Thailand, Elephants and more Thailand!!!

Other than my honeymoon I have NEVER been outside of the US. As someone who believes in traveling the globe to become more acquainted with how things are in the real world I recently felt a little incomplete for not having spread my wings in a different direction. A few months ago an opportunity arose for my wife and I to travel to Chiang Mai, Thailand where I would do nothing but PHOTOGRAPHY!!!!!! We would be traveling with a group of missions minded students and laypeople. So after I completed my first successful back flip we began praying about how God would get us over there. Now that we're just two weeks out from our departure date we're excited about how so much has been provided in order for us to take this trip together.

So what will I be doing, can you see it and how long will I be away?

Well...yes, oh and...I'll leave on July 11 and I'll return July 28. I will most likely have all of my calls forwarded to a message service or just leave my iPhone off and let it all hit my voicemail. But I will be answering emails. I'll have wi-fi so that means lots of blog posting. So that leaves us with my first question.

I will be following missionaries through their ministries in Thailand, documenting several of the people that we're going with, riding elephants (a lot I hope) and experiencing Thailand through a lens!

We're so excited and can't wait to share our trip with EVERYONE!!!

What I've been up to and Apple's Handsfree for the iPhone...

Random title but it's late and I'm not feeling too creative. Lately I've been out of my mind busy but that's a GREAT thing! I'm still yet to post any shots from Julie and Phillip's wedding, their engagements were AWESOME, but I'll be posting some of those this week along with today's wedding, Jayson and Mary Kate. We had an unbelievable time shooting today and I've got some really great shots to post.

But tonight, when we got home, my wife asked me to take the washed clothes from earlier today and put them in the dryer. So being the loving gentle husband that I am I began to make the transfer when I felt the rubbery spaghetti cord of my handsfree for my iPhone! I was a little freaked out because I'm usually pretty responsible with electronics and laundry. So I began thinking about how I was going to have to spend $30 to purchase a new set from Apple and then I realized that they may actually still work. I plugged them into my iPhone and made a quick call to Scott low and behold they still WORKED!!! So that's $30 I won't be giving to Apple right now but I'm sure they'll get by with the huge push that everyone's making to get the new iPhone 3Gs. Well until I can get a few more edits done this week here's a sneak peek at what we shot today. Have a great week!

JJ + Teran Wilkins 6.6.09

Last weekend was amazing. I shot two weddings, one of those being JJ and Teran. I have to be honest, I was a little worried that it was going to be nothing but rain the whole day but about an hour before the Ceremony the clouds broke and the sky looked AMAZING! I had so much fun shooting with JJ and Teran. It was really nice that they barely noticed us while we were shooting...I sort of feel like they had a more exciting distraction! Here's a few shots from our really awesome day! A huge thanks to Jaclyn at TPC for keeping things moving right on time!

Chad Lister and his New CD!!!

If you read my blog at all then it goes without saying that I LOVE music. I would say that the 120GB of MP3s that frequent my iTunes rival my passion for photography. Chad Lister is a good friend of mine whom I've shot with since his first CD, A Declaration. It's been really awesome to watch Chad grow with Christ and in his music. A while back I shot with Chad and the rest of his band but for some reason I neglected to blog about it. So when we were out shooting last night I was determined not to neglect blogging about Chad this time around. Chad's new CD should be out within the next few weeks. I'll be sure to blog about it so that everyone knows where they can get a copy. In the meantime check out Chad's site for shows and other information.

The immovable Rick Caron

A few months ago my wedding season became really busy and this month, June, I'm unbelievably busy, but I love to stay busy with I do best! So in the midst of shooting Weddings and E-Sessions and Bridal shoots I took a little time to give proper attention to the commercial side of my life when Chad Revelle introduced me to Rick Caron. Rick's a cool guy. He's extremely motivated and had way more energy than me...which up until this point I thought was impossible...but he does. Rick is a real estate broker but more than that he's more interested in helping other business owners build their social networks for business so that their business can grow. He's a HUGE part of the Christian Business Network here in the Raleigh area. Rick cares so much about networking and the perpetual return that business owners can gain from it that he wrote a book about it. So last week I shot for the cover of his new book and I have to say that Rick looks great! If you're interested in learning more about how to become involved with the Christian Business Network check out their site for meeting times and listings in your area.