This weekend, Cheridy and I got to go visit our friends at the Tice cottage and hang out with them for a little while. Saturday night was amazing…the moonlight reflecting off the water was just perfect. Here is a self portrait of Cheridy and I.

First thing when I wake up in the morning, I like to have quiet time to sit and think and pray. My men’s bible study group is currently reading the book of Daniel and after I finished reading that, I decided to do a random flip and just read whatever page I turned to. To be honest, I’m not much of a bible scholar and quite often when I try to read something random, it doesn’t mean a whole lot. But…this morning was different…enough so for me to want to write about it because I felt like it had direct impact to our business, our family, and us. The info below comes from a Life Application Bible which has everything in a language that’s easier for people like me to understand. It’s starts with a passage, some edited comments, and then some thoughts. These are some passages from Proverbs 13 which stuck out to me this morning. Even for those reading this that don’t believe in God or care what’s in the bible…the lessons are still valuable.

Proverbs 13:6 Godliness helps people all through life, while the evil are destroyed by their wickedness.

Every choice for good sets into motion other opportunities for good. Evil choices follow the same pattern, but in the opposite direction. Each decision in your life to obey God and do good will bring a greater sense of order to your life, while each decision to disobey can lead to confusion and destruction. The right choices you make reflect your integrity.

This made me think about the way that we run our business and how treating our customers right, even when that may be difficult, is paramount to success. I just hope that we can recognize when these opportunities surface.

Proverbs 13:19 It is pleasant to see dreams come true, but fools will not turn from evil to attain them.

Whether a “dream come true” is good or bad depends on the nature of the dream or desire. It is pleasant to achieve worthwhile goals, but not all goals are worth pursuing. When you set your heart on something, you may lose your ability to assess it objectively. With your desire blinding your judgment, you may proceed with an unwise relationship, a wasteful purchase, or a poorly conceived plan. Faithfulness is a virtue, but stubbornness is not.

This also has direct impact on our business. To achieve our goals, we need to make sure that we don’t step on others on the way to that achievement. It’s also important to be able to step back and objectively make decisions and understand the pros and cons of those decisions. Sometimes a decision that can lead to business success might hurt family life, so it’s important to look at everything from all angles.

Proverbs 13:20
Whoever walks with the wise will become wise; whoever walks with fools will suffer harm.

When most people need advice, they go to their friends first because friends accept them and usually agree with them. But that is why they may not be able to help them with difficult problems. Our friends are so much like us that they may not have any answers we haven’t already heard. Instead we should seek out older and wiser people to advise us. Wise people have experienced a lot in life—and have succeeded. They are not afraid to tell the truth.

I am fortunate enough to be part of a group with guys that are older than I am that have been through the stage in life where I am now, who can advise me on potential pitfalls. In our business, we are a part of a national organization called the digital wedding forum that is filled with veteran photographers from all over the world who share their talent, wisdom and experience. Our business has grown at an accelerated rate because of all the knowledge we’ve gained from those amazing people.
Now that I will be becoming a parent soon, this verse also made me think towards the future and think about how difficult it would be to see my child spending a lot of time with the wrong kind of people.

Proverbs 13:23 A poor persons farm may produce much food but injustice sweeps it all away.

The poor are often victims of an unjust society. A poor mans soil might be good, but unjust laws may rob him of his own produce. We should do what we can to fight injustice of every sort. Our efforts may seem inadequate, but even one person can touch many lives.

We have had the opportunity to travel to many third world countries and see how the rest of the world lives. It’s made us feel incredibly blessed when we come home, and has made us appreciative of what we have. We have been fortunate enough to have been able to do some short term missions work in some of these places (click here to read about one of those experiences). Seeing the sickness and poverty can be completely overwhelming and the idea of making a difference seems impossible. However, in the case of the mission work in South Africa, I can look back to Isaiah and Merci Mafu who are the couple that started Africa Christian Ministries many years ago. Through their diligence, faithfulness, and hard work, they have transformed their community and brought hope, food, medicine and love to hundreds and hundreds of people. Through our church, we hear stories like this ALL time and get constantly reminded that ONE person CAN make a difference and can have a huge impact on less fortunate people. Some people have been beaten down by life, and others have been blessed beyond belief. It’s important for those that have been blessed (like us) to make a difference.

Proverbs 13:24 If you refuse to discipline your children, it proves that you don’t love them; if you love your children, you will be prompt to discipline them.

It is not easy for a loving parent to discipline a child, but it is necessary. The greatest responsibility that parents have is to nurture and guide their children. Lack of discipline shows a lack of concern for the character development of the child. Without correction, children grow up with no clear understanding of right and wrong and with the little direction in their lives. Disciplining your children may be difficult but it is an act of love.

This is obviously a passage that a soon-to-be parent would find interesting. I always knew that discipline was important but I never thought of it as an act of love.

