I am constantly thinking if my life is reflecting the love of Christ and if I am making God known in my everyday life and not just on a Sunday. When I started this business I wanted to make sure that God will be glorified through me as I work for my clients. He has blessed my business up to this point and all success has truly come from him and the people he has brought into my life. I just hope that in some way I am reflecting Christ in all my encounters with the people I am capturing through my camera.

Yesterday as I was doing my daily blog stalking I found a blog post that was titled “The Photographer’s Prayer”, I liked it so much that I copied it on my computer and added a few lines to it myself to make it more meaningful to me and my business. The author of this prayer is unknown but I wish I did know who it was to thank them for putting such sweet words that represent who I as a photographer want to daily strive to be. So I thought I would take the time to share this prayer that I found with you, to let all current and future clients know what is important to me. All the italicized text is my addition to the prayer.

The Photographer’s Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father,

Remind me daily of my purpose here on earth, to glorify your name and to make you known. Help guide me as I bring my subject into focus and prepare to make each portrait, never let me forget that I’m creating treasures for families, a keepsake for loved ones, and most importantly a memory of your most precious and valued creation. Make me sensitive to the qualities and virtues of others, that I may draw out into the light the beautiful radiant belongings of their hearts.

Help me to be an artist, collecting the beauty of every soul, the glow of youth, the gentleness, the laughter or tears of each life that is precious in Thy sight. Deeper than a means of livelihood, give me the perspective to see my photographer’s art as a service to others, making life richer and more memorable.

And, dear Lord, between the lights and shadows, the ups and downs and the rolling years, keep me from getting out of focus or off center, so that my life and work may be framed with dignity and colored with contentment. Allow me never to forget that all success and recognition comes from you and nothing of myself. Keep me humble and faithful to you Lord.

AMEN
Author Unknown
(Italicized Me)

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I have been trying to catch up on all the editing I left before my vacation. Still haven’t caught up yet, but working on it. School started yesterday so I am back teaching elementary art, which is why it is taking me so long to finish editing. But once I get caught up I will have TONS of stuff to share. Thanks for your patience. In the meantime you can pray for all the teachers and students of the world. They need it!

Last week I had the great opportunity to spend the morning/afternoon with an amazing portrait photographer. Shannon Sewell is an amazingly talented portrait photographed based out of the Washington area, and she was in Texas given some one-on-one mentoring sessions to some photographers. I had the privilege to spend some time with her and see her in action as she took some pictures of me for my website, some one year anniversary pictures for my wife Jessica and I, as well as taking some family portraits of the Sumlin family. It was awesome getting to see another portrait photographer whom I admire in action. She did such a great job and had some great information to share and she was so sweet just to open up her life and business for me to learn from. I felt incredibly blessed to have an opportunity like this fall into my lap.

Thank you so much Shannon for your time! It was great to build a new friendship with a rockstar photographer like yourself. Everyone should go check out her blog and website!

All you photographers who are just starting out and reading this blog, I highly recommend finding a seasoned pro photographer who you can serve as a mentor for you. It is the best way to learn!

Here are two pictures that I took:

Shannon in action with the Sumlin family

Jess, me, Shannon 

Today I will be boarding a plane at 6:30 a.m. at DFW to New York. I will be spending the week there with my church Community Life as we pair up with churches and ministries in the area and just serve them. Our goal is to support exisiting ministries and assist them in what they are already accomplishing through Christ. I am excited to hear all the stories from individuals in New York as well as see how the Lord will work in the life of Jessica and I. Pray for our safety in travel and that the Lord will open our hearts and eyes to those aroundus and that we come back changed.

After New York we will be going to Canada to visit her family. Jessica is Canadian for those of you who don’t know. Which is pretty awesome. It will be my first time to visit Canada and see where she grew up. Her dad owns a small resort and I hear it is beautiful. He doesn’t have much technology out where the resort is located. He only has a modem internet connection that he doesn’t like using b/c it holds up the phone line and he doesn’t have a DVD player. It will be strange to be away from my normal comforts. But I can’t wait for the relaxation!

I’ll be back August 12th. But I have some blog posts lined up a couple times a week while I am gone. So keep checking in every once in awhile.

I also just got twitter so if you wanna follow my adventures you can go to my twitter page.

I do not know if I will be able to post from Canada, but I will do my best!

I just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has visited my blog in the month of June. I had the most visits to my site than I have ever had. In the month of June I had 770 visitors and before that my highest count was 560, so I totally stomped that number! There is no way I could have done this without friends and family spreading the word about little ol’ me here in Dallas. I know there are some blogs out there that get 770 in like a day or even a few hours, but I am proud of that number for the month. My only hope is that it just keeps climbing and more and more people can see my work. That is all I have for today, stay tuned tomorrow for a fun family session post!