ethan on her back and run so fast that the sheer excitement of the ride distracted Ethan from the awesomeness of the bridge which he was leaving behind.
The next day, given all the museum choices available to us in DC, we opted to visit the one featured in a mildly entertaining Ben Stiller movie.
While there, I learned a few things about the Museum of Natural History:
- -One-year-olds would rather watch a video of a fish eating a worm than see the BONES OF ACTUAL DINOSAURS
- -The lighting in the Museum of Natural History was not engineered with photographers in mind
- -The insect exhibit is sponsored by Orkin.
Given that I was once a ten-year-old boy, you can probably guess what my favorite part of the trip was. (Special thanks to Loren for holding the flash for me while I took these pictures.)
Eric & Marcy’s Wedding
My cousin Marcy got married over the weekend, so my mom and I drove up to Charlotte for the ceremony. I brought along my camera because, well, that’s what I do and took a few pics. Marcy was an absolutely stunning bride; Eric is, I’m sure he knows, a very lucky man.
Marcy surprised Eric during the ceremony by singing a song she had written for him. It was beautiful, and even in my most masculine moments I couldn’t fault Eric for getting a little choked up.
Over at the reception, there was a table prepared especially for the children at the wedding consisting of nothing but chips and candy. Given the speed with which it was decimated, I think some adults may have visited it as well.
It’s a good thing they had prepared for the kids, though, because they showed up in droves.
Fortunately, the adults (or those adult enough to stay away from the kids’ table) weren’t left out in the cold. The cake was not only beautiful, but delicious. (I wonder how it would have done with gummi bears?)
Not all the cake, however, ended up in the guests’ mouths.
Visiting with Ethan
This weekend Wendy and I went down to her parents’ house to visit with Wendy’s sister and our nephew Ethan. This is one dangerously cute kid, so photographic opportunities abounded.
We took Ethan to the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry down in Charleston where kids can shop in a pint-sized Publix for vegetables, meats, flowers, and just about everything else you’d find in a grocery store. I found it pretty funny that the Publix brand items cost less than their name-brand counterparts–teach them to bargain hunt young!
Ethan, as you can see, chooses his plastic vegetables carefully.
Yes, they have shopping carts for small-fries.
Ethan was awesome. With kids his age, it seems you have to watch them pretty closely to make sure they obey the social contract–you know, don’t steal items from other kids’ carts and the like. Not Ethan, though; he was helping other kids with their lists by dropping healthy snacks into their carts. Way to be helpful!
On top of that, Ethan didn’t go straight for the various sweets or cake mixes (which is a good thing because of his wheat allergy). Rather, he seemed genuinely excited about fruits and vegetables. His enthusiasm for this tomato was, however, a little excessive. 
(Dude, you must buy the food before you taste it!)
After such an exciting day, of course Ethan wanted to share the story of his adventures. Unfortunately, he doesn’t yet speak English (we’re not quite sure what he does speak, but he does so passionately) and while adept at pressing buttons on phones, he doesn’t seem to do so systematically. Still, you can’t blame a guy for trying. 
Finally, after a long day, it’s time for a bath. Like just about everything else, Ethan enjoys baths. 
Rock on, buddy.
Phil & Tracie’s Wedding
Wendy and I were blessed to have the opportunity to photograph the wedding of one of my former students, Tracie, and her fiance, Phil. The wedding was a particularly special time for me since I’ve taught three of the attendants. Tracie, as you can see from the photo below, was an absolutely beautiful bride and everybody had a fantastic time.
Below is a slide show of some of our favorite images from the wedding set to “100 Years” by Five for Fighting. Luke Marr, another former student, played the song beautifully during the ceremony. Sadly, I don’t have a recording of that, so Five for Fighting will have to do. You can click the button that looks like this 
to watch it full-screen.
Phil & Tracie’s Wedding Slide Show from Lumos Studio.
