While we’re sitting in the hotel room waiting out the snowstorm, I thought I would post some of Ethan and Sarah’s pics from this weekend.
We came out to Colorado to photograph their wedding in Morrison, Colorado. We flew in last Thursday and then went out with them for a photo shoot on Friday. We went to the ranch that Ethan is staying at, along with the town of Golden, Colorado which is where we stayed. Then we went up to Red Rocks State Park which was a really cool place to go!! The weather was cold, but Sarah was a champ doing the pics goosebumps and all!!
Friday they had a cowboy themed wedding at Willow Ridge Manor and the weather turned out to be absolutely beautiful for them!
Thanks for a great weekend Ethan and Sarah!!
Here are a few photos from their shoot on Friday:

I just finished creating a brief lighting tutorial from the practice session that we did with Abbey a few days ago. For anyone that is interested in seeing the rooms that these images were shot in along with a brief description of the setup and work done, you can download the tutorial at:
http://www.arisingimages.com/learn/advanced_class/off_camera_lighting/

Here’s just a quick sample showing the image along with the room it was taken in. There is much more detail on the link above.

So as you can see from recent posts on the blog, we’ve been really wanting to do more work with off-camera flash and one of the biggest parts to that like any art form is practice practice practice.
Cheridy and I were ready to give it a whirl. Our friend Abbey from our church needed some photos and we needed a model and she worked out perfect. Everything about Abbey was exactly what we needed for a shoot like this…her hair, her makeup, all the fun clothes and jewelry she brought with her, etc. She was gracious enough to be patient with us as we made adjustments and tried out new things. Cheridy and I worked with her all afternoon and we got some great photos and learned a lot in the process so…thanks Abbey!!!
One of our goals from the photo shoot was to prove to ourselves that we could take cool photos anywhere so we challenged ourselves to shoot a photo in every room of our house including the bathrooms, laundry room, hallways, etc.
I will be putting together an educational page that shows what the rooms looked like and what we did to make the photos work, but that’s coming later. For now, here’s some of the pics:

This weekend is Easter. It’s REALLY early this year and actually is the earliest weekend for Easter for the next couple hundred years!
Our church (Kensington) always has a big production on Easter weekend which is typically attended by between 20-30 thousand people.
The message this weekend was fantastic and for anyone that didn’t go today, hopefully you’ll get a chance to check it out tomorrow.

The volunteers that did the set creation did an amazing job creating a park like setting with trees, a fountain, park bench, etc. There were also lifesize chess pieces that all tied into the theme of the King being Jesus.
It was a great service. I attended the 1:00 service at the Troy campus to take photos and then went to the 5:00 service with Cheridy’s family at North campus.
The music, drama, and message were all fantastic.

Here’s a link for a 60 second slideshow:
http://www.arisingimages.com/slideshows/20080322_easter

Here’s a coupe of preview photos:

Today we had the chance to get together with our friends Brett and Anna one more time. They are really getting their business ramped up and needed some headshots so we did a photo shoot with them today. We planned on doing it outside but it was just ridiculously cold today so we stayed inside and did a bunch of pics.

This past weekend we shot the Bar Mitzvah for Will. Will is an awesome guy and it was really amazing how cool and collected he was even when speaking in front of 300 people.

Tonight was the City Mission fundraiser where the men from my bible study group cooked at Mongolian Barbeque. All the tips for the grill will be donated to City Mission to help sponsor a child’s education. I was the slacker that didn’t get on to the grill to cook, but instead I had the opportunity to mingle with lots of the guests. I just wanted to thank all of our friends and family for making it out to the restaurant to donate money to City Mission. It is definitely appreciated and will go to a great cause!!!

