John Amundson

Reds new owner

2010-08-16T04:12:00.000-07:00

Kari's Wedding

2010-07-07T12:36:00.000-07:00

Kari's wedding was awesome! Nashville is NOT under water, everybody check it out! We stayed at the Hermitage Hotel which is a 100 year old FIVE STAR awesome place. (Thanks Rick!)
Alec and Avery danced like they were in a competition or something, all of these people came up to me and wanted to know what's up with our kids having the crazy-wack-pimpin' moves. We all know they get their sweet moves from Erin, I've only got one move: the worm.
Also Alec was singing "BOUNCE with me BOUNCE with me...jicka-jicka-jicka BOUNCE with me BOUNCE with me!" And he told everyone it was from some rapper named JAY-Z PENNEY.
We're still unpacking here in Ohio, updates to follow...

Getting ready for the move

2010-05-19T08:42:00.000-07:00

Headin' to Ohio in case you haven't heard, now we can actually announce it. Film at 11:00.

August Stuff

2009-08-26T11:41:00.000-07:00

So here's a few August items: First day of school for Mr. Alec. Birthday for Mr. Alec. First streaking caught on film of Mr. Quin. First time an ancient oak reaches as far as it can to try and tap Erin on the head (see image below). Avery got baptised! Erin and I went to San Antonio for Kimber's wedding. Mrs. Brice talks with her mouth full. Alec, Keegan and Issac practice their Jedi skills while Aaron referees. Tune in next time to hear Erin say, "Quit taking of pictures of people when they are eating!!"

Summer recap

2009-08-11T10:15:00.000-07:00

So you know, summer is crazy for us photographers with weddings and travel and seniors and classes and church stuff and family visits and everything. So...no time to tell you everything that's happened since May, but I know my kids are definitely going down the right paths and everything so that's good right?

Looking

2009-05-29T05:52:00.000-07:00

Cheetos in Little Rock

2009-04-07T19:20:00.000-07:00

Yum.

Lots and lots of turkeys

2009-03-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

Well true believers, it’s time to put a post up which means I’m probably putting off something I’m supposed to be doing instead. Oh well, blogs don’t wait forever I suppose. I find that I either feel like typing a lot of stuff or I feel like typing almost nothing and just letting the pictures do the communicating. I guess some of this ought to have an explanation but I don’t have too much to give you other than I’ve been seeing things more and more in black and white lately…not like most people do I mean, I mean actually black and white, like old film.
Someone once said that every black and white photograph is a work of art just because it is such an automatic distortion of reality but it’s so similar, it’s captivating. You look a half a second longer if for no other reason than to think, “Hmm, so that’s what that looks like without color.”
By the way, if anyone has a connection to the Smithsonian people, they really should offer Todd (aka Elwood) a monster grant to add a wing to one of their museums just for cultural relevance. He could single handedly educate future bomb shelter kids in important art appreciation that includes Solomon Grundy, Boba Fett, Kilowog, and probably even Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin. Of course like most things I really like, I can’t recommend his blog to anyone since it’s rated R or maybe PG-13. Oh, and by the way, beware the ides of March. And the March of Dimes. And the March of the Penguins. Really anything marching ought to be checked out I’d say.

This is how we party hard on Friday Night!

2009-01-16T19:18:00.000-08:00

Slightly Overpriced

2009-01-07T09:25:00.001-08:00

I know this is kind of a lame post but since I haven't posted in a couple weeks, I thought something would be better than nothing. Here's what I think might be a little bit overpriced:

Season for crowds

2008-12-15T20:40:00.000-08:00

What would Christmas be without the lines and kids who want to be carried after 2 minutes? Boring says this true believer! Silver Dollar City isn't supposed to be quick. It's no place to get right in without waiting to park for 45 minutes and waiting for a ride to parking lot F for another hour on the way out. The wait makes it so much sweeter, right? Well, it's a good attitude anyway. I guess that's why I have a propane grill instead of charcoal.

No really, it's great and we had a great time the other day. Actually I was a little surprised to find out that I don't fit in the kiddie roller coaster ride. The operator just looked at me like I was dangerously out of touch with reality when I tried to get the bar to lock.

Sigh.

Yay Christmas! Go economy go!

What's your soundtrack?

2008-12-12T10:49:00.001-08:00

This took a little while but I was utilizing down time so don't judge me.

So Elwood recently posted the whole pick 5 cd’s to take with you on a desert island for 5 years bit on his blog. Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to do that again only where you could only take soundtracks from a movie or show. So don’t laugh or anything, but here’s my 5:

1. Batman-by Prince.

I loved this when it came out and I recently dusted it off and played it for Alec who has a good appreciation for the Dark Knight. Erin says that she did some kind of routine to “Lemon Crush” in high school. This album reminds me of Noah Guertin, Bow & Arrow Bible Camp, Jeanie Paden thinking they weren’t saying “funk” every 2 seconds, and High School. I was especially intrigued when this album came out to find out that “Batdance” is a melting pot of all the other songs on the album. Anyway, like most of Prince’s stuff, it’s timeless because it’s so alienish.

2. The Music Man.

I think somebody gave us this movie on VHS when we first got a VCR and I wore this movie out. Probably the high-tech Wyatts with their ham radios and flux-capacitors and all. Anyway, I’ve noticed that Family Guy has tons of song references from this movie and I figure I must be as cultured as a medical lab to know them all. Of course Jon Miller in Chicago knows every line as well. My favorite is Lida Rose.

3. Reservoir Dogs.

You know how if you’re like drinking orange soda when something traumatic happens, and then orange soda forever tastes a little off to you? Well, that’s what Quentin did to the songs “Stuck in the Middle with You” and especially “Coconut” in this film. What’s really warped is, now I like those songs better. Sorta like how you can never hear “Singing in the Rain” the same after watching A Clockwork Orange only not quite so damaging.

