Children's Musical

I love kids. I have since I was one. I inherited that trait from my dad. He was marked by every girl scout in the world when cookie season was in swing. They could see him coming a mile away. I still talk to kids in line at the grocery store and say hello in the nursery at church every now and then. There is something awesome about little kids.

This Sunday was the annual Children's Presentation for Christmas at my church. One of the ways I can serve my church is to photograph everything I can and share it with our church family. So, I do. I have for years now. I love it.

Here are the kids of my church leading the adults for a change...

Marks Family

What a week. I've been too busy getting things out to clients to touch back and show off my Saturday morning sitting. I love seeing this family every year. The grandkids are beautiful and I love that the family grows almost every year.

Beach Portraits

This was a busy weekend for me. I had a morning and evening shoot with tow fantastic families that I've been photographing for years. I am always amazed at how the kids grow and it is great to catch up a bit when I do these sessions.

The Sullivans were looking for a beach theme and I said "I know just the place." we went down to Coquina Beach in Bradenton for a fantastic sunset portrait session on the soft white sands. Beautiful!

Friendship Feast

Thanksgiving time! I love this time of year. The kids do cool things at school and even more than that, I get to eat turkey! I absolutely love turkey. I'm doing mine in the smoker this year. I've done a couple of practice runs that were delicious. Now it's time for the big show...

I went to my son's kindergarten class this week for their Thanksgiving celebration. They are so cute and I love how they jump into everything with so much joy. Enjoy...

Christmas Portraits

I had a fantastic family portrait recently. I love getting to do these portraits. Usually they become a family tradition and I get to watch the kids grow up for years to come. I also love getting to know a family during the sitting. Everything is so much more relaxed that way. These are some great kids...

Amy Grant Concert

Last night was one of those "I really love life and photography" nights. I went to a back tie event for the Florida Hospital Heartland Division. It was their annual gala to raise funds for their projects in the area. Amazing night. The evening was capped off with a concert by Amy Grant accompanied by a full symphony orchestra. The music was fantastic and it was nice to see her again. It's been years since I saw her in concert.

Slideshow!

Harvest Hoedown

I love my church.

Every year we have a huge bar-b-que event out in the sticks at Lupton's Boggy Bottom. What an awesome location , and the food is amazing. It's a great night to hang out, play with your kids, meet new people, eat amazing food (did I mention I love their Bar-b-que?) and just be one huge family. Of course I made certain I made as many photographs as possible while there. Here's the slideshow. Enjoy!

Orlando Portraits

One of the things I do as often as possible is to spend time with other photographers. I find these times to be refreshing and challenging at the same time. I think the Bible calls it "Iron Shapens Iron." I come away from these with a renewed excitement about photography and new ideas to challenge my creative vision. I get together with a gorup of photogrpahers from central Florida almost every month and there is a group forming here in the Brandon/Tampa area that my prove quite good as well.

Last month the central Florida group met in downtown Orlando for a night portrait shoot. I brought a large, experimental light source that I love to use for that shoot. I spent most of the night lighting for others, but did manage to pull my camera out for a few. Here are some of my selects.

Monique

I had a very unusual shoot recently. A Sweet Sixteen Party. A very good friend called me to ask if I would be interested and whie I was still making up my mind she handed the phone to Avis. Avis is one of the most excited people I have ever met. She ads energy to everyone in the room and I was hooked by her personality. I had to meet this family.

This was an amazing and fun day. I love being a photograper. I am blessed to be a part of the best days of so many people's lives. Sometimes I have to thank God for what I do.

To see some of the selects from Monique's party, go to the slide show at www.mccrystalimage.com/mussio or by clicking "Monique" upove - the title of this post. Enjoy!

Runing Like Crazy

This as been a busy season for me lately. One of the big things that has set me into hyper busy mode was my decision to go back to Mac. I've been a PC guy for a lot of years and it is proving to be a steep learning curve. More than anything it is an unlearning curve. I am having to unlearn all the habits I developed trying to use PC's ad their weird ways of doing things. Software that is simple is hard to use when youare busy looking for a harder way to do something than the engineers designed.

