Outer Banks

I'm here in Kitty Hawk for the next few days with some friends for a wedding. We've got this nice beach house right on the water. The sunrise picture is from the second floor deck! The last pic is of my friend Brian Few from this morning.

Jake & Hannah

Last weekend, I had the privilege of shooting a maternity session with Jake and Hannah who were in town for a baby shower which I also shot. Jake and I were college roommates back in the day and I don’t see them much since they moved to Georgia. After the baby shower, we went downtown and were able to grab some great images of the two of them. The camera absolutely loves them and they would make great models. Congrats on Baby Mavis…she’ll be here soon!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SLIDESHOW.

Baby Ruby!

On Wednesday night, we were graced with the birth of Baby Ruby! Mark & Ovella have been great friends for about 10 years and it was an honor to be there for the latest Tippett birth. Below are a few of my favorite images.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SLIDESHOW.







I love this picture of Ruby looking at Jacob!

More Orange Conference

Here are some more images from The Orange Conference which was held in Atlanta. There were some really cool things and some not so cool things about the conference.

The good:
• The main session speakers were amazing: Francis Chan, Donald Miller and Reggie Joiner rocked it.

• I enjoyed all of the music with the exception of Steve Fee's punk-ish 'We Are the Redeemed'...I felt like I was in middle school all over again.

• The main lobby environmental signs and booths. For some reason, I really dig cool signage.

The not so good:
• High production value with not so good execution. What seemed to be a blown circuit left 3800 people sitting in the dark...literally. The noise with the various speaker's microphones was a big distraction too. Also, lots of newer songs were sung and most folks did not know the words. Having the IMAG screens closer together rather than far apart would have been a much better setup and would have allowed folks to see what was happening on stage and see the words at the same time.

• Lack of adequate on-site food vendors. This is almost a deal breaker for those taking large groups.

• Lots of closed break-out sessions.

• Zero crowd control (i.e. 3800 people in a venue that really doesn't accommodate 3800 people very well).

Next year, Orange will be at the Gwinnett Convention Center which is a much better venue than the Galleria and should alleviate some of the issues from this year.

If your church is really into children's ministry (and it should be) or even if it's something that you want to get into, you should definitely check out Orange 2008! Overall, this was a great trip and I was really fortunate to be able to travel with some really nice people.

The Orange Conference slideshow (5 minutes 12 seconds).

The Orange Conference

I'm in Atlanta at the Orange Conference which is a conference geared for children's and student ministries and is focused on the five issues that are critical to today's church: Strategy, Community, Family, Message & Influence. I'm here documenting the trip with a group from Port City Community Church. It's been a flawless trip so far and the night ended with an incredible message and some great worship time.

Here's the group dinner at Carrabbas .


Steve Thomason on guitar.


Steve Fee leading worship.


Our very own Cinnamon with Lanny Donoho!




Reggie Joiner's talk during the main session.

Strawberry Farm...and a surprise!

On Saturday morning, we went to the Lewis Strawberry Farm on Gordon Road to pick some fresh berries. Donna and I had never been before but Halley has been quite a few times with her dad and was a real pro. It's a pretty cool setup. Not only do they have the strawberry and blueberry fields but they have a nursery and concession stand with fresh blueberry bread, ice cream and some nice rocking chairs to take it all in.











I was watering the plants when we came back home and found this little surprise in our hanging fern! I made sure not to disturb the nest and kept my eye out for the momma bird. Sure enough, she came back to check on the eggs.

Underwater Photos

Here are some photos I took with the disposable underwater camera. The fish would surround us when Donna got in the water so I guess they really liked her. The snorkeling was pretty cool and I wish that I had a nice underwater housing.