Cemetaries

Cemetaries are fascinating for me. I keep going back with my camera, finding some of the most amazing examples of statues and architecture around. It's a great practice exercise with my camera - to set everyting on the camera to manual, focus and all, and to take my time with each and every shot, making sure my metering is excellent and my composition careful.

Weddings and other kinds of photography require such a rapid-fire response to the scene in front of you. I do think about exposure and composition at these events, but it's second-place to capturing the emotion of the day.

At my visits to cemetaries, the fields of Nebraska, parks, and other places I find in my photographic trips, it's nice to let the world unfold before me, and to capture one or two shots worth keeping.

Big Blue Boy Scout

Just saw Superman Returns - it's after 1:00, and I can't even begin to think about sleeping. I'm too disappointed. I can't help but think that the movie, while visually stunning, was hollow at its core.

Since Superman is a comic book character, it stands to reason that we would expect a "comic book movie." It just didn't feel like one. Clocking in at over two and a half hours, I was waiting for something really really cool to happen - and it never did. Most of the time, all Superman did was lift really heavy stuff and fly really fast. That's about it. He used his "freeze" breath a few times, and his heat vision, but all passively - in reaction to the events played out around him. He looked amazing doing the things he did, and the airplane scene was awesome, but where was the Superman I was hoping for? Where was the action in the movie about the character that was introduced in Action Comics?

The plot stumbled and somewhere, someone forgot to tell the writers to imagine something new. Instead, they seemed perfectly content to use borrowed plotlines from the first two movies, and the only real surprise of the movie seemed almost like a late add-on. Like they were sitting around thinking... "OK... Superman is dead, or almost dead, and Louis Lane comes and whispers something in his ear, something that makes him stop being almost dead... what would that be?"

And Lex? At times he was good, but I didn't totally buy Stacey's version. He was humorous, but he wasn't diabolical, and he certainly wasn't a criminal genius. His "master plan" was more randomly stupid than I could have imagined, and his use of "superior alien technology" consisted entirely of throwing a crystal into water... and hoping for the best! This is a comic book movie - where was the imagination? Why couldn't Lex have used the technology for something cooler? Maybe something Superman could actually PUNCH?

At least Brandon Routh made an awesome Superman. He gives me hope that the next movie will be spectacular. He had the humanity, the physique, and the loneliness that makes Superman such a cool character... I just wish that the movie, if it was truly supposed to be a character movie, was more about the Superman character. What new did we learn about the man of steel? That he loves Louis? That he wants to be one of us, but never can? That he can lift really heavy things and fly really fast? We learned nothing really new and a good 45 minutes could have been edited out, at least, which would have at least streamlined the action and stopped me from being bored.

I'd even go so far to say that we learn much more about Louis Lane than we do about Superman. I mean - Superman goes searching for Krypton, galaxies away, and we never truly learn why, or what he learned from the experience... it's almost used as a gimmick to get Superman away for a long enough to let Louis have her baby and relationship with some other guy... and Superman's lines in the movie are so short, so shallow, I'm trying to think of one cool thing he said through the whole thing - something that defines him as a character - and I can't think of anything.

Maybe I'm too much of a kid at heart, or maybe I'm too old to be inspired, but I wanted Superman Returns to make me want to go out and change the world. I wanted to be inspired, but I wasn't... and without the ability to inspire, what else should a great Superman movie do?

Destination

I am currently going through a VERY long process of organizing my photos. I have hundreds of photos, for instance, of graveyards throughout two different hard drives and dozens of folders. I'm going through, like one of those organized people I've heard about, and putting them all into one folder, entitled "graveyards." Brilliant! It's a long process, but I think it's worthwhile. I'm finding some old photos, this one taken three years ago. Three years ago! The photo, for me, symbolizes how long I've been doing this photo thing (not too long, really), and how far both Casey and I have come in that short time.

An amazing friend of ours, Melissa, asked us tonight how close we are to begins full time into CandJ Art and Photography. You know what? We're pretty close. Probably closer than either of really know.

Right now we are just settling down from over a month of hard work with the business - art shows, weddings, portraits -all that stuff. We're "living" the dream a little right now, and it feels great to spend time doing something worthwhile instead of watching TV or playing games all night.

We could do this. We are doing it... and it's exciting, spectacular, and lots of scary. I mean... we could both quit our jobs, actually do some marketing and stuff, and DO CandJ Art and Photography. We could make it work.

Of course, I'm not leaving my job as a high school teacher - I love it far too much... but possibility fills my life. It feels good, at 31, to have more options and an amazing future ahead of me - sharing an adventure with my wife that will definitely lead us to destinations we could never have imagined.

Roads

Roads get us to our destinations, and also provide a way back home. At every art show we've exhibited our work, people come up and ask "Where is that road?" I can see their eyes imagining a place they've been, perhaps many times before, reliving some history in their mind I can only guess at. One woman told me a road I had on a presentation print looked like a road she remembers as a child, driving across the country. Another young girl told her mother the same road was the one to Grandma's, "because it goes on forever," she said, rolling her eyes. I tell them where the road is at, and invariably they shake their head, knowing it's not the same one, but I like the fact that, for a brief moment, my photography can take people back to a different time or place, their past coming alive again.

A perfect day for a wedding

The location - the sky - the couple. Mix them all together, and you've got a great day for a wedding, and some incredible wedding photos to show for it.

Angus

That's his name... meet the newest edition of the family, adopted by Kelly and Russ. Meeting new puppies is always nice for me, but meeting this one was a bit special. He's one of the sweetest puppies I've ever met - and I've made it a point to meet a lot. He is such a precious little guy, giving everyone around him tons of love. By the end of the night he fell asleep in my arms, and I knew I had made a new friend. Little Angus reminds me of how sweet my precious Alabama was, and just how much I miss her friendship. Congratulations to Kelly and Russ - you have brought home something special, and Angus will enhance your lives in ways you might not imagine.

Dinner

Zach - the top photo turned out much cooler than I thought it would. Thanks for the food, and have fun in Chicago.

Reserved Parking

One more from the Creighton trip. For some reason I dig it.

Good Light

Although I am a proponent of getting out there to take photos whenever possible, I'll have to say that the light you get in the morning and evening really is beautiful. It's worth it. These two shots, taken tonight at the University of Creighton, wouldn't have been nearly as dramatic if taken at noon, the park bench would have been pretty much impossible. But then again - maybe the photos would merely have been different... not worse.

Finds

I once read a photography book that told photographers to stay inside during days where there were no clouds between the hours of 10 am to 2pm due to the harsh, unflattering lighting. That always stuck with me, and I've always wondered, who in the hell would give that advice? Photographers need to take photos - making the best of whatever light they are presented with. Sometimes I need to just get out and shoot, and today was one of those days. Harsh light or not, I think I found a few cool shots I would likely never have taken if I wouldn't have ventured out during the forbidden hours, and with the horrible direct sun.

Left

This is the only shot I took of this - snapping it between poses during a recent engagement session.

Lilly and Charky

We should be judged not by the god we worship, but how we treat others, children, and animals. I truly believe that these animals deserve everything we give them - because they have no choices in this life. We welcome them into our lives, asking so much of them, and all they truly want in return is love and warmth. Charky and Lilly will get more than 99% of the animals on Earth, and I'm so happy to have them in our family.