Ford Family Christmas Card 2009 \\ Personal

I can't remember the last time my family sent out a Christmas card. After some inspiration from some photographers that I follow, I came up with this idea. I literally was making it up as I was explaining it to my family. They loved the idea and I immediately got to work on making my idea a reality. Anyway, here is the Ford Family Christmas Card for 2009. Let me know what you think.

Oh and of course... MERRY CHRISTMAS!

This first picture is the front of the card.

And this is the inside.

Please tell me you get it.

Gingerbread \\ Personal

A few weeks back Katie and I put our creative spirits together and did our best to make some gingerbread cookies. I'm glad I had my camera with me because I am quite proud of some of these cookies. We had a blast making them and I thoroughly enjoyed eating them. I think Katie ate two of them, maybe. I took care of the rest.

Above: What would we do without you Pam?

Above: My personal favorite. It's a pineapple!

Above: This is my favorite picture of Katie right now. Look at those eyes!

Above: My mustache cookie wouldn't stay. I've got a real one so... no big deal.

Above: Manger scene?

From McDonalds \\ Personal

The following photos were taking at McDonalds. It's amazing what fun you can have when you have willing participants and a camera.

I got some awesome shots over the weekend with YouthQuest while we were in Raleigh. Here's a few. I posted almost all of them on Facebook and you can see some of them at my LibertyU.com blog too.

Natty \\ Portrait

I spent last week at home in MD with my family for Thanksgiving. We had some family friends over one night and they just recently adopted a boy from Ethiopia. His name is Nathaniel, but everyone just calls him Natty.

This kid is hilarious. He's so curious and loves to explore. He discovered my cell phone and thought it was the coolest thing.

I grabbed my camera because I had been itching to take some pics (it's been a while). He also loved the camera and wanted to see every single picture right after I took it, as do most kids.

More Photoshop Fun \\ Personal

I am currently on my 15th day of my 30-day Photoshop trial. I'm trying to learn some more within Photoshop and I've been having a lot of fun with it. Here are a few things I've been working on. They're a little extreme, but definitely fun to create.

ABOVE: Ok, this is maybe my favorite picture of Katlin and this was one of my first Photoshop creations. I had a lot of fun with it and it was cool learning new tricks.

ABOVE: This one was very time consuming, but still fun to make.

Blue Bikes \\ Personal

Last Tuesday was Election Day and we had the day off of school. Lindsey, Sam, Katie and I decided to got bike riding downtown. We had a blast even though we only got to ride for about an hour. We ended up losing one of the bike keys. I thought I left it at Katie's house so we drove all the way back, searched for it for a while, only to discover that it was in the back seat of the car (where Lindsey and Katie were sitting). We still don't know who's fault it is...

Anyway, here are a few pics from our outing.


ABOVE: My broken reflector. The bikes weren't in the greatest shape.










ABOVE: Sam and Lindsey patiently waiting for Katie and I to catch up.


ABOVE: My broken bell... like I said, the bikes weren't in the greatest shape.

Fall and Photoshop \\ Personal

As you know, it is Fall. A great time for pictures. It has become my favorite season. The weather is great and the earth is beautiful.

I had some extra time one morning a week or so ago and so I decided to grab my camera and see what was awaiting me outside. It was a perfect fall morning and the sun was giving me

perfect light. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

I've also been learning some new stuff in Photoshop so I may have gone a little crazy.

Lauren and Tim \\ Save The Date

For the longest time, Lauren and Tim and I had to keep rescheduling this shoot.

"Let's do it this Sunday."

"Hey Lauren, I can't go today."

"Oh hey Jake, Tim is sick today so let's reschedule."

One thing after another... We finally just buckled down and got it down! We had a great time in Downtown Lynchburg. We tossed around a ton of ideas and basically just went at it. I had a bag of miscellaneous props and things in my trunk. We definitely put those to good use.

Lauren and Tim asked me to shoot their wedding while we were taking their "Save the Date" pictures. I gladly accepted. These two are some of the funnest and funniest people I know. I'm excited to see them get married and go on with their lives.

Thanks for such a great time, Lauren and Tim! I can't wait to shoot your wedding.

ABOVE: Lauren got this idea to use the chalk on the brick wall. These pics turned out great!

BELOW: Ok, please allow me to preface the following pictures. Like I said before, I had a bag of miscellaneous objects, like these masks, in my trunk. Lauren and Tim were good sports and put the masks on. These are the results.

BELOW: I tried to make it look like we used the chalk to write SAVE THE DATE 5.16.10 on the road. Would've been awesome if we could've really done it!

BELOW: I brought along some window paint to put this idea into action. Once I perfect it, it might end up being a staple photo.

BELOW: Lauren loved the idea of a photo booth strip. We had a blast taking these pictures. I made like a real photo booth. Giving them 3 seconds between each picture to grab the next sign and pose. Honestly, it was hilarious to watch.