Me Oh My, Mercy Me!

I helped out running TV camera at church today for a Mercy Me concert. We go to a big church in Austin so there are actually four TV cameras, a director, a graphics person, a iris person and a whole pile of other people who do audio and lights who I don't know. I also abused the 'crew credentials' and walked up to the stage for some fun pictures with my still cameras during the show. I had quite a pounding headache but got a few images in a very short period of time. The opening act was Bebo Norman and he's the first couple of pictures. I'd never heard of him before. He was kind of dull. Mercy Me put on a good show though.

Engage: Katherine and Ed!

Katherine brought ginger bread cookies. Tasty soft ones. Katherine is a library science student and claims that she cooks when she is stressed. Gosh if all of us could just cook when we are stressed instead of eat. The world would be filled with cookies and pies stacked to the top of every roof, in every street and it would worldwide over population of pastries. It would destroy the fabric of reality as we know it so it is good that only Katherine was the stress baker and the rest of us were happy to digest her little ginger bread men.

Now, not to tear you too far away from cookies but Ed, a non-cookie making programmer guy, was also there to complete the couple and provide us with entertainment as he tried to find the patterns in the way my brain works. I don't know if he succeeded. The shoot was a lot of fun with Ed trying to figure out the randomness that makes me get up in the morning. From the limited amount of programming and math that I studied in college, I am pretty sure that there is an algorithm to recreating the process it takes to be me. Ed may be reverse engineering me as we speak. But beyond all of that the pictures looked nice.

Two Rings Bind Them: Angela and Corey!

Angela and Corey had their wedding at the Inn At the Wild Rose Hall in South Austin. They lived in the Dallas area and had decided some time ago that they wanted to eventually move to Austin and the first step was to have their wedding here. I've heard stories about Dallas and kind of understand why people would want to move. I looked at houses up there when I was shopping Texas for a place to live and got kind of a strange vibe upon doing that. Austin is for me too.








This is Angela and Corey with Johnny Cash. Very unusual.

Engage! Marni and Darrell!

I didn't know who Megan Fox was. I suppose I was among a small number of guys who did not know who she was. I guess she's the hot new thing? I found out she was in the Transformers though I only found out about a couple of weeks ago. I think Marni looks a little like her though a lot classier.

We had a good time at the capital then down to the Amtrak Station where we were lucky enough to have a freight train steam passed us which created a fabulous effect after the sun set the with blur of the train behind Darrell and Marni. I love what I do!




This one really looks like a frame of a classic B&W movie. I love the feel of this.

Eat, eat and eat on a Caribbean Cruise Vacation

Everybody needs time away from their kids. Only Nazis think otherwise. I decided to take a week long vacation with my wife and chose a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean on the Crown Princess as my way of escaping from the children. We flew into Ft Lauderdale, popped onto the boat, shut off the internet and the phone and started doing what everyone does on a cruise ship: eat! We aren't really big on the live music or stage shows, but we certainly love food prepared with care and presented beautifully. We stopped at four ports of call: Princess Cays in the Bahamas, St Marteen, St Thomas and Grand Turk.

It was a blast and a wonderful quiet voyage and I look forward to going on another one again when we have some time.

One really cool thing that they had on the top of the ship was a giant TV screen where movies would play every night and serve fresh made popcorn made with real butter.


Christina looking over Port Everglades in Ft Lauderdale.

On the tender to Princess Cays.

I love bread.

I'm pretty sure that all of the palm trees were planted on all of the islands we visited. Apparently an island isn't tropical without a palm tree.

My beautiful wife on St Marteen

I think I drank too much at this place in St Marteen. My head was pounding and I was really thirsty, but ran out of water.

Christina and an escaped gorilla. Or maybe it was Christina and her dad. I sometimes get confused by that.

Christina in the ocean in front of the Crown Princess at Grand Turk.

Just about the last people on the boat, we got my father-in-law to snap a picture of us before it left without us. We had some much fun on this trip and stopped at such wonderful places that I think we'll go on the same exact cruise again, but take the kids. Should be fun!

Two Rings Bind Them: Lindsay and Berry!

Where do I start? Lindsay and Berry were crazy I suppose is the best way to say it. But in a fun way.

I know that I am putting myself into a weird class of super nerds by saying that I watch Doctor Who but I do. What's weirder is that other people do as well and if a wedding has the Doctor Who themes music during the reception it's got to be a good wedding.

