highlights from the year have been (which you will see images from) vacation to Ireland, a portrait project for passion city church (which finally helped me learn my way around Atlanta – ha), Catalyst, Q in Chicago, Encuentro in California, serving in the country of Panama along with some of my closest friends and high school students, and finally the opportunity to serve As Our Own in India with one of my best friends, Stuart.

just as a note: most of the images here were chosen because they either represented growth for me personally or professionally, reminded me of something I never want to forget, or is an image which allows the viewer to become the creator and imagine the story behind the still

at the end of 2009, I had never been more expectant about an upcoming year as I was for 2010 – I can honestly say that I feel the same way about 2011.
I have been blessed with so much:
a wife who loves, encourages, and supports me – as well as keeps me in line from time to time
a son on the way whom I can’t wait to meet
friends and family who uplift and inspire me
clients who I love to work with and serve
and a church community who have a heart for Atlanta and the world and challenge me to serve those near and far in everything I do

hopefully this serves as a very short and condensed glimpse at what 2010 was for me and inspires you to reflect back on this last year for you in these last days we have before 2011

thank you so much Jenica, my close friends and family, and my clients! 2010 was incredible because of you…

I feel as though that’s so important for us, as photographers, though…if you are never challenged, then you will never push yourself and see your potential. we will fail, like a lot, but we need to get past the fear of failing so that we can get to the part where we start creating – we actually just need to completely dismiss this idea that failing is somehow bad and instead welcome it with open arms – it keeps us humble and motivates us towards progress

with all that said, this was one of those shoots where getting passed my fear of failure pushed me towards progress. I learned to work with a crew, I learned to manage multiple things going on at once, I learned new lighting set ups, and I learned to be confident in what I was doing while also being myself with all those on set

Plus, I got to work with some crazy talented people. First off, Mickey Lynn’s jewelry is pretty incredible! Now not that I’m wearing a ton of jewelry or anything, but I loved seeing how unique all the pieces were as well as hearing her passion behind making all of it. It’s obvious that this is what Mickey Lynn is supposed to be doing…also, her super supportive boyfriend, Seth, was an absolute work horse the day of the shoot and was getting just as excited as Mickey Lynn at everything we were doing. They also have a great intern, Margaret, who was key in helping visualize what they wanted/needed in the shots.

It was a huge privilege to work with Abany Tschupp as the art director for the shoot – from day 1, she took what Mickey Lynn wanted and ran with it creating a whole story line for the day, planning the outfits, as well as collecting everything we needed for set pieces – she took a simple brick room and made it come to life. I can’t wait to work with her again, and you should use her as well if you are in need of an art director. Contact her here: atschupp@Mac.com
I also wanted to say thanks to Aynsley Younker for helping out – she did so much behind the scenes to help get the outfits ready as well as just caring for the needs of everyone on set…my assistant on the shoot, Mick, was also a stud – he is a college student who woke up at 6am to help – enough said.

Makeup was done by Sue-Mar Dawson with Bobbi Brown Cosmetics and gave each model a unique look for every set we had…she was also just a really cool lady to work with.
Lastly, hair styling was provided by the Paul Mitchell School in Atlanta. Their crew/students were incredibly professional and I can’t tell you how awesome it is having a bunch of people help look for the little details that can make or break a shot. Hair and makeup played key roles in making these shots what they were so thank you!

Looking forward to more shoots in this line of work in the future…

Tanya moved here from Russia when she was 6 with her family…she met Joe a few years back while doing research in Jerusalem. So, 2 years ago they got married, Joe moved to the states, and now they both are in the line of doing cancer research…Joe also shared some pics of himself from just over a year ago when he had something blow up in the lab and had part of his face, side, and arm melted…crazy! That would have been my signal to peace out…ha However, I am pretty sure that he was straight out of one of the Jason Bourne movies and is one of the guys you call up when you have someone to take care of…so a little explosion was no big deal

since Tanya and Joe never had any formal pics taken at their wedding 2 years ago, they decided to have them done now, especially since Joe’s body was done healing…so we headed out to Lullwater Park in downtown ATL
these guys are so much fun and i hope to hang out with them again sometime soon – maybe over korean bbq?

thanks again Tanya and Joe! great meeting you two

i tried to not take on too much work recently so that i could focus in on other things, especially since this is still a part time gig for me. however, april is looking pretty busy with some senior shoots scheduled, engagement session, first wedding of 2010, a workshop, and an album shoot

so hopefully this blog will start seeing a lot more traffic very soon

with all that said, this is Victor
I was hired by my buddy Drew to do some portraits of Victor for the website and promotional packaging that he and his brother Luke are coming up with for Victor.
Victor has overcome some pretty huge changes in his life and has used those experiences to travel the country and inspire others with a message of hope

I really enjoyed getting behind the camera again…here are a few from the shoot