Grand Canyon

It's amazing how deep this canyon can be. I remember coming there and realizing that I am so small compared to this world. These photos were taken at the Grand Canyon in 2007.

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I caught myself breath taken, seeing such beauty. I've seen that beauty before. Right now I find myself thinking of how I interact or relate to beauty. I think man1 longs for a relationship with something beautiful. To me God is beautiful. I've been in a relationship with Him and it's overwhelming, the love and grace I feel from such a person. I believe aesthetically, beauty provokes emotion, an object2 can be just beautiful. As an object isn't necessarily beautiful intrinsicly, but it's beautiful based on preference; however, that preference for beauty, I believe, is measured in relation to a more purer form of beauty.

This, my friends, to me... is beautiful.

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I believe that a person is beautiful based on the depth of their character in relation to a purer form. As I've encountered such depth and such beauty in my life, I found myself blessed.

1 "Man", as mankind.
2 Object, as subject

Waiting

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I remember taking a series of self portraits on February 14, 2009 thinking about love and what God was doing in my life at the time. I was praying that He would move my heart in some way. God did, God has, and God is continuing to move my heart to Him.

Up in Arrowhead

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Welcoming the Season

She and I

This is she and I, right after realizing how we matched that afternoon. Dare I say, we've started to actually think alike... and maybe even finish each other sentences. I've inherited a few habits from her, definitely. All the while, I can't stop to think just how blessed I am to have someone who knows me.

I love her. I don't know what else to say. We've been through many seasons together. I'm looking forward to this season with her.

I'm now at the retreat center

Things are great, people are coming in and saying hi... I'm getting some hot cocoa!

On Our Way to the Liferay Retreat

Fifty something more minutes!

New Orleans 2007

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This was my first trip into the city, I came on my first missions trip not knowing what God wanted or intended for me. At the time, I worked for an office retail store, inside the copy center. A week before the trip, I found myself sick with a really terrible cold. I wasn't sure if I would be able to even go on the trip.

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My team partnered up with Habitat for Humanity to work on a the roof for a house. We carried the trusses up, installed particle board and the tar for the roof. We also did a few more things inside the house. At lunch, I went inside the home next door and took the photo you see in the beginning of this post.

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I mostly shot with my Canon AE1 Program using the 50mm f/1.8 lens it came with.

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Seeing the home finished in 2009 was also an amazing experience. Knowing that somehow, my hands played a part in the lives of the people who resided in the house, the hearts and minds who make it a home.

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I traversed through the trusses with my camera on hand and I couldn't be more thankful. Everytime I look back at these photos, I can't believe how much God had used this experience to change my life. Shortly after coming back from the trip, I wondered what my work schedule would have been. So I drove down to work and I was just excited to see everyone in the store. Upon my arrival, my department manager came up to me with a somber look in his eyes.

He took me into his office and said, "I'm sorry Aaron, but you were fired." I was somewhat confused and curious as to what he was referring to. He attempted to fire me on another occasion out of spite because I couldn't come to work on short notice. In that incident, he told our store manager that he wanted to let me go saying, "Aaron told me on the phone that he didn't want to come into work today!" The store manager said, "okay." My assistant manager at the time heard about this and told one of our account managers, who also mentioned it to the district manager... and, yup... I got called back and I wasn't fired.

My department manager was a newly promoted sales associate from the supply retail end of the business. Knowing nothing in the copy/print center, it was difficult for him to earn his team's respect as we operated without his direction. At the time, I was a key employee who was very efficient at the job. I drove up sales, finished print jobs, corresponded with third party printers and customers, I was pretty good at what I did. My assistant manager and account manager knew I would never say that I would not want to come to work, so they trusted my character over our department manager's words. So they called our district manager, apparently remembered me from a previous visit and called the store manager.

Unfortunately, this time, I was actually fired. He was able to fire me by not mentioning my sick days whenever I called in; then he added my six day vacation days (which I was entitled to) and used that as a leave of absense without warning. Which wasn't true. Fortunately, three weeks before I got back, I was hired elsewhere. The plan was to put in my two weeks notice after getting back from New Orleans. God is truly good.

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Sorry about that tangent... anyway, back to the missions trip... it was good, God is good, I also noticed that I took many photos of my friend (who is now my girlfriend) and it somewhat freaked me out. God really has changed me since then.

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This last shot is somewhat of a creeper shot... I didn't really know I actually liked her at the time. It was a really confusing time.

Fire Pit

So Close to the Light

"So Close to the Light"

Coming Updates

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Dennys...

So for the next few days, I'll be posting old pictures, from my old film days... so you'll be seeing a few of these...

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Lamp Post

Have you ever taken photographs with film? They can be a bit of a surprise. I personally love how film captures light and how it's grain and imperfections give it this interesting effect. Its as if they capture a dimension of this space and we can see this slice of time. What do you think about film?

The Photoblog

Old Days

Hello, so I've created a new photoblog to hopefully be able to see and appreciate the mundane and the seemingly ethereal. I hope to be able to capture light, and the memories I associate with it. I want to be able to share the sights, imagine the sounds of the past. I hope you enjoy the blog.

This photo was taken in 2008 as I was having lunch from work in a park. It was a beautiful day for a picnic, and a good day for a picture. This was taken using a Canon Canonet QL17.

Morning Portraits in the Mountains and Donuts

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A long time ago, my friends and I went up the mountain to just hang out. The air was crisp with the fragrance of the pine trees that surrounded us, the sky was partly cloudy and there was a gentle breeze. We spent some time up there and drove down to get some donuts.


I love impromptu portraits, I love the sincerity of who people are as they look at the camera, unprepared for it.


Matthew



MatthewMatthew

Matt has a photoblog.


Andy



AndyAndy

Kathleen



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Jacque



JacqueJacque

Jacque is a photographer and she also has a website.

The Way the Light Cascaded Through the Leaves

The Way the Light Cascaded Through the Leaves

I took this picture last year during my church's fall retreat. I could just remember the way the light cascaded through the leaves.


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Fall has always been a beautiful experience for me. I can truly see and attribute such beauty to God. I could never capture the pure color of what I had seen that day, while processing the photos, I could imagine myself leaning and editing toward a bias of my ideals and how I perceived that day.

William Bishop Senior Photos

William

I took some senior graduation pictures for my buddy Will.


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William
William


These last two photographs were from hanging out in 2008.



Will Bishop

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Quick Headshots at the Office

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My friend and co-worker is auditioning for community theater, he asked me if I could take quick headshots for him at the office

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Emily's Graduation Photos

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This is Emily. She is, for many reasons, beautiful. I took a series of portraits for her graduation.


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She and I

On this last shot, I set the camera on timer, and I ran to her.

Byron's Senior Recital Photos

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These are a few photos from a photoshoot I did for my good friend Byron Tomes. He was in need of photos for his senior recital and so, he asked me if I would be willing to take photos of him. Long story short, we hung out with Lauren, and took a bunch of photos. I did some post production work with the shots, and Lauren did some final typography.

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Byron's Senior Recital Photos


This was my first photoshoot and I'm really glad I did it with a friend.


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The final product was posters and postcards... this project was really all about Byron. He's such an amazing guitarist.


Final Composition

The final composition... see it with the typography at Lauren's Blog