Just got back from my first real personal vacation/retreat in a long time. Spent 8 days in Paris/Munich. Quite fun both in the exploring and the getting away from most things resembling work.

Life is going well. Still living at the T-house with 6 other guys. Enjoying it. Don't really know that I could find a better set of roommates for this time.

Work is going better and better. Still have crazy amounts of shoots coming in...especially on the still photography end. Now hiring two people part time to help with the back end of it. Erica: Currently sorts photos for me into best/ok/bad. We've met and she will also soon be taking on client booking and email responses to questions. Michael: Currently helps make more advanced edits. I also have a number of photographers that assist me on wedding shoots on either a "assistant photographer" or "intern level". Finally...I have a high school student, Candice, who spends time interning with me on shoots and editing a few times a month. Craziness.

Shoots are still going strong...but a little subdued as we go into holidays. I'm booking enough weddings that even when I'm not shooting alot, deposits or other payments for them are keeping the roof over my head...ha.

Just booked tickets for Guatemala 14 days in February. Will be going down with Erica (who I mentioned earlier) to gather photo and video for orphanages down there to promote their activities to gain funding and manpower for further growth.

Excitement.

I'm not where I want to be yet...
I still am slow to get back to people at times. I still overcommit and under-deliver sometimes even though I've learned MOSTLY to stop this. I'm growing though...and it's visible.

Finally...spiritually...I'm still swinging back and forth between passionate faith and cynical agnosticism. Part of me wants so badly to believe...and part of me is still frustrated that God seems to make it so hard. Why should it be a guessing game to hear His voice? Why do we believe that a loving God will send people to hell just because they didn't know about Him? It's great that we believe it's because He chooses to use us as messengers...but what about the people that die not knowing? Is this really fair to them? I could go on...but I struggle with the idea of it being a guessing game to experience God rather than plainness. It just seems like it shouldn't be this hard. There's always 50 excuses why we aren't hearing God plainly and so few that actually say they are. I still have hope in Him somehow though. I'm just not sure alot of the time.
This is part of why you haven't heard of me dating in a while. I've never thought it would be a good idea to start a relationship with someone and then invite them into this "roller coaster of faith" I'm in. I'm pretty happy with tons of good friends and the life adventures I'm on...so perhaps in time :O) I'm really not as worried as I'm sure some think I should be...ha
This is obviously the short and sweet versions in these two paragraphs but you get the idea. My explanations sound like 5th grader talk cause I'm trying to nut-shell it :O)

Anyway...life is good...times are crazy...but I'm having fun in the adventure...and finding stability not in the destination...but the fact that life will be a journey...and we just get to hold on and guide as God/life allows us :O)

...more sleep last night.

Tyler -
 
Wonderful results!  Thank you so much!
 
Katie wondered if any of the goofy pictures turned out?  Also - at the very end of the shoot you took some pictures of her with her red-soled high heels.  Are any of those worth passing on to us?
 
You have our strongest recommendation.  We had fun and the pictures are awesome.
 
Blessings -
 
Ann

I shot most of these in the last 5 days...and those I didn't...I've been working on editing their shoots...

I have five major agendas right now.

I'm just sayin :O)

1) Learn to both promote/advertise myself better.

2) Learning to turn around work that I DO take in a more timely manner across the board. I do well with most of my projects...but it seems like I always have a couple that are late.

3) Travel more. I have a dream of occasionally editing out of an apartment in Rome, the Cayman Islands, London, Prague. etc.

4) Figure out my faith. I don't have faith in God right now as much as hope in God. I hope He's there. I still love the idea of Him/Christ/The Holy Spirit...but am struggling to experience Him in ways that aren't man made. This place is frustrating, refreshing, real...and scares the crap out of me. The freedom to be here and ride it out is essential though. It has some other things...including dating...on hold for me.

5) Do more crazy and fun things ;O)

Random:
I flew a Cessna for 40 minutes the other day. Contemplating pursuing a pilots license just for fun.

I love how the internet has done such amazing things for networking. I currently have 1,070 friends on myspace...all but 80 or so of whom I've met in person. The ability to have all these people in one place and contact them is incredible to me. Sending out bulletins with photography info? Invaluable. Similarly...the ability to contact friends all over the world is so great. Right now, I'm chatting with a fashion designer friend from France that I met on a trip to India. Incredible.