Lord knows I get pissed at Him, a lot.

Lord knows I feel ignored by Him.

Lord knows I question Him.

Lord knows He’s got better things to do than listen to me whine.

Lord knows He listens anyway.

Lord knows there are much bigger fish to fry than my po-dunk problems.

Watch this video. Meet Jeremy. See where I am adamant about sending a portion of my income, however small it is and however broke I am, every single time I get new cash coming in.

This is a big, big, big world. And I for one am not naivé enough to believe that I’ve got it rough when I still have a roof over my head, a safe place to park one of my two cars, food to choose from to cook dinner every night, central A/C I can turn on when I get mildly uncomfortable, a machine that washes my dishes for me, a machine that washes my clothes for me, a machine that dries my clothes, a laptop that gives me a never-ending supply of mind-numbing entertainment, and so much clean water I can drink as much as I want and take a fifteen hour long shower if I so desired.

Perspective.

our dog, bruno…

he likes to sleep in the sun…

my cat, chloe…

i call this look, “icanhaznap?”

you have pets? what kind and what are their names?

What’s this mean to you?

We want to work with you! If you’ve been waiting for us to get out to the west coast, or just have been thinking about some new family photos, couples portraits, headshots, band photos, whatever… then drop us a line, and be sure to mention the location you’re inquiring from. We’d love to book a full schedule up in Portland, as well as a few shoots down in Medford. If you’re slightly outside those areas, contact us anyway and maybe we can still work something out.

Mention that you saw this post on our website to qualify for a special “road trip” discount.

photo by: http://adrianphotoblog.blogspot.com/

who’s seen sister act two? come on guys, don’t deny it…

remember the line, when whoopi is talking to lauryn hill and is talking about a book, she quotes “if you wake up in the morning and all you can think about is writing, then you’re a writer.” ?? remember?

“if you wake up in the morning and all you can think about is photography, then you’re a photographer.”

listen, it’s one thing to be passionate about something, but passion only takes you so far. i could be crazy passionate about dancing, but i still have the same two left feet God decided to curse me with. at some point, passion must be followed up by commitment, a willingness to learn, and on some level… talent. i would say this though, that raw talent is probably the least important thing. hard work and a humble desire to learn can make up for it in the long run, for a lot of things anyway. my point is; i’ve been passionate about photography my whole life but it was never really all i thought about until the last year or so.

i’m not kidding ya’ll. it consumes me. i wake up in the middle of the night thinking of a new way to compose a shot, light a shot, a new location i want to scope out, a new way of communicating something on our website, a new tweak here, a new tweak there, better ways to interact with clients, new posing ideas, gear, gear, gear, and gear… i came into this as raw as they come, and got by for a long time with just the same composition and lighting rules i had learned from video production. over time, i submitted myself to the masters, the people i looked up to and i learned from them. i sucked in every bit of knowledge i could get from people like chase jarvis, zack arias, jeremy cowart, joe mcnally, jasmine star, daley hake, strobist, and a variety of other websites. it wasn’t an attempt to emulate anyone’s style (though in the beginning, i admittedly really wanted to be daley… haha), but rather just an attempt to get myself a better understanding of the field. to this day, i still read every single word these guys and gal’s put out, and look over every single image they publish.

it’s taken me two years to get to a point where i can look at my work and say “yup, that’s who i am as a photographer. that’s my work.” i don’t mean to say that i’ve arrived or anything silly like that, but i think i have finally carved out my “voice.” and i really, really dig it.

but unfortunately, getting to this point has left me in a place that i didn’t anticipate. i thought once i got to here, i’d feel a little contentment, just a teeny bit. but alas it wasn’t to be. instead, my desire to just be neck deep in photography has intensified. i want more. i want to learn more, i want to do crazier things, i want to hang out of cars and take pictures, i want to go to ridiculously dangerous locations, i want to get more involved in missional work, i want to tell stories, i want to be creative, i want to make pictures that leave people feeling the same way i do when i look at a great picture.

