Brooke and Tyler

This is a photo of Brooke and Tyler, soon to be married. It has been great to get to know them better. They remind me a lot of my wife and I, just really easy going. I like this picture a lot because the background is a porta potty. Now that I say that you can probably see what it is by the color and a few of the shapes. I love making something out of nothing. Most of my time is spent making something out of nothing. I have to turn a mediocre environment into one that looks unique and like something out of a Martha Stewart magazine. This porta potty picture is a statement for me that I find is a reoccurring theme throughout my life which is that "you don't have to have a lot to be somebody" Many modern philosophers call it he HAVE-DO-BE syndrome. In other words you have to HAVE something in order to BE somebody. It is very subtle but it is a common theme in our generation. The reverse is BE-DO-HAVE. I am going to be somebody first and I will acquire later after I am somebody. Common Have-do-be thoughts are: "I will get in shape as soon as I HAVE a membership to the gym." Another is "I will be happy when I have some more money." It is always an outside force that they are looking for. The truth is they will never be happy and they will always be fat because the gym membership will get old in a couple months and money in and of itself does not give one happiness. So back to the porta potty. I make the best of my situation. Resources are all around me I just have to see them through a different set of glasses. I have trained about a half a dozen photographers and the ones who fail are still saying things like, "As soon as I get a new camera" or "I need a studio before I can be successful". Do not fool yourself. My first six months as a photographer I didn't even own a camera. Make it happen.

30 years old!!

In my family it is custom to announce to the world that it is your birthday. My mother is the queen of birthdays. It is not uncommon to pull up to her house on her July 8 birthday and see a sign in the window saying that it is her birthday. I am not joking when I tell you that my parents actually have a marque in their front window displaying such messages. Last year my mom wore a party hat that said, "It's my birthday!!" So I will take this opportunity to beller and cry to the world that tomorrow is my birthday. I will be a smooth 30 years old. It is a new beginning. This will be the best year of my life as have all the rest of them. I can't wait for this decade. My kids will grow tremendously, we will have some of the greatest times of our family in this decade. My BFF and I are going fishing at 4:30 am. That is all I want for my birthday is to catch my limit. Anyway, tomorrow will be a good day. Over and out!

Sara Bingham and Kyle Harvey Wedding

I recently shot this wedding in Layton, UT. It was a great time. Ended up with nearly 700 images in 3 hours. There were a bunch of cute little kids all over the place.

Family Documentation

I have been on cloud nine for 36 hours now ever since I went fishing to a local water hole of which I will not name and absolutely had the best fishing day of my life. My uncle Michael and his son Mason took me. At one point Mason brought in a nearly 5 pound rainbow whilst I pulled in about a 3 pounder. We cooked that one up for dinner tonight and it was THE best fresh water fish I have ever eaten. Anyway lately I have been really excited about what I consider family documentary style photography with style. Here is an image I took last week of my buddy Greg and his son playing basketball. I spent nearly 9 hours with his family last week and had a blast taking over 1500 images that they can have forever. What is more important than this? Greg is an awesome mentor to me. He wanted me to take these shots of him with his boys doing their alone time together. He spends most of his free time doing what his kids want. What a huge idea! Most parents spend 2 hours watching TV a day. He spends 2 hours a day with one of his four boys following their interests. Do you think they wonder if he cares about them? Do you think they will find meaning in this life? He has made me rethink the way I interact with my own children.
Anyway,the only sad part about this photo is that Greg missed the dunk.