I have to say I'm loving the new system. My MacBook Pro is running faster than the desktop system than I have been running. There is a lot to learn and new paths t get from A to B. Overall I'm very gald I made the leap back to the platform that made me fall in love with computers in the first place. My college room mate from my freshman year introduced me to Photoshop 1.0 on a Mac and I was sold. I stopped using my manual typewriter right then! (Yes, I was still using a manual typewrite then... I'm a bit stubborn)

Blake High School

Last week I had a chance to visit my firned Linda at Blake High School. She has been teaching Photography there since they opened. I've been in and out of that classroom for most of those years teaching lighting and helping with critiques etc. I love going there. The students are amazing. I have seen some unbelievable art come from the students in that program. My visits always leave me inspired and challenged to do more and better work. I get a refreshing peek at how my work as a photographer began.

I spent time with a small group of advanced students talking about portraiture and lighting. These are areas I love to teach. There are so many simple and creative options for lighting and studio work. Very challenging and exciting. I love to see the ideas start to spark while I'm talking and photographing them. It reminds me why I love this so much...

Children's Portraits

I had a fantastic portrait session this week that I have to share with you.

I've always loved children. I get that from my dad. He always seemed to attract little kids like a magnet. Girl Scout cookie season was a financial disaster in the making. They knew he was an easy mark when they saw him coming. I really love the Samoas to this day...

These are some wonderful kids and I loved photographing them. Part of why I love photographing children is that I am in no rush. I spend time laughing with little ones, holding babies and sharing stories with the family. Beautiful images and a refreshing pause in life.

Enjoy

Manassas, Virginia Mission Trip 2006

What an amazing trip with the students from my church. We had an adventure on Amtrak, spent some time in DC, served in the communities surrounding Manassas, met students and leaders from churches in other areas of the country, and found God blessing us in amazing and unexpected ways.

I spent most of my week working with children with Autism. I fell in love with these kids. beautiful, amazing, stubborn and wonderful they were. A unique challenge. I didn't believe I was cut out for it, but I have to admit they changed me forever.

The slideshow also includes some of my favorite images from our trip into DC. I fell in love with photography on an 8th grade trip to DC. My family didn't even own a camera at the time. I knew it was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Walking around there I remembered how things just came alive for me visually so many years ago.

Cristina and Drew - Engagement Portraits

What an amazing couple.

One of my favorite parts of photographing weddings is getting to know young couples and see their romance as it grows. Engagement portraits are a fun way for me to get to know them, help them get used to being relaxed while being photographed and create some amazing portraits for them to share with their family and friends as they get ready for their wedding.

Cristina and Drew are getting married next year. Our E-session in Hyde Park was an adventure. There was a little rain and a lot of walking as we explored the neighborhood and found great little spots to photograph them.

Enjoy!

Portrait Party

Happy Birthday Ladies!

I love variety in my work. It makes things exciting for me and motivates me with constant challenges and opportunities for growth in my art.

This was a great evening of portraits. This lovely group of young ladies gathered for a birthday celebration. What a unique group of girls. I had a ball getting to meet and photograph them all.

Destination Virginia

I'm going to be on the road for a week starting tomorrow. I'm catching a train to Washington, DC and then going to Virginia for a week long mission trip with students from my church. This is going to be an exciting, exhausting and rewarding week. I'm really looking forward to the time to serve others and revisit the place where I first fell in love with photography.
DC is my photographic home. I went on an 8th grade trip there (a very long time ago) and the whole world exploded visually for me. My family didn't own a camera at the time and I started borrowing cameras from everyone on the trip to shoot what I was seeing. When I got home I started saving money and dreaming about my first camera. It's hard to believe my career as a photographer started on an 8th grade trip...
Pray for me while I'm gone. I can't wait to come home to show you the photographs!

Two Very Different Portrait Sittings

Portraits are exciting for me. I love to spend a bit of time with a person to get to know them and see a bit of their personality. That personality must show through the photographs we create - that is success...

Recently I had two very different couple for two Very different sittings in exactly the same location. I think this is a great peek at how different portraits can be depending on the people in them.

***Slideshow***

A Different Kind of Week

Every year I pour myself into a week of VBS at my church. I love kids and I love my church. It's a natural thing for me. Take a peek at my week.

Wedding Photography

I have been doing a lot of thinking recently about why I photograph weddings. It was kind of a shock for me to realize I have been doing weddings since 1989. That's a long time!