…speechless.

sometimes when i look at a picture, i honestly don’t know what to say. the words escape me. i am not ashamed to admit it’s happened a couple times with photos i’ve taken. but more often than not it’s coming from the people i’ve listed above. we’ve been blessed to work with some amazing clients who have let us tinker around to get the shot we imagined, and that’s been a big part of our best images. truly, we can’t say enough about our clients… they make up a large part of why our images look the way they do.

so what’s next? this is still a referral based business, and nobody comes out of the gate making money hand over fist. so there is going to continue to be rough patches and slow times. i am still praying hard for a position i interviewed for in portland a couple months ago to work out. but the photography isn’t going anywhere. so long as weekends are available, i’ll continue to fly back here to toledo to shoot weddings, and hopefully gregg can join me out in oregon (if that’s where i end up) for weddings booked out there. one studio, two locations.

we’ve got a long way to go. we’re not anywhere yet, just getting more to where we feel like “yup… this is us.” we want to continue shooting the weddings we love (we’re discussing how many we actually want to book a year now, haven’t made that decision yet). no doubt though we have the most fun and feel most at home shooting portraits. whether it’s senior, family, engagement, or just straight up one person for whatever reason. that’s where we feel we get to have the most creative freedom, and that’s what we love. personally, i know i want to continue shooting music photography, both live and the artists themselves for promo materials/cd art/etc. and then, i know long-term my heart yearns for telling stories. i want to continue shooting all the things i talked about before to not only provide for my family (and for this semi-expensive vocation), but to also fund my desire to travel to third-world countries and areas of great need here in the states to tell their stories through my lens. the written word can be powerful, but i truly believe if you can add some compelling images to those words, hearts change. these stories need to be told, and i want to have a part in it.

so, i have a disease. it’s called “icantstopthinkingaboutphotography-icitis.”

and you know what? i honestly hope there isn’t a cure.

as of right now, my plan is to come out a week earlier, arriving in portland (around) july 22nd. i have not yet set a definitive date to return home. and here is why… i am looking to book as many clients in and around oregon as possible. other than august 1st and probably august 2nd (and probably the sunday before, whatever date that is), any date is available. i am going to wait to see what kind of demand there is for photo shoots, and then i’ll decide when i’m going to return home. i am planning on at least booking my flight out there within the next week, so it’d be great if i could start drumming up some interest now.

all that said, i’m making a couple asks here, other than obviously if you would like a photo shoot…

1.) due to the prius needing a ridiculous amount of work still to be done, i’m flying out this time. if anyone has any frequent flyer miles they don’t mind parting with… let’s talk ;-)

2.) i have no clue what i’m going to do about transportation once i get into oregon yet. if anyone has a lead on a car i can borrow, or can point me in the direction of a cheap rental car, i’d certainly appreciate it.

3.) uhm… LETS BOOK A SHOOT! depending on what i find to drive, i am going to make myself available to travel as much as possible to shoot in any location from seattle, washington to redding, california. of course, i’d love to meet people halfway, but if ya’ll paying… we can work something out! i will go where my schedule dicatates, but i’m sure i’ll be in portland and medford for most of my time out there.

so, leave a comment here if you can help or know of anything/anyone that could help, or want to inquire about booking a shoot. or you can of course email me direct at joshua@loveisgreaterthan.com. truly, any help is appreciated!

and with that challenge in the books, it’s time to move on to the next. i really liked the integration of twitter and the hashtag on the last one, and the accountability that was going on i really dug. so with all that in mind, i have a similar challenge this week.

this week’s #goalaweek is :: #livelove

this is similar to #livehappy, but there is only one rule. one… singular… rule.

once per day, perform one random act of kindness for someone in your life. it can be a complete stranger, your spouse, a parent, a friend, a child… whatever. but by random, i mean it has to be out of the blue… not something you normally do (for example, my wife picking up my clothes i leave all over the floor isn’t anything new, it’s just that i’m a putz and don’t do it myself… however, me picking up clothes on my own may be construed as a random act of kindness ;-)).

so bring it. who’s in this week?

lets be realistic here. his importance on popular music cannot ever be understated. he was the best. period. there will never be another musician as famous as he was, or as influential as he was. i have so many memories wrapped up in his music, i could write a book. and i know i’m not the only one. it’s truly a sad day.