Here’s a picture of Paul and Pete working the grill:

This one is to teach Paul to not make faces like this to someone with a camera and a blog:

Here’s cooking cam:

Sunday morning we attended the Christmas service at our church. This year they had 27 services and are expecting close to 30,000 people to attend. This year the theme was “Christmas has a Face” and it was all about bringing the face of Jesus to support those in need all around the world. The fundraiser for this campaign so far has raised around $850,000 dollars and this is what that money will go directly for:
· Support for 640 orphans in Kenya and India
· Dig 10 wells in Kenya providing water to 50,000 Pokot
· Medical clinics in Kenya and India for one year providing for 28,000 people
· Send all 36 Pokot orphans to secondary school for one year
· Emergency food relief to hundreds of families in India and Kenya
· Christmas presents for 1100 children in Detroit
· Training for 100 emerging student leaders in Detroit (City Mission)
· Ongoing support for homeless families in Roseville
· Renovation of a facility in Pontiac for tutoring of 200 kids each week
· Help support ministries serving the poor in Ecuador, South Africa, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Detroit.

This year for the project, I was able to make a giant photo mosaic made up of faces of people from our church along with photos taken at our partner sites in India, Kenya, and Detroit. The mosaic was printed 12 ft. x 7 ft and hung in the lobby along with being used in the video presentations. It can be seen on the screen in the background of the image below. The baby photo is made up of 10,000 smaller images.

The candles in the images below were all lit starting from one candle which lit others which lit others, etc. etc. etc. A single person can start a chain reaction that can bring light and hope to the whole world!!

It’s been a real blessing to be part of this journey and to know that there are people that will LIVE because of this project. Many of the orphans in Kenya and India would not be alive if it wasn’t for the partnership with the people at Kensington Community Church.
For anyone that wishes to learn more or give to this project, please click here:
https://www.kensingtonchurch.org/christmas

Yesterday Kensington Church launched their fourth campus. This one is located in Beverly Hills, MI just outside of Birmingham, MI.
I think there were almost 1100 people that came for the first official Sunday to hear the great music, message, and drama!
Here’s a link if you want more info:
http://kensingtonchurch.org/birmingham/index2.asp

We have really been blessed with some great friends in the photographic community. Last night we had the chance to get together with about 20 local photogs to have dinner and chit chat. Our friends Jes and Nate from Mod4 Photographic brought us balloons and a sweet handcrafted trophy for winning the WDIV Best Photographer in Detroit contest. It was made from pieces they got from the dollar store across the street from their house including a wedding cake topper, a vase wrapped in duct tape with gold sticky letters along with gold glitter that was ever so carefully patterned around the “trophy”! Mod4 rocks….or as their slogan says “rockin’ their socks off since 2003!!!”

It says “Best of 2007 Arising Images”

Tonight, Immaculee Ilibagiza came to our church to speak. Over 2200 people came to hear her tell her story.
This was one of the most inspiring stories that I’ve heard in a long time, and I would strongly encourage people to buy her book

Rather than writing something myself, I pulled some information from Kensington’s website to explain a little bit about her:

Immaculee Ilibagiza grew up in a country she loved, surrounded by a family she cherished. But in 1994 her idyllic world was ripped apart as Rwanda descended into a bloody genocide. Immaculee’s family was brutally murdered during a killing spree that lasted three months and claimed the lives of nearly a million Rwandans.

Incredibly, Immaculee survived the slaughter. For 91 days, she and seven other women huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor while hundreds of machete-wielding killers hunted for them.

It was during those endless hours of unspeakable terror that Immaculee discovered the power of prayer, eventually shedding her fear of death and forging a profound and lasting relationship with God. She emerged from her bathroom hideout having discovered the meaning of truly unconditional love—a love so strong she was able seek out and forgive her family’s killers.

The triumphant story of this remarkable young woman’s journey through the darkness of genocide will inspire anyone whose life has been touched by fear, suffering, and loss.

Here are a few photos I took tonight:

About 370 People were baptized in the lake at Stoney Creek Metro Park last night. Thousands of friends and family came to participate in the festivities.