My junior year of high school my logic teacher told me I was going to photograph his wedding. I told him he was nuts, that I hadn't done one yet and that I wasn't about to photograph someone who could influence my graduation as my first. He insisted that not doing it might effect my graduation as well.

I called a good friend and photographic mentor and told her my situation. She easily said that I was ready and all I needed was some prep on the logistics etc. I was still unconvinced. Well, Carolyn had a two wedding Saturday scheduled soon after that conversation. I learned more that day than I realized. I was exhausted but unbelievably excited by the end of that day.

My first wedding went by with a relatively low level of stress. I think I was nursing batteries to make it through the end of the day, but I made it. He ordered reprints from me every year for a few years as an anniversary gift for his wife.

I've photographed a ton of weddings since then. I've made it a point to find opportunities to spend time around other wedding photographers who work in inspiring ways. I have also continued to challenge myself by raising the standard for my own photography. I've realized that I can never "arrive" and stop learning. I will continue to grow as long as I have the desire to do so.

I think I still photograph weddings because I love them. It is a great opportunity for me to spend the best day of a couple's life with them, share their joy, document it and preserve it so they can show the photographs to their kids and grand-kids. I'm creating history for those families.

Other photographers find weddings to be stressful or boring. I find them exciting and fun. There are so many opportunities for amazing photography. The key for me has always been to know a couple and enjoy who they are. When I can do that, my best work happens.

I think it's that emotional investment in a couple that really sets my work apart. I'm not working from a prescribed list of my favorite shots, I'm inventing, exploring and discovering what works for each couple as the day goes on.

One big change I've made in my business approach is I've stopped worrying about how many hours I'm working on a wedding. This opens doors for me to capture even more of the wedding day, create a better story and be available to all the moments of the day, not just the ceremony, formals and reception. I wish I had made that realization a long time ago.

Have a Great Fourth of July!

Album Design

Yesterday afternoon I finished working on the rough design for Amy and Darren. I'm a little biased, but I think their album is beautiful. Decide for yourself.

Amy and Darren

I photographed an amazing wedding this past weekend and I wanted to share it with you.

Amy and Darren are such a lovely couple. I've known Amy for too many years now adn was so honored that she wanted to have me as her photographer. She is a stunning young lady with personality to match her looks. Darren is a very lucky man!

I'm hoping to surprise them by having their images all online before they come home from the honeymoon. I'm halfway through designing their album and the images are on their way to Pictage as we speak.

Enjoy the slideshow.

Key Largo 2006

Key Largo 2006

I spent the last week in Key Largo with some amazing students from my church. We do this trip every year. We spend the week at one of my favorite places on the planet, Amy Slate's Amoray Dive Resort. The location is beautiful, the staff is excellent and the diving is outstanding. We all look forward to this trip every year. I've been there 9 times and feel like they are my family.

If you are at all interested in diving, snorkeling, nature and peace and quiet, this is a great place to visit. If you are an UW photographer like I am, this is paradise.

Judys Dance Academy

Judys Dance Academy

This is a series of photographs from the Judy's Dance Academy annual recital at the Lakeland Civic Center. i was blown away at the level of dance and production for this event. I grew up without dance lessons, piano lessons, t-ball teams, select soccer... you get the point. I had no idea that kids dance could be so beautiful.

Disney Vacation

Disney Vacation

Amazing few days at Disney with my family!

Life is Good...

Sigur Ros Video

glosoli_hd_1000.mov (video/quicktime Object)

This is an amazing and video and some haunting music. As a photographer I love the visual feel of the whole package. As someone in leadership I find it very challenging.

Queen of Peace School

Queen of Peace School

This is the second time I've written about this little school. I really love the atmosphere and the people there. I went back for an end of the Year Picnic and Social recently. These are some great people. Whenever I'm in Gainesville I'll be dropping by to check in...

Real People. Really Remarkable Lives.: The Fear of Failure Drives Success?

Real People. Really Remarkable Lives.: The Fear of Failure Drives Success?

This is an amazing article. David Jay from OSP pointed me in this direction from his blog and I had to pass it on.

I grew up pretty poor. We always ate, but there was always a sense that we didn't really have enough to get by each month. i know that experience has dirven me a great deal in how I approach life.
I love to save money and hide it away. I'm always driven to work harder and acheive more. I hate to waste. I've always believed fear was only a bad thing. Maybe it's good in some controlled doses... I'll have to check my perscription.