here is a video of one of my favorite all-time michael jackson songs…

all that being said… i am pretty awesome.

it’s too easy nowadays to attack people for having confidence. if we’re just talking about me (and this is my blog, so why not), there are a lot of things in life i suck at, but photography ain’t one of them. i really dig my work, and i believe it’s only a matter of time until more people do. and now that gregg and i are combined, i dig our work even more. i think part of what makes gregg and i different is we are not interested in resting on our laurels. we are not interested in continuing to do things the same way everyone else has. we are not afraid to shake things up, and we are not afraid to make a fool of ourselves trying something new. there are those that have tried to get gregg and i to tone down our “awesome” talk, but we won’t… not a chance, because frankly i’m just that proud of our work, and i am sad for those that aren’t as proud of their own.

switching gears, it’s no secret my wife and i are in a particularly rough part of our lives. we’ve had to make difficult decisions, and some difficult moral stands that most people have called us crazy for. but you know what? we are different. we are called to be different and we will not back away from that very simple truth. God doesn’t care if we’re broke, He doesn’t care if we need money, so why should i let that affect my daily decisions? and you know… i think ryanne and i are pretty awesome for sticking to our convictions through these difficult times. i’m fairly positive when we emerge on the other side of this garbage, we’re going to not only have a great story to tell, but hopefully we’ll be able to help others through similar situations.

maybe that’s the point of this whole prolonged wading through the lamesauce anyway. to give us an opportunity to learn, grow, and rely on Him and each other more.

so go ahead. toot your horn (get your mind out of the gutter.) i say be proud of what you’re great at and shout it from the rooftops. go ahead, take a moment and tell the world what you’re great at in the comments. everyone is great at something.

that’s why today, i am proposing live happy week. one complete week of positivity. here are the rules:

1. no sarcastic, negative, cynical, or otherwise mean posts on any of our social media sites. this includes talking negatively about celebrities, our elected officials, or anyone/anything else.
2. if someone, someplace or something irks you, do what Jesus himself commanded and do your best to turn the other cheek. respond to negativity with positivity, in the long run that’s the best way to get back at people anyway… mwahahaha. (i kid)
3. send at least one encouraging note to someone each day of live happy week. it can be a tweet, a wall post, a hand written note, a blog comment… whatever. just something to let someone know that you care and you think they’re pretty swell.
4. call each other out, hold each other accountable. if you see someone falling a bit into the negative zone, send them a little (private) note and remind them what week it is.
5. pray for each other (if you’re the praying type) without agenda.

i am well aware that this is probably how we should act all the time. however, for now i think it’s enough to ask for just one week of it from all of you. and please know that i am not so delusional to think that we don’t all have bad days, i’m simply proposing we keep our online persona’s positive for the week. each of us (hopefully) have people we can call, private message, or speak face-to-face with when we get really pissed off or upset. additionally, i am not saying we should be anything other than authentic, if something bad is happening in your life and you need some prayer there is nothing negative about asking for some. this is more aimed at the constant negativity we all sling towards things/people/places in our life, even our laundry piles (tam… haha).

it’s based on the simple idea that just like creativity begets creativity, happiness begets happiness. what would happen if we all just acted a little happier? would we feed off that happiness, and make our own lives a little happier? for a week, i’m willing to find out.

how about you? who’s in?

if you’re in, respond on your twitter, your facebook, blog, whatever… just say once (really, we don’t need to flood this, haha) “i’m in for #livehappy week!”. that way we all know who’s in. you certainly don’t need to link back to this post, feel free to copy it word for word if you want and put it on your own blog/facebook/whatever. i could care less about ownership of this.

“I lay myself at Your feet
Asking You won’t You meet
Won’t You meet me
I cannot do it on my own
I cannot do it all alone
Here I am, oh, tonight
With my arms open wide
Won’t You come inside
Won’t You come inside, God
Come and fill this heart of mine
I’m in need of You
Of Your touch, of Your life, of Your love
I need You
I need You”