4. The Wall.

I guess this is probably a given for a Floyd Fan. 520 consecutive weeks in the Billboard Top 200 Charts. And go ahead and try to find a classic rock radio station that can go for more than an hour and a half without playing either “Comfortably Numb” or “Another Brick in the Wall”. My favorite on this album is “Nobody Home”. This movie is always playing in somebody’s dorm room in America.

5. The Blues Brothers.

These songs will never get tired. This movie will always be the symbols of everything that is pure and good about America, music, soul food, rocket launchers, Princess Leah, and the ends justifying the means. There’s not enough room in this blog for me to say everything I feel deep down inside about this movie and this music. It always makes me wonder how much a good microphone costs and how big of a bucket you would need for four fried chickens. And a coke. My favorite is “Sweet Home Chicago” which could go on forever.

Pre-Mythology Days

2008-12-09T19:34:00.000-08:00

When I was a younger lad, I could stay up to 3am Friday, Saturday and even Sunday nights and be fine and dandy Monday morning. Sure, I probably got more naps back then, (I had some boring professors) but I don’t understand how 9 little girls having a slumber party can wipe me out for a week.

December is a busy month for the Amundson clan. We usually have 3 Christmases and we have 3 of our biggest birthdays of the year (grandparents included). But it’s also really great with the kids still in the “Santa Years”. You never know if it’s going to be the last year before St. Nick becomes mythology to your tikes. And the older they get the harder it is to mislead/deceive/ignore their legitimate questions.

I suppose I should be happy they haven’t pressed about how it is that babies come from the hospital (yet).

Fleeting Fall

2008-12-08T09:51:00.001-08:00

Ahh, Fall. It’s been fun. We’ve only got a ew days left and after that, I’m probably not going to finish the yard-work until next spring. It’s been cool finding old friends on Facebook lately and making new friends at the Landing.
So Aunt Linda really did make it up for Thanksgiving which is incredible! You may recall not too long ago, she was pretty laid up. So how cool is it that she keeps defying the odds and recovering from everything that’s been thrown at her. Random thing about Aunt Linda that you may or may not already know. She gave me a board game when I was a kid called By Jove anybody have it? It was like monopoly but not exactly and it was based on ancient Greek mythology. You might end up in the labyrinth or Hades or have to fight medusa and you’d collect heroes which made it more likely for you to win. Anyway, it was a really super-cool game and I loved it!
She also wrote me a letter a few years ago encouraging me to get out there and work on my photography. I was really teetering at the time and it made a big difference.
My sister Angie and her husband Erin also made up and that made it even better. They’ve got this weird fascination with going to every Hooters restaurant in the world. I asked my Erin if we could make that one of our family goals too but she didn’t think it was the best plan. I’ll have to work on her on that one I guess. I was going to post a funny photo to really make the whole hooters thing a real gas but everything would probably get me into too much trouble.
Well that’s all for today, but I’ll try and add something tomorrow. Serious.

Coruscant

2008-11-15T14:59:00.001-08:00

When I have time, I try and teach my son the important things in life. Besides the obvious things like God, Family, Friendship and Free Enterprise, I try and make sure I cover important things that some dad’s out there may not. Of course I mean the Star Wars movies. The Oddysey of the modern era; the Sistine Chapel of cinema; the Parthenon of storytelling.
And I know someday we’ll have lots of discussions about things like “What if that red astromech droid hadn’t blown it’s motivator?” or “What if that one guy hadn’t said, ‘Hold your fire, there’s no life forms aboard,’”. But in the meantime, I’m content to have discussions about whose lightsaber is coolest.
So I’ve had Coruscant in mind when I ran across this image of a piece of metal and I just had to do a quick little plantary conversion. If you don’t know what Coruscant is, well then, this will be totally lost on you and I’m sorry for wasting the last minute of your life. So here’s Coruscant:

And here’s where it came from:

Night Shoot

2008-11-12T12:10:00.000-08:00

We did a night shoot for fun last night on commercial street. It was a lot of fun and totally different from most of what I do.

Leaves Everywhere

2008-11-07T20:11:00.000-08:00

A.J.

2008-11-06T13:15:00.000-08:00

Fear the power of the Crocs!!

2008-10-08T07:30:00.000-07:00

Along the way this summer...

2008-09-17T08:11:00.001-07:00

Spiderman has another birthday...film at 11:00

2008-09-01T09:07:00.000-07:00

North Carolina

2008-08-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

Tyler, Texas

2008-07-02T10:36:00.000-07:00

Texas is really hot. I mean seriously, it's like stupid-hot. No offense to all of you people who are big fans of the nation's second largest state. Of course, if Alaska decides to change into North Alaska and South Alaska, Texas would move down to #3 in size. Isn't that cute.
Anyway, I say this just to point out that as an ever so slightly non-slender man, I don't do great in intense, overbearing, mind-numbing, sweat dripping heat. I must really like my Aunt Linda who is healing from a fall/spinal thingy that has done a bit of paralysis to her. She'll be fine though because she's got my other Aunt Kathy keeping her sane with stuff like...well I'm not sure what really but I'm guessing it's stuff like Texas Hold Em' and Texas Toast and Old El Paso Salsa and maybe some music like....um....Chicago. Anyway....or as David Paden used to say "At any rate", this was the wonderful Cadillac road trip I embarked upon with my mom. We saw 3 sticks Oklahoma and pondered on its importance to the Indian Nations of old. We saw my cousin's kids, (I don't know if that's second cousins to me or cousins part deu or cousins that should be removed or what.) Anyway...or as a tour guide I met one time would say, "Moving right along", we had a great fat-free (I'm sure) meal at Pasada's in Tyler (you have to try it if you haven't, it will make you seriously consider returning to Texas even if you don't have family there) it wasn't the same without Aunt Linda there though, they had an open chair for her. She does have some little angels by her bed and some yellow mustard that I thought might be strange looking without any yellow. In conclusion....or as a mental hospital worker once said about a new patient, "Let's wrap this up"; we did a big shoot of this cactus in Linda's room. I'm putting up one of the shots but if you want to see the rest you'll have to go and pay her a visit. Happy 4th Everybody!!