Congradulations Hope!

My sister-in-law passed her Florida Bar exam! Her family had a blow out for her with all the friends and relatives and lots of kids running around. They had a ton of fun, I had a ton of fun photographing them.

Check it Out!

Mary Kay Portraits

I had an amazing weekend trip to Gainesville. I went up to see some of my Mary Kay ladies again and to a photo-shoot for the "Gator Connection" unit. I always leave Gainesville exhausted and completely recharged at the same time. These are some really fantastic people, I look forward to every trip.

What was exciting about this trip was I had a great mix of make-over portraits, families and children to photograph. I love kids, they are so much fun and I laugh a lot when I'm photographing them. I also get a lot of hugs which makes it even better!

Take a peek at some of my favorites!

Fiction

I haven't read fiction since I was in college. My wife and some of my friends will often tease me because I am a non-fiction only reader. I love histories, biographies, and theology. I spend a lot of time reading. It brings a lot of creative energy and new ideas into my life and that is invaluable.

Recently I was shopping with my assistant and she pointed out a book to me as a suggestion for a graduate gift. It was a book about a diver with a Christian Publisher. She thought it would be a very personal gift coming from me because of my love of diving. I wanted to read it first before I gave it to a student.

I finished it a few days ago. The book is Deep Blue by Tom Morissey. It turned out to be a fantastic book. I had some reluctance to enjoy this book because it was fiction, but I was able to get past that as the plot and characters drew me in.

Maybe that means I'm growing. Maybe that means I needed something different in my diet to break things up a bit. Change is good. I might even be willing to try another one, but not right away.

I also finished The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. Two very different types of books to be reading side by side. I've read the Case before. Very compelling book with much to offer for someone who is alwaqys digging deeper, asking questions adn pushing farther in their faith. Strobel is a very compelling author and presents a great depth of material in an intriguing framework with many references to his work as a journalist at the Chicago Tribune.

Kristen and Yancey's Album

I've been working on this album design for a while now. Soon I'll be amaking a sample album from this layout. Kristen and Yancey were such a fun couple to work with. Their zest for life and beautiful morning wedding made for a natural choice for a sample. Since I changed labs and albums I've wanted to update my samples. I'm pretty close now. Soon I'll have it in hand. I can't wait to show it off!

My Wife is Amazing

My wife is amazing! I am so proud of her. In the past two years she has been teaching full time, serving in our church, being nominated for the top ten of teacher of the year and working on her masters! This weekend she crossed the finish line! I could bust...

Microsoft Future Pro Photographer Contest

Home - Microsoft Future Pro Photographer Contest

This looks like a great way for a young photographer to get a good start in their career. This is the first year Microsoft has taken on this contest. For someone right out of high school or in college this could be the big push you need to get things really rolling. $20,000 buys a lot of camera gear and could be great money to start a busniess or fund a long term special project.

Kaitlyn's Journey

Kaitlyn's Journey

This is a post and a prayer request. The above link is to a blog from a friend through Open Source Photo. Eric is a great photographer and dad. His beautiful daughter has been diagnosed with Leukemia. Visit his site to see what her status is and fall in love with her. Please keep their whole family in your prayers.

Welcome to 30 Hours Famine

Welcome to 30 Hours Famine

This weekend I'm taking 30 hours of my life to stop eating and start helping others. The statistics are chilling. 29,000 children die every day from hunger. Every $30 I raise this weekend through your support saves a child's life for 30 days. That's a fantastic return on your investment and mine.

Visit World Vision's site above and give generously. If you give because you saw it here, plese drop me a note so I know.

Swamped! In The Best Way...

I have been one busy guy lately. I wanted to catch you up just a little bit on all that's happening.

Saturday I photographed a fantastic 25th wedding anniversary and vow renewal. It was so beautiful. Cross Creek Ranch in Dover is such a beautiful venue for an event like this. There is just a beautiful charm to the whole place. It was fitting for such an amazing family. I love having the opportunity to be a part o the best days of people's lives. Hank and Machele were so cute and they must be doing something right to have 3 beautiful kids too. Friends and family from all over came to share the celebration with them. I was really honored to be a part of it.

