The Accompanied Chilean Wedding

It has been great to be around and meet this extended family prior to us all becoming extended family. Getting married so closely in time together makes our relationship that much more special. It was especially sweet to travel to their home and spend time with their immediate families.

I had met Gaby several times both in Miami and Tennessee over the course of dating Lianne, and she has always been warm and accepting of me and gracious with our relatonship. It was a pleasure to be apart of her relationship with Pablo in a way that allowed me to see them several times before they got married. They were both at our wedding. I met Pablo for the first time in Tennessee a little over a year before their wedding, he was very sweet and gentle spirit. Reflecting over my experience with him and witnessing his interactions with Gaby and her family, the evolution of comfort and the gradual progression of getting to know Pablo personally was a great example to witness grow as Gaby and Pablo's relationship grew. From my perspective things could not have gone much smoother.

As far as weddings go, this one got off to an unusual start, and it seemed to cast a slight tilt to the rest of the evening. Although it really did not affect Pablo and Gaby's wedding quite like you would expect, there were other weddings that were not impervious to this evenings events. We showed up for the wedding early as some of the family and guests had, but there were many people there, and Pablo was still waiting outside. The wedding that was suppose to go on before Pablo and Gaby's wedding had not even started yet, and the bride was not even there. We waited another thirty minutes and by that time the schedule was for Pablo and Gaby's wedding to begin; the other bride had only just arrived. The wedding party was stalling Gaby and just trying to keep all of this information away from her, Pablo was stressing out while the priest just told Pablo not to worry that it was his problem and not Pablo's. Literally less than 15 minutes after the bride arrived the couple was walking out married. The rest of the wedding ceremony proceeded seemlessly in a beautiful moment.

Onto the reception, bride and groom portraits, family portraits, and one thing I forgot to mention about Chilean weddings is that they go for at least 12 hours, and this one was scheduled to end when the sun came up the next day. Half way through the night, this particular wedding had a Mardi Gras style celebration planned with costumes, masks, and props. After this typical celebration there was another meal service and continued dancing planned with all of our new props. Their reception was at a beautiful hillside military reception hall, and the tilt came right after the first dinner service, all of the lights went out for the whole hillside. While there were generators to provide electricity for the military hall, there were two weddings that night, and the power draw from both could not be sustained. It seemed that the generators were overloaded. There would be no more music or lights until they could get that resolved. This did not seem to deter the celebration for the crowd at Pablo and Gaby's wedding and the guests proceeded to play games and sing songs by candle light for the next hour or so, it seemed as though this wedding might just end early considering the power outage! Unfortunately for the other wedding, the guests did not take the power outage as well as Pablo and Gaby's guests and it seemed that after the power went out most of them took the opportunity to leave.

Pablo and Gaby's wedding was just getting warmed up. After that hour or so of warming up in the dark, the reception hall managed to unplug the right amount of appliances to supply the DJ and some lights for dancing. The delayed dancing only fueled the enthusiasm for getting electricity again, and the dance floor's darkness was overtaken by wild dancing.

Congratulations!

It's been over a year, time for a catch up!

While I haven't posted a blog in over a year, I have been taking photos and working so I do have plenty to blog about. The time to blog has just not been a priority nor has it been much of a consideration this year. Being married has changed my priorities in general as far as my photography is concerned, and led me to pursue extra work less. While before I was married, time was still an issue, and I was pushing myself harder to take on more work and spend more time working but being married has changed that. This post will begin a series of about 16 posts just to cover the year in review. This first post is from a trip after our wedding to Chile for her sister's wedding.

We took a day tour of Santiago, Chile; spent a day with her family, ate some great meals, and after the wedding we spent a few days in Viña del Mar. Just travelling with Lianne since we have been married has been a great new experience. It's amazing how just waking up next to Lianne for the first months of our marriage has been one of those things that takes a while to get old. We would literally wake up and tell each other we were married for almost half a year. This trip was a really great family vacation after our wedding with no pressure or stress. I left the wedding to have a post of its own as it deserves. Enjoy.