Up to Summer Speed

2008-06-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

Let's do some catch up on everything, well everything fun anyway. We saw birds.
I learned orioles like grape jelly out of oranges that are nailed down. I did some fun projects with my dad.

We saw the Burtons at the Lake:

I had a road trip with my mom. We went to the zoo and saw frogs. Wesaid goodbye to the Alexanders.

Alec hit a double but was only allowed to go to first. The Shaws showed their team spirit.

We got to do some fun stuff for VBS.

My wife got even hotter.

2008-05-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

So it’s been awhile since I’ve posted and my Achilles is about 95% and I’m busy busy busy.
I’ve had a couple of Russian weddings this year so far and I’ve got to tell you, it’s like going on a total culture emersion vacation for eight hours or so. Really cheap way to see some overseas society.
What else…we had a men’s retreat at Rock Village Court for our church, Brookline Church of Christ and I think everybody thought it went good, even though Josh Moore didn’t get his fish as promised.
I find myself thinking more and more about Skyline chili-dogs and the joy found therein.

Uh, Spring is here.

Our dog is lazy which is good.
Everybody on my Mom’s side of the family is sick or in the hospital or something awful (Hi Aunt Linda!!!). That’s not good.
My kids can dance like nobody’s business. That’s very good.

I guess that’s all for today.

A bit out of sorts

2008-02-22T19:05:00.000-08:00

Some days, everything seems a little off. At least the satelite tv works.

Saltillo, Mexico

2008-02-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

Ahhhh, Saltillo! We couldn't have had better weather or nicer people to be with. Wonderful sights, smells, tastes, and lots of laughter. Pretty sweet trip! If you want to see the whole shebang click here.

Expo Show

2008-01-31T09:32:00.000-08:00

By the way, the Wedding Expo show went great. I recieved a wonderful response and the day went by super-fast. Here's a couple of Erin's snapshots of the booth space. It was longer than we anticipated but we didn't complain.

Back to the farm

2008-01-28T11:13:00.000-08:00

I met up with Richard and Marshall and Marsh's dad Jim in Arkansas over the weekend. It's still pretty much like it was last year. Take a look. Anyway, it was awesome and it was great to see my boys. Marsh has two dogs, Jay-dog and Chilli-dog and we saw about 20 turkey 9 deer and 2 armadillos. So….that’s it in a nutshell for now.
Oh wait, there’s more, on Sunday we went to a Cowboy Church. That’s what the sign said and everything. They’re building a new building with an arena in it and they were talking about how one of their big expenses was the dirt but that it was the “best dirt in Arkansas!” and was well worth it. Being the non-rodeo kinda fella that I am I just sat their trying to figure the logic of an arena (I was picturing the Metrodome) and fancy dirt (I was thinking they were needing it for parking lot). Anyway, the people were extremely warm and friendly and I thought it was a cool church.
Uh…the end.

Do you see Orion?

Welcome Miss Coco Limerick

2008-01-24T09:26:00.001-08:00

Well here she is, Miss Coco Limerick, I think she's gonna go by the name Coco Chanel. She just doesn't look much like a Limmie or a Rick to me. Everybody's happy except our cats but they are not as upset as we thought they would be. I think they'll all be buddies soon.

Christmas Magic

2008-01-02T09:45:00.000-08:00

Nothing is as magical as the first moment on Christmas morning when the kids come down the hall to see the loot before you get a chance to set your camera the way you like it. It's even more magical when your son likes to point with his middle finger.
We had Christmas at home this year and it was really nice being just the four of us Chirstmas morning. Then we headed to my folks and had some pickled herring like everyone else does and finished with a hayride. It was cool, there were big huge snowflakes falling but none of them stuck.

Pre-Holiday Update

2007-12-21T13:44:00.000-08:00

OK, so these are not our dogs but we are thinking about getting one so I thought I'd put this up here for some reason. These are the Hudkins pups. The wedding last Saturday went great, Paul and Adam did a great job picking up my slack, here's a shot of Adam's that's at the same moment as Paul's. Also, here's a shot of Erin that is a representation of a specific Rolling Stones song, can you guess which one?

Also, we saw Santa and his reindeer and he wanted to know if Alec was a prince or something with his cape...he said, "No, I'm Batman," to which St. Nick replies, "Oh, well Batman is a prince too isn't he? Don't they call him the Prince of Darkness?" And I didn't want to tell the jolly old soul but no, Batman isn't the Prince of Darkness, that'd be Satan. Batman is the "Dark Knight". You'd think after all these years he'd know something like that. He needs to get that figured out quick.

Of course maybe he was commenting on Alec's behavior or something. Hmmm.....

December with one leg

2007-12-19T09:01:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess life goes on when you only have one leg to use afterall. We had a "whole mess' a" hyper little girls over for the slumber party and I'll be honest, Hanna Montana is getting just a little overplayed for my taste in this house. I did a shoot for Positronic's Christmas party that was 50's themed and I didn't crash or anything. We went to Ohio for Thanksgiving and they have these amazing trees that they train to only drop leaves on decks and never in the grass. This one is still learning. The cats are busy frantically doing nothing....well, nothing but eating and pooping and sleeping, but soon they'll be passing ribbons and bows through their nifty little digestive system and it's always kind of funny to see a cat with multiple tails. That's all for now, but I've got some other stuff to show you later...oooooo cliff-hanger ending!!

Surgery, Skeletons, Signs, Superman, Soccer

2007-11-16T11:43:00.000-08:00

Although I don't really remember it, my achillies tendon surgery went well.

Also, our friends Angie and Kyle had their third son, Quinlan.

