Pelican Droppings

I'm sitting in our hotel room overlooking the ocean in St. Petersburg, Florida. There are coffee cups all over the desk, battery chargers, a couple of Canon 40D's to my right. I may or may not have clothes on. Believe it or not, there's not any alcohol involved.

Now with that visual, let's continue.


Last night was our first encounter with Dan and Cherrie. For those of you that don't stalk us, they're our couple getting married in Key West in February, with an e-session in St. Petersburg. They are incredibly sweet, fun, and cute. We weren't sure how much light we were going to have to work with, but the evening turned out amazing, complete with one of the most gorgeous sunsets I've ever seen in my life.

And for some reason, every cool couple we meet ends up taking us out to some great place to eat, because everyone has this secret plot to make Brett a fatty again. Wait..I mean...they took us out to Johnny Rocket's, which is a 50's style diner/hamburger place. So very fun.

One of the many fun spots in the evening was coming across the " Life is Good" logo on the back of a Jeep...and for those of you that don't know, I love that logo. So I'm including that shot from last night in this blog, along with a couple shots of the sunset that Julie took.

And now I will run and frolllick on the beach. With or without clothes on.


B

Deep Thoughts

I've noticed that a lot of the really big photographers I admire have worked on photo projects this year and compiled them into books to sell. Some strictly for financial gain, some to benefit an orginization or foundation, etc.
I actually had a neato collection of photos of different bathrooms we found on our road trips this year and was going to compile them into a book called " Places I've Gone "....but Julie said no. I'd seriously buy a book like that.

I'm going to break tradition for a few moments and delve into some heart-felt honesty. Maybe because we're leaving on our last road trip of the year tomorrow. Maybe because we're going to see so many friends along the way. Maybe because it's after midnight, I'm still awake, and my 3 year old is singing the Veggie Tales theme song in her sleep. Whatever the reason, and given that it's almost Thanksgiving, here goes my partial list for this year...


I'm thankful for my beautiful(hot) wife, who inspires me beyond words to do things I didn't know I could do. Without her, I would probably be asking everyone I met if they'd like fries with that.

For my two wonderful(spazztic) kids, who have proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that I have the mentality of a three year old, and with whom I have had more deep and meaningful conversations about trains and poop than with most adults about grown-up things.

I'm thankful that God has given us a talent that has taken us so many wonderful places, from eating deep dish pizza in Chicago, watching antelope in Wyoming, seeing mountains in upper Montana, buying cherries in Washington, figuring out "Free Range" means that people let their cows roam around on the road in Nevada, seeing the Grand Canyon by moonlight, realizing there's a big honking mountain outside Flagstaff Arizona, crashing an Amish wedding in North Carolina, honking at cows and jumping through fountains in Atlanta, watching a sunset on the beach in Florida...

Thankful that because of photography, we are ending this year with more friends than we started with. That you have given us the absolute privilege and honor to be a part of one of the happiest days of your life still leaves us speechless.


May all of you stuff yourselves at least once over the next week, and take a moment to count your blessings and realize how good life really is.


Enough from me...Happy Thanksgiving all!

Brett

Closing up the year...

Here I sit at the computer mapping out our final trip of the year. We are headed out next Friday for a trip that will entail a Thanksgiving in Pensacola, Florida with one of our brides (nope, no wedding or pictures - just going to go eat Thanksgiving with her - this is how much we love our couples: we get to know them well enough to get to go to their houses for Thanksgiving!) So, after Pensacola it's off to St. Petersburg, Florida to take engagement photos of a couple whose Key West wedding we're shooting in February. After St. Pete, we're off to Atlanta. Of course, we go right through Gainesville, Florida so you can bet that I will be stopping to kiss the ground and Gators outside of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at the University of Florida where my beloved Gators play! (GO GATORS!). In Atlanta we will spend about 5 days visiting with my sister and we will spend the actual day of Thanksgiving with her (bring on the Green Bean Casserole, stuffing and Pecan Pies!). The Saturday after Thanksgiving we shoot our final "gig" of the year; a wedding at Zoo Atlanta at the Panda Veranda! After that it's off to North Carolina to spend yet another Thanksgiving with Brett's sister, brother-in-law and nephew in beautiful Amish-country (we better see SNOW!). From there on out we are just on cruise control. We may stop through Arkansas so we can view the ultrasound of my sister-in-law (who is due with TWINS in April), and we may swing through Branson, Missouri to visit with my parents (and see if mom has any Pecan pie left over - ha! I doubt that).

The past few months for us have been SO busy that it's hard to imagine having our weekends free for the month of December and part of January. Our first date of 2009 is a wedding on January 17 though we have some wedding shows that we are doing the first part of January. I can't wait to see what 2009 holds. We have some "super duper top secret" plans of our own for 2009 - that we will reveal on here as soon as we are able to.

So, here's to the rest of the year going smoothly and getting caught up in time for 2009 to start!


J