A Picture of Life - Orlando Wedding, Portrait & Event Photographer

We've Moved

2009-01-04T21:06:00.004-05:00

Our blog has now moved to a new location. Please update your bookmarks and come visit us at blog.apictureoflife.com

Under Construction

2009-01-04T16:37:00.002-05:00

I'm sorry to say that my blog links are broken now because I'm moving my website which broke all the links. I hope to have this resolved within a day or two at the most, and at that time I will also be hosting my blog on my own website.

Stay tuned for the new blog address.

Thanks for your patience!

The Longest Day - WPPI Video

2009-01-03T15:08:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year everyone!

Some of the wedding photographers that I admire and strive to learn from were recently involved in a 24 hour challenge to create an online reality video for and about photographers. This reality show is the “appetizer”, if you may, for the 2009 WPPI(Wedding & Portrait Photographers International) Convention and Trade Show.

There were 24 photographers who were split into 2 teams, each representing a different charity. The charities are Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep and ThirstRelief. The goal was to make a short film on photography and include a public service announcment for the charity. These shows will be voted on and the winning production will earn $3000 for the charity it represents, while the other production will win $2000 for its charity.

If you want to know more details please visit F-Stop Beyond. Ron Dawson, professional videographer, is the creator of this reality series.

David, Karen, & Family

2008-12-30T17:25:00.016-05:00

I've had the privilege of taking the family pictures for David and Karen for three years now which means I've been able to watch the boys grow up. In fact, when we started together, the youngest wasn't even born yet. This fun family is full of energy and playfulness.

David is an expert in sound, mixing and editing and such. Karen is a realtor with Keller Williams.

I love hanging out with this family!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day.

Their oldest boy is also a bit of a ham around the camera and really enjoys coming up with poses. "Does this look good?"

He now has his younger brother doing it too.

What photo session would be complete without a campfire scene?

The youngest still isn't quite sure about the camera, though he is so photogenic.

And their daughter is a joy to know. She loves to work with children and also volunteers quite regularly for The JESUS Film Project

Click here to see more photos from the session.

Wanda

2008-12-29T14:27:00.002-05:00

Wanda is one of my best friends, and I had the privilege of taking some pictures of her for her to use for a magnet for those who support her ministry. She is on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ, specifically working with The JESUS Film Project as the lady in charge of tours. Wanda is a lot of fun and has a knack for making folks feel like friends from the moment she meets them.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day.

This one is my favorite, and is the one she ended up picking for her magnet. It somehow caputres her personality in a way the others don't.

Linnea A

2008-11-30T18:49:00.005-05:00

Linnea lives in Ohio, and has been dreaming of having her senior pictures taken at the beach. In fact, she is really an Ohio beach girl at heart, if there is such a thing. Thanks to a family vacation, she was able to have her dream come true.

One thing that made this especially fun to do Linnea's pictures is the fact that her father's name is Leif (pronounced "life"). So A Picture of Life got to take Picture's of Leif's Daughter. Okay, maybe it's not that funny.

Linnea's parents told me that Linnea means "full of life" and I must say that she was very aptly named.

We had the perfect weather at Cocoa Beach the day after Thanksgiving and spent most of our time at Jetty Park. The temperatures were ideal and there were very few people out.

You might be able to guess this from her photos, Linnea loves to act. We had a lot of fun, and she was a natural as a model. She is also quite a people person.

Here are a few highlights from our time at Jetty Park

This was my favorite from Jetty Park. While we were actually on the jetty, there were quite a few people around. One of the guys who was fishing there was teasing Linnea, but she was very good natured about it and didn't get flustered at all.

After we left the park, we went over to Ron Jon's Surf Shop. Linnea has actually spent quite a bit of time at the beach and she does surf. I was glad the employees let us take a few pictures there.

Linnea, you were so much fun to work with! Next time we should go to Hawaii for your photos!

To see more photos from our session, you can visit the website at www.apictureoflife.com

Linnea - Video

2008-11-30T18:31:00.001-05:00

Surprise Thanksgiving Adventure

2008-11-29T16:22:00.004-05:00

Scott invited me to go on a surprise adventure for Thanksgiving. And given his tendency to not want to go out much, I was more than happy to accept. Little did I know when he asked, that it would mean me being blindfolded as we drove there!

Now, I generally have a good sense of direction, and the fact that the warm sun was shining in the car certainly helped me in my trying to guess what way we were going. Scott made the mistake of asking me if I knew where we were, and apparently I was pretty much spot on in the beginning of our trip. (Well, he did say that I was about a block off, but that's not bad for a blindfolded person!) I finally was thrown off when I was expecting a turn off to the right, but we continued to go straight for quite some time. Then we began to loop around and go through an area that obviously had roads over our road, and we changed elevations several times and I got very confused and couldn't figure out where we were. I finally confessed my total "lostness" to Scott and commented that with all the traveling north and then south and then north and then south, that for all I knew we would end up at Moss Park, which is just a few miles from our house.

After driving for almost an hour, we finally arrived at our destination and I could finally take the blindfold off. And lo and behold, while we weren't at Moss Park, we were at Split Oak Forest, a nature preserve that has a series of nature trails that can actually be accessed via Moss Park or by driving just a few miles south from our house (instead of north). Scott told me later that he was blown away by my navigational skills. :-) He also told me that he got a little desperate because I was so right about where we were and so he resorted to driving through the airport several times (which explained the curves and elevation changes!)

The ironic thing about how well I knew where we were when I was blindfolded is that if it was up to me while we were there, we would have gotten lost and probably would have wandered around for days. (The trails are jsut a few miles long apiece, and form a series of loops, almost like a snowman. And, yes, I do have a great imagination! http://www.floridaconservation.org/recreation/split_oak/split_oak_map1.pdf)

And, yes, we did have turkey while we were out, thanks to Trader Joe's turkey jerkey! (And when we got home, we had an omelette for dinner with turkey bacon as well)

It was a perfect day for a walk with temperatures in the low 70s and very little humidity. The skies were a beautiful blue and all was peaceful. Here are a few of the things we saw that I deemed photo-worthy.

My beloved

I love the rough textures of the pine trees!

There is probably a more serious scientific name for this stuff, but Scott and I both called it popcorn moss. It was on the ground under the pines.

These pretty yellow wildflowers were prevelant along the trails as well. I love the way the background came out

Who knew that there are cactus in Florida? These little guys are actually all over the place here

Florida Fall colors

Thank you, Scott, for coming up with such a fun excursion for us. And for helping us get home in one piece as well!

The Happy Hagens

2008-11-19T07:40:00.002-05:00

Kary and Maria are missionaries with Campus Crusade for Christ and serve with The JESUS Film Project. Kary is the Director of the Postproduction department. I am so thankful to be able to know Kary and think very highly of him.

Their family was fun to photograph. I especially enjoyed watching them as they worked together in posing. I would simply say something like "do you want to do some fun photos now?" and they would immediately come up with a new pose without me having to suggest a thing.

Here are some of my favorites from the day.

For more information about their ministry visit them here

Bouts Family Portrait Session

2008-11-08T12:33:00.005-05:00

Andy used to work with me, which is how we became friends. He and Beth had Abigail last spring and they make such a beautiful family. We had some fun a couple weeks ago taking some pictures for them. Sadly, they'll be moving away soon.

Abigail is quite the thinker. She was very serious most of the time we were shooting. She really wanted to figure out what in the world I was doing there with my camera!

Here she is with her mommy

Look at how her daddy got her to smile

I thought we were going to be doing pictures of this family of three but found out that the family actually has four members. It was nice meeting you, Lucy!

While we were there, Lucy had the opportunity to make a friend

Abigail and Beth watched their interaction

Andy, Beth, Abigail and Lucy, I pray God's blessings on your move. I'll miss you!

To view more photos from our session, visit their gallery at www.apictureoflife.com

Sarah J

2008-10-18T15:14:00.009-04:00

I was glad to be asked to take senior pictures for Sarah. She has a lovely smile and it was fun to hang out with her family for a little while. Though the main intention was taking senior pictures for her, we got to also take some pictures of the rest of the family. Here are some favorities:

I loved the way Sarah and her brothers interacted.

The rest of the pictures from our session can be found at http://www.apictureoflife.smugmug.com/gallery/6091724_X7cc3

Baby Issac

2008-08-19T16:27:00.004-04:00

I had the privilege of taking pictures of my friend Allison's baby, Issac. This handsome boy is almost 3 months old and was full of curiosity and smiles. Here are some of my favorite shots from our time together.

The finger Issac is eating here is mine. If I had been using a tripod, there would have been no way to get this picture!

We tried to get their feet, but Issac did not like this pose, so this is the only shot we got.

Their hands. Again, Issac had other things in mind than posing with his hands on theirs.

Mommy and Baby. Notice how his eyes are fixed on mom.

Father and Son. I loved seeing how gentle Steve was with Issac and the sweet way they interacted.

Check out that cute grin!

This is the first picture I took and is probably my favorite for the day.

Steve, Allison and Issac, thank you for letting me spend the morning with you! I'm looking forward to seeing Issac grow in stature and wisdom and the fear of the Lord.

To view more photos from our session, visit their gallery at www.apictureoflife.smugmug.com

Rock Band

2008-08-19T16:26:00.001-04:00

I had the privilege of visiting with my sister, Diana, and her family last week.

A new interest in their life is the Wii Rock Band. She and my 16 year old nephew, Daniel, could spend 8 or more hours a day "doing" Rock Band.

Philip, 13, also likes to play with them, but not necessarily for such long periods of time.

While I was visiting, we all went down to my parent's house, and decided to bring Rock Band with us. While my dad tried to pick up on how to play the drums, lead guitar or the bass, he never quite did get it. Diana did her best to help him, but to no avail.

The best part was when my dad tried to sing.

He would have done much better if they had some Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra songs. My mom, on the other hand, did fairly well and enjoyed playing with Diana and Daniel while Philip, my dad and I played cards. (I won't even start telling you how badly I did in Rock Band!)

Diana and Daniel are really good at Rock Band after all their practice. As they were playing one particular song, Diana mentioned that it is one that just flows for her and is very comfortable to play. The funny thing about it is that the song she was referring to is one called "Waves of Mutilation". Doesn't that sound appropriate for her? (Hint: The answer is NO!)

After a while, the whole group joined us playing cards. (I think our laughter was too infectious for them to resist!) We had a fun evening, however Daniel had a few moments in which he was not doing well!

Isn't Diana beautiful?

I had a memorable time and can't wait until my next visit. Stay tuned for pictures of the beach at sunset next time. . .

To view more photos from our session, visit their gallery at www.apictureoflife.smugmug.com

Paul and Bethel are Engaged!

2008-08-19T15:57:00.004-04:00

http://www.apictureoflife.smugmug.com/gallery/5440928_vNub8

I think it is quite appropriate that the first set of photos on my blog are engagement photos for my dear friend and photography partner, Paul and his fiancee, Bethel. They got engaged on July 4 and we just went out on Sunday to get their engagement photos taken.

Paul and Bethel are a fun couple, and as you will see in the photos, they are very much in love. We went to a local garden and wandered around, all the while praying the rain would hold off. Of course, in Orlando on a summer afternoon, it wasn't likely. What a blessing it was that the rain did indeed hold off until after we were done and that other than the constantly changing lighting, we had weather that was conducive to our goals.

Here are a few of my favorites from the day:

They did a little walking . . .

And a little kissing. . .

A sweet kiss on the hand. . .

They even did some dancing

An experiment with a silhouette

This one is my favorites from the day. We happened to come across these two turtles having an, um, intimate moment and so we had to get this photo. . .

After a quick change of clothes, we got some more pictures. Notice how comfortable Bethel is leaning on his shoulder. . .

A sweet kiss on the forehead

Do they look happy together or what?

I see you!

A final favorite to share with you.

Paul and Bethel, what a fun afternoon this was! I can't wait to photograph your wedding!

To view more photos from our session, visit their gallery at www.apictureoflife.smugmug.com