No one knows what it means, but its provocative.

Photography is glamorous.

It was easy. I am comfortable here. Everyone can do it, but not everyone does. I complain that photography is a lot of work when I am getting paid because I don't want it to be my job. The older I get the more time is worth to me and that is part of my complaint. Yet I have made work out of photography to help me pay for my equipment. It was a grind just to sustain the equipment pull and the insurance in the beginning, and it is still a grind to generate revenue to stay up to date. I can only imagine the stress if I needed to make a living and support a family with it. I am spoiled. I know.

When I first started in photography, I had an attitude that was more of a learning desperation. Of course the types of photos I was taking were much less glamorous. It was about the experience with limited resources. Now, yes of course, I could dedicate a portion of my disposable income towards photography equipment and call it a hobby. The path I began on has evolved through focusing on acquiring professional equipment and achieving a professional image. This path has been rewarding, and has led me to a much more glamorous sides of photography. Professional work and opportunities created by sharing my aspirations with others have helped me to achieve that photography allure.

As I age, my time becomes more valuable. I enjoy my free-time and don't push myself as hard as I did when I was younger. I have relaxed. That is not to say I don't work hard. I have just focused more on enjoying my free time and developing better relationships than sacrificing that free time to achieve something different through working. I still appreciate the value of investing time and consider that all good things require time to grow and nurture into great things. I respect sacrifice. I understand the weight of where I spend my time means that I will not be spending my time on something else. Now as I get married and begin to focus on our home I realize the pull of things and time required increases with age. The plans and the dreams expand and I am reminded to keep my perspective on the push and pull of these things. I choose now not to allow them to run my life or my marriage.

While this post and the pictures do not match from a visual perspective, the accomplishment of setting up a studio and providing the equipment to make these shots possible has been a labor of love. It represents to me a step of progression in my photography and a freedom that I have pursued outside of the grind. Its a small step, but it is a journey and not a race. I have chosen to walk this path aware of my time with balance and sacrifice in mind, but not at the cost of losing valuable relationships. I hope that if you have followed me on my journey that you can enjoy the photos that have come from it.

Friends in Love

Friends in love. Knowing they will serve God. Inspired by their journey. Grateful to witness.

Brittany and Anthony will affect more lives than they may know just by chasing after God. Pouring the love they receive from Him out to all those around them, may their cups be multiplied in their relationship with one another.

I am proud to have met and witnessed such growth in both of them not only as friends but also as a roommate and teammate. My life has been truly blessed by them.

I hope these brief moments do their journey and their relationship justice, and I am sure there will be many more opportunities for their love to be shared. I am super excited to see these two as a married couple and I know they will run hard after Jesus together and their relationship will bring glory to God.

In hearing their hearts desires over the years and watching them grow up from college to now in what seemed to me as very dramatic fashion, their love and their journey seem so perfectly matched. Now as they support, encourage, and challenge each other, it is clear to me of their love and dedication.

Anthony and Brittany, I ask God to continue to anchor you to His love and provide for you, and bless your ensuing marriage as you go out in to this world together and bring Glory to God's Kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven!

Congratulations!

Melanie

A friend of mine, Melanie Rinaldi, whom I dove with when I was in college recently retired. She asked me to take some photos to capture her in her peak shape and abilities as an athlete. I have been fortunate enough to witness Melanie work so hard for so long and work through injuries, and be her friend through it all that I know the strength she has displayed rubs off on those around her. Just to hear of her journey from the point I met her is inspirational.

In tribute to the start of the Olympics I am making this sports post. As athletes from all over the world come together to compete at this level, I am reminded of the blood, sweat, and tears that these individuals endure to get to that point in their athletic career. I have been fortunate enough to rub elbows with Olympic athletes and see their dedication and commitment first hand. It is not just the personal effort and drive of the individual but the team, the family, and the community of supporters that contribute to their success. I am grateful to be a part of that community and have friends at these Olympics. I am excited to watch them compete!

Enjoy the Olympics!