We had a kitty and a skeleton for Haloween.

My boy is getting really great at setting his toys up in amazing action poses, I think he'll have a great future as a manaquin stylist.

Brookline Church now has it's own gang sign.

And we're now done with soccer. Ave had one goal this year and she had one head shot when she wasn't looking, and she drank a bunch of capri sun and danced around. That's pretty much what sports is all about until you turn 21 anyway. Or 18 if you live in Canada. And yes, that's the Percaset talking as usual so you can't get mad at me.

We don't need no stinking stretches!!

2007-10-29T16:52:00.000-07:00

Make sure you stretch before you play basketball. I’ve got a nice little tear in my Achilles tendon. It hurts a little but not as much as I thought it would. Hydrocodene helps but it makes me sleepy and kind of stupid. No comments needed for that one. We had our church campout on Saturday and that’s where it happened. It sounds like driving will be a no-no for a while. I’m also missing my photography convention in Eureka Springs because of it. That really stinks. I was wanting to figure out this whole lens cap thing. (I had a photo of Mr. Pitt portraying Achilles in that Troy movie as a joke but I had to remove it for copyright infringement)
I can tell my sentences are too short and sound like they are written by a chimp so, to make you think I’m smart, here’s some boring facts about the Achilles Tendon: The calcaneal (or Achilles) tendon is the thickest and strongest in the human body and is about 15 cm in length. This tendon connects the calf muscle to the heel bone. It puts a spring in the step and helps one to stand on tiptoe. Unlike the other tendons in the body, though, it has no protective covering and is therefore very vulnerable to inflammation and injury. Even shoes which don't fit correctly can inflame or tear the tendon. The Greek warrior, Achilles, was the son of a sea goddess and of a mortal father. When he was a baby, his mother tried to make him immortal by dipping him in the River Styx. She held him by his heel, which never touched the water, becoming his only vulnerable spot. Years later, he died in the Trojan War when his enemy shot him in the heel with an arrow.
Wow. Who knew, right?

Cabin 7

2007-10-12T08:53:00.000-07:00

All 9 of the cabins at Rock Village Court are great but I like cabin 7 best for some reason. I think it’s the back porch with the green tree canopies and everything. Anyway, everyone should definitely make a trip out and stay a night or two and get some sanity. The fishing is great and the wiffle ball isn’t bad either.

Catching up

2007-10-09T06:49:00.000-07:00

So a lot of people have asked me why I havn't posted in forever and here's the deal. I don't feel great about making time to post to my blog when I've got brides waiting for their albums and churches waiting for their directories and a wife waiting for the lawn to be mowed. But I'm getting caught up so I should be back on track with this. At least until next summer. Here's some things that I've seen lately.

Four already? What's up with that?

2007-08-24T07:11:00.001-07:00

August....let me catch my breath

2007-08-07T20:38:00.000-07:00

Time has flown, but it's been a great summer, I've been extremely busy and behind schedule but it's been fun. So here we may or may not have shots of us swimming with sharks, purchasing a ballpark, getting disguised for bank robberies, subliminally advertising for alcohol, and going to church. Also, in 13 of these shots, someone farted. See if you can guess who.

Strange Days

2007-07-19T21:04:00.000-07:00

It's been a weird month. It's raced by. Even the flowers are racing.

Dad had a birthday, we've had a little family time, and we went to Florio's funeral in Arkansas. That's pretty weird. Florio was my roomate for awhile at Harding and then for a year or so in Dayton. I can't really talk about all of that just yet, but for sure we were all wiser for the time we spent knowing him. And he's in a way better place.

Major League

2007-06-28T21:51:00.001-07:00

http://amundson.smugmug.com/gallery/3074941#P-1-15

A few reasons why I haven't posted...

2007-06-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

Baseball Games and Stacking wood

2007-06-07T17:54:00.000-07:00

That's what Spring/Summer is all about.

Swamped

2007-05-11T09:28:00.000-07:00

I've been so busy I've neglected my blog and that's a bummer for me. I really like to try and keep things fresh here. Anyway, what have you missed....several wonderful, spectacular weddings that you'll just have to go to my print galleries to check out; a tournament in Joplin that's taken more time than I wish it has, but we took the kids and stayed the night one of the times and had a great time; oh and Erin had a birthday! There's more but I don't even have time to tell you today so it'll have to keep.

Baseball and Weddings

2007-04-23T21:11:00.000-07:00

Well it's been pretty busy around here lately and as some of you may have noticed I haven't been good about posting here. But I've meant to so...that's something...sorta. The little guy is on a real live genuine honest to goodness tee-ball team so we've practiced when we've had a spare minute which isn't much with the weddings and everything.

Speaking of weddings, Brandon and Nicole's wedding (or is it s') was great and you can check that out by clicking here.

Well, I promise to get some more stuff up soon but for now, goodnight.

Congratulations Jenny and Adam!

2007-04-02T13:45:00.000-07:00

Ahh, they are ready now. Check em' out! (Click here).

Beware the Ides of March

2007-03-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

Well, I had a birthday and we spotted Chad, I had a few dates with my wife, and taught my son how to clean the toilet. Erin was bit by a werewolf which made her right hand grow to enormous proportions and her eyes freak out. I tried doing this cool trick with bubbles but it didn't work but I thought I'd put my poor attempt on here anyway. Don't ask. Great wedding on Saturday, I'll be putting that up soon....and that's all for today!

Skate Night

2007-03-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

I didn't get hurt this time! Erin did, but I didn't notice and got in a little bit of trouble later because I didn't notice. So the moral of the story is, it's important to notice when your spouse falls on her booty. The End.

i always thought she said i was too obsesed with her booty anyway

Cool little punk

2007-03-06T07:00:00.000-08:00

This is his natural pose while watching Sesame Street. What in the world? Who does he think he is? And I had some requests to see our fat-er cat Whinnie, and I caught them spooning so...enjoy I guess. Life's been busy with the neverending ice-storm-cleanup. It will be nice when the kids can play safely in the yard. When there's 20 foot branches barely dangling 40 feet overhead, it makes you feel like Jack Bauer just by running to the shed.

Chara and Derek

2007-02-27T07:16:00.000-08:00

Neither rain nor sleet nor snow could stop us from getting awesome engagement photos on Saturday. More to come!

Goodbye Training Wheels

2007-02-25T12:47:00.000-08:00

I promised myself I wouldn't cry ~whimper~ please excuse me, something's in my eye~

Happy Valentines Day!!

2007-02-14T10:31:00.000-08:00

Everybody made valentines from scratch this year which is twice as nice. There were a few tense moments with scissors but we managed to unarm the little terrorist without much violence. There was a strange stabbing with an orange marker to the eye that resulted in colored boogers but its best we don't speak of it. Also, right before the rain and snow started and during the rain, our new best friend in the world Dave did some monkey moves to help remove a few dangerous limbs from a few of our trees. We got about 1/8th of the bad ones down before it got too wet and slippery to continue. See if you can find him in the tree...you'll have to click on the photo to enlarge it. Also-also, the Mexico pics are almost all up. They timed out so there's still about 100 more popping up today but you can click here to check those out if you are interested. Happy Valentines Day and let's all get psyched up for G.W. Day!!

Nacho

2007-02-12T12:43:00.000-08:00

Yes, this is a small appetizer of the images from Mexico...including proof that I did work, or at least I got dirty; also the rare glimpse of the amazing sky elephant; Fernando; and Moore Brothers Construction Co with Blind-Jake and Bitter-Josh.

Back from Mexico

2007-02-06T09:41:00.000-08:00

Sorry I've been away to Mexico. Many photos to follow. A plethora in fact.

The Eyes Have It

2007-01-26T15:52:00.000-08:00

Strange New Ice Bug Found

2007-01-22T20:51:00.000-08:00

Electricity and Chainsaws

2007-01-19T12:52:00.000-08:00

We lost power last Friday and got it back yesterday (Thursday). I am getting better with a chainsaw, and I think I can start to learn to take pictures with seven fingers just fine anyway.

Freezing Rain Day

2007-01-14T14:41:00.001-08:00

Fallen tree limbs, ice around twigs as thick as my finger, trees that bleed red blood. Interesting sights this weekend. Click here to check some of them out.

Someday my name will be in lights...

2007-01-10T09:30:00.000-08:00

I was having fun with a little "painting with light" or "photography" as it's called. This is my kitchen light. It took a few tries but I managed to write my name with it.

Corndog Day

2007-01-09T11:18:00.000-08:00

So I met up with a couple of my college roommates this past weekend and we had ourselves a little back-to-God retreat. It was great to see Richard and Marshall again, I hadn’t seen Marsh since ‘99 and back then we were all up to no good so it was pretty weird going out to a great party spot and with the old wild crew and reading the Bible. It was great though, pretty amazing time. I won’t really go into all of it because a lot of it was pretty personal and everything, but it was really cool.
Erin and I are now officially hooked on “24”. I got season 5 from my father-in-law for Christmas and we’ve been watching as fast as we can.
Yesterday we took the tree all the way down. Part of me always wants to leave it up and if I didn’t care about looking like some kind of weird white trash crazy person, I’d keep it up year round. I just can’t get enough Christmas. And Erin does the tree so you can’t even see the wires, it’s like a work of art or something. I hate to tear it all down but I suppose we need to put up our Martin Luther King decorations anyway….or whatever. President’s day? I think it’s time Hallmark came up with a good new holiday in January that gets everybody excited, especially kids. Sweetheart day and secretary day are lame. How about Corndog Day! Wouldn’t that make EVERYBODY smile? We could have big corndog festivals and glue corn husks on our dogs and old people could paint the corns on their feet into snoopys at the face-paint booth….and we’d all snuggle up to by the fire with giant corndogs and watch “Old Yeller” and Steve Martin in “The Jerk”. (there’s this awesome scene where he works at the fair and his biker girlfriend makes him share his corndog even though he’s worried about germs and…well, maybe we can come up with a better movie).
Or…maybe…something else.

Back to it

2007-01-04T07:14:00.000-08:00

Well I thought about posting that there'd be nothing to post for a couple of weeks back around Christmas because we were out of town for awhile, but I thought it might come across a little too “we’re out of town please rob us now, you can even make multiple trips” if you know what I mean. So anyway, here’s a few of the more eye-catching photos from our trip to Ohio. I don’t promise them to be all be Pulitzer material, but that’s ok. Whose Christmas pictures are? But there are the great shots of Erin in her Ho Pants. That’s pretty edgy stuff.

He's Coming to town...

2006-12-21T21:57:00.000-08:00

Even if their rotten all year, they know how to pull off the sweetness at the last minute. Well, I guess their never really rotten. But they've sure stepped up the goodness lately.

Good Will Towards Men

2006-12-18T20:20:00.000-08:00

I was pretty proud to be a part of the Christmas carolers that went out from our church Brookline Church of Christ the other day. (Man, I’ve got to update that site sometime). It was mainly little kids and it was great to see the old faces light up at the sounds and sights of children singing “You would even say it glows, LIKE A LIGHTBULB!” But December is always a pretty hectic time with 3 birthdays in our family and when to visit who when, and where and how. But when you get to see some joy passes from innocent young to hurting elderly, it kind of gets you in the chest like a bucket of KFC.
Another person who has always been big on spreading joy and good will to all men is my friend Bryan. He’s a missionary and is currently at film school in New Zealand trying to spread the word through film in the future in new and different ways. Check in on him and I think you’ll be impressed.

Erin

2006-12-12T12:20:00.000-08:00

So I haven’t said much lately, partly because life has been pretty full with work, birthdays, weather, and that kind of stuff. But I was thinking a lot about how opposite I am with my wife. Well, maybe not opposite, I mean, I like music and she doesn’t hate it, but we’ll both like the same group or album or whatever and I’ll want to skip past the lame songs and those are her favorite and then she’ll try and skip past my favorites. The only Metallica songs she really likes are the ones that put me to sleep and my favorite Cranberries song is the one that annoys her to death.
I like to play chess and clue and monopoly and texas hold-em and she likes to play sudoku and freecell and solitaire. I love the Airplane movies and Blazing Saddles and want to watch them over and over because they get better every time, she’s not quite so simple though. Once she’s seen a movie it’s in her brain just fine and she doesn’t feel the need to replay it endlessly and cackle on the floor like an idiot.
But then again there’s a ton of things that really matter that we are the same on. We love our kids and we love our time away from them. We both are sarcastic and like to mock stupidy and people who are full of themselves. We both like our coffee the same way which is far more convenient than it sounds. Neither one of us had the happy happy joy joy Harding University experience and I’m glad I’m not the only person who thought it was a self-inflicted prison camp with great people.
So, I guess I should keep her, or rather, beg her to keep me.
So here’s to you babe, love ya!

Birthday Girl and Jealous Brother

2006-12-09T17:16:00.000-08:00

Freezing Rain=No School=Make Cookies

2006-12-03T19:59:00.000-08:00

The weather outside...

2006-11-30T16:47:00.000-08:00

Tours now ready...

2006-11-29T07:15:00.000-08:00

Alright Craig, here’s some more Taliesin West….click here…..

Thanks Arizona

2006-11-27T20:57:00.000-08:00

So we’re back from the beautiful state of Arizona and a great time was had by all. The kids road the train to the Grand Canyon and we saw signs of elk and then actual elk. My sister Angie was a great tour guide and hostess. Like most of our fancy vacations, this was a parent-sponsored event which we highly recommend. Sunrise and sunset at the Canyon was incredible and it was a great to be a tourist and just enjoy the time.

Chorizo and Frank Lloyd Wright

2006-11-23T09:32:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving from Arizona! We flew out to see my sister and her husband and the kids rode down in the car with my folks. We’ve had some authentic Mexican food including chorizo that my sis made. Chorizo is a strong flavored sausage that reminds me a bit of taco bell but not exactly. I’m sure many of you people out there know all about it but I didn’t. Well, we had bacon and sausage links and chorizo and all we needed was my Uncle Roger to show up and make porketta. Angie and Erin have moved from Tucson to Phoenix so we hung out and went to see the Frank Lloyd Wright place, Taliesin West. Pretty cool place. It was originally just a winter rough-it kind of place with no windows intended but eventually they added glass. Lots of weird lines and odd shaped entries and hallways. Really cool use of concrete everywhere. Origami shaped chairs and some cool sculptures. It’s built over an underground river so they have lots of water for stuff there too. Erin wasn’t feeling well when we first got here but she’s doing good now. The kids just want to climb the tree in the back which is just about the perfect little tree for kids to climb. Well, I need to get busy relaxing and eating some more and watching football. I’m thankful for my family and for my friends out there who happen to read this. Happy Thanksgiving!

My blog has mutated

2006-11-15T14:19:00.000-08:00

They say it's a good thing. Natural evolution (which is probably an oxymoron) has caused my old blog to be old and slow and I don’t know what. So I’ve had to “upgrade” my blog. I don’t think it’s supposed to look different or act different but I can tell you, it smells different.
This shot is of my green car hood.

Smudge

2006-11-14T20:02:00.000-08:00

So I’ve been a little busy. That’s a good thing, I’d much rather be busy than bored. Although I can’t remember the last time I was ever bored. Maybe when I was stuck in the Salt Lake City Airport for nine hours when I was in eighth grade, but that was pretty fun too…they have these amazing chocolate milkshakes down on concourse A.
Anyway, so I had fun shooting the Shaws the Brices the Replogles, David’s Bridal, several basketball teams and I’m probably forgetting something else…oh yeah Kadi and Rickey. (See my print galleries).
I emailed my best friend from high school which was kind of hard since we haven’t really kept in touch so I’m a little embarrassed and everything. But I was thinking about old friends that you sort of loose contact with and then when you think about them, it’s like they’re dead or something. Which is stupid because they’re not it’s just that that’s a part of your life that you can’t really go back to so it’s too painful to think about. Well, I think that’s a load and I don’t like it. So, I’m going to try and make contact with all my old “dead” friends. Before they’re really dead anyway. And I dare you guys out there to do the same. I think I’ll even try and get a hold of old Chris Holmes…I think he’s in Chattanooga or something. I’ll tell you about him later….I don’t know how much time has to pass between committing a crime and being able to talk about it on a blog but I don’t want to get him in trouble.
OK, so there it is.
When I was setting up for the Shaws shoot I thought I had a spot on my sensor because of this black blob on the image:

Well I was freaking out and everything trying to get it removed and later I found out it was grease on my face. Isn’t that sad that the most obvious thing is the last thing I think of sometimes.

I'm having trouble putting the other pictures on this blog so I'll have to split it up...

Anna and Danny

2006-11-09T14:04:00.000-08:00

This is Anna and Danny. They’ve been waiting a while to see their engagement pictures….thanks for waiting. Click here to see the rest!

Recycled

2006-11-07T21:32:00.000-08:00

"Warm Spot"; "Coolant Nebula"; "Angry But Dependable"; "Flowers"; "Rusting Tree"

I love it when they all smile

2006-11-06T08:10:00.000-08:00

You know it always seems like there’s always too much to do. I used to know this guy who made his living interpreting dreams and saying wise vague stuff like “live in chaos, live in chaos” which meant something like if you don’t clean your messy house, your life will be a chaotic uncontrolled mess. He also would say “garbage in garbage out” whenever he saw someone eating a Big Mac and fries which he really meant that they wouldn’t feel good no matter what if they ate that kind of junk. So lately, I’ve noticed, everything is a little scattered and chaotic. Lately?!? Who am I kidding, since we’ve moved over here almost a year ago we’ve had partially finished projects and renovations in the works everywhere. Well now the studio is a total mess as well and I mean to set right to work and get the chaos under control. And eat a Big Mac.