Today I was able to attend a workshop taught by an amazing fashion photographer named Steve Ragland. Steve taught about the importance of proper lighting and makeup among other things. These are just a couple of photos that I took of todays models.

Today we did Emily’s senior pics. Emily is the daughter of my former boss from when I worked at GM. We had shot Emily’s sister Elisabeth’s pictures a couple years ago.

Yesterday was Mike and Lindseys wedding which was held at our home church of Kensington followed by some photos in downtown Utica and then a beautiful reception at Cherry Creek Golf Club. Lindsey looked stunning in her Roma Sposa dress and the day couldn’t have gone more perfect!!
We worked the wedding with Ryan from EpicWeddings.com. Ryan is a riot to work with and he put together a really cool trailer that’s worth checking out…click here.

The Wilson family won our summer contest by coming up with the fun idea of having a family slip and slide / shaving cream fight.
After some scheduling difficulties, we finally got the chance to get together with them and we had a riot!!
One of the goals of this contest was to be able to do a fun shoot and create images that will be treasured as a fun memory. So many portrait shoots are traditional and tame and…boring and part of our goals as photographers is to step out of the box and create/capture energy and fun as opposed to just taking stagnant posed pictures where everyone is wearing jeans and white shirts. These pictures do NOT show off the perfect pose, the perfect smiles, the perfect lighting, etc. etc. That’s good!! They’re not supposed to…instead, they show off fun and laughter and they are REAL. This is the Wilson family having fun together and we are so blessed to have been a part of this!! In twenty years from now, it will be really fun for the boys to be able to look at these pictures and remember how much fun they had and to be able to see their parents laughing hysterically on the slip and slide. Likewise, Dave and Ann will be able to look at these pics and see the boys laughing as they tackle one another. What a great day!!
I hope that when we have grown kids, we will be able to play together as a family and laugh hysterically with each other.

Here are a few favorites:

Below is their slideshow that shows off some of the favorite photos. Press the play button once it comes up (fast internet connection required):

Last week we got to do a photoshoot for the Schoenbeck family. We first learned about their family from a church because a few years ago, their son Andrew went through a difficult battle with cancer. His story gave inspiration to thousands of people and through his trials, he brought God to a lot of people. Andrew and the family are now doing fantastic!

Below is a photo of Andrew and here are some words from him:
Hi, my name is Andrew Schoenbeck. I am 12 years old. When I was 10, I was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer. I had two concerns. My first concern was dying and my second concern was if I would lose all my hair.

Cancer gave me a power. People would listen to me when they wouldn’t listen to me before. I thought it was an excellent time to spread God’s word. On Good Friday I sat down and wrote a song about God. It got on the radio and everybody listened to it. God threw a curveball at me in life and I swung. So when God gives you an opportunity to spread His word, take a chance and go for it.

For anyone that wants to read more about Andrew, you can do so here:
http://www.caringbridge.org/mi/andrew/
user: andrew
pass: believeit

I liked this photo from Adam and Natalie’s church so much that I had a little fun doing a painted rendition of it this afternoon

Adam and Natalie where married at the beautiful St. Lazarus Serbian Orthodox church in Detroit and they had their reception at Glen Oaks Country Club in Farmington Hills.

Finally after many months of playing around, I think I’ve finally found the harmony I was looking for between painting and photoshop and I am excited to finally be able to start offering our product called The Pirlo which is a photograph turned into a piece of artwork.

We have been nominated for a “best of Detroit businesses” contest and need your help. Some of you may have seen the commercials on WDIV Detroit for their “Vote 4 the Best” campaign. We have been nominated!! We have no idea by whom but we are on there!

We NEED your help to win!! So please vote, it only takes a few seconds and you don’t have to live in Detroit to vote!

Here is a link to our profile:
http://wdiv.cityvoter.com/details.aspx?business=15839

We would love to not only have your vote, but if you have time, leave a comment too!

You will only be allowed to vote once per email address, but I guess it’s ok if you have multiple email addresses you can vote multiple times. When you vote, it will send you an email with a confirmation and you just have to click on the confirmation link. The vote won’t be recorded until you click the link on the confirmation email, so please make sure to do that!!

Also, spread the word if you could. Since it’s a one vote per email address we want all of Detroit and beyond to vote for us. How fun would this be???

We really appreciate your time!!
Prem and Cheridy

Tonight was Ryan and Melissa’s wedding. They had their ceremony at St. John Lutheran church and the reception at the Royal Park Hotel in Rochester.
We had some time to do some fun images in downtown Rochester.

Click below to check out an awesome video trailer that Don and Joanne from CapturingTheMoments.com made. Their footage and method of capture/editing is amazing!!

http://take1productions.blogspot.com/2007/07/melissa-ryan.html