This made me laugh so much I wanted to share it. I recorded Mayz singing a bunch of different stuff on my iphone and distorted it using the “voices” app. He was singing these songs all normal but the app made it sound really funny:

This past Saturday, Cheridy, myself, and Mayz headed downtown to hang out at one of the barbeques with the homeless. Every Saturday a group of dedicated people goes down there and brings food, clothes, etc. to a park at 2nd and Selden.
Some of you might remember that about a year ago we got involved and were doing interviews and photo shoots with some of the folks down there. We didn’t know why we were doing it, but God told me to do it.
Recently we were contacted by an organization (Rackham Choir that is planning on putting on a benefit concert for the homeless and they want to use some of my images and stories as part of a multimedia presentation for their event….how cool!!
I also found out recently that one of the guys who’s story we told last year (Terry) had been shot twice a few months ago. He had two bullets in his arm and when he went to the emergency room they wouldn’t take the bullets out and said that since it was his arm, it wasn’t life threatening so they just gave him bandages and sent him on his way. What a world!

Anyway, while down in Detroit Saturday we met a bunch of people including the Glen who is in the first photo below. Glen has an amazing spirit. He grew up in a good Christian home and he has 8 brothers and sisters. He said that he was really tempted with peer pressure in high school which led him down the wrong path. He felt like the black sheep of the family because he always messed up. Hanging out with the wrong crowd led to taking drugs and then dealing drugs. He did this for a long time until he got busted for it. There were many times that he wanted to quit but it was easy money and since he never graduated high school, there weren’t any other opportunities good enough for him to stop what he was doing. Thankfully for Glen, he has a great family and brother who loves him enough to take him in. Glen is currently living with his brother downtown. The house they live in is owned by his brother but a while back, he wasn’t living there. While it was vacant, he asked the city to turn off the water but apparently they didn’t and in the winter the pipes exploded and the house was flooded and water logged for an extended period of time. Now the two brothers are back in it and trying to fix it up and make it livable again. They have electricity but no heat since the hot water heater had been underwater and ruined. Glen’s brother led a very different life and just retired from Chrysler but with the bad economy and some bad investments, he’s not in a great spot either. Together the two of them are tackling life and hopefully Glen’s brother will help to get back on track. We had the opportunity to spend some time with Glen and it was great to get to know him and hear is heart and his struggles. He can quote more bible versus than anyone I’ve ever met and at one point he said “I know too much to be doing what I’m doing today….God gave me this knowledge so I can make a difference.” So, we’ll just pray for Glen and pray that he can conquer the things he’s struggling with and start doing some of the things he’s called to do.
This first pic is Glen and the others are some more nice folks that we had met downtown.

I had posted a few of the pics from the photo shoots with Cheridy, myself, and Mayz a few weeks ago. Here are video slideshows that show quite a few more.
Thanks again to John Wiley, Monika Caban, Ben Pancoast, Denise Demarchis, and Jenni Vorderman for the amazing photos!!

The “Wedding”:

The Family Shoot:

Many of you might be surprised to know that Cheridy and I never got great wedding photos. When we got married, it was before we were in the industry and we didn’t know what was available or what was possible. It’s been really difficult for us to see all the amazing things that we get to make for our clients because we didn’t have any of those things for ourselves.
A couple weeks ago, Cheridy and I had a once in a lifetime opportunity that we are greatful for. We were able to finally get those wedding photos done…8 years later.
A group of photographers were getting together on the west side of the state to hang out and take pics for a week. They needed people to photograph and we needed photographs so it was a great match.
The first day we did wedding photos and the second day we did family pics. The photographers out there were gracious enough to provide me with high res files that I could edit the way that I like. Thanks to the amazing photographers for the pics, this is a treasure that will last a lifetime! Their names are above each image (John Wiley, Ben Pancoast, Monika Caban, Denise Demarchis, Jenni Voorderman)
Thanks to Bryon Botorwicz for letting me borrow his suit! I’m not as suave as Bryon but I loved the suit and it was a perfect fit! Thanks to Craigslist for Cheridy’s “wedding” dress!
There are a lot more photos than this but too many to post here so I’ll be making a slideshow with them shortly.

Ben Pancoast:

Ben Pancoast:

Ben Pancoast:

John Wiley:

John Wiley:

Ben Pancoast:

Denise Demarchis:

Monika Caban:

Denise Demarchis:

Ben Pancoast:

Day 2 we got to hang out with Mayz and get some family photos taken which was also an amazing blessing for us! The weather in the morning wasn’t great so we did some fun photos indoors:

John Wiley:

Denise Demarchis:

Denise Demarchis:

John Wiley:

Denise Demarchis:

John Wiley:

John Wiley:

Denise Demarchis:

John Wiley:

The last couple of days we’ve been out in St. Joseph, Michigan with a number of other photographers. The first day and morning of the second day, we were actually the models…there will be more to come and lots of photos from that!!
While we were waiting for Cheridy to get her hair and makeup done, I was goofing around with my camera and shot a couple pics of Mayz…and a bee.