And another point is, the things you own, own you. I just bought a bunch of good stuff from another studio and now I have to rethink just about everything so I can figure out what to do with everything. So if you have a clean house (like the wonderful happy people shown in this picture do) you have something to smile about. If you don’t, well, go visit someone who does, it cheers me up!

November

2006-11-02T08:18:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, been busy and out of town. And of course we had a little thing we like to call Halloween. I went to the PP of O (photographer convention) in Eureka Springs. It was really pretty but I was inside during most of the daylight hours so I didn’t get many shots at all. But I did see Mike Clemens who was visiting my folks and I got to swing by the mini version of the Golden Gate Bridge that was in that movie “Elizabethtown”. Anyway, I’ll post more soon!

Elicia Likes To Sing

2006-10-23T15:17:00.000-07:00

Want to see more? Click here.

Brice Belly Bug

2006-10-18T11:26:00.000-07:00

We had a rough night the other night, we all got the"Brice" stomach bug. Without going into too many fun details, some of us were up all night throwing up and some of us were up all night with...well, it rhymes with "spy a tree, uh". Anyway, after 2 hours sleep I got to meet two wonderful people who are very much in love and have their wedding coming up next Spring; Abbi and Martin. We had a great time in Camdenton and the colors were just wonderful. I'll have the whole gallery up soon.

It's Fall

2006-10-16T08:21:00.000-07:00

Once again, Mt. Vernon's Apple Butter Makin' Days was filled with color and crafts and carnival food. I had a cheesecake-on-a-stick dipped in chocolate and a deep fried apple fritter covered in cinn-sugar and we had brats and kraut and German potato salad and homemade rootbeer. We didn't win at bingo this year which has to be the first time for that but we still had fun.
Then we had the church hayride and had hotdogs and chocolate-carmel pie and hot chocolate and nachos and everything you can think of. I almost went over on my food points but luckily, most of that stuff isn't on the little sheet of paper so I get to estimate what I think. I'm thinkin I had about 15 points all together, when you include the 3 points for the oatmeal I had to start the day. Being healthy takes some serious math skills.

Halloween's A Comin'

2006-10-12T07:58:00.000-07:00

We've got some costumes picked out...

Mom's in Japan

2006-10-07T17:34:00.000-07:00

With all the excitement this weekend with North Korea planning on testing their nuke, Mom decided she had to get in close and work on her radiation tolerance. Also, I think she is big on saki but that's just a rumor.

Our Trees Got A Haircut

2006-10-06T12:39:00.000-07:00

We had tons of dead branches so we had these guys come out and clean it up. The colorful shots are from last year and the green shots are from today.

Cataract Eye

2006-10-05T19:31:00.000-07:00

I know I should have cleaned the stove top first, and polished the chili pot too. It almost tipped over for this shot.

Deer & Disco

2006-10-03T11:43:00.000-07:00

Like the tragic end of disco, the exotic animal paradise is now closed. I'm thinking of starting a new animal paradise with stuff like wolverines and skunks and hyenas and poison dart frogs. And instead of driving through, you walk through so you really feel the excitement. And then at the center of all the amazing wildlife, I'd put our fat cat Whinnie. She puts the fat deer from the E.A.P. to shame .

Castaway/Lockdown part II

2006-09-27T13:57:00.000-07:00

(See last post if this doesn't make sense)

How about K.B. not even wanting to take the full alloted count of books with him, wow what a tough guy. Let's hope he and his Mrs. Reading Rainbow Angie never go on a cruise or anything or they'll just have to talk to each other and we know that never goes well.

OK, great stuff. (I'm only saying "great stuff" because Erin says I say it too much and I sound like a moron and like I'm trying to be cool or something and I come across more like an even dorkier version of Mr. Rogers).
I thought about putting a photo album in my list but in my little "mental scenario" you have to buy all the books at the prison bookstore or the airport bookstore before the plane goes down so I decided against it. Otherwise, I'd custom make me a book 50,000 pages long with a cover made from raft-capable Styrofoam and I'd have another book where each page is a frozen pizza and blah blah blah. Anyway, great stuff all you who responded. (I picked all of mine without seeing what you did first, honest!) Here's my "brilliant books":

If in prison: The Bible, a book on philosophy, a book on art, a blank book, and of course this one.

If on a deserted island, substitute that last one for this one, and substitute the philosophy book for this little beauty.

Oh, and I thought about Snoop Dogg for a long time of course but I ended up with this album list:

“Dark Side of the Moon” - Pink Floyd
“Abby Road” - Beatles
“Red Headed Stranger” - Willie Nelson
“...And Justice For All” – Metallica
“Crash” – Dave Matthews Band

5 Books

2006-09-25T14:24:00.000-07:00

I don’t know if I picked it up on a road trip or what, but somewhere along the line, I came up with a great question to ask someone to get a little insight as to how they think, and what they value. Actually you can ask it one of two ways…#1: If you were going to prison for five years and you were allowed to bring any five books with you, what would you bring? Or, #2: If you were stuck alone on a deserted island indefinitely, what five books would you want to bring? A possible follow up is what five cds (given you have a solar powered stereo) would you bring along. I’ll give you my choices if I get five people to comment with theirs first.

Fun with Construction Paper

2006-09-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

Makes me think of pizza.

Harry

2006-09-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

It took 6 assistants on the lighting and 2 hair stylists and the talent wouldn't wake up.