Sunday, I Photographed the final performance of People of the Passion. Very powerful. I am so amazed at all the talent that my church is blessed with. Everything was done in house - musicians, singers, actors, lighting, video, scoring of all the instrument, writing of all the narration and scripting the action. The whole enchilada. I was blown away.

Here's my final slide show.

Also, I had the awesome opportunity to lead worship and speak at all three services this past Sunday. What an amazing opportunity. The student band and all the students who lead worship with me were awesome. It's so very cool to see how the church responds to them. Teenagers aren't perfect, but they are amazing worshippers. I love being with them.

Monday night I had a great opportunity for Chick-fil-A. They were sponsoring the kick off of an All Pro Dads group at one of our middle schools. The event was very cool and I had a chance to see some other great dads and learn some myself while I was photographing the event.

Here are some of my images from the evening.

The People of the Passion

Wow! My church is doing a world premier of an original musical this weekend. Brad Trumbull, our keyboard genius wrote this amazing musical based on a sermon series our senior pastor, Jerry Van Dyken shared last year. I was blown away when I went to the dress rehearsal last nght. You have to come see this. Very, Very Cool! Go see the slideshow with a few selects from last night. I wish I had some of the music to add to the background of the show. Maybe when I shoot the final performance.

Tampa Open Source Photo Road Trip

Last night was awesome. Tampa, Orlando and Miami area photographers from Pictage gathered for an awesome night. We shared ideas, swapped stories, shot together and stretched each other creatively. I especially enjoyed getting some to the Open Source Photo people together. This is an amazing and talented bunch. Here are a a handful of selects from the evening.

A Day on the Train

Friday was an awesome day. I went on a 4year old preschool trip to ride the Florida Gulfcoast Railraod Museum. This is a working train - "A museum on wheels" as tehy explained. Very interesting and a lot of fun and very cool to see the world through their eyes for a while.

Take a minute and ride the train with us.

Quiet Times at St Simons Island

I came back from an amazing weekend with some kids from church on Monday. When I'm away on trips like that I always make sure I get some time every morning to be alone with God and get spiritually prepared for the day. St Simons is so beautiful at sunrise that I couldn't resist using part of that time to make some photographs of God's hand at work in the beauty of our world. I think He makes the world so beautiful so we can see a peek at His beauty.

Green Beans

My Neice isn't certain if she likes grean beans or not.




Sometimes they are good...





Other times not so good!

Play ball!

My son and I took in a Yankees game on Tuesday afternoon. What a great day. Hanging out with my kids is awesome. Being a dad is the best thing ever. I highly recomend it to all married men.

One of the players rolled a ball to him over th dug out during the game. he was so excited that we had to spend an hour and a half in the back yard with him cracking them off the tee at me and me relaying them back to his sister to tee it back up.

By the way, thanks Brian! Awesome seats!

Children Around the World

I spent last Friday in Pre-school. What a fantastic way to spend a morning! So many bright shining faces and even more laughter.

Visit the Slide Show for More of the Fun!

Architectural Shoot

At the end of last week I had a commercial shoot for a large local sign company, Sign Star. Awesome people to work with and I learned a lot about the sign busniess in the process. I spent the day with Danny, who is a really amazing guy to know and work with. We have a lot of the same thinking about busniess. It's all about relationships. By the way, thanks again for lunch!

I don't do a ton of commercial work these days, I've been focusing on weddings and portraits. It was a real joy though. We covered a lot of territory (3 Counties) to get a good cross section of their work to use in their brochures and trade show booths. Soo we will begin redecorating their offices with some large prints.

Here's some of my favorites from the day.

Senior Portraits

I had an amazing shoot this weekend and I wanted to share it with you. I like to spend as much time as possible with a person as part of a sitting. It gives us a chance to really get to know each other and connect. It makes all the difference in the world as far as the images go. When I was done shooting I was just shy of 200 images into the sitting. That's a good feeling. Here's the slideshow of some of my favorites...

Jordyn's Senior Portraits

Gallery page

Just an update on my update...

