Did you guys have a good time watching the Grammy’s last night? My boy Bruce opened the show which was great. I was so stoked that The Civil Wars got to play! They are one of my favorite groups. Paul McCartney killed it as always and I am trying to forget that Niky Minague was even there. And Dave Grohl’s speach was what the industry needed to hear! It is about the heart of an artist, not what can be done in a computer.

“Long Live Rock and Roll!”

There is always some great and some terrible at the Grammy’s, but they always get me super pumped and remind me how much I love music.

Ben+Kaitlin: Preview

Ben and Kaitlin are some great friends of me and Courtney. They asked me a couple months ago to take some pictures to celebrate their love and marriage. We went out once before but had some bad weather and ran out of light. We were able to go out again today to finish the shoot. It was a beautiful day but SUPER cold. We got my car stuck too. More on that later.

Here is a quick preview. More photos to come soon.

I have been participating in a new photography group on Facebook started by Mr Tofurious and have discovered some crazy awesome photographers. None of them are from around here, but if they were I would probably hire them to take pictures of my wife and I.

• Butter Studios: I really like the wedding portfolio.
• Ling Wang: Some crazy awesome senior photography.
• Feuza Reis: LOVE this website. And the pictures are bright and clean just the way I like.
• Captured By Kelly: Adorable kid pictures.
• Svetlana Yanova: This is my favorite of the bunch. Some really amazing photography here.

DIY Polaroid Frame

I really love how creative my wife can be sometimes. A couple months ago I saw this picture frame mirror with broken panes sitting by the dumpster and I just knew my wife would grab it. And sure enough she did. It sat around for a little while but not too long ago my wife put it to good use.

She pulled out the broken mirrors keeping the ones that were still good in it. She painted the middle one with chalk board paint so we can write little messages to each-other (we need to pick up some chalk soon). She then ran wire in in the open parts so that we can hang some of our favorite Polaroids.

It’s pretty awesome right? I love how she can take a piece of trash and completely re-tell it’s story. She gives it life again and makes it something beautiful.

Every year I like to pick a favorite and this year it was Clint Eastwood’s Chrysler commercial. Why is this my favorite? It is almost perfect. It features beautiful cinematography and music and has Clint Eastwood. But more important that all of these is that it tells a story. And it doesn’t just tell a story we don’t care about, in a way it tells our story. We completely relate to it because we feel what he is talking about in our bones. We have that feeling of “half-time”. All of us do. It relates to us in such an honest and raw way. That is what good marketing does is appeal to us on more than an “I want that” way. It appeals to our heart.

What was your favorite commercial this year?

The concert was the CD release show for a band called The Nonparell. These guys are are worship band from the area and they rock! It was an awesome show. Another sweet band called Favoretta that has been around the area for awhile opened with us and they killed it too. This was my third time hearing them and I always love them.

I took pictures for the two bands that I didn’t play in and my wife got some sweet shots of us.

Favoretta

Brothers

The Nonparell

There is a lot going on and I wasn’t sure how to post it all, so if you don’t mind, I am going to do a little mind dumb of all the things I want you guys to know about.

• Our concert Monday night was awesome! Here is a link to us playing one of our songs. My friend Ian recorded it on his iPhone so the bass is a bit too much for it but you can get an idea. It was fun. I am playing the iPad on this one.
• Lightroom 4: demo is out and is awesome so far. The editing capabilities are so much improved over the previous version. I am so stoked about it. Seriously.
• VSCO Presets: These things kinda set the photography world ablaze a couple of months ago. They recently released the newest version with support for the D7000 and I must say I really like them! They are natural looking but do give shots that “film” look. Now if only they worked in LR4…
• 85mm 1.8G: A couple of months back I posted that I wished Nikon had an 85mm lens for less than 1k. Apperently they read that tweet because they are in production of an 85mm 1.8G for right around $500. I am pretty stoked. Most of Nikons new “G” lenses have been pretty great so I have high hopes for this lens. It is the perfect addition to my bag.
• Why I Love Photography: This blog post is so simple and amazing. Quit whining and just go out and have fun.
• Yan Photo: I discovered a new photographer that I have really been digging recently. Her work is amazing and her writing is so good too. This is one of my new favorite photoblogs.
• I ordered a vertical battery grip.
• I also ordered new business cards with a new design to match my branding. I am super stoked to get them. I will post shots of them on here when I do.

And just because blog posts are super boring without pictures, here is a couple pictures of me and my beautiful wife that we took a couple weeks back in Orlando. I think she looks super pretty in this shot.

…but it does appear that she isn’t eating her broccoli.

…and I look like Waldo.

Some of you may know that I play in a little band called Brothers. Well we are playing a show this Sunday night at the Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center. Were opening for a really sweet band named Heaven Come Down. Tickets are $5 at the door or $3 if you bring socks, towels or blankets. I am stoked. I hope to see you there. It’s going to be LEGEN…wait for it…DARY!

TWiT Photo: Jeremy Cowart

Jeremy Cowart is one of my favorite photographers. Not just because his work is absolutely amazing, which it is, but because of how he consistently uses his art to do good. That is something I always want to do with my photography. It is a gift that has been given to me and I absolutely cannot be selfish with it.

This interview is chock full of goodness but the best part is when Leo (the host) realizes that Jeremy is a follower of Christ just by the good he is doing. He doesn’t have to say he is. He doesn’t have to be obnoxious. He just does what is right and imitates Christ and people see the difference. There is a lot to be said about that.

I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to start a swerves on photography tips. Now these are aimed at everyone. I don’t want to get all technical, I just want to give you some practical tips on how to make your pictures look less like snapshots.

Get on Their Level

My first tip is going to be aimed at taking pictures of kids. Weather you have kids your self or just know some kids, this is a helpful tip. For safety I would avoid taking pictures of random kids at the park. This normally doesn’t go over well. Try to keep it to kids you actually know.

Kids are small obviously. We all know that. That’s why we like them right? The problem is when taking pictures of kids from the heigth of an adult makes them look insignificant, which we dont want. Our goal is always to try and make our shots look better than a snapshot and with kids, getting on their level is one of the best ways to do that.

Get down on your knees or your stomach or whatever you have to do to make sure your camera is at or below their eye level. This greatly improves the picture for several reasons:

• It gives more depth to the picture. When shooting down at a kid the background is only the ground and it makes it very two dimensional. If you shoot at their level, the background can be much more expansive and can also blur with some nice “bokeh” really putting the emphasis of the picture on the child.
• It is much more personable. It puts the viewer of the photo on the same level as the child. It makes them more relatable and human.
• It is more attractive. Nobody really looks good when they are craning their neck to look up at the camera. Kids included.

So that is it! I hope this little tip helps you out. I love seeing people take great pictures of their family and friends and I want you to be able to do the same.

You can see all of the photos and order prints here.