Paul Bunyon

2006-09-15T06:57:00.000-07:00

I had to work with this giant Canadian this week. Boy those Canadians sure are clean and polite. I guess if you got to eat Canadian bacon every day and drink Canada Dry to wash it down, you might be, uh, somehow cleaner....and uh, more....that doesn't make any sense at all. And Dan Aykroyd only ate dry white toast anyway. But Keifer Sutherland probably drinks Canada Dry and he's like the Prime Minister of Canada or something, or he works for their secret security or 24 something, whatever...

Nevermind.

Just the hat

2006-09-10T20:55:00.000-07:00

So last week was busy with the holiday and all and my folks are all excited about doing the weight watchers thing and so Erin and I thought we’d give it a whirl. Well, depending on your weight determines how many points of food you are supposed to eat in a day so I thought we should start by just not really worrying about it for the first day, and just write down what we eat and then add it up and see what a typical day is without trying. So Erin is supposed to have like 20 points or something and I’m supposed to have like 30 or something so at the end of the day we did the math and Erin had had like 40 or so and she was pretty bummed. Then I added up mine and it was…get this, 96.5. That’s like three fat dudes’ worth and then some. So we figured we’d better look at what doesn’t “cost” much in points and try it for real. I this means the only things we can get from Krispy Kreme are hats.

Family Weekend

2006-09-05T10:50:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend! Shot a wedding on Friday, a football team on Saturday, my sister and her husband came in from Phoenix, we ate all the good stuff...Hibachi steak, fish n chips, Krispy Kreme (you got to try one someday Rog), and polish dogs and burgers on the grill. Alec also played a lot of flipflop baseball with a baloon with "Uncle".

2006-08-29T10:07:00.000-07:00

Here’s a little something that Erin doesn’t like me to talk about. When I use someone else’s pillow I have really “foreign” dreams. Like when we stay at a hotel or whatever, I have these vivid dreams about people I don’t know and places I’ve never been but are supposed to be familiar. Now, I should say that I usually remember something from my dreams and I suppose that makes me a little bit of a freak. So my theory is that somehow, some way, we leave a little bit of a dream imprint on our pillows that can have some kind of impression on someone else’s dream. Erin’s always telling me, “You aren’t Joseph and you sure aren’t living in Bible times”. I think it really bugs her that I keep bringing it up because I sound like such a nut-case. But every I use a “foreign” pillow, I have a “foreign” dream. Does anybody else ever get that or did I just eat too much paste in grade school?

Lake Dreams

2006-08-28T11:04:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning at Greer's Ferry Lake in Arkansas. I woke up before everybody and had some coffee and went out and got some sleepy shots. The condensation on the lens was from the change in temp but I decided I kind of liked it for a shot or two.

Say hello to my little friend...

2006-08-24T14:50:00.000-07:00

Anna

2006-08-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

Billy and Alison's new bundle is wonderful and even though she slept through most of her first shoot, she didn't blink or cry so I didn't have to throw out too many shots. That's always a big plus in my book. It's weird to think my little ones were so small not too long ago, time really does jump on you...not like Adam Sandler in Remote but pretty stinkin fast.

Remember when you were 3?

2006-08-20T14:36:00.000-07:00

My son turned three and it seems about that age that I kind of can remember some stuff. Nothing really before that so from now on I'll have to be careful what kind of garbage I tell him like the moon is really an eyeball that watches for kids who refuse to potty train how Mickey Mouse is sick in the hospital and if you clean your room he'll get better but if not....(I'm just kidding, maybe).

Ranger Rick and World Magazine

2006-08-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid my sister had a subscription to Ranger Rick and I had a subscription to World. On the back of World, (or maybe it was the inside back cover or something) they had a section with photos of things you’ve seen before, but they were either so magnified, or had so little context clues, that it was a visual puzzle to figure out what it was. I loved those shots. I always had fun trying to figure them out and I suppose that might have some influence on how I like to see the world. I think if you can isolate a subject to it’s core values and remove background distractions, you can discover beauty of line in the ordinary. I know this sounds really artsy fartsy, and most people could care less but I think it’s fun. I think the curving lines of a giant fuel tank can be beautiful in a way, but we usually see them as simply utility steps and peripheral. Not “subject matter”.
Anyway, I’ve had a few people tell me they didn’t understand the last blog entry image so I thought I’d back it out and show it in color…in “normal conditions”. But honestly, I like the way I showed it first much better. Especially since it’s unclear where the stairs lead and how high up they are and all that. OK, enough artsy fartsy, I’ll try and drum up some more Ansel-esk images for you guys stuck in your cubicles.

Fuel Tanks

2006-08-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

Rick and Diane are here for a visit from Ohio and I’m finally getting a little bit caught up. I shot in Branson twice this week and the heat was really intense, that kind of intense heat that makes you sleepy in a dangerous way, like being in a sauna in northern Minnesota just a bit too long. So we dropped by Bass Pro and fought the crowd and we checked out some $16,000.00 shotguns. I didn’t buy many.The photo above is three fuel tankers. This is actually my 3rd attempt to capture it just right over the course of 3 or 4 years. I still think I want to try it again a little different

Lauren

2006-08-10T20:25:00.000-07:00

So Adam has helped me a bunch this summer…and as photo assistants always end up having to be a lighting guinea pig and grey card holder, I thought I’d put together some of those “light test” shots. But I also threw in the shots of the day at the park with Jillian and Adam and Adam’s sis Carrisa. So anyway, click here to see the madness.
Also today, I had the pleasure of working with Ms. Lauren. She is a model but she doesn’t know it yet. Here’s a shot from today.

Story-Friend Wedding Images

2006-08-07T09:31:00.000-07:00

The Story-Friend photos are now all online and ready to be viewed. By the way, the images you see are low resolution; the lab uses the high resolution version of each file you see to make the prints. Click anywhere here to go straight to the gallery. If your computer prompts you to search, enter “Story” to find that specific gallery.