My new gallery page is finished. I wanted to have a gallery that really represented the depth of what I do. I found out that is difficult because I do so many different things within photography. I'm somewhat an addict when it comes to photography. Take a look.

http://www.mccrystalimage.com/gallery/index.htm

Reading Reading Reading

I read a lot. I mean A LOT. It's kind of funny that I had to graduate from college before I realized that I love learning. Just a short time ago I diswcovered audio books. Now I am usually listening to a book on my ipod and then reading an actual

book as well. It's a nice way to keep new informationgoing into my brain.

I just finished "The Big Moo" by Seth Godin. Awesome book. I've already listened to it twice. It's a great way to get thinking about change and innovation in my life. Last week while I was discussing the book with a student at my church she reminded me that I needed to re-read "The Dream giver" by Bruce Wilkinson. I will start that tonight. Another fantastic book!

Strangely enough I recently found a stuffed cow on my desk. Thank you to my Big Moo supporter who ever you are.

By the way, pray for David Jay, he is in Brazil on a mission trip to bring water purification into the villages in the rainforest. Very cool. Hopefully his luggage with his malaria medecin catches up with him soon

American Child Photgrapher Charity Guild

I just discovered this organization. I am deeply moved. This is another way that God is revealing how I am to serve Him. I've put in my name incase they need anyone near Tampa. We have so many large hospitals in the area that I imagine there is a lot of need out there. Too much...

Child Photography, children's portraits, children's photographer, child photographers, pre-mature infants, special needs children, American child photographers charity guild, Erin Drallos, Footprints child photography, down syndrome, trisomy 21

One Step Ahead

Last night was awesome. I went over to Orlando to be at the first night of Gary Fong's "One Step Ahead Tour." It was really a very cool night. I learned a lot and I met some great people. I ran into some very old friends who I haven't seen in years and had a chance to catch up a little and I met some new friends who I met through Open Source Photo. I was glad to meet some people whos work I admire and get to spend some time learning with them.

 

I also met a handful of up and coming photographers that are going to be great for our industry. We need more honest, hard working people with great vision and passion. I guess every industry needs that.

 

I'm in the process of implementing some of the new ideas I picked up after an evening with Gary. I'm looking at this as a fresh start in a lot of ways. Gary's process is very simple and that is a beautiful thing in itself. I was glad to hear a number of the things I am already doing on his list - blogging (hey, I'm doing that now), collages, web slideshows, treating clients as friends and giving them the best treatment possible because they are friends, etc. I was also somewhat freed to go with my heart on some issues, like get rid of time limitations as part of the creative fees.

 

Now it is time to let some more creative ideas start to gel in my brain. That's going to sleep to dream....

 

What a Weekend!

This has been an exciting time for me lately. I've been busy with shoots all over the state and that's a very good thing. This past week I spent a couple of days in Gainesville photographing some of the beautiful women of Mary Kay. We had a make over party one night with portraits by the fireplace and then a formal banquet the next night. These ladies are very impressive. I have to say I came home excited and ready to take on the world after spending some time listening to them and their stories. I feel like my goals are too small after listening to them.

I also had the honor of being invited to show and tell at my neice's school. What an amazing place. I really fell in love with her school. My favorite part was at the end of the school day. After a short devotion time in the sanctuary all of the students stop with the principal or one of the faculty and they bless them each before they go out into the world. I had tears in my eyes. The whole world should be like that.

I ended the weekend with an exciting night at the monster truck show with my little guy. He's all about the trucks. We both had a blast. I love hanging out with him. He's the coolest!

Sheer Joy

I remember when I first started shooting weddings (my junior year of high school) and how all the photographers I knew talked about shooting weddings like they were a huge pressure cooker designed to deep fry photographers. They thought I was naive, maybe I was. Maybe I still am.

I really love doing this. What better job description can there be for a photographer and a believer. I get to share one of the most important days with people who are in love. I get to participate in creating memories that will last a lifetime and beyond. Grandchildren will look at my photographs as they hear the story of the day their parents' parents started their lives together.

I've been looking at some of my archive images and remembering so many different weddings lately. God has belssed me so abudantly with this profession, this gift. I consider what I do to be sheer joy.

Concert

Just a quick note. We had an awesome concert last night at my church. I just wanted to show off a little bit.

The band is

My Rocket Heart

. They are a great group of guys, just recently became big time rock stars with a record deal, but they still remember how much fun it is to rock a church gym! The neighbors all liked what they heard as well...

Also, here's the

slideshow

too!