Lindsay had her dress custom made by Wonder Woman right here in Austin. It has to be one of the most unique dresses I have ever seen. Her hair and make-up were done at Avant Salon near the arboretum where she got a really retro 50s bombshell look done. She raced from the salon to the Driskill where she got dressed and then up to the Texas Capital where the she walked down the isle to The Final Countdown in homage to the Bluth family from Arrested Development a far too brilliant for television show that if you haven't seen you will have to for your life to be complete.

As soon as the ceremony was over everyone was rushed off to the top floor of Buffalo Billiards on Sixth where dinner, dancing and games were played. Air hockey and Foos Ball were the most popular. This is where the aforementioned Doctor Who theme was played. I was quite surprised to find that I wasn't the only one who recognized it. At 11 p.m. the couple said a brief goodbye and ran accross the street to the Driskill for the night.



The formal posed pictures were a little more informal than what I usually shoot.

Senior: Cecily!

Cecily used to be in track. Sometime I think about people in track and wonder what motivates them to keep going. The burning pain in my lungs and my screaming thighs generally deter me from engaging in any running for a greater distance than a hundred yards. After that I collapse onto the ground like I'm having a heart attack and lie there for 15 minutes wondering how people run further than a hundred yards.

As evidenced by the first picture, Cecily had no problem with running further than 100 yards and doing it fast. She also played lacrosse which to me is still a mystery sport which involves a ball and a basket on the end of a stick. I've never seen it played, but can only imagine what kind of chaos may happen on the field where every player has a basket on a stick and no armor at least for the girls. I'll have to see a game someday. It was a fun shoot and we had fun with Cecily and her mom Beth.

Senior: Taylor!

We shot Taylor at the Texas Capital and down in SOCO. We ended shooting even after the dark to come up with some really fun shots. I think I am more creative when I can't see.

Visit to see Gram.......

This was an odd sort of trip where we drove a lot and talked a lot and seemingly did a lot even though it felt like we weren't too busy. We drove out to visit my grandmother in California. She has terminal cancer. My kids didn't know why we were really going. They thought it was one of Daddy's wacky vacations where he just drives forever. They were right about it for the most part. We did drive a lot.

Visiting my grandmother was a little stressful, but we went down to one of the beaches in Ventura that I had gone to as a little boy with my family including her and watched my little boys flop about in the waves as we talked. She had always been a big part of my life. She was a big part of my eldest son's life as well. When we were in college she drove 50 miles to watch Edmond one or two days a week.

I don't think I'll be able to get to Ventura to see her ever again so this was my goodbye. I don't like this goodbye.


They have Rebel gas stations in Las Vegas.


Corbin at Dodger stadium. I hadn't been there in 29 years. Still was awful.



Always pay attention to the details of what's on the side of the trash cans at the Ventura park. This says that these 55 gallon drums were filled with apple juice concentrate from China for Tropicana. How fresh does your apple juice seem now?

Barbaba Ann Jensen. My last living grandmother. We called her Gram. The name eventually evolved into Grambo, a rough, tough fighting machine groomed specifically for destroying bad guys and making casseroles. She always tried to trick us kids into eating food that had ingredients in it that she claimed weren't in it. I know a freaking onion when I feel it crunching in my mouth. She was in a good deal of pain and had a hard time leaving her apartment, but did venture to the beach and took us out to Andria's Seafood, a local place that my family has gone to for years in Ventura.

Edmond, Christina and Corbin at a Ventura beach

Edmond at a Ventura beach.



I needed a few pictures of Vegas for a crazy project I'm working on so I surprised everyone in the car and drove there without anyone noticing until we got to the Nevada border. I suppose it was a good test to see if I could surprise my wife.



Most every Fry's has a motif. Except perhaps the one in Plano. But I suppose that fits the personality of the city from what I've seen. I've been to a few. Burbank had a alien flying saucer sticking out of the front of it and had a 50s style alien invasion going on. Manhattan Beach had one that was a jungle and completely overgrown with bushes and trees. So I suppose it was fitting that Vegas had this. It was closed when we came by at 9:30 p.m. What the heck? I thought Vegas never slept.

We walked around Vegas for 4 hours with the kids to see the sights and shoot a couple of shots. I think it wiped them out. They never sleep.