I haven’t posted too much personal stuff lately, but yesterday Mayz was practicing his ABCs so I had to shoot a quick video clip. He’s a couple months shy of 2 years old.

Our friend Amber works at Grace Centers of Hope which is an amazing organization in Pontiac, MI. They were in need of photographs for their next calendar which will be used as a fundraiser so Cheridy and I went out there this afternoon and took a bunch of shots of the kids playing and goofing around.
Grace Centers of Hope is Oakland County’s oldest and largest homeless shelter. They are considered one of the leading faith-based organizations in Southeastern Michigan daily confronting issues of homelessness, addiction, poverty and spiritual emptiness. To learn more or to donate to their cause, please go to their website: http://www.gracecentersofhope.org/

The people that work there are all so dedicated and passionate, we were glad to be able to see just a piece of what goes on there.

Yesterday Cheridy and I had the pleasure of dining at the fabulous Royal Park Hotel’s brunch buffet. We’ve shot so many weddings at the Royal Park Hotel and we’ve always heard about their incredible Sunday Brunch so we were super excited to have the chance to check it out. I can say that it did not disappoint!! This has to be the best Sunday brunch buffet in Rochester…it’s ridiculously amazing!
They have everything from an omelet bar, bacon, sausage, fruit, muffins, etc all the way to a stir fry bar, roast beef, ice cream, incredible dessert…wow…my mouth just watered just thinking about how good it was.
We were so full from that one meal that we barely ate anything else all day!
If anyone is looking for a really nice place to go for a meal, go check it out and be hungry!!

Here’s a bit of our iphonetography that we did while there:

Here’s a pic of Ameer who made me the best omelet I ever ate:

The new iphone 3GS has a pretty amazing camera built into it. It’s limited in terms of adjusting exposure and ability to zoom and all that, but the picture quality is really impressive.
I forget that I occasionally snap a couple pics with the built in phone.
Here’s just a few that I took since getting the phone:

On June 26th, we went to Red Oaks Waterpark in Madison Heights. We took Mayz there to go splash and play in the water. They have a pretty incredible kids play area with a giant bucket of water that dumps every few minutes. I just loved all the bright colors.

Here’s a pic of Mayz enjoying himself at the waterpark:

On July 17th we had a photo shoot in Detroit and on the way back it was pretty rainy but we were able to catch a beautiful rainbow on our way home:

This past weekend we were up in Port Sanilac relaxing at the Tice Cottage. Mayz was sitting in his chair with his favorite bears watching the movie Cars with a big smile as Lightning Mcqueen came roaring by:

One of the days we were out there, we went for a walk out to the end of the pier and I got a cool shot of the moody skies over the Port Sanilac Marina:

These photos turned out pretty incredible for being shot with a phone!

Here’s a few video clips of Mayz shot with it too. YouTube’s video quality really sucks and makes this look much worse than it is.
Either way, it’s nice to always have a camera on you!!

We just enjoyed a great few days at “Camp Maskill.”
Our responsibilities for the get together was to do some family photos. Here’s the big one showing the whole family. It’s pretty amazing that this whole group is together starting because of Don and Peg Maskill sitting right in the middle!

This is Camp Maskill week. It’s a week where the Maskill side of the family all hangs out at Uncle Dale and Aunt Jo’s cottage on Limekiln Lake in South Lyon. Cheridy’s dad Denis has 10 brothers and sisters and this is a special week because all of them will be here which was definitely a big feat!
Their dad (grandpa Don) is going through some tough times with his health and it’s great that all his sons and daughter are here with him now. More about that on our facebook acct.

Mayz the friendly ghost:

Mayz, Cheridy, and I spent the last couple of days out in Grand Haven for a little R&R. We stayed at our favorite place which is The Looking Glass Inn. It’s a fantastic bed and breakfast right across from Grand Haven State Park which has been rated as one of the top beach spots in the US.

One of my favorite sites is watching the sailboat head out for the sunset cruise:

We spent our first day driving there and then doing pretty much nothing on the beach all day. We bought our first beach umbrella and are now wondering why we didn’t do that years ago since Cheridy+sun=lots of redness. Anyway…in the evening we had a nice dinner downtown and then watched the Grand Haven Musical Fountain which is one of the big attractions. Sadly, it wasn’t as impressive as these photos might have you believe. For anyone that’s been to the Bellagio in Vegas, you should probably pass on this one. This picture was taken with the longest zoom I own as the fountain is actually on the other side of the waterway.

The weather was supposed to be terrible while we were out there, but it ended up being fantastic and we got to see some beautiful sunsets.

Mayz had a good old time playing in the sand:

He always makes a goofy crinkly face when you ask him to smile. What a great photo of my beautiful wife and goofy boy!!

Chillin like a villain:

Quick family pic:
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For anyone looking for a place to stay in Grand Haven, we strongly recommend The Looking Glass Inn. Norma and Howie Glass are fantastic hosts and Norma cooks up an awesome breakfast every morning. This is our second time going there and we already made reservations for next year. After chatting with them, we’re actually going to be making them a cool new website which will be online soon at www.LookingGlassInnMI.com
Here’s a quick shot of their balcony which shows the view of the beach on Lake Michigan: