Mr. and Mrs. F

I have the greatest brides.  I really do!!!  This lovely lady e-mailed me about shooting her wedding right before I was heading to China.  It worked out so well, I invited the fabulous Hillary Gamble to shoot with me, and it was a lovely, lovely day.

Hillary and I both deemed this "First Look" as one of the sweetest in the history of them.  It was so, so precious.

Altadena Valley Presbyterian Church is ALWAYS a beautiful venue, and the overcast skies were really incredible!

I love photos like this.  Hands with 3 generations of rings.  I hope this image is cherished FOREVER.

The greatest, greatest smile of all time always comes right before the bride walks down the aisle - I LOVE IT!

A little "Roll Tide" to go, and they're off.

Thanks for letting me be apart of your big day.  I truly loved it!

For the full gallery, head over to:  www.scbphotography.smugmug.com

worship

worship: "to have or express feelings of profoud adoration"

I had so many surprising moments of worship in China.  We had team devotionals and a prayer time, but it was more than that to me.  I worshipped mainly when I was photographing kids and their interactions with our team-mates. 

The building where we stayed has huge, beautiful windows that let in a lot of natural sunlight.  For a photographer, it's a dream location.  I felt like every picture was perfect - was exactly how it felt - and photographed so easily because of the setting. 

What a blessing to be able to capture those moments.  And to feel joy in doing so.  It was really incredible.

**DISCLAIMER: I realize it's a little ironic that I am posting about photography with no pictures.  While I do plan to edit this post with a few "non-kid" photos, I have decided to not post pictures of the children on my blog.  If you are interested in seeing either a slideshow or a gallery of images, I can privately send you a link.  E-mail me!**

on being "unplugged"

I went to China with few expectations.  I knew what I needed to do for my trip and knew about the organization I went with - Show Hope.  That was about all.  I wanted to truly "experience" it fully - as something completely different than anything I was used to.  I did, and it was wonderful.

Since being back in the United States, I have been missing how "unplugged" I was over there.  I didn't have cell service, usually couldn't use my computer, and couldn't get iMessage or FaceTime to work, even when the wireless internet was working.  

And, it was beautiful.  Pure.  Restful.

It allowed me to do things like TALK to people.  Journal my thoughts/events of the day.  Listen to music.  Or best of all - just BE - in silence.  Without the temptation of facebook, e-mails, instagram, and text messages, I could use my time for other things.  And, I'm so glad that I did.  What's even more amazing is that nothing exploded.  My clients waited for me to get back.  The online bills can be paid now.  The e-mails went nowhere except to my inbox, and they are still there.  

And, I came back a better person for the experience of it.  

One of Show Hope's "core commitments" is James 1:27, which talks about pure religion including care for orphans.  I was lucky to experience this "purity."  Life seems much simpler there; I am so grateful that I got to experience it...

(more to come soon!)

I left my heart in China.

Many children in China have my heart.  I'm not sure that I'll ever get it back.  One sweet little boy has many medical problems, but when I walked in the room, he nothing but smiled and giggled.  My moments in his room were full of joy and of worship and of love; those sweet, pure moments are times I will never forget!

I realize that a lot of you guys may not know what Show Hope is or is really about.  It's a "movement to care for orphans."  Their main ministry right now is two-folded.  They give grants to families who are adopting internationally.  They also work to care for special needs orphans in China.  There are four centers in areas of China who take on children who would have just been left to die.

For whatever their conditions were, often the children were left in a small room to die.  Orphanages didn't know what to do with children with Down's Syndrome, cerebral palsy, cleft lip/palate, bad malnutrition, brain syndromes, spine abifida, etc.  The founders of this organization asked if they could have a room to start caring for these children, and it has now grown to these special care centers.

I did not know what to expect, but I could not have had a better experience there.  I worked with an incredible group of people on my team who encouraged me the entire time.  I'm actually going to be blogging about my experiences there over the next few weeks, so if you're interested, check back!  

I did blog once for Show Hope while I was over there, so if you're interested